The fire grew larger and larger.

Bai Youwei braced herself against the wall, inching her way out step by step.

Her knees stung.

The soles of her feet felt as if she were walking on knife tips.

Though she had already regained sensation, she still couldn’t walk normally. The distance from the candy shop to the outside was only a dozen or so steps, but she covered it drenched in cold sweat, her legs trembling.

The rabbit followed close behind her, matching every step.

Outside the door, she spotted her wheelchair and couldn’t help letting out a sigh of relief. She directed the rabbit: “Go push my wheelchair over here.”

The rabbit twitched its ears, then went pitter-pattering toward the wheelchair.

Small as it was, the path was smooth, and the wheelchair was pushed forward in fits and starts, occasionally spinning in circles, until at last it was nudged to Bai Youwei.

By now, the fire from the candy shop had begun to spread outward.

Bai Youwei settled into her wheelchair, cradled the rabbit, and left Fantasy Street.

Behind her, the toy shop, the bakery, the gift shop, the ice cream parlor — all the shops along Fantasy Street — were swallowed by the flames.

……

Fantasy Street bordered the Dream Garden, a place of lush blossoms and spectacular scenery, made up of one garden after another strung together.

Bai Youwei made her way through the garden, looking for a higher vantage point from which to see where Shen Mo and the others were.

As she passed a cartoon sculpture in the garden, she felt, for some reason, a strange unease. The sculpture’s eyes were painted with black lacquer — hollow black circles — and it seemed as though they were always watching her…

Bai Youwei’s brow creased, and she quickened her pace.

The vague sense of discomfort that had been stirring in her chest felt oddly familiar.

She suddenly thought of something, stopped, turned back, and looked at the toy figures and sculptures again.

They didn’t move.

……Was it an illusion?

Bai Youwei thought it over for a moment. Her mind was still on Shen Mo, so she had no choice but to set aside the unsettling suspicion and keep moving forward.

She passed through the garden and arrived at the park’s main road.

Music assaulted her ears from all directions — the melody from the claw machines, the sound from the bumper cars, the tune from the inflatable boats… All of it was too loud and too chaotic. She could not determine where Shen Mo was, nor could she spot Mary or the cat.

The park really was enormous.

Another wave of music drew closer.

Bai Youwei looked up with a frown. At the other end of the road, a parade of floats was approaching; the music was coming from the floats.

Snow White stood tall atop one float, holding a red apple in her outstretched hand, seven dwarves behind her — followed by various cartoon characters stretching back in a long procession, merrily underway in an evening parade.

By day they had been silent, lifeless things. Now that night had fallen, every one of them had come alive, their voices rising and falling with the music:

*Everyheretha raryent,*

*Sheouldbrgalotledoll,*

*Peoplettheveryhere,*

*Aryandherrrydoll……*

……

The parade floats passed before her and moved away into the distance.

The music faded with them.

Then — boom, boom! — sounds of a struggle rose suddenly. Now that the music had retreated, the clash and clatter of a brawl came through clearly: the sound of something being knocked over, or of something taking a heavy hit.

Bai Youwei’s heart leapt into her throat. She immediately wheeled herself in the direction of the sound.

A figure suddenly charged toward her.

“Why are you here?!” Shen Fei, drenched in sweat, was panicked and urgent. “You shouldn’t be here! Get moving!!!”

Without a word of explanation, he grabbed the wheelchair and started running.

“Stop!” Bai Youwei said sharply.

“Don’t cause more trouble! My brother can’t look after you right now!”

Shen Fei was running at full speed, not giving Bai Youwei the slightest chance to get a word in. He glanced back periodically — and seeing no sign of the stuffed cat in pursuit, abruptly veered the wheelchair around a corner —

And crashed into the old vine-covered treehouse at the roadside.

Bai Youwei had just opened her mouth to speak when Shen Fei clapped a hand over it.

“Not a sound!” he said, his voice taut, barely above a whisper. “…They’re coming!”

—