Big Brother, Play with Us

Late at night, eleven o'clock, in the southern outskirts of the city.

The taxi driver repeatedly apologized to the passenger in the back seat. "Little brother, I'm really sorry. That dark patch up ahead is Doll Island Amusement Park. I heard it's haunted inside. I really don't dare go any farther."

Qin Feng got out of the back seat, handed over the fare, and patted the driver on the shoulder. "Thanks for the ride, sir. You should head back first."

After crossing a patch of weeds that reached past his knees, he saw a rusty iron gate ahead.

Most of the paint on the words "Doll Island Amusement Park" had peeled away, and the remaining letters were crooked, casting eerie shadows beneath the moonlight.

The iron gate stood slightly ajar. Qin Feng gave it a gentle push.

"Creeeak—"

Amid the teeth-grinding sound of metal scraping, the gate slowly opened.

The sight beyond it made Qin Feng raise an eyebrow slightly.

Colorful neon lights wound along the path, bathing the entire park in a riot of colors.

A merry-go-round in the distance slowly turned, playing crisp and pleasant music from a music box.

Farther away, a massive Ferris wheel quietly revolved, every cabin lit by a warm, cozy yellow lamp.

How was this the state of a place abandoned for over a decade? This was clearly... an amusement park still in operation.

"Interesting." A faint curve tugged at Qin Feng's lips, and an almost imperceptible ring of silver flashed through his eyes.

In an instant, the entire "fairy-tale world" shed its disguise in his eyes, revealing its hideous true form.

Those colorful neon lights were actually wisps of pale, frigid ghostfire, silently swaying in the air.

The horse figures on the merry-go-round were all missing limbs, and blood-red light burned within the hollow eye sockets of the wooden horses.

The distant Ferris wheel was covered in rust, as though it might fall apart at any moment. Inside every cabin curled an indescribable mass of shadow.

"Wow! Big brother!"

A childish voice came from beside him. Qin Feng turned and saw a little girl of seven or eight leap out from the flower bed beside the path.

The little girl wore a pink tutu and had two cute horn braids. She looked like a delicate doll and gazed at him curiously with large, watery eyes.

"Big brother, are you here to play with us?" The little girl skipped over and affectionately grabbed the corner of Qin Feng's clothes.

Qin Feng looked down at her, and an instantly gentle, harmless smile appeared on his face. "That's right, little one. What's your name?"

"My name is Xiao Mei!" The girl smiled sweetly. "There are lots of other friends too! Big brother, will you play with us?"

As soon as she finished speaking, several more children emerged one after another from the shadows and behind the rides.

"Wow, so many little ones." Qin Feng crouched down until he was level with Xiao Mei, his tone so gentle it could have melted water. "It's so late. Won't your moms and dads worry if you don't go home?"

Xiao Mei tilted her head and thought about it innocently. "We don't have moms or dads. Big brother, play with us for a little while."

The other children gathered around as well, chiming in all at once:

"Yeah, yeah! Play with us!"

"Big brother looks like he'd be so fun to play with!"

Amid their chattering pleas, several lines of cold silver text slowly condensed in Qin Feng's vision:

[Target locked: Lost Children - E-class Anomaly*5]

[Sin Points: 10*5]

[Preliminary rule analysis: They use "games" to lead prey deeper into the park, offering them to a more powerful existence. Core rule: The prey must participate voluntarily; if the prey shows fear, the game will accelerate.]

Four walking E-class experience packs, with a clue to a hidden boss thrown in for free.

The smile on Qin Feng's face became even more "bright and sunny." "Sure. Big brother will play with you. What should we play first?"

"Yay!" The children immediately erupted into thunderous cheers. Xiao Mei clapped her little hands. "Let's ride the merry-go-round first!"

A group of "children" crowded around Qin Feng and brought him to the merry-go-round.

"Big brother, sit on that white horse!" Xiao Mei pointed to a snow-white wooden horse with lavish decorations. "It's the prettiest one!"

In Qin Feng's Spiritual Sense, that white horse was a horse skeleton missing half its skull, with two balls of eerie green ghostfire burning in its hollow eye sockets.

"Okay." Qin Feng sat on it as naturally as could be.

The ghostfire in the horse skeleton's eye sockets visibly flickered violently, as though it had encountered an unprecedented confusion.

As the music began, the merry-go-round started to speed up.

The smiles on the faces of the little "children" gradually twisted.

Xiao Mei's horn braids floated eerily through the windless air. Beneath Xiao Ming's baseball cap, a pair of blood-red vertical pupils that did not belong to a human was revealed.

"Big brother, is it fun?" Xiao Hong, seated on a zebra, turned her head and asked.

Her neck twisted around at an unimaginable angle, nearly one hundred and eighty degrees, and her neck bones let out a chilling crack.

"It's pretty fun." Qin Feng still smiled and even gave her a thumbs-up. "It's just a little slow. Not exciting enough."

The eerie smiles on the little ghosts' faces froze at the same time.

Qin Feng asked with a smile, "By the way, you said new friends come here every day. Where are they now?"

The four little ghosts exchanged glances, then revealed bright smiles again.

"Them..." Xiao Mei drawled. "They had so much fun that they stayed! They're all in the castle at the very back now, playing with our 'sister'!"

"That's right! Red Skirt Sister!" Xiao Ming added excitedly. "She loves playing hide-and-seek with big brothers the most!"

The merry-go-round slowly stopped. The little ghosts eagerly jumped down and crowded around Qin Feng again, taking him to ride the pirate ship.

When the massive ship swung to its highest point and the rusted iron chains groaned under the strain, every passenger would scream in terror.

But at the highest point, Qin Feng released the handrail, spread his arms into the cold wind, and wore a look of pure enjoyment as he shouted, "Higher! Faster!"

This time, even the little ghosts responsible for rocking the ship were stunned. For a moment, they actually forgot to keep causing trouble.

An hour later, the little anomalies were clearly discouraged. They had used every frightening trick they knew, yet this big brother before them had not shown the slightest fear. Instead, he was having even more fun than they were. He had even asked to go to the haunted house on his own and pointed at a real hanged ghost inside, saying, "This guy's special-effects makeup is really convincing."

"Big brother, do... do you want to meet our Red Skirt Sister?" Xiao Hong blinked and unleashed her final trump card. "She definitely, definitely will make things even more fun for you!"

"Of course I want to meet her." Qin Feng looked at the little anomalies, who had already exhausted every trick they had, and the smile on his lips gradually turned playful. "But..."

Unhurriedly, he took a fruit-flavored lollipop from his pocket, tore off the wrapper, and waved it before the little ghosts.

"Before meeting your sister, big brother wants to play a new game with you first."

"A new game?" Four pairs of inhuman eyes lit up at once, a trace of greed flashing through them.

"That's right."

Qin Feng slowly rose to his feet. That gentle, approachable smile gradually became cold and dangerous, like a perfect mask peeling away. His voice lowered as well, carrying an unquestionable sense of finality.

"This game is called..."

He paused, his gaze as though he were looking at several dead objects.

"Sending lost children home."

The instant those words fell, he flipped his right wrist, and a pair of ancient-looking scissors gleaming with deadly silver light appeared in his palm—[Scissors of Truth]! Moonlight seemed to flow across the blades, and even the air around them gave off a faint hum!