The hoarse voice carried a mix of childish innocence and confusion, laced with a hint of wild joy.
The little girl climbed up from the edge of the sunken tiger enclosure. She was filthy, her entire body wrapped in tattered black cloth. The pitch-black round pupils at the center of her eerie, purple irises stared relentlessly at Sean.
She looked sluggish, like an aging beast.
But as she continued to study him, a glimmer of anticipation and longing finally surfaced in her cloudy eyes.
"Bro... Brother?" she called out hesitantly.
Luo Xi turned to look at Sean. Although the guy possessed practically zero combat power, his features were sharp and striking. His slanted, heroic eyebrows carried an unbridled, roguish charm. His gold-trimmed shirt was hopelessly wrinkled, yet he still gave off that obnoxious air of a superior.
As rotten as his reputation was, and as lecherous as he might be, his looks were undeniably top-tier.
Because of this, she couldn't possibly connect Sean with that beast-like little girl.
Her first reaction was that the girl had mistaken him for someone else.
Opposite them, seeing Sean remain silent, the little girl called out even more urgently, "Brother!"
Sean was puzzled. He didn't know her, and yet, he did.
This was... another easter egg.
[The Little Girl in the Zoo]—that was their internal name for the easter egg. As long as the player chose a male protagonist, encountering her in a specific location would automatically trigger it.
She did indeed live in the zoo, but her exact location was random. Considering that monster had been lingering nearby, Sean hadn't planned on looking for this easter egg in the first place.
Moreover, he wasn't the original protagonist of the game's storyline, so why did the easter egg trigger anyway...?
Recalling the contents of this easter egg, Sean figured this could be considered a form of correction after the game became reality. After all, the original NPCs had all turned into living, breathing people.
Sean glanced at Luo Xi, who was looking at him with an inquiring gaze.
In that case, he might as well speed up the progress a bit...
Sean revealed a harmless smile, walked over, and crouched down. "Little girl, did you mistake me for someone else?"
The little girl instinctively stepped back. She seemed terrified of leaving the boundaries of the tiger enclosure, but seeing Sean approach, she couldn't help but let out a hopeful cry, "Bro... Brother?"
Sean's expression was so gentle it was nauseating. "Little girl, I'm not your brother. Why are you here all alone? Did you get separated from him?"
Timid yet eager, the little girl leaned forward a few steps. She didn't dare leave the tiger enclosure, so she could only get as close to the edge as possible.
She raised her head and sniffed the air hard. Her black hood slipped down, revealing a filthy but delicate little face.
She looked like a little elf tossed into a mud pit—a heartbreaking sight.
Just as even Luo Xi began to frown slightly, the little girl revealed a look of extreme disappointment. Using both hands and feet, she scrambled backward rapidly.
"You... you're not my brother..."
Sean instead took a few steps forward, smiling gently. "Then, how about I help you find your brother?"
"Brother... Brother..." The little girl suddenly clutched her head, letting out an agonized cry. "Brother is gone! Brother is dead! Dead!"
Her screams were utterly piercing, but the man crouching in front of her didn't show any reaction. He continued in that damnably gentle tone, "Dead? How did your brother die?"
The purple veins spreading across her irises emitted an eerie, fluorescent glow, and the little girl's cries grew even more shrill. After a bout of rapid gasping, she tilted backward and fell straight down.
Luo Xi, who had been watching all of this, moved in an instant. She lunged forward and grabbed the little girl's arm.
The tattered black cloth slipped away. Luo Xi, who had previously only been frowning slightly, felt her pupils contract in shock.
The hunched, frail body was covered in scars and missing its left calf, but her belly was impossibly large. There were many purple lumps on the bulging skin of her stomach. With every faint breath she took, the lumps squirmed around like living creatures.
She didn't show any disgust. Instead, after securing her hold on the girl, she turned to look at Sean, who was straightening up. Her tone was calm. "Why did you have to press her?"
Sean spread his hands. "If I don't ask, how am I supposed to help her?"
"Help? You're going to help her?" Luo Xi wasn't exactly convinced.
"That depends on whether she wants it," Sean said with a smile.
Luo Xi frowned. "So what about her now?"
"Just wait. Being born and raised here, it's normal to be riddled with disease. However, the vitality of the outcasts is plenty tenacious."
Just as Sean said, it didn't take long for the little girl to wake up.
