Chapter 27: The Bewildered Girl (Part Two)

The problem was that Kong Zhe had not given her a good first impression. He had either scolded or shouted at her, and just now the puppy had deliberately scared her, making her opinion of him sink to rock bottom. How was he supposed to persuade her to follow him?

Ah, what a headache! Kong Zhe glared fiercely at the puppy beside him. It was all your fault. If not for you, would I have so much trouble?

The puppy, facing Kong Zhe’s blame, could only whimper twice, its ears drooping in grievance.

There was no other way. Kong Zhe had to force a smile he thought was extremely friendly and comforted the little girl not far away, “Little sister, don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you!”

The little girl hesitated for a moment, then timidly asked, “…Really?”

“Really, I swear!” Kong Zhe hurriedly raised four fingers to assure her.

Hearing this, the girl seemed somewhat reassured. She lifted her foot as if to step out from behind the cabinet where she was hiding, but suddenly remembered something and quickly shrank back, nervously asking, “Then… are you a good person?”

“Ah?” Kong Zhe was stunned. What kind of question was that? But he quickly replied, “Yes, I’m a good person—a really good person!”

“Really? That’s great!” Unexpectedly, after hearing Kong Zhe’s words, the little girl showed a look of delight. She came out from behind the cabinet and ran to Kong Zhe’s side, seemingly dropping all her guard. She took off a tag hanging around her neck and handed it to Kong Zhe.

This time, it was Kong Zhe’s turn to be surprised. He subconsciously took the tag and looked at it.

“If found, please contact 18...7541 immediately, or take her to Room 1201, Building 5, Sky Blue Community, 375 Progress Road, New District of Qingcheng. Generous reward guaranteed—Lin Ruoxue.”

What was this?

Kong Zhe wasn’t truly unfamiliar, but finding such a thing on a girl who should be in high school was rather unbelievable to him.

Whatever the case, he had to confirm. Concealing his astonishment, Kong Zhe asked, “Little sister, why are you giving this to me?”

The girl blinked her large eyes and answered innocently, “My sister said, if I get lost, I should give this to a good person or a police officer!”

“…Uh.”

Kong Zhe was at a loss for words.

So, you believe I’m a good person just because I said so?

Now, Kong Zhe understood why her sister made her wear such a tag. This wasn’t just naive—it was adorably foolish!

He didn’t dwell on that. The girl trusting him so easily was actually to his advantage. Plus, he noticed her home was right in the new district city center, making it the perfect destination.

“Ahem…” Realizing he was getting ahead of himself, Kong Zhe quickly composed himself and asked seriously, “Little sister, do you want to go home?”

The little girl nodded vigorously.

“Then how about I take you home?” Kong Zhe followed up.

“No, there are monsters outside. You’ll be eaten!” To his surprise, the little girl quickly protested when Kong Zhe suggested leaving.

This time, Kong Zhe was caught off guard. He thought she would agree immediately, but she refused, and her reason was her fear that he would be eaten.

Even at a time like this, she was worried about others? She was unbelievably kind!

Shaking his head, Kong Zhe frowned, “But only the city center is safe. Sooner or later, monsters will occupy this place too. If we stay, we’ll die just the same.”

“But…but it’s really far, and it’s snowing so hard. Do we have to walk all the way back?” The girl was still hesitant.

“So do you want to go home or not?”

“…Yes…”

“Then I’ll take you home, simple as that!”

“…No, you’ll be eaten…”

“…”

Seeing her persist in refusing, Kong Zhe felt a headache coming on. He had thought dealing with such a simple girl would be easy, but it turned out she was inexplicably stubborn in certain ways…

Growing anxious, Kong Zhe pretended to get angry and threatened, “No? I’m telling you, you’re going whether you want to or not. This isn’t up to you. If you don’t agree, I’ll… I’ll have the puppy eat you right now!”

“Woof woof! Howl…” The puppy cooperated, baring its teeth and barking twice.

Whether by coincidence or not, as the puppy bared its teeth, an old picture frame suddenly fell from the wall, bounced off the ledge, and landed squarely on the puppy’s head.

“Whimper…” The puppy yelped, hurriedly retreated from the little girl, and when it looked at her, its face was full of fear—this human was simply terrifying.

