In the deep, gloomy restroom, Ye Li stood before the sink, staring into the mirror in a momentary daze.
Just moments ago, she had been trapped in an illusion, where every scene laid bare the ordeal of Wen Xue’s torment.
She had seen the bullies’ relentless aggression, the bystanders’ cold indifference, and Wen Xue’s descent from furious resistance to complete despair, driven step by step toward a dead end.
In the end, Ye Li had even been forcibly dragged into that frail body, forced to experience firsthand the physical pain, the helpless wandering, the desperate cries, and a heart shattered beyond repair.
Night after lonely, pitch-black night, nursing a body covered in bruises and wounds, she had poured out her grief in her diary, line after bloodstained line.
That had been her silent resistance—her very last stand.
Yet one day, even that sole outlet had been discovered.
Page by page, the diary was ripped out and torn to shreds, fluttering down like snowflakes over her head and body, biting and frigid as ice, chilling her heart to its absolute depths...
Finally, she could bear it no longer. One day after school, leaving behind a hasty farewell note, she leaped into the abyss without hesitation as the six o’clock bell finished tolling.
In the end, that frail figure vanished into the brilliant afterglow of the setting sun, resolute and tragic, like a moth darting into a flame...
When it was all over, she found herself here.
Ye Li furrowed her brows, a reddish haze welling in her eyes.
The overwhelming helplessness and despair that belonged to the girl still clawed at her emotions, stirring an urge within her heart to tear everything to pieces.
She clenched her fists, doing everything she could to suppress the raging fury within so she wouldn’t lose control.
Suddenly, Ye Li felt the temperature around her plummet, sending a shiver through her body.
Right after, she saw a figure materialize beside her in the large mirror.
No, to be precise, it was a ghost.
It was a girl with a head of jagged, messy short hair. A gaping wound was torn open across the left side of her head, dripping with blood, while bits of pink-and-white brain matter clung to her wet, matted hair.
Her face was paper-white, making the blood splattered across her left cheek look piercingly crimson. The sheer force of the impact had twisted and distorted her facial features to an extent. Add to that her school uniform, nearly drenched through with blood, and she appeared terrifyingly grotesque, delivering a severe visual shock.
Ye Li recognized her at a glance.
It was Wen Xue.
Yet faced with this eerie, horrifying sight, not a flicker of fear showed on Ye Li’s face. She remained remarkably composed.
She simply gazed steadily through the glass, meeting those bloodshot, crimson eyes.
“Why?” Wen Xue spoke, her voice asking, “You all saw it with your own eyes. Why was no one willing to do anything?”
The soft, resentful voice echoed in the cramped, quiet space, chillingly eerie and unnerving.
Ye Li knew she was asking the original owner of this body. Ningning had once been present when Wen Xue was being bullied—the very incident where Wen Xue had lost her long hair.
Yet under the bullies’ threats, Ningning had fled in terror, completely ignoring Wen Xue’s cries for help.
And that was precisely why the original owner was trapped in this ghost domain.
Having felt firsthand the agony the girl had endured, Ye Li knew full well that this bullying had fundamentally been a collective murder. Not a single silent bystander was innocent.
Even so, her answer was exceedingly cold. “Why should they? They were neither your friends nor your family. Why should they shoulder the risk for no reason at all?”
Wen Xue froze. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Take yourself as an example,” Ye Li said indifferently. “You saw injustice and stepped forward to stop it, but what did you get in return? The wrath of the strong, the betrayal of the weak, and in the end, it even cost you your life.
“If someone had stood up for you, do you think they might have ended up just like you? If that’s the case, by what right could you ask them to pay such a price for your sake?”
As if hearing such reasoning for the first time, Wen Xue’s eyes widened, making her already grotesque visage look even more terrifying.
“Was I wrong, then?” she murmured. “Is it right for them to torment the weak however they please?”
“No!” Ye Li shook her head.
“Right and wrong are never absolute—only relative! This world has never run on the idea that being weak makes you right, nor does being wicked make you right. Dissecting the minds of bullies is pointless; people do evil for all kinds of reasons.
“But as victims, rather than waiting around in fragile helplessness for someone else to save us, we’re better off doing everything in our power to save ourselves. Everyone has their own misgivings; there are too many things people want to do but lack the courage for. No one is anyone’s savior. The only person who can save you is yourself.”
Wen Xue smiled bitterly. “But I did fight back. It was useless. All that waited for me was even more horrific retaliation.”
“That only means you used the wrong method and failed to strike where it hurt them most.” Ye Li lowered her eyes, her voice chilly, the violent impulses in her chest stirring once more.
Hearing this, Wen Xue fell silent for a moment, as if turning the words over in her mind. Only after quite a while did she speak: “Maybe you’re right. But I still stand by my choice.”
With that, she smiled. This time, the smile was faint and gentle. “Time is running out. You should leave.”
Before the words could fully fade, another violent wave of dizziness washed over Ye Li...
...
Up on the rooftop, Le Jun, having run out of options, lowered the girl from his back and carefully helped her sit down, leaning her against the chain-link fence at the roof’s edge.
He sat down beside her as well, exhaling a heavy breath.
There was nothing left to struggle for.
Before long, those “mud figures” below would scramble up. Their fate was already sealed!
Yet after going through so much and fighting for so long, his previously panicked and helpless heart had surprisingly settled into calm—a tranquil acceptance of whatever fate had in store.
Le Jun turned to look at the girl beside him. She remained completely quiet, showing no sign of waking.
Remembering everything they had been through, a warmth rose in his chest.
He owed it all to her companionship along the way; without her, he never could have held out this long.
He felt a touch of regret—regret that he hadn’t gotten to know this special girl sooner.
Yet he also felt fortunate—fortunate that, in the end, he had crossed paths with her after all.
The biting night wind whistled loudly, whipping the girl’s silky hair into undulating waves.
Watching her, Le Jun felt something stir within him. As if guided by some unseen impulse, he reached a hand out toward her.
He just wanted to gently stroke her hair. Just once, to fulfill his final wish.
But just as his hand brushed against those soft strands, the gently closed eyes beneath them suddenly snapped open. Her dark pupils gleamed with a chilling light, staring unblinkingly straight at him.
Rate on N.U.
