Salted Fish Zombie

Chapter 49.2: Manman (22) [Arc 2 - END]

June 27, 2023 by Wyrd

Inside the thatched hut, Sui Sui pushed aside the stiff Ji Mingrui and said, with a mix of ease and reluctance, “You go.”

Ji Mingrui, with a cold and indifferent expression, his face, like that of a CEO, tightened and said, “How can I leave? This...”

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw a group of monster children in front of him being overturned by Sui Sui.

Sui Sui stood before them and said in a low voice, “You’re truly foolish. You knew very well that you wouldn’t stand a chance against us once we left the castle, yet you still rushed in.”

***

After Gui Sheng grabbed the fetus statue and ran towards the street, he saw Ning Su dodging one of the monster children and rushing into Zhu Shuangshuang’s house.

Ning Su was taller and more adept at running. Carrying the fetus statue and sprinting was no problem for him. As for Gui Sheng, his small body, which tended to tilt when he got excited, stumbled after running just a few steps.

He was about to get up by himself when someone grabbed his arm and helped him up.

When Gui Sheng saw the little girl standing beside him, he became nervous and opened his small arms to shield her behind him. He stared vigilantly at the approaching monster children and said, “Not afraid!”

He heard a soft laughter from the little girl.

Gui Sheng: “Hmm?”

Before he could turn his head to look at the little girl, he saw countless skeletal hands emerging from the ground on the street ahead. They grabbed the monster children one by one and threw them out of the street.

A skeletal figure also emerged from under the little girl’s feet. She stepped on its shoulder, rising higher and higher.

The fetus statue that Gui Sheng was holding, which was somewhat large, was effortlessly held by her. She continued to ascend.

She threw the fetus statue towards the castle.

The pale fetus statue flew across the street, passing over the heads of each monster child. All the monster children looked up at it and chased after it, running outward.

The fetus statue finally landed on the broken castle and remained motionless.

The ghost friends who came out of the various house doors looked up at her on the street.

The little girl stood on the tall shoulders of a skeletal figure, looking down at the pitiful and desperate ghost friends below, as well as their tragic companions who had just escaped death.

She said, “This game isn’t fun.”

They were originally a group of vengeful spirits. Each was a child who had died a miserable death without ever experiencing love.

They had short, unloved lives, and they became malevolent ghosts in their deaths. They felt like empty wandering souls after.

She observed their malevolence and their loneliness.

Later, the system asked her, “Do you want to play a game?”

She asked them, “Do you want to experience being loved, even if it’s fake, even if it leads to deeper pain upon failure?”

As expected, not a single child refused.

In life and death, their deepest longing was simply to be loved with warmth.

They were wicked and terrifying ghost children, but as long as they were given a little tender love, their small bodies would tremble with tears.

They didn’t want to let go, but they discovered that they couldn’t resort to cruel methods anymore.

She couldn’t understand what kind of game it was.

However, their companions seemed to understand it.

Zhu Shuangshuang, while hiccuping and crying, said, “I... I hate this game.”

Ning Su made a sound of agreement.

Shi Tianzhu, dressed in silver high heels, sighed. She looked at the ghost friends, placed her right hand over her heart, and asked devoutly, “Would you be willing to enter into a contract with me?”

She said, “No matter where you are, when you hear my call, come to me... to us.”

The second-ranked player in the base, possessing an extraordinary skill called summoning, had long surpassed the simple ability to summon only for herself over the course of more than a decade of being a player.

All the players and ghost friends were stunned.

Only one day remained of the 30 days.

***

Early in the morning, Manman got up and went to the backyard to water the small seedlings in the garden field using a hose.

Then she ran back to her room, changed into a beautiful white princess dress, and then woke up the two boys on the bed.

Ning Su, still half-asleep, sat up and tied her hair into a bun using the lily flower headband.

“Having a girl is so troublesome,” he said, struggling with three hairbands to create a crooked bun on Manman’s head.

The little girl turned around, her unblinking eyes fixed on him, and said the most terrifying words in the world, “There won’t be any chicken legs to eat today.”

“Huh?” Gui Sheng was startled awake.

Ning Su immediately exclaimed, “Our little princess is so beautiful!”

Gui Sheng added, “Adorable!”

Ning Su continued, “The most beautiful in the world!”

Gui Sheng exclaimed, “The cutest in the ghost realm!”

Manman remained silent.

There were definitely chicken legs available, not to mention lamb chops and steak. All kinds of ingredients were readily available for Ning Su to showcase his culinary skills.

Every time he prepared a dish suitable for a picnic, the two children eagerly placed it in a beautifully woven basket.

The light in the children’s eyes was the purest, expressing their longing, happiness, and craving.

It appeared when they felt the warmth of love and the security of being free from wandering.

There were a total of four baskets brimming with food.

The baskets were adorned with delicate and cute little skull decorations. Each small skull was threaded with lace and tied to the woven basket, occasionally with lily flowers blooming from its eye sockets.

Manman put a skull necklace on Gui Sheng.

Hanging in front of the Gui Sheng’s chest was a tiny little skull, its bone as white as jade, shimmering with a warm glow.

Manman said, “This big sister has a legion of skeletons, so you don’t need to protect us. Big sister is here to protect little brother.”

Gui Sheng looked at the small skull in the palm of his hand, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “Protect!”

Ning Su looked at the small skull in his tiny palm and suddenly felt that fairy tales didn’t necessarily have to involve little fairies or sprites; they could also include little skulls.

Gui Sheng looked up at him and asked, with a delicate voice, “Cute?”

“So cute, so cute, the cutest in Huaiyang Village,” Ning Su couldn’t resist Gui Sheng’s charm.

The three children set off with bountiful picnic baskets.

As they walked along the street, they saw Zhu Shuangshuang and Zhi Zhi.

