Chapter 82: Little Tao

Just then, a voice rang out.

It was lazy and impatient, like someone had been pulled away from something good.

“Hurry, hurry, what’s the hurry!”

“I was just discussing something fun with Sister Lin, and you called me over!”

Su Yutao was stunned.

Whose voice was that?

It wasn’t Qiansui’s. It was someone else’s, lazier, with an indescribable… dullness?

Qiansui trembled in her arms and whispered, “Qianxia… milady…”

The voice grew even more impatient.

“I came as soon as I finished! What’s the matter? Such urgency!”

Qiansui said weakly, “Mm… it’s been resolved…”

There was silence on the other end.

Then the voice exploded with incredulous anger.

“What?! I came to help, and you tell me it’s over?! You f*cking…”

A cough. The voice lowered, but was still explosive.

“Then what was the point of me coming?! I could have been experiencing that thing again!”

Before Su Yutao could react, she heard a thud, like something hitting the floor.

The little penguin started trembling, and then Qiansui’s voice made “wu wu wu” sounds, like something was pressing her neck and choking her.

Inside the penguin’s consciousness space, a green-haired loli was pressing down on another green-haired loli.

The bigger one, Qianxia, gripped Qiansui’s neck with both hands and shook her wildly.

“I swear to god, next time you call me and I come, you’re my father!”

Qiansui was dizzy from the shaking. She finally caught her breath and said weakly, “Um… well, you’re my mom. Wouldn’t that mess up the generations?”

Qianxia shook her even harder.

“You dare talk back!”

Qiansui was being shaken apart. She quickly said, “Also, um, just now, I don’t know if it was a plot deviation or something, but a mid-stage boss appeared here. That boss marker almost smacked me in the face…”

Qianxia froze, then shook even more violently.

“Meow! You dare talk back! And you messed up the plot! What good are you!”

She shook for a long time, until Qiansui was about to pass out. Then she let go.

Qiansui collapsed on the floor like a pancake.

Qianxia stood with her hands on her hips, looking down at her, breathing hard, her voice still explosive.

“This problem isn’t big. Based on the information you sent, that person probably isn’t dead. The storyline should proceed normally.”

She paused, her tone softening a bit.

“Oh well, worst case I’ll cycle you again. Anyway, this small world has plenty of energy. A few cycles won’t hurt.”

Su Yutao heard this from outside.

She was stunned.

Cycle? Go back to that rainy night? Relive all of it?

Would she have to go through those tormenting things again?

Her body started shaking.

Qianxia looked around the consciousness space and noticed something was off.

She looked at Qiansui, then at the surroundings. This wasn’t the host’s consciousness space. This was inside a penguin plushie.

She had come here for the first time. Before, they only called.

She looked down at Qiansui, who was playing dead on the floor, and nudged her with her toe.

Qiansui didn’t move.

She nudged her again.

Still no movement.

Qianxia frowned.

“Wait, why are you hiding in here? Shouldn’t you be in her consciousness sea?”

Qiansui finally got up and whispered, “Um… you didn’t teach me how to enter her consciousness…”

Qianxia was stunned.

She opened her mouth to curse, but swallowed it back.

She took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

“Fine, I’ll teach you.”

She reached out, grabbed Qiansui by the scruff of her neck, and lifted her.

Qiansui hung in the air like a cat.

Qianxia looked at her, her voice full of gritted-teeth helplessness.

“I’ll teach you now. Listen up.”

***

Lin Qingxue went downstairs.

The night wind blew, cool against her face, blowing her hair loose.

She walked slowly, her footsteps echoing in the empty stairwell, one after another, like steps on a heartbeat.

She thought about what had happened, about why she had done those things. Thinking made her head start to ache again, her temples pricking like needles. She rubbed them and quickened her pace.

Out the building door, the streetlights in the compound cast tree shadows on the ground, dark and blurry like puddles.

She walked on the cement path, her shoes scuffing softly.

Past the flowerbeds, past the bench, past the old locust tree, she reached the gate.

The security booth was lit. The guard inside was looking down at his phone, not noticing her.

She leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching the guard.

She snorted.

“This dump has terrible security. So many injured people came out just now and he didn’t notice. Really negligent.”

Then she closed her eyes and rested.

Then she heard a voice.

“Little Tao! Come here! Little Tao!”

A young woman’s voice, with a smile, like calling something dear.

Lin Qingxue started. She looked up and followed the sound.

Under a streetlight, a girl was squatting on the ground, clapping her hands. In front of her stood a small white dog.

The dog was fluffy and round like a snowball, its tail wagging like a propeller.

The girl clapped, called “Little Tao,” and the dog stepped closer, rubbed its head against her hand, and licked her palm.

The girl giggled, held the dog’s face, rubbed it, and said, “Little Tao is a good dog. Little Tao is the best.”

Then she stood up and walked into the compound, clapping and calling, “Little Tao, let’s go. Time to go home.”

The white dog followed at her feet, bouncing along, tail wagging, following her.

Lin Qingxue watched the girl and the dog, watched the little white dog follow at the girl’s feet.

Obediently walking. Not running, not barking, not misbehaving.

In her mind, another image surfaced. The little blind girl curled up on the bed, hugging a penguin, covered in wounds.

She had called her “little mute.” She had called her “little thing.”

She had never called her like that. “Little Tao, come here.”

Would that little blind girl, like this dog, come running when she clapped and called her name? Rub against her hand? Lick her palm?

She remembered how Su Yutao had rubbed against her tonight. Burying her head in the crook of her neck, pressing her face to her chest, hooking her fingers into her collar.

That was pleasing, flattering, begging.

Not because she wanted to be close. Because she was afraid.

That little blind girl wasn’t “Little Tao.” Not that wagging white dog.

She was just a little thing picked up by her daytime self.

She was a little thing used as a punching bag.

She wouldn’t come obediently. She would only tremble in a corner.

Lin Qingxue closed her eyes. Her head started aching again.

A car stopped in front of her.

The window rolled down. Zhou Ye poked his head out, glanced at her, then followed her gaze into the compound.

He saw the girl and the white dog. The girl was already far away, the dog still following at her feet, bouncing along.

Zhou Ye turned back to Lin Qingxue and said, “Sister Lin, why did you call me out this late?”

He glanced at the dog again, his voice carrying a hint of disdain.

“A dog again. That other dog bit your little thing before.”

“Dogs that bite aren’t worth anything.”

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