Amusement Park

The five of them entered the amusement park.

The colorful flags overhead rustled in the wind, the sound of their flapping alternately dense and sparse.

Xie Xie walked at the front, his steps quick, the hem of his jacket swaying back and forth.

Long Bing walked beside Wu Changkong, holding a hot drink and lowering her head to take a sip. Wu Changkong walked to her left, holding a cup as well, already half-finished.

Tang Wulin and Gu Yue walked side by side at the back, half a step apart, neither saying anything.

Xie Xie stopped in front of a dart stall.

Darts lay on the counter, and a target was nailed to the backdrop. The bullseye had been pierced until it had turned pale and frayed around the edges. The owner sat on a folding chair, looking down at his phone.

Xie Xie picked up a dart and weighed it twice before turning sideways and raising his hand. The first dart went left, landing outside the white line. The second went right, sticking between the red and blue rings. For the third, he stared at the bullseye for an extra moment before throwing it. It landed on the edge of the red ring, embedded at an angle.

The owner took a rabbit from the shelf and handed it over. It was plump, with drooping ears and crooked stitching. A loose thread hung from one of its eyes.

Xie Xie turned it over for a look, pressed the loose thread down twice, and stuffed it into his pocket. Its ears stuck out, bobbing with every step.

They had not gone far when Long Bing caught up from behind. "Want to ride the roller coaster?"

The moment Xie Xie heard the words "roller coaster," he had already changed direction. "Sure."

Gu Yue did not particularly care either way, though for some reason, both Wu Changkong and Tang Wulin frowned slightly without meaning to.

"Are you scared?" Gu Yue walked over to Tang Wulin's side, her voice faint and teasing.

"Haha, how could I be? Gu Yue, you're overthinking it." Tang Wulin forced himself to sound calm.

"You really aren't scared?"

"Fine, maybe a little. Gu Yue, do you want to sit next to me?" Tang Wulin blurted it out without thinking, before even he could react.

"Oh." Gu Yue agreed as if it meant nothing.

There were not many people in line, and they waited through two rounds.

Once the roller coaster started, the track began to climb.

Below, Wu Changkong secretly pinched the corner of Long Bing's clothes. Long Bing merely smiled with her lips pressed together, then took his hand in return.

The stalls and figures on the ground gradually shrank into tiny colored squares. The wind up high was stronger than it was on the ground, pressing their jackets tightly against their bodies.

The roller coaster paused for a brief beat at its highest point, then plunged downward. Wind poured into their ears with a roaring howl, making it hard to hear anything clearly. Gu Yue sat beside Tang Wulin with her eyes open. She stared ahead, her black hair blown entirely behind her.

When they reached the bottom, Xie Xie jumped out of his seat, his hair even messier than it had been that morning. He tried to press it down twice, failed, gave up, and kept walking with it in disarray.

As they dropped, Tang Wulin felt his back leave the seat. It lasted only an instant, his body lagging behind before catching up. Xie Xie shouted from the front, but the wind of the descent crushed his voice short.

It ended quickly. Looking at the pink-themed area ahead, Tang Wulin thought, They've reached the area meant to attract girls.

Gu Yue suggested the carousel. She raised her hand and pointed at it without saying anything.

Xie Xie did not really want to ride it, but he got on anyway, choosing a white horse with a small patch of paint missing from its tail. Tang Wulin sat on the horse behind hers. The carousel turned slowly, circling round and round at a steady pace.

The setting sun shone in from the side, coating the outline of Gu Yue's profile in warm gold. The ends of her hair glimmered in the light. She looked ahead without turning around.

Tang Wulin did not look away either.

Only later did he realize that even if she did not have an especially beautiful face, even if she could be considered ordinary, even if she did not have an impressive figure, and even if she was destined to become his enemy, so what?

He would still fall in love with her. Just not yet, considering Gu Yue still looked like a nine-year-old child.

By the time they got off the carousel, the sky had begun to darken.

The lights of the amusement park came on layer by layer. First were the short lamps along the roadside, then the outline lights around the Ferris wheel, and finally the light strips along the distant tracks. The entire area brightened from nothing, as if someone were slowly turning on a massive lamp.

They bought three grilled sausages from a roadside stall and sat on a bench to eat. The sausages were scorching hot, and Xie Xie had to switch hands several times before he could hold his. He gnawed the last bit of meat clean, tossed the skewer into a trash can, and said, "Are we still going to the aquarium? If we don't go now, it'll close."

When he stood up, the rabbit ears in his pocket swayed twice.

The aquarium was next to the amusement park, less than five minutes away on foot.

The lights at the entrance glowed blue-white. Inside was a long tunnel, with glass overhead and on both sides. Water flowed beyond the glass, and light filtered down from above the surface, forming layer after layer of rippling patterns on the bottom.

Schools of fish swam over their heads, silver-gray with a few brighter ones mixed in. Their orange-red fins flashed when they turned. At the end of the tunnel, the school turned back, moving so neatly around the bend that it looked as if someone had directed them.

Xie Xie stopped in front of a group of entirely blue fish. They crowded together and swam in circles, round and round, as if repeating the same command.

"This is way more boring than I imagined." Xie Xie pouted.

Gu Yue stood before another pane of glass. A fish swam back and forth in front of her. It did not follow the school, remaining alone in that section of water and swimming along a straight line. Whenever it reached the glass wall, it would slowly turn around.

Tang Wulin stood beside her and followed her gaze.

"It's following its own path," she said.

"Maybe it isn't being isolated. It looks to me like it's trying to find a wider habitat for the school." Tang Wulin offered his opinion. "Do you think it'll succeed?"

"I don't know."

They stood side by side for a long time, until that fish was no longer alone.

"Gu Yue, look, its good friend came to find it." Tang Wulin had not expected such a coincidence. "If you ever run into trouble one day, you have to tell me too. I'll definitely stand on your side." After saying that, Tang Wulin still felt rather embarrassed, and his two short little legs carried him running away in no time.

Gu Yue looked at his small retreating figure. "Okay."

When they came out of the aquarium, the streetlights were already on.

Long Bing and Wu Changkong stood at the entrance. Long Bing held a folded piece of paper in her hand. "The three of you need to be careful on your way back."

Xie Xie froze for a moment. "You're not coming with us?"

"No, we have something else to do." Long Bing smiled and waved the movie tickets in her hand.

Wu Changkong followed behind her. The streetlights stretched their retreating shadows long, and after they turned the corner, the wall cut them off.

Only the three of them remained beneath the streetlights.

"Are we still going to the auction?" Xie Xie asked.

"Probably not. It's getting pretty late." Tang Wulin scratched his head, then looked at Gu Yue for her opinion.

"I'll listen to you." Gu Yue was as casual as ever.

"Hey, Gu Yue, why do you listen to him so much? Are you—"

Before he could finish, Gu Yue's gaze stopped him cold.

"Tang Wulin, you've been targeted." The Golden Dragon King's voice rang out again.