She leaned against her father's side, sitting in the lounge outside the Haunted House.
Her eyes were closed, a bottle of water clutched in her small hands, and a lingering trace of a smile still lingered on her face — it was obvious she'd had a wonderful day.
The father's features were crooked, but the love in his gaze as he looked down at his daughter was unmistakable. He gently stroked her hair, only to notice that someone had tied a playful little braid on the back of her head. He had no idea who had done it, but somehow, with that braid, the girl seemed just a bit more lively.
The two of them sat nestled together. Despite their respective disabilities, the picture they made was undeniably heartwarming.
"You two rest here for a while. Don't wander off — I'm going to go into the Haunted House and let the other employees know, and then I'll take you home." Chen Ge kept a clear head throughout. One of the biggest reasons he had agreed to accompany the father and daughter around the park was that it gave him a chance to get closer to them, to put them at ease.
Of course, he had never harbored any ill intentions. He simply wanted to get to the bottom of what was really going on.
The girl leaned against her father, looking drowsy. She could barely keep her eyes open.
There was still plenty of time before he was supposed to meet the woman, so Chen Ge decided he would take them home himself and take a look at where they lived.
He had a hunch that this girl and that water ghost were connected somehow.
Back inside the Haunted House,
Once everything was arranged, Chen Ge grabbed his backpack and packed the replay device and the comic book inside.
Xiao Gu was using the Skull Crusher, so Chen Ge left it behind this time.
"Let's go. I'll take you home." Chen Ge slung the bag over one shoulder, his expression so sincere that no one could bring themselves to refuse.
The man scratched his head, seeming to deliberate: "My… sister… not let… strangers… home."
"Your sister doesn't want you bringing strangers home?" Chen Ge smiled. "I understand. She's worried about you two letting wolves in the door — thieves, or what have you. But I'm not a stranger, are I? We had a great time together today, didn't we?"
After some patient coaxing, the middle-aged man finally agreed.
Chen Ge escorted the pair out of New Century Paradise, flagged down a taxi, and climbed in with the father and daughter.
The little girl fell asleep shortly after getting in the car. Not wanting to disturb her, Chen Ge and the middle-aged man sat in a comfortable mutual silence.
Following the address the man had given, the taxi pulled up to a run-down residential complex on the eastern outskirts of the city.
The neighborhood was made up of old six- or seven-story apartment blocks. The exterior paint was peeling badly — so much so that it was impossible to tell what color they had originally been.
"Looks like they were built twenty or thirty years ago, at least."
Chen Ge paid the fare and the three of them stepped out.
"You live here? But didn't you say Donggang earlier?"
He had specifically asked the driver while they were in the car — this neighborhood was quite far from the Donggang Reservoir.
"I… live… home." The man managed a few disjointed words. Chen Ge had no idea what he was trying to say.
Cradling the sleeping girl in both arms, the middle-aged man walked ahead on his own. He hadn't told Chen Ge to leave, so Chen Ge naturally followed behind.
The man had intellectual limitations, but he still possessed basic life skills. He weaved through the old, dilapidated buildings to the very back of the complex and entered the first stairwell.
The sun hung low on the horizon, moments from setting. The surroundings felt desolate — it wasn't even dark yet, but the dimness crept in around the edges of Chen Ge's vision. Perhaps it was just his imagination.
The ceiling in the stairwell was low; he could nearly touch it with a light jump. The moment he stepped inside, the first thing he felt was a sense of oppression.
Led by the middle-aged man, they arrived at the third floor. The man reached into his collar, fumbling around for a long while before finally finding the key hanging from a cord around his neck.
Like a child, he held the key up to his eyes, examined it carefully, and then unlocked the door.
"Can I come in and take a look?"
The man didn't respond. He opened the door, carried the girl inside, and laid her down on the sofa. Then he trotted into the bedroom, as if searching for something.
The apartment was clean — nothing like the mess Chen Ge had imagined. It was sparse, but everything had been put away neatly and in its place.
"There are only two pairs of slippers — one large, one small. The bathroom only has two toothbrushes. Looks like the man's sister doesn't live with them. He's been taking care of this child on his own, even with his disability."
Someone whose own cognitive abilities were limited, raising a child whose mental development was likewise below normal — and yet he had managed to keep everything in tidy order. It was surprisingly impressive.
Chen Ge glanced toward the bedroom. The man was on his knees on the floor, opening the nightstand, and pulling out a quilted blanket.
Seeming afraid of disturbing the contents, he handled everything with great care. After retrieving the blanket, he tidied everything back up before stepping out of the bedroom.
The middle-aged man's eyes seemed to contain nothing but his daughter. He draped the blanket gently over the girl, then settled onto the other end of the sofa, gazing at her with paternal warmth — completely ignoring the fact that Chen Ge was still standing in the room.
"No wonder your sister doesn't want you bringing strangers home. If some bad person showed up, your whole place could get cleaned out and you wouldn't even know it." Chen Ge wandered around on his own. The apartment wasn't large — just one bedroom and a very small living room. It was bare, but somehow warm and inviting.
"Familial hereditary condition, abandoned by his wife — the only one in the family who was normal — and still he's managed to survive like this, stubbornly. That's no small thing."
Chen Ge stepped into the bedroom. His gaze swept across the nightstand and, to his surprise, landed on a photograph.
He reached out and picked it up. The photo, housed in a frame, was strange.
On a sunlit grassy field, the middle-aged man grinned with an open, guileless smile. The little girl was chasing butterflies. Beside the two of them, there should have been one more person — but that figure had been cut out of the picture, leaving a human-shaped gap in the composition.
"Was that the girl's mother?"
Wanting to find more clues, he opened the nightstand. Beneath some clothing, he discovered a notebook.
Flipping through it casually, Chen Ge found that the notebook contained no writing at all — but it was clear that many pages had been torn out.