“Ah…mm!” The girl was so startled she cried out, then remembered Kong Zhe’s threat and quickly covered her mouth. But then a wave of grievance surged up, as if she was about to collapse, and she squatted on the ground, tears pouring from her big eyes like water from a spring: “Don’t eat me, please don’t eat me…”

“Uh…” Kong Zhe ignored the unfortunate puppy. Seeing the girl sobbing pitifully, he felt as if struck by lightning. “She’s really too timid. Can’t she tell I’m joking?”

Looking at her miserable, crying figure, Kong Zhe was filled with guilt, as if he had committed some heinous crime.

But seeing her curled up on the ground, he could only wave his hands helplessly, not knowing what to do.

What now? He’d never dealt with anything like this!

He hadn’t even had a girlfriend, so he had no idea how to comfort a girl.

He suddenly recalled how he used to soothe his younger sister. Whenever she cried, he would pat her head and comfort her, and she’d soon break into smiles.

But that was a method for children. Would it work for someone her age?

No matter. He decided to try anyway.

He walked over, gently stroked her hair, and softly said, “There, I was joking. I won’t let it eat you, don’t cry.”

Kong Zhe’s patting wasn’t random; he paid attention to the force and massaged the right spots—a technique honed from years of experimenting on his sister, making the recipient feel very comfortable.

Sure enough, it worked. The girl’s sobs quickly quieted and stopped, and she seemed to enjoy having her head patted, tilting her head up and showing a blissful expression, just like a kitten that had caught a fish.

Seeing her look up, Kong Zhe quickly flashed a gentle smile and said, “Think about it—your sister must be really worried now that she can’t find you. So come with me. Don’t worry about monsters. Even the fierce puppy has to obey me. As long as you listen to me, I promise to keep you safe… So, what do you say? Will you agree?”

Kong Zhe didn’t realize his tone had unconsciously become just like when he spoke to his own sister.

---

While wiping her tears, Xiao Lei secretly glanced at the man before her. His slightly handsome face and gentle voice slowly calmed her. For reasons she couldn’t explain, she felt something about him drew her in—a strange feeling that stirred her heart. Hearing him mention her sister reminded her she really needed to go home, so she nodded, half-reluctantly, half willingly.

“Phew, finally settled.”

Seeing her agree at last, Kong Zhe breathed a sigh of relief. But then he felt his coat sleeve being tugged.

Turning, he saw the girl looking at him with a pitiful expression, “Uncle, can you help Duanduan? She’s my best friend, but I can’t find her.”

“Duanduan?” Kong Zhe paused. The name sounded familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere. But his face darkened and he said sternly, “Uncle? I’m not much older than you. Call me brother, okay? My name is Kong Zhe—you can call me Brother Kong.”

“Oh…Brother Kong Zhe, please, help Duanduan! She’s my only friend!”

Seeing Xiao Lei’s eyes turn red and tears well up again, Kong Zhe panicked—a joke, after all the trouble he went through to comfort her, he couldn’t let her start crying again.

He hurriedly reassured her, “Don’t worry, think carefully: where were you last together?”

“Last? Last…” The girl muttered for a while before remembering, “Oh, it was in the stairwell on the third floor across the street.”

“Okay, and then?” Kong Zhe nodded and prompted.

“And then she wanted to play hide-and-seek…”

“…And then?” Kong Zhe felt a sudden sense of foreboding.

“Then she told me to close my eyes and count to a hundred. When I finished, I couldn’t find her…”

“…”

Well, Kong Zhe was now certain her friend wasn’t exactly normal. Who would play hide-and-seek with someone so naive? It was a recipe for getting lost.

Seeing the girl waiting for his reply, Kong Zhe scratched his head, troubled. “Little sister, it’s not that I don’t want to help. It’s just that your friend may already…”

“She’s fine!” Before Kong Zhe could finish, the girl interrupted him firmly, “Duanduan is amazing. She’ll be okay.”

“Uh…”

Seeing the girl’s confident expression, Kong Zhe couldn’t say more. He was puzzled though—her confidence didn’t seem to be an act. Was her friend really that impressive?

“Oh, right!” The girl suddenly remembered something and said hurriedly, “Duanduan and I agreed: if we didn’t find each other after an hour, we’d meet back at the starting spot. But before an hour was up, monsters appeared…”

“Oh? Is that so…”

Her friend seemed to have some brains, after all. Kong Zhe pondered for a moment and decided to help her. After all, it was just finding someone. Besides, most of the monsters were concentrated in the northern stairwell and the first floor now. The southern stairwell should be relatively safe.

Once he helped her find her friend, she would surely feel at ease and follow him.

---