The endless sky seemed unchanged in her eyes. If not for the white clouds beside her rushing rapidly upward, she might not have realized she was in free fall.
The fierce wind howled, whipping her long hair into chaos. She stretched out her arms, opening her hands as if trying to grasp the sky that was falling further and further away from her. Yet it was in vain. In her hands was only emptiness—she caught nothing.
"Where am I going?" she asked, but no answer came. The world felt like an infinite space. No matter how she fell, she could see no scenery. The clouds around her were dense, and the place her body pierced through grew darker and darker.
"Am I to fall into the abyss? Heh, that's right. For someone as sinful as me, even if I fell to the lowest depths of the Nether River, I would never be able to wash away my sins, would I?" Her eyes revealed a void like extinction itself, and her thoughts drifted back to that time.
It was a quiet night—so quiet she still dared not recall that scene.
Because his graceful appearance as a cross-dressing performer on stage was too alluring, he often drew certain people's eyes. Even knowing he was male, they could not help themselves.
That night, when even the moon seemed stained with blood, he had just stepped off the stage. Before he could change out of his costume, he was seized backstage and dragged to the top floor of a desolate building.
There, he saw that man—the one who had always treated him as gently as the wind—revealing his true face: hideous and ferocious.
That man had others pin him to the ground, forcibly stripping off his skirt and clothes. Just as he closed his eyes in despair, ready to silently endure the humiliation, the moon outside suddenly turned blood-red.
The crimson moon descended, the world fell silent, and he fainted in that instant. To this day, he did not know what happened afterwards. He didn't know how the event that destroyed his life took place. But he remembered that vivid, blood-red color.
When he awoke, he felt utterly weak. The ground was covered in sticky liquid, and the air reeked of blood.
Looking around, he saw more than a dozen corpses sprawled across the floor—some disemboweled, some with throats slit, some with severed limbs, others decapitated.
On the floor, the walls, the sofas, the balcony—bodies lay everywhere. In his hand was a splendid long blade, spotless, yet beneath it the ground was stained crimson.
When he saw the corpse of that man, whose organs had been ripped out and placed aside, he shut his eyes in pain. The others' deaths meant nothing, but with that man dead, regardless of whether he had done it or not, his fate would be dire.
Alone in the world, not knowing who his parents were, aside from this beautiful body that seemed to be born the wrong gender, the only people he cared for were his childhood friend and the girl he secretly loved.
But their families were not simple—certainly not weaker than the forces behind that man. How could he involve them?
Just being his friends already placed a heavy burden on them. If they were dragged into this incident as well, the consequences would be endless. He would not only lose any chance of ever being with them but also bring them endless trouble.
Most importantly, he did not want them to know. He did not want their fiancés to be dissatisfied, affecting their lives.
So, after staring blankly at the scene before him for a long time, he let out a relieved smile. Walking to the balcony with the long blade in hand, he stood on the railing, letting the cold wind blow against him.
He opened his phone, typed a line into his notepad, then switched on the recorder and whispered softly: "I'm leaving. We won't see each other again. I hope after I disappear, someone like me will fade from your memories as well. Because I was destined to end my life only this way."
"Birth unknown, life without a place of return, fate without origin, body without giver. A lifetime of joy and sorrow unknown—what use is it for me to remain in this world?"
"I think, if there is a next life, I will definitely strive to become someone worthy of you. This time, please forgive my willfulness…"
"Oh? Hehe, I almost forgot—you're supposed to forget me completely. So you won't remember these words anyway…"
The phone slipped from his hand, crashing onto the balcony floor, while his figure, still clad in a long dress, faced the sky and leapt lightly…
The next day, news shook the whole of Yangcheng and the entire Guangdong Province. Reports of that influential young master's death, along with the suicide of a well-known domestic cross-dressing performer in the same building, threw the city—already unsettled after the blood moon—into an uproar.
Among it all, two exquisitely beautiful women sat in an antique-style pavilion, listening quietly to the recording on the phone placed on the table, saying nothing…
These were memories she had deliberately buried, yet now they all returned. And in that final scene, the figures of those two women seemed to transcend time and space, etched deeply into her mind.
With a faint smile, her elevated hand suddenly clenched into a fist. "If I had the ability to protect myself back then, how could such a thing have happened?"
"But what has happened, has already happened. It cannot be changed."
