Chapter Twenty-Five: Rabbit and Chirp

"Lü... Lü... Lü..." Wanda seemed as if she’d accidentally bitten her tongue, struggling for ages but unable to pronounce the final syllable.
"Lü Shu," Zhong Shenxiu repeated once more.
"Lü... Lü Su..." In the end, Wanda still couldn’t manage the rolled sound, though she didn’t seem to notice. Her alluring, pale gray eyes blinked in confusion as she asked,
"Is that a Chinese name?"
"Yes, I’m of mixed Chinese and African descent," Zhong Shenxiu lied without batting an eye.
In her innocence, Wanda took him at his word, staring in surprise at his now exaggeratedly thick lips and skin as black as charcoal.
Goodness, she thought, she couldn't spot a single trace of Asian heritage in him.
After a moment’s scrutiny, Wanda pointed to the sun, which was growing ever dimmer in the sky, and continued,
"Lü... Lü Su, the sun’s already setting, so why haven’t you turned white yet? When I first saw you, you were so pale."
Zhong Shenxiu’s interest was piqued at these words. He asked,
"You saw me when I was white?"
"Yes, just a little while ago. You said you wanted to find an osmanthus tree, and I specially used Qiu Bi to create one for you. Hehe, if I hadn’t seen an osmanthus tree myself as a child, I probably couldn’t have made one."
Wanda stuck out her tiny tongue, her delicate face practically begging, "Praise me, praise me."
"But after just a short while, I couldn’t find you. I searched for ages and saw you’d been tanned so dark by the sun, Lü Su. When will you turn white again? You look so much better when you’re pale."
Zhong Shenxiu glanced at the increasingly chatty Wanda. From her tone, he almost felt a strange illusion—
The girl before him was not a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old, but a child whose age hadn’t even reached double digits, perhaps even more naive than Gwen.
Yet that was just as well; the younger she was, the easier to coax information from her.
"You can create osmanthus trees, so did you create this whole world?" Zhong Shenxiu gestured at the houses made of cookies and the road paved with cotton candy.
Wanda pouted, looking a little annoyed.
"Not at all. These were all made by the villain Rabbit Qi while I wasn’t here, forcing Qiu Bi to create them."
Rabbit Qi?
Hearing this unfamiliar term, Zhong Shenxiu instinctively pondered what it might mean.
But after a moment, he couldn’t help but chuckle.
He’d made a logical error—Wanda’s temperament was purely childlike; one couldn’t analyze her behavior using adult reasoning.
So, he asked directly, "Who is Rabbit Qi?"
"A villain! A very, very, very bad villain!" Wanda floated in the air, hands on her waist in indignation, her chest’s fluffy white ball bouncing delightfully with her sudden gesture.

The answer was as pointless as saying, "Eating noodles without garlic is like not eating garlic at all," a classic specimen of meaningless commentary.
Zhong Shenxiu finally decided to stop asking and to figure things out himself.
From Wanda's earlier words and his task briefing, it was clear:
His mission was to rescue Wanda, which meant she must be trapped in some peril or unfavorable situation, and Rabbit Qi was likely the culprit behind it.
Zhong Shenxiu pieced together his thoughts, idly pacing as was his habit when thinking deeply.
So, the next step of his mission—the key was Rabbit Qi.
This suddenly seemed much simpler!
With that deduction, Zhong Shenxiu felt he’d untangled the whole task:
All he needed was to follow the clue of Rabbit Qi step by step, and he’d likely complete the main quest with ease. Moreover, his target, Wanda—someone capable of altering the world effortlessly—was still right beside him...
Wait!
Oh my God!!!
As Zhong Shenxiu reached the large glass window outside a clothing store, he habitually glanced at his reflection.
And then—
He was stunned.
Wanda had always been obediently floating beside him like a cloud, visible whenever he turned his head.
But!
In the store’s glass, only his own figure appeared.
No trace of Wanda!
He quickly turned; Wanda was still there, smiling at him.
He looked again at the glass... and saw only emptiness beside him.
A chill ran through Zhong Shenxiu’s heart. He tried several times, always with the same result. Which meant...
The Wanda before him was imaginary?
Just like the walls and the road—she was fake?
"Wanda, are you actually here?" Zhong Shenxiu pointed at the glass before her and asked.

Wanda was startled, for she too couldn’t see herself in the glass.
Her delight faded visibly; the radiant smile could no longer light up her beautiful face.
She sighed and said,
"Lü Su, to be honest, I actually snuck out."
"Snuck out?" Zhong Shenxiu asked in surprise.
"Yes, Qiu Bi and I were both locked up by Rabbit Qi, that wicked villain. It was so boring there, and no one could talk to me like you do."
"But one day, I felt Rabbit Qi’s enclosure had a tiny tear—a small gap. I’m very slim, so I squeezed through and ran and ran, and suddenly found myself in this place full of Qiu Bi."
"Here, I’m truly free. I can do whatever I want, fly, and use Qiu Bi to make any toy I wish."
"But... I hadn’t played for long before I sensed Rabbit Qi realized I’d escaped. He’s chasing me. If he catches me, I’ll be sent back to that dull place, with no one to talk to and everyone cold and distant."
"I don’t want that."
Now Zhong Shenxiu finally understood why the mission was to rescue Wanda.
She really was trapped in some predicament.
What exactly Rabbit Qi was, he still didn’t know, but it didn’t contradict his earlier deductions; Rabbit Qi was indeed the key to completing the mission.
"Why did you come to find me?" Zhong Shenxiu wondered about something that didn’t quite add up.
"Because you’re the only one here who broke free from Rabbit Qi’s control. I wanted to learn from you how to escape Rabbit Qi’s grasp." Wanda replied honestly.
Rabbit Qi’s control?
Zhong Shenxiu pointed to the distant, vacant-eyed people and asked,
"Are all these people controlled by Rabbit Qi?"
Wanda nodded in agreement.
At last, Zhong Shenxiu realized he’d been mistaken all along, assuming the creator of this bizarre world and the controller of these people were one and the same.
Now it was clear:
The strange world was created by Qiu Bi—the red glow on Wanda—though forced by Rabbit Qi.
But the people of Ingram Street were controlled by Rabbit Qi, whatever it was.