Liu Qiaozhi seemed tireless. Her silvery laughter echoed non - stop on the campus.
From the classrooms upstairs came the rhythmic chanting led by the teacher:
"Little bench, don't tilt."
"I invite mommy to sit down."
"I'll rub mommy's back."
"Mommy praises me as a good baby."
...
The children's synchronized reading voices spread to every corner of the campus.
But Liu Qiaozhi's laughter suddenly stopped.
She wiped the smile off her face and didn't say she wanted to keep swinging.
She waited for the swing to slowly come to a halt on its own.
Liu Qiaozhi's mood changed quickly. She lowered her head again and murmured the last line:
"Mommy praises me as a good baby, mommy praises me as a good baby..."
It was unclear which word triggered her emotional upheaval. As she spoke, Liu Qiaozhi suddenly jumped off the swing and ran towards the nearby bushes.
Ning Yitao was puzzled but quickly followed.
Ning Yitao pushed aside the bushes and saw Liu Qiaozhi hiding inside.
At this moment, she was acting out of character, hugging her head and curling up, burying her head deep in her knees, with her back to Ning Yitao.
There were sharp branches all around Liu Qiaozhi. In her haste, the branches scratched her delicate skin, and the wounds were still oozing blood.
But she seemed oblivious to the pain. Instead, she kept hiding deeper into the bushes, hoping that the feeling of being surrounded by the bushes would bring her a sense of security.
On closer inspection, one could see that Liu Qiaozhi's body was trembling slightly.
"Is she scared?"
This thought crossed Ning Yitao's mind.
Ning Yitao reached out and gently patted her on the back, just like a parent soothing a crying child, trying to calm Liu Qiaozhi's nerves and make her feel safe.
Liu Qiaozhi's tremors intensified. They could even hear her sobbing.
Ning Yitao sighed softly, stepped forward, and wrapped her arms around the sobbing Liu Qiaozhi.
Ning Yitao used her own body to shield her from the sharp branches and whispered in Liu Qiaozhi's ear to comfort her:
"It's okay. I'm here."
Ning Yitao repeated these words patiently over and over again to soothe her emotions.
Liu Qiaozhi's shoulders trembled as she sobbed. She wrapped her arms around Ning Yitao, feeling the warmth in her embrace.
Where Ning Yitao couldn't see, Liu Qiaozhi flashed a terrifying smile in her arms and hugged her even tighter.
Ning Yitao didn't notice her little move. She didn't know how much time had passed when the children's laughter rang out again. It was time for recess.
Ning Yitao turned to look in the direction where the children were playing, then at the big tree where she had first appeared in this illusion.
Sure enough, everything was the same. The children under the tree were still the same ones, doing the same playful actions without any change. A strange feeling crept over her.
The only difference was that Liu Qiaozhi, who had been sitting on the swing, was gone.
But the surrounding children seemed to ignore the swing and continued playing on their own.
What used to look like a innocent scene now seemed extremely strange.
They were like wind - up dolls, repeating the same fixed actions non - stop. Even the smiles on their faces remained the same, with the same curvature.
There was an air of strangeness and danger everywhere.
Liu Qiaozhi seemed to be the only one excluded and unable to join in the others' activities.
Another soothing piece of music played, followed by the same clear and pleasant childish voice:
"Ding - ding - dong, ding - ding - dong, kids, it's time for class. Hurry into the classroom. I'll say hello to the teacher, and the teacher will praise me as a good baby."
"Ding - ding - dong, ding - ding - dong, kids, it's time for class. Hurry into the classroom. I'll say hello to the teacher, and the teacher will praise me as a good baby."
When the voice repeated for the second time, Ning Yitao still noticed that the originally clear childish voice had a delayed and mechanical tone.
Just like before, the playing children rushed back into the classroom. Nothing was left on the lawn, as if nothing had happened.
In a short while, the children upstairs continued to chant the same nursery rhyme:
"Little bench, don't tilt."
"I invite mommy to sit down."
...
"This is a loop. During the same time period, everyone except myself and Liu Qiaozhi is stuck in a never - ending loop."
Ning Yitao frowned, thinking about what to do next.
She could only hold Liu Qiaozhi, the only one who might break the situation, and wait for a flaw. If she acted rashly, she would disrupt the layout of the illusion again, waste time, and have to start looking for clues from the beginning.
Now she could only wait for something to break the cycle.
Finally, after the fourth cycle ended.
The fifth cycle began. The children returned to their original playing spots, laughing and playing tirelessly.
At this time, Liu Qiaozhi finally made a move. She broke free from Ning Yitao's embrace, lifted her head, and regained the bright smile she had when they first met.
She grabbed Ning Yitao's hand, stood up, and all the tear stains on her face disappeared as if they had never been there.
If it weren't for the wet spots on Ning Yitao's clothes left by her tears, she would have suspected that Liu Qiaozhi had never cried.
She led Ning Yitao towards the swing.
She acted as if nothing had happened and sat back on the swing. This time, the surrounding children finally showed some change.
They all stopped their actions at the same time and looked in Liu Qiaozhi's direction.
Liu Qiaozhi became the center of attention. She calmly said to Ning Yitao:
"Look, these are all my friends. But they're so boring. I declare that you're my favorite friend now."
"Tell me, if I make them all leave, would you stay here with me alone?"
As soon as she finished speaking, all the children who had been playing froze in their tracks, standing still like puppets with empty, expressionless eyes, but all looking in Liu Qiaozhi's direction.
Ning Yitao had a strong hunch that if she nodded, all the children in front of her would instantly vanish into thin air. Liu Qiaozhi was being too impulsive and reckless.
Ning Yitao rubbed her forehead helplessly and changed the subject:
"Don't be impulsive. You must have had a reason for keeping them at first. Can you tell me why?"
Sure enough, a child's attention was easily diverted. As soon as Ning Yitao mentioned this, Liu Qiaozhi immediately forgot her previous thought. She jumped off the swing, took Ning Yitao's hand again, her eyes shining brightly, and said with a smile:
"You're really my best friend. I like something, and you'll surely like it too. The teacher said that good babies should learn to share. I'm going to share it with you."
Liu Qiaozhi looked completely like an innocent child, blinking her big eyes as she pulled Ning Yitao through the main entrance.
Once inside, the walls were painted pink, and the walls were hung with children's paintings. In the middle of the first floor was a large doll, attracting the children's attention.
As soon as they entered, colorful streamers hung from the ceiling, and colorful balloons were placed in every corner of the room. Any child who liked them could take one.
There were lots of snacks and toys at the entrance. Nursery rhymes were playing in the kindergarten.
This was to ease the children's discomfort on their first day of school when they were away from their parents.
A huge banner in the air read:
"First Day of School at Ryan Kindergarten!"
Liu Yun'er pulled Ning Yitao straight to the second floor.
The second floor had a stronger academic atmosphere. The space on the second floor was larger, and the classrooms on both sides of the corridor were filled with small chairs, waiting for the children to come to class.
The paintings hanging on the corridor were even more beautiful. Some children could even write calligraphy at a very young age.
Liu Yun'er didn't spare a glance at these things and headed straight for the end of the corridor.
She led Ning Yitao to stop in front of the second - floor restroom. Liu Qiaozhi looked up at Ning Yitao, with her dimples faintly visible. She said:
"This is the place."