"The lives of more than a dozen people ended by my hands. Even if they were in the wrong, even if they committed unforgivable acts, doesn't that make me—who killed them—more loathsome and terrifying? Doesn't that make me even more sinful?"
A tear slid silently from the corner of her eye. These memories, this torment—she would rather forget them than hold onto them.
"Oh hoho, you speak too easily, don't you? Remember, it's not you who bears this sin—it's me."
A figure appeared before her, wearing the same style of clothing as her own white attire, but in pure black. That identical face carried an enigmatic smile.
"Are you my second personality?" Chu Lian did not wipe her tears, but instead looked at this person with a forced smile and asked.
"Second personality? No. I am you, and you are me. I was born only after that incident, awakened to carry the memories you didn't want to recall."
Her pale violet lips parted slightly, exhaling softly. "Do you understand? I am the most brutal, cold, and merciless part of your character. Everything you couldn't bring yourself to do—I did. Including that incident in Kunming…"
"So I have always been a filthy, bloodstained person? Dressed in pure white, yet committing the darkest of deeds… How hypocritical." She smiled, yet felt only such a self could fall freely into the abyss, unburdened.
"Haha, you're overthinking. If you only look from one angle, of course your judgment is one-sided. But if you see from another perspective, perhaps the result is different." The black-clad her giggled, neither denying nor affirming.
"I am you, and you are me. Though divided in two, we are one. You cannot abandon me, and I will not abandon you."
"My only purpose is to bear the sins you cannot yet carry. When the day comes that you are ready to shoulder them yourself, I will disappear."
"Until then, protect yourself well. If danger comes, I will emerge. No one will harm you before I vanish."
The black-clad her stretched out a hand, gently stroking the cheek of the white-clad her, speaking softly.
"If that day truly comes, I won't let you disappear. We are black and white—two halves that must exist together to be the complete me." Raising her hand, she too caressed her counterpart's cheek, tears shimmering in her eyes as she whispered.
"Impossible…" The black-clad her shook her head, though she didn't say why. Instead, she said: "This isn't the abyss, only a dream. When you awaken, all of this will naturally end. Once you leave, you won't remember any of it. All you'll know is that you had a dream of falling… falling for a very, very long time."
The white-clad her widened her eyes and cried out: "I don't want to forget! These sins are mine to bear—I won't allow you to endure them alone!"
"This is impossible… Farewell, white-clad me…" Tears welled in her eyes, overflowing in a steady stream. She released the hand caressing her other self's face, and just as the white-clad her reached out to grasp her, she suddenly soared upward into the sky.
"Remember, I once existed…" The final words echoed by her ear. Her gaze followed that figure as it drifted farther and farther away, until it vanished.
With a bitter smile, she whispered: "If possible, I would rather never have seen you, than to know you will disappear."
A single tear slid down her cheek, falling into the clouds below.
The boundless clouds vanished in an instant as the tear fell, revealing beneath her an endless, azure lake.
Splash… She plunged into the water, spray scattering as the coolness enveloped her. Yet her eyes never stopped gazing at the sky—until they slowly closed…
"Big Sis, look, the sun is setting." Chu Chu's voice came from beside her. Chu Lian opened her eyes, watching the dim yellow sun slowly sink behind the clouds. A smile flickered on her lips—one of mingled sorrow and joy.
"Yes, it's setting. Such a beautiful sight. Chu Chu, tell me—if one day we die, will the light we leave behind appear as magnificent as this?" Chu Lian turned to ask, her eyes searching Chu Chu's face.
"I don't know if Chu Chu herself will be like that. But Chu Chu knows, if Big Sis truly continues walking down the path of stardom, then in the future, even after you're gone, your legacy will still be remembered. The glow you leave behind will let everyone feel they are enjoying the most beautiful things. Chu Chu dares to guarantee it." Pressing a finger to her lips in thought, Chu Chu suddenly gave this firm reply.
Her right hand was gently grasped by a smaller hand. Inori's voice rang softly: "What Chu Chu said is true. Lian's future will surely be the brightest."
Li Xiu'er's voice was soft, yet uncharacteristically firm: "Chu Chu's words are exactly what I think too."
"Perhaps… so…" Resting her chin on her knees, Chu Lian spoke faintly.
In her eyes, the afterglow of the sunset suddenly grew hazy…