Zhu Shuangshuang was wearing a fluffy dress, and she exaggeratedly wore a top hat and a pair of long white gloves.

She held Zhi Zhi’s arm when she saw him about to put on a face mask. “No need. We’re not afraid of people looking at us.”

Zhi Zhi replied, “Hmm.”

Then, they looked up and saw Shi Tianzhu walking ahead in silver high-heeled shoes.

***

When most of the people on the street had left, Gu Witch and the boy with the birthmark were just getting ready to leave.

Gu Witch looked at the little boy standing in front of him and asked, “Have you made a contract with Shi Tianzhu?”

The boy standing straight in front of him shook his head.

Gu Witch didn’t know whether to feel happy or not. He looked at the boy in the dim room and felt a complex emotion. “Perhaps you will have a companion in the future.”

The boy shook his head and said matter-of-factly, “There’s only one companion.”

Gu Witch asked, “If you have another companion in the future, will you treat them well?”

The boy hesitated for a moment and nodded, responding to the hypothetical situation. “If there is another, you will still be my first companion.”

Gu Witch took a step forward and said, “If you want to make a contract with her, do it. Don’t worry about me.”

They also headed in the direction of the amusement park.

***

There were already many players in the amusement park. During the daytime, there were no monster children here. It was their exclusive playground.

A dozen children could also create a lively atmosphere filled with laughter and joy.

Zhu Shuangshuang teased Meng Jiang with amusement, pointing at the red bandage marks on his face. “Big brother, why do your bandage marks still smell fragrant?”

A Yi had been wrapping him up for two days. Even if he hadn’t used excessive force, it was unavoidable that his face would be left with crisscrossing marks, carrying a hint of fragrance.

Blushing, straight-laced Meng Jiang said, “Your eyes are no longer swollen from crying, and your lips are also bitten.”

Ji Mingrui: “...”

He wore a little suit and didn’t have a single injury on his body. Among them, he was the most well-groomed, mysteriously emanating an air of elegance like Shi Tianzhu. “No wonder you don’t have a girlfriend at your age.”

Meng Jiang couldn’t tolerate being poked at his sore spot. “You’re just a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse. Stop pretending to be a master.” (T/N: It is an expression used to describe someone who stumbles upon success or good fortune by sheer luck or coincidence, rather than through their own abilities or efforts. It implies that the person’s success is unexpected and not the result of their skill or foresight.)

Zhu Shuangshuang chimed in, “Mr. Ji, you should reflect on this issue as well. As a billionaire CEO with no girlfriend, isn’t that an even bigger problem?”

Ning Su retorted, “Don’t talk bad about my money bag!”

***

Players gradually arrived at the amusement park, happily playing together with their ghost friends.

At first, the players found the games here childish, but before long, they were enjoying themselves just like their ghost friends, fully immersing themselves in the experience.

Their bodies transformed into that of five or six-year-olds, and their hearts seemed to return to carefree and naïve childhood, where they could easily burst into laughter.

They laughed to their heart’s content and played joyfully.

Gui Sheng was splashing his little arms in the small pool, while Manman swam gracefully.

Zhu Shuangshuang rode the roller coaster with squeals of excitement.

Meng Jiang was playing bumper cars with A Yi, crashing around in a childish manner.

Ji Mingrui and Sui Sui were sitting on the swinging pendulum, chanting something.

Shi Tianzhu was sitting on a rocking chair, reading a book, while the Gu Witch was studying insects.

For many of them, it was their first time visiting an amusement park, accompanied by their loved ones.

The amusement park was a place to distribute and store happiness.

Ning Su was lazily playing a casual game on his phone, sitting next to the boy with a birthmark. Ning Su asked him, “How did you pass away?”

The boy with a birthmark replied, “I died from a heart disease.”

Ning Su asked, “Did it hurt?”

The boy with a birthmark said, “No, the only thing that pains me is that my parents spent a lot of money on my treatment, and after my death, they have to grieve and repay the debts at the same time.”

Ning Su reached out and patted his head, feeding him once again with dark energy, just as they had agreed back then.

Laughter could be heard throughout the amusement park. Amidst this laughter, everything from the past seemed less burdensome.

At lunchtime, all the players and ghost friends looked amazed as Ning Su and his family took out bags of sumptuous food from their baskets.

Vanilla lamb legs, black pepper steak, honey-glazed chicken wings...

Under the envious gazes of others, they laid out the picnic mat and arranged the food.

Zhu Shuangshuang, holding a sandwich with cucumber slices between two slices of toast, came over and asked, “Su Su, you brought more than ten bags. Are you inviting everyone to eat together?”

She was indeed overthinking.

Looking at the speed at which they were eating, she felt that even with dozens of bags, these three children would be able to finish them.

After satisfyingly finishing their lunch and trying out all the amusement rides, they lay on the grass, watching the sunset.

Fairy Tale Town exuded a somber atmosphere, with a dark color palette that even the sun couldn’t brighten. It remained as bleak as the moon’s pale glow.

However, just as it was about to set, a tinge of orange sunset painted the sky, casting a warm orange light upon a dozen children lying on the grass. It brought a bright hue of fairy tale-like colors to the scene.

Soon after, an uncountable number of peculiar child-like creatures started appearing.

In Fairy Tale Town, there were only children.

Some of them died in their mothers’ wombs, while others met their demise in the cold world, abandoned or murdered.

If one day, by a one-in-a-million chance, this instance was to open again, and people sought them out to inquire about Fairy Tale Town, its secrets, and how to conquer it.

They would say that Fairy Tale Town was inhabited solely by children, and the way to progress was by giving them a fairy tale story.

T/N: This is the end of the second arc! Next arc, the ML will finally make his appearance. Yey! ^^