Kid Bro

Biodata

Background / History

Childhood and Bullying

Kid Bro’s parents worked away from home, leaving him with his grandmother, whom he helped collect plastic bottles. After classmates saw them collecting recyclables, they mocked his family and called him a child without a mother. The bullying escalated into kicking his schoolbag around, stealing his lunch money, and beating him when he had nothing to give 31.

After one beating, Kid Bro stayed at school because he feared his grandmother would mistake his injuries for evidence of misbehavior and beat him again. The class monitor, Xiaobai, found him while staying late to clean. Xiaobai bought him beef noodles, and the two became friends 31 32 35.

Betrayal of Xiaobai

The red-clad bully resented Xiaobai for reporting misconduct to teachers. After beating Kid Bro, he ordered him to bring Xiaobai to the swimming pool. Kid Bro obeyed and arranged a secret meeting there at midnight 35.

At the pool, Kid Bro admitted envying Xiaobai’s happy family and good grades. Once the bully captured Xiaobai, Kid Bro justified the betrayal by saying that he would otherwise have been beaten himself. The revealed memory ends with Xiaobai’s drowned body floating in the pool, the red-clad boy panicking, and Kid Bro laughing maniacally 35.

Encounter with Chen Han and Fang Lei

Kid Bro first appears hiding behind a glass door in a heavily stained white shirt. During subsequent blackouts, Chen Han hears bullying nearby and discovers the bloodied child crouching beside him with an unnaturally wide smile 15 21 23.

After receiving candy from Chen Han, Kid Bro agrees to lead him and Fang Lei away from the pool, warning that his bullies must not discover them. Following him triggers a new set of rules. He supplies flashlights and bath towels, then asks Chen Han to surrender his own towel despite the rule that losing it means freezing to death. When Chen Han slowly begins removing it, Kid Bro interprets the movement as an offer to share, allowing both to remain covered 28 30 31.

While recounting his past, Kid Bro asks the men to stay with him forever. Their silence prompts a monstrous transformation, but his bullies arrive after following candy that fell from Chen Han’s torn pocket. Kid Bro immediately stops transforming and trembles in fear. The children beat him while Chen Han and Fang Lei escape 31 32 33.

Capture and Hidden Ending

Kid Bro later reaches the exit, limping and badly injured. He insists that the men cannot leave without their swimming stubs, expecting the pool water to have ruined them. His attempt fails because both stubs were left with the ticket seller for safekeeping 35.

Xiaobai then confronts him and captures him in a small gourd despite his resistance. Kid Bro protests that they are friends and blames the other children for Xiaobai’s death. The subsequent revelation of his betrayal leads to the hidden ending “Ingratitude” and Chen Han’s perfect clear 35 36.

Appearance

Kid Bro resembles a boy of roughly ten, with a battered, blood-covered face 31 33.

• Clothing: A white shirt so heavily stained that it initially appears gray 15.
• Injuries: Bruising, swelling, facial wounds, and blood that drips onto the ground 23 28.
• Expression: Initially timid and vacant, but capable of a grin stretching to his temples 23.
• Monstrous features: Sharp fangs appear during his attempted transformation 32.

Personality

Kid Bro combines fearfulness and a desire for companionship with manipulation and cruelty. He is delighted by a small gift of candy and happy when Chen Han speaks to him, yet uses apparently innocent requests to place the players in deadly situations 28 30 32.

His fear of the bullies persists even as a supernatural entity: their voices alone interrupt his transformation. His betrayal of Xiaobai also exposes his willingness to sacrifice someone who helped him to avoid further abuse. When confronted, he appeals to their friendship while shifting responsibility to the killers 32 35.

Abilities & Skills

Supernatural Transformation

Kid Bro begins transforming when Chen Han and Fang Lei do not answer his request to remain with him forever 32.

• His grin extends to his temples and exposes sharp fangs.
• The transformation stops immediately when he hears his bullies.
• Its completed form and full capabilities are not shown 32.

Item Provision

Kid Bro provides supplies useful for navigating the freezing paths outside the pool 30.

• Gives Chen Han and Fang Lei a flashlight each.
• Produces two bath towels from behind his back, seemingly out of thin air.
• The towels eliminate the players’ sensation of cold; sharing one still provides protection 30 31.

Supernatural Endurance

Kid Bro survives a severe beating that the narration states would have killed an ordinary person 35.

• Remains mobile despite extensive injuries, though he limps.
• His endurance does not prevent Xiaobai’s gourd from capturing him 35.

Associated Rules

The escape rules use “the child” for two different characters. Li Chen identifies Rules 1, 2, 7, and 8 as referring to Kid Bro, while Rules 3, 4, and 9 concern Xiaobai—the genuine guide to the exit 34.

• Towel trap: His request conflicts with the rule that players without towels will freeze to death; sharing resolves the conflict 30 31.
• Companionship trap: Agreeing to remain forever would prevent escape, while refusing would violate the prohibition against rejecting his requests 32.

Relationships

• Xiaobai — Class monitor and former friend who fed and comforted him. Kid Bro lured him into a fatal ambush; Xiaobai later captures him 32 35.
• Red-clad boy and his group — Bullies who assaulted and extorted him, then forced him to lure Xiaobai to the pool. Kid Bro remains terrified of them 28 32 35.
• Chen Han — Gives him candy and shares a towel with him. Kid Bro subsequently tries to keep him at the pool forever 28 30 32.
• Fang Lei — Asks Kid Bro to lead them out and accompanies Chen Han along his route before escaping 28 32.
• Grandmother — Raises him while his parents work elsewhere and collects recyclables with him. Kid Bro says he fears her punishment after being beaten 31.

Related Item

• Kid Bro’s Eyeball — A level-1, single-use item awarded to Chen Han after the perfect clear. It can circle one incorrect rule. Its appearance is that of a fresh eyeball with blood still trickling from it 36.

Notable Quotes

“Let’s stay here forever and ever. Will you be my friends?” 32

“Monitor, if I didn’t bring you over, they would beat me up!” 35