Chapter 84 Beautiful and Fortunate

Ji Linmo furrowed his brow deeply.

He had already pieced together the background of the entire scenario.

—The girl, Xuanxuan, had a father who valued sons over daughters, and as a result, both she and her mother were constantly abused by him.

On the girl’s birthday, his rage finally erupted; the father imprisoned mother and daughter, attempting to starve them to death.

But the girl encountered what she called a “fairy” and transformed herself into a “monster,” turning her flesh and blood into a mall brimming with food, thereby saving herself and her mother.

Yet perhaps a child’s wishes are too tangled and contradictory. When she made her wish, the thought must have crossed her mind: “If I were a boy, would Dad let us go?” Because of this, throughout the scenario, the symbol of a “boy”—the elephant—haunted every corner, like a shadow, a kind of psychological contamination.

But what did the “fairy” really mean?

Ji Linmo instinctively softened his voice, seeking to comfort Xuanxuan.

“Xuanxuan, don’t worry. Even if you can’t get out, your mother can come to find you.”

“But before that, I want to ask you—who turned you into this?”

In the darkness, those tear-filled eyes gradually stopped crying, though the girl still sobbed quietly.

“It was the fairy sister who used magic to turn me into this...”

“She said she could grant all the wishes in my mind, so she told me to be careful what I wished for...”

“She has very beautiful eyes. When she smiles, they look just like the moon...”

Eyes? Did that mean the fairy truly existed?

Ji Linmo examined Xuanxuan’s eyes in the darkness, suddenly pausing in disbelief and waving his hand before her.

Nothing...

—As a key NPC, Xuanxuan had never triggered any character prompt so far.

This meant she wasn’t an NPC at all but was instead an object that belonged to the scenario itself.

But how could that be?

As the daughter of the woman in red, Xuanxuan naturally wasn’t human. She should have been, like her mother, a vengeful ghost NPC.

The only explanation was that the so-called “fairy” had directly twisted Xuanxuan into becoming the scenario itself!

Xuanxuan’s existence had become as integral to the mall as the very walls.

But how was that even possible?

Even after so many years in the world of horror, Ji Linmo had never encountered anything so bizarre.

A scenario was a scenario, an NPC was an NPC. Just as a person could not become a building, an NPC could not become a scenario. This kind of anomaly should not exist in the world of horror.

“Mom... Hungry... so hungry...”

In the darkness behind the iron door, Xuanxuan’s eyes suddenly changed. The tears vanished, replaced by a primal, beast-like gaze, and drool dripped to the floor.

Ji Linmo hesitated no longer. He quickly shut the iron door and stepped outside.

“Mr. Ji, you seem surprised. Did you discover something?” Qin Feng’s figure appeared behind Ji Linmo like a specter, a hand pressing firmly on his shoulder.

“The situation is complicated...” Ji Linmo rubbed his brow, at a loss for words, finally gathering his thoughts.

“This little girl... she is the scenario itself.”

“In other words, if we want to escape without breaking the rules, then we must...”

—Within this mall, the iron rule was that players could not leave.

But what if the mall ceased to exist?

“We have to kill it, don’t we?” Qin Feng finished, then laughed.

The boy’s beautiful, fox-like eyes curved into crescent moons.

“Mr. Ji, is that what you were going to say?”

After a brief silence, Ji Linmo shook his head.

“I know it’s a solution, but it’s the last resort. We still have time to explore—there may be another way.”

But even as he spoke, a glint of cold steel flashed in Qin Feng’s hand, a butterfly knife gleaming under the harsh light.

“What are you trying to do?” Ji Linmo quickly reached out, grabbing Qin Feng’s wrist.

But Qin Feng raised his hand and jabbed Ji Linmo’s forehead with his finger, hard.

“Mr. Ji, you may seem cold and unfeeling, but you’re far too sentimental.”

“There’s no girl here—only a giant, fleshy monster.”

With that, the youth flicked his wrist, and the entire layer of wallpaper on the wall was sliced off, fluttering to the ground.

—Without the wallpaper to hide it, the wall’s massive, blood-red chunks of flesh writhed like worms, exuding a strange, revolting stench.

“I’m curious, Mr. Ji—is this what you mean by a seven-year-old girl?”

Qin Feng pressed a hand to the wall of flesh.

At once, the chunks responded like a stimulated gut, secreting a viscous, strange mucus that oozed over Qin Feng’s hand.

Ji Linmo frowned at the sight of the youth shaking his hand clean, and strode toward the exit.

“Qin Feng, I have a task with the woman in red. Whatever you think, I have to let her meet her daughter.”

With that, Ji Linmo turned to push open the door, not looking back.

He had to find a way to bring the woman in red upstairs.

After all, if he didn’t complete the mission of finding the little girl, he would not escape death himself.

“Mr. Ji, do you pity this little girl?” Qin Feng’s large palm suddenly seized Ji Linmo’s wrist, the grip shockingly strong.

Ji Linmo turned to see the youth smiling strangely, his eyes locked on Ji Linmo, voice lowered.

“Is it because you’re a monster too?”

For a moment, Ji Linmo’s eyes widened.

But after the brief lapse, he returned to his usual expressionlessness, shaking Qin Feng off.

“Don’t cross the line, Qin Feng.”

Sensing the faint anger emanating from Ji Linmo, Qin Feng quickly softened, playfully wrapping his arm around Ji Linmo’s in a gesture of mock pleading.

“I was only joking, Mr. Ji—don’t be mad.”

“But honestly, I don’t pity the little girl at all. On the contrary, I find her incredibly beautiful and fortunate.”

Beautiful, fortunate?

Ji Linmo stared in surprise at the boy before him.

But the youth, oblivious to his reaction, continued speaking.

“Look—a small child willing to sacrifice her own freedom, to fulfill her mother’s wish, to keep her beloved mother alive. Isn’t that a beautiful thing?”

“And, to be able to save the one you love—how lucky is that?”

Lucky?

At once, the image of the deranged woman in red flashed through Ji Linmo’s mind.

From the photo, it was clear that before the child’s disappearance, the ghost had been serene and dignified, happiness shining in her eyes.

But now, driven mad by loss, what would happen if she saw her beloved child turned into this because of her? What new depths of madness would she reach?

Where, in all this, was there any beauty or luck for the woman and her child?