Terrified, she broke free from Luo Xi's embrace. Using both hands and feet, she grabbed onto the ladder and scurried back to the bottom of the tiger enclosure.
The two people above looked down. Inside the tiger enclosure, there was a small campsite backing against the artificial rockery. It was clearly her home.
"Are you going to help her?" Luo Xi pursed her lips in thought for a long time before finally asking.
Sean made a "please" gesture. "If you want to, and if she wants to."
Luo Xi didn't hesitate. She leaped down and walked into the girl's "home."
By the time Sean carefully climbed down to the bottom of the enclosure, Luo Xi had already led the timid little girl out of the tent.
She brought the girl over to Sean and said softly, "This brother is going to help you too, Qiqi."
The girl named Qiqi looked up at Sean with expectation in her eyes. It seemed Luo Xi had managed to earn her trust in that short amount of time.
Sean put on that gentle expression again. "Qiqi, tell me, how did your brother die?"
Pain crossed Qiqi's face once more, but Luo Xi held her little hand tightly, offering an encouraging smile.
After taking a deep breath, she clumsily gestured and began to explain.
Sean and Luo Xi managed to piece together what she meant. Her brother had likely died from the perennial accumulation of toxins at the bottom of the pit.
"Brother... Brother was just like this, lying on the ground." Qiqi mimicked Yamcha's sprawled-out death pose, her expression dimming.
Sean nodded thoughtfully. "I understand... But how did you mistake me for your brother?"
Qiqi fumbled around for a moment and pulled out a dirty drawing. On it was a large figure and a small figure holding hands.
"You and Brother... look very alike!" Qiqi said forcefully.
Looking at the crude lines, Sean smiled and nodded. "Indeed. When did you draw this?"
"After Brother... after Brother left, I missed him very much." Qiqi lowered her head again, muddy tears falling down. "I... I've always wanted to show Brother my drawing."
Sean glanced at Luo Xi. She appeared calm, but her flickering gaze had already betrayed her emotions.
He smiled and made a proposal. "How about this: I'll be your brother. I went somewhere far away and then came back—you and this pretty sister can come greet me together, and you can show me your drawing. How does that sound?"
Qiqi showed a look of obvious anticipation, then looked nervously at Luo Xi.
Luo Xi smiled and nodded in agreement.
Qiqi jumped up high. That abnormal belly of hers wobbled as if it might burst open at any moment, but she didn't care in the slightest. Instead, she took Luo Xi's hand and said expectantly, "T-Then let's go inside first, and then come out to see Brother!"
Luo Xi shot Sean an inexplicable look before following Qiqi into the dilapidated tent.
Looking at the excited Qiqi beside her, Luo Xi felt deeply moved.
As expected, one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, and rumors couldn't be entirely trusted.
'Although he wants to sleep with me, he can still be considered a good person... I'll just put Qiqi's matter on my tab...'
As she thought this, the little girl beside her tugged at her sleeve and offered up the drawing as if presenting a treasure. With expectant eyes, she asked, "Sister, look, I... I spent a long time drawing this. Will Brother like it?"
Luo Xi crouched down and looked it over carefully. The drawing was actually extremely crude, consisting merely of a large and a small purple figure.
She offered a smile. "It's beautiful. Brother will definitely like it when he comes back."
Qiqi looked even more thrilled. She pointed to the purple pigment. "Right?! And the drawing even smells good. Take a sniff if you don't believe me!"
Hearing this, Luo Xi leaned in and took a sniff. Indeed, the drawing gave off a faint, subtle fragrance, even reminding her of the phantom-velvet grass from her hometown.
"Mhm, it smells really nice."
"Then we have to let Brother smell it later too!"
"Alright."
The two of them waited a little longer. With Qiqi wearing an expectant expression, the woman and the little girl held hands and walked out of the tent, brimming with anticipation.
In this moment, even Luo Xi felt a sense of longing—a longing for that moment of family reunion.
However, just as they stepped out of the tent, she felt the little girl beside her freeze in place.
Was she too excited? It seemed Sean really did look just like her brother.
Slightly distracted, Luo Xi looked forward.
There, Sean was lying on his side on the ground, his body curled up. His limp hands rested against the dirt, and his eyes were completely vacant.
The woman and the little girl stood as if paralyzed by an Ability, until Luo Xi heard the sound of teardrops hitting the ground beside her.
Sean leaped up, letting out a wicked and gleeful burst of laughter.
"How was it? Was my acting convincing?"