Happy Kindergarten

Lunch break has arrived again.

Having learned a painful lesson from Li Qiang, all the teachers were on high alert, using every method imaginable to coax the children to sleep. Exaggerated stories, gentle pats, almost fawning soothing... the entire nap room was filled with a false sense of warmth and a stifling fear.

Most of the children eventually closed their eyes due to exhaustion or the influence of "rules".

Of the five children Shi Mo was in charge of, four were breathing steadily, but Lingling was the only one. Her small body was curled up, her brows were furrowed, and she seemed very uncomfortable. She tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.

Rule 3: [Ensure all children fall asleep quietly during nap time.]

Shi Mo did not urge him, nor did he show any impatience.

He sat by Lingling's bedside, reached out, and patted her back gently and awkwardly, but with even pressure. He even hummed a simple, repetitive lullaby in a flat tone, thanks to a quick search of the system's database.

His movements and voice were not exactly gentle, even somewhat stiff, but the consistent, steady rhythm and calm demeanor seemed to create a peculiar sense of security.

Lingling's tense body gradually relaxed, her tossing and turning decreased, and finally, her breathing became long and even as she fell into a deep sleep.

The whole process was witnessed by a female teacher in the next bed. She was sweating profusely because the child she was responsible for had difficulty falling asleep. Seeing Shi Mo's method, she seemed to get some inspiration and tried to imitate it. Although the effect was not as good as Shi Mo's, at least she did not anger the child.

After confirming that all the children were "quietly asleep," the nap room fell into true silence. The teachers exchanged glances, not daring to leave or speak loudly, and could only nervously stand guard by their respective beds.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Shi Mo turned his back to the others, leaned slightly to the side to create a blind spot, and silently took out the rusty iron box from the inside pocket of his coat. He carefully pried open the somewhat deformed lid with his fingernails.

Inside was a stack of yellowed, brittle drawing paper with curled edges, and a worn-out diary with a cover decorated with crooked little flowers, bound with rough thread.

He quickly flipped through the drawings. The style was darker and more distorted than the ones he had seen in the activity room.

In one painting, in a kindergarten courtyard at night, many strangely shaped children with glowing eyes are chasing and playing, their shadows stretched long and distorted.

In another painting, a huge shadow wearing an apron (similar to the headmistress) hides in the shadow of the slide, with only a pair of pupil-less eyes showing, watching over the yard.

There's another one, depicting a child being locked in a small, dark space filled with cobwebs, crying.

Shi Mo's gaze finally settled on the diary. On the title page, written in childish handwriting, were the words "Xiao Yuan's Diary." He quickly flipped through it; the handwriting inside was crooked and messy, mixed with pinyin and misspellings, recording alarming contents in fragmented fragments:

"On [Date], sunny. Teacher Wang left, and the headmistress said she was disobedient. I was woken up again to play games last night; I'm so tired, I don't want to play..."

"On [Date], Xiaohua went missing. She refused to eat candy yesterday. The headmistress became very scary last night; her eyes glowed..."

"On [Date], I discovered a secret! There's a hole under the giant slide! You can climb in!"

"Date? We ate the candy the teacher gave us, and that night we didn't feel like ourselves anymore... I want to go home..."

The last line was written in particularly illegible handwriting, as if it had been written in a state of extreme fear or confusion.

As he closed the diary, a look of understanding flashed in Shi Mo's eyes.

Lingling's warning, the "candy," the strange noises at night, the children's unusual behavior, the kindergarten principal's eerie behavior... these fragmented clues, connected by the diary, gradually form a clear and chilling outline.

"Candy" is the key.

It seems to be the catalyst that makes children (or some form of them) "active" at night.

Rule Five, which requires teachers not to go out at night, is probably not to protect them from external monsters, but rather to prevent them from seeing the children's true forms at night or interfering with their "nighttime activities." Rule Three, which requires students to sleep during nap time, is likely because these children expend a great deal of energy during nighttime "activities," and require forced "hibernation" during the day to maintain some kind of balance, or to suppress their daytime consciousness?

Lingling had trouble falling asleep during her afternoon nap today. Perhaps it was because she didn't eat any candy yesterday? Or maybe her "other half" was resisting?

After lunch break, the children were woken up. When Lingling woke up, her gaze towards Shimo seemed even more complicated. She secretly slipped him a small note with a simple arrow drawn in crayon, pointing towards the big slide in the backyard.

The afternoon activities proceeded as usual. Shi Mo noticed that the kindergarten did indeed use candy as a reward from time to time to encourage the children to behave or complete certain tasks. He recalled that on the first day, the headmistress had indeed given candy to every child.

During a break from their free time, Shi Mo pulled Wang Ke to a relatively secluded corner.

"I might have found some clues." Shi Mo got straight to the point, telling him about the existence of the metal box, but omitting the specific contents of the diary and Lingling's note, only summarizing the core information: "The children in this kindergarten may only be their 'true selves' at night. And the candy during the day is the reason for this change. Rule Five doesn't allow us to go out at night because they're afraid we'll see things we shouldn't."

Wang Ke's face turned pale, and his voice became hoarse: "You mean...the ones who are out at night...are these children?"

"Most likely," Shi Mo nodded. "Moreover, there might be a 'secret passage' connecting to some kind of core area."

"What...what do you want to do?" Wang Ke asked nervously, realizing what was going on.

"On this last night, I plan to go out and take a look," Shi Mo said calmly, as if he were talking about something trivial. "To find that passage and uncover the truth."

This was both to complete the hidden mission and to satisfy his own curiosity.

"Are you crazy?!" Wang Ke almost shouted, then quickly lowered her voice, "Rule Five explicitly forbids this! Have you forgotten how Zhang Li's roommate died? It's too dangerous!"

"Rules are meant to be broken, or... exploited." Shi Mo remained unmoved. "The truth is out there. Hiding here like an ostrich for three days and then receiving some so-called divine gift? I have no interest."

Looking into Shi Mo's heterochromatic, fearless eyes, Wang Ke knew he couldn't persuade him.

He struggled for a moment, then finally said dejectedly, "...If you insist on going, I can't stop you. I...I won't stop you, and I won't tell anyone. But, if something happens to you..."

"That's none of your business," Shi Mo interrupted him, ending the brief exchange.

Night slowly fell once again.

Shi Mo stood by the window of dormitory 204, watching the familiar kindergarten scene outside the window gradually blur in the twilight.

On his last night, he decided to stop being a bystander bound by rules. He would step into that forbidden darkness to uncover the bloody truth behind "Happiness Kindergarten." A tense atmosphere filled the silent dormitory building.