Chapter 86
Chapter 86
Yu Lingling looked up and saw Ah Bu standing above her with an oil lamp, her expression dark. After a moment’s thought, Yu Lingling raised one mangled, bloodied hand.
“Hi.”
Ah Bu said ominously, “This is the solution you were talking about?”
Yu Lingling did not keep her in suspense. She could tell Ah Bu was on the verge of exploding, so she took out the Music Box and held it toward her.
“Here.”
Ah Bu’s expression stiffened, but she did not take it.
Yu Lingling thought for a moment, wound it a few more times, and opened it.
“Happy Birthday to You” began playing once more. The little girl figurine, now somewhat ugly, rose and started spinning in circles again.
Ah Bu stood frozen for a long time.
Yu Lingling did not move either.
Only when the sky began to brighten did Ah Bu reach out and take the Music Box. Then she turned and left.
Yu Lingling surveyed the ruins she had created. After some thought, she took out the Nearly Bald Feather Duster and used it for the second time.
A battered hardcover notebook appeared in her hand.
Yu Lingling was utterly exhausted, and this place was relatively safe, so she simply sat down on the floor and began reading.
One glance was enough for her to determine that it was a child’s diary. The entries followed the usual format, listing the month, day, and weather.
The diary was not very long. Unlike the diary brimming with malice that she had seen in “Happy Family,” this one was a record of a little girl’s suffering.
The little girl’s family was poor, but they managed to get by, and her family treated her reasonably well. Though she had to work, she had enough to eat and was allowed to attend school. The little girl was content with that.
But everything changed when she contracted a strange illness. Something resembling Snake Scale began growing on her body.
The little girl could no longer go to school. No one would play with her, either. Afraid that she might infect them, everyone called her a monster.
At first, the girl’s mother tried to cut away the Snake Scale with a knife. But the Snake Scale continued to spread, and the little girl was locked away.
Then one day, her mother prepared a dress for her and took her into the city. Not only did she buy the little girl delicious food, but she also bought her the Music Box she had always wanted as a birthday present.
The little girl was confused. It was not even her birthday.
The next day, however, a man took her away. Her parents told her that he was a doctor who would treat her illness.
The little girl did not want to go, but she was too afraid to refuse.
Only later did she learn that the man was not a doctor at all. He worked for the Circus. While performing in town, he had overheard people talking about the little girl’s family. They all claimed she was the reincarnation of a snake demon, and that her father was being punished because he had once eaten a snake.
At first, the Snake Scale covered only the girl’s limbs, and the sight was enough to draw an audience. Though fewer people came as time passed, some still wanted to see the “snake demon.” Some even wanted to pull off the “snake demon’s” Snake Scale, so she could still earn the man some money.
The man kept the little girl in chains, caged alongside the animals used in the performances.
After an unknown amount of time, the little girl grew older, and the Snake Scale on her body began to disappear. She thought she would finally be allowed to go home, but when the man discovered what was happening, he left for several days.
When he returned, the man seemed to have truly become a doctor. He performed surgery on the little girl.
He flayed the skin from her entire body, then wrapped her in snakeskin. He even sewed together what had once been her legs, turning them into a “snake tail.”
The little girl now seemed to have truly become a “snake demon,” and the man made a fortune from her. But the snakeskin was not truly her own skin. Every so often, the man had to play doctor again and replace it with a fresh layer.
The final page of the diary also contained the last words the little girl would ever write as a human. Being human was too painful, so she placed all her memories inside her most beloved gift.
Now that she was no longer human, she naturally could not keep writing in a diary.
After finishing the last page, Yu Lingling closed the notebook. “Oh, Ah Bu. You’re the one keeping yourself trapped.”
Ah Bu’s pupils narrowed into vertical slits as she stared expressionlessly at Yu Lingling.
This woman truly was infuriating. Ah Bu had only just recovered all her memories. Unlike the child she had once been, she now knew that her parents had never been deceived. They had sold her to the Circus themselves.
There were also some things she had never written in the diary. She had tried to run home once. A Circus performance had passed near her old home, and she had even seen her parents bring a little boy to watch the show. They had paid for stones and let the boy pelt her with them.
Ah Bu knew the Circus Ringmaster had arranged it deliberately. Even so, she could not accept the truth. She still held out hope for her family. What if her parents simply had not recognized her? After all, even her face was covered in snakeskin.
So Ah Bu used a pair of scissors to cut her own legs apart and escaped, fleeing back to the home in her memories.
No one knew how much pain Ah Bu endured. Every step she took left a bloody footprint on the ground.
When she finally arrived, she discovered that her family had built a new house. She could no longer recognize the place she had once called home.
But Ah Bu saw her parents. She called out to them, only for her father to beat her relentlessly with a stick. She told them who she was, but no one would believe her.
Then Ah Bu heard her mother’s voice.
“Stop… stop hitting her.”
“What if that man comes looking for her and sees that you’ve damaged her? What if he makes us pay?”
“Y-you’re a monster now. Don’t come bother us anymore.”
It was not that they could not recognize her. They simply did not want to.
Ah Bu saw the Circus Ringmaster standing in the doorway. Her parents would not even spare her another glance before hurriedly shutting the door.
After being taken back to the Circus, Ah Bu was sent into the Black Tent and subjected to yet another operation – she had long since lost count. This time, her tongue was cut into the forked shape unique to snakes.
The innocent little girl vanished. All that remained was Ringmaster Ah Bu – skinless, devoid of human memories, and filled with hatred for everyone who abused animals.
Ah Bu came to retrieve her diary, only to find Yu Lingling sitting in the pit and leafing through it. That infuriating woman had obviously sensed her arrival, but knowing Ah Bu could not attack her, she brazenly finished reading all her secrets right in front of her.
“Was it a good read?”
Yu Lingling did not return the diary right away. “No.”
Ah Bu held out her hand.
Yu Lingling placed the diary in her palm. After a moment’s thought, she added three pieces of White Rabbit Creamy Candy.
After Ah Bu had been taken back to the Circus, all she remembered was being beaten and starved. She was not even allowed to drink much water, because that would make her need to use the bathroom and interfere with the show.
As for starving her, that was to ensure Ah Bu always remained thin. Otherwise, she would not look like a “snake demon.”
For Ah Bu, the Black Tent held her most painful memories. Players sent inside for punishment had to undergo the same operations Ah Bu had endured in the past. Many could not withstand them and died during surgery. Some survived, only to go insane.
The Red Tent, meanwhile, was tied to the person who had bought Ah Bu. As a result, she felt intense fear and aversion toward both tents.
Those emotions also affected everyone who entered the instance.