My sister, whom I raised, has turned evil after faking her death for three years.

On the way back, Su Qing held Jiang Ran's hand and walked in front.

Cheng Xiaoyu skipped along beside him, still recounting the skeleton prop that fell from the sky in the haunted house, talking animatedly and almost spitting out saliva.

Jiang Ran, holding the lop-eared rabbit, pointed out the facts: he closed his eyes the moment the skeleton jumped down, and shouted so loudly that it hurt her ears.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Xiaoyu's face instantly turned as red as a ripe tomato, and his voice rose a full octave in his defense, startling a stray cat that darted out from the holly bushes by the roadside.

As Su Qing listened to the two little ones bickering, the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up.

She glanced back and saw Cheng Xuyan walking at the back, his hat brim pulled low, his mask back on, and his walk steady, though he was unusually silent.

Since he left the crowd, he has only said two sentences, one of which was "thank you".

"How about we call it a day?" Su Qing slowed down half a step and waited for Cheng Xuyan to come up. "It's getting late, and we've had enough fun. Although there were a few minor hiccups in the middle, overall it was pretty good."

Cheng Xiaoyu immediately turned his head and shouted "Ah...", but after receiving a faint look from Su Qing, he wisely swallowed the rest of his words and instead kicked a small pebble on the roadside to vent his anger.

Jiang Ran hugged the rabbit and nodded obediently.

The program paused for a second, shifting its mask as if considering its wording.

Then he raised his hand and pulled his mask down half an inch, revealing his entire face. His tone was serious, with a hint of barely perceptible embarrassment: "Su Qing, thank you... and... I'm sorry about today."

Su Qing raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

The programmer lowered his eyes, as if giving a summary report of his mistakes: "It was clearly my idea, but I messed up first, and now I need your help..."

Su Qing looked at his earnest self-reflection and suddenly smiled.

It wasn't a polite, perfunctory smile; it was a genuinely funny one. The corners of his mouth turned up much wider than usual, and his eyes crinkled slightly.

She genuinely didn't think it was a big deal; in her view, it was just a casual gesture, the same as picking up something someone dropped on the ground while walking down the street.

"It's nothing," she waved her hand casually, "just don't be so stubborn in the future."

Cheng Xuyan responded sullenly, mentally pressing the label of "weak man" onto his forehead once more.

Su Qing suggested taking the side path, saying there were fewer people there and they wouldn't have to squeeze in.

Cheng Xuyan knew that she was taking care of her own situation, so he didn't say anything. He just pulled his mask up again and walked silently on Su Qing's other side.

Cheng Xiaoyu led the way, waving a tree branch he'd picked up from somewhere, making "swish swish swish" sounds as he introduced himself as a newly hired royal bodyguard for the amusement park.

Su Qing led Jiang Ran in the middle, occasionally looking up and calling out to the front, "Cheng Xiaoyu, don't look at the tree branches, look at the road."

Cheng Xuyan walked on the other side, about an arm's length away from her.

"Su Qing," he suddenly said.

Su Qing turned her head to look at him.

He didn't look at her; his gaze was fixed on the tree branch that Cheng Xiaoyu was waving around haphazardly. His tone was even more serious than before: "I originally wanted to treat you to dinner as a thank you gift, but today is really... not appropriate. How about next time?"

Su Qing glanced at him, smiled, and said okay.

Her tone was casual, as if she were accepting a casual invitation from an ordinary friend, without any extraneous meaning.

  

The program nodded and carefully accepted the promise.

Su Qing looked down and asked Jiang Ran if her knee still hurt.

Jiang Ran shook her head and said it didn't hurt anymore. She added that her favorite thing today was the carousel because her sister rode a white horse.

Su Qing chuckled, reached out and ruffled her hair, making her bangs stick up, then used her fingers to comb them back down.

Cheng Xiaoyu, who was walking ahead, turned around and called out, "Sister Su, I'm thirsty." Su Qing took out a water bottle from her backpack and handed it to him. Cheng Xiaoyu tilted his head back and took two gulps. When he returned the water bottle, he wiped his mouth and suddenly said seriously, "Sister Su, if you ever make a movie, you must play a superhero."

Su Qing took the water glass back and said expressionlessly, "Fine, I'll play Superman, and you play my assistant."

Cheng Xiaoyu thought about it seriously for a few seconds and asked his assistant if he had any superpowers.

Su Qing said no, her assistant was responsible for handing water to Superman after he finished fighting the bad guys.

Cheng Xiaoyu felt that this arrangement was very unreasonable, and began to list on his fingers all the superpowers he could do, from invisibility to eating three hamburgers in one go, and he argued quite hard.

Su Qing let him chatter on ahead, then bent down, picked up Jiang Ran, and carried her a few steps.

Jiang Ran leaned on her shoulder and whispered that her sister was actually better than Superman because Superman couldn't bake cakes.

Su Qing paused for a moment, then chuckled and pressed her face against Jiang Ran's forehead, reminding herself that she couldn't let anyone else hear her say this, or the cake shop owner would give her a raise.

The two spoke in hushed tones, Su Qing's voice was very low, and Jiang Ran's replies were also soft, as if they were sharing a secret that only the two of them knew.

As Su Qing passed the entrance to a narrow alley, she suddenly stopped in her tracks.

Jiang Ran, who was perched on her shoulder, was the first to notice and softly called out "Sister." Su Qing had already put her down and was staring intently into the depths of the alley.

Cheng Xiaoyu walked several steps before realizing that the three people behind him hadn't followed, so he turned around and called out, "Sister Su."

Cheng Xuyan followed Su Qing's gaze to the alley. It was dimly lit, with several waste cardboard boxes and a shared bicycle with a missing wheel. There were faint sounds coming from the depths, but they were not very clear.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Su Qing did not speak.

The system issued a continuous low-frequency alarm in her mind, and several lines of red analysis data flashed on the screen: [A case of child abuse has occurred in the alley. The victim is approximately seven years old, and there are four perpetrators, all males around fifteen years old.]

[Visual analysis indicates an overall threat level of 8% to the host.]

Eight percent? Doesn't that mean there's no threat?

Su Qing mentally reviewed the number, her lips pursed slightly. What she hated most in her life were people who bullied children.

"Please keep an eye on Xiao Ran for me."

Su Qing placed Jiang Ran in a safe location.

Then she turned and walked into the alley.

Her ponytail swayed gently with her steps, and her silhouette in the light gray sweatshirt was gradually swallowed by the shadows at the dim alley entrance.

Cheng Xiaoyu instinctively wanted to follow, but Cheng Xuyan pressed down on his shoulder with one hand, keeping him firmly rooted to the spot.

Chengxu Yan made a phone call, and within two minutes the driver at the end of the alley ran over. Chengxu Yan told him to take the two little ones back to the car first, and then he also entered the alley.