Only now did Hui Mengyi realize that the girl she was holding in her arms had not made a single sound.
She quickly let go and lifted the girl’s body to face her directly.
At that moment, Hui Mengyi finally saw it—those wine-red eyes had long lost the star-like gleam they once held.
Like a doll without a soul, the girl’s face held no emotion at all.
Her empty gaze slowly shifted, landing on Hui Mengyi in front of her.
“Why are you apologizing? You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Her voice was hollow—like a black hole swallowing everything, as if it would suck Hui Mengyi in the next second.
“Master…”
Fear surged through Hui Mengyi.
This girl, aside from her hair color, looked exactly like the Ye Jinyi she knew.
And yet now, that radiant presence she once felt was completely gone.
“Hmm? What’s wrong?”
The girl answered Hui Mengyi’s soft words with the same hollow voice, as if acknowledging her identity.
“You’re not hurt, are you? Master?”
“I’m fine. I’m totally alive, see?”
Ye Jinyi raised both her arms and waved them, as if to prove she was okay.
But anyone could see—something was terribly wrong.
Master…
Hui Mengyi no longer dared to speak.
This version of Ye Jinyi was terrifying, and she knew clearly that the one who had pushed her to this state… was herself.
Just then, Ye Jinyi suddenly spoke again, in a weak voice.
“Big sister, I want to ask you something.”
“What is it? Just tell me—your sister’s listening!”
Hui Mengyi hadn’t expected her to still acknowledge her as “sister.” Hearing that word now felt like a cruel joke, stabbing deep into her nerves.
“I want to know… am I still alive?”
Hui Mengyi pulled Ye Jinyi into her arms, trying to let her feel her presence.
“You’re alive. You’re definitely still alive. I’m not lying to you this time—having me here is the best proof, isn’t it?”
“I… I’m alive?”
Ye Jinyi sounded doubtful.
“You’re lying again, aren’t you, big sis? Haha…”
“I must’ve been dead for a long time, right? This place—it’s my hell, isn’t it?”
“Just like my life… Everyone rejected me, so now this world lets me reject everyone else.”
“Guhuhu~”
Ye Jinyi suddenly started laughing—wildly, bitterly.
“But why do both feelings feel exactly the same?”
Her laughter stopped abruptly. Tears welled up and soaked Hui Mengyi’s shoulder.
“Big sis… I really want to bite something… No wait, I’m dead, right? Dead people don’t eat.”
“Sorry, big sis… I’m troubling you. You should go home now. Uncle Hui and Aunt Xiang must be worried. If they’re worried, that’s bad, right?”
Even now… you’re still not worried about yourself?
Hui Mengyi’s throat felt hoarse.
She wanted to say something, but the grief caught in her throat and wouldn’t let the words come out.
“I don’t know what I did in my past life to make this world hate me so much.”
“Hope you don’t end up like me, sis. Or you’ll spend your next life constantly getting punished like I am, right?”
Hui Mengyi quickly hugged Ye Jinyi tighter, shaking her head repeatedly, and with all her strength, forced out a few words: “No… it’s not like that!”
“You said you wanted to bite something, right? Then bite me instead.”
Ye Jinyi looked puzzled.
“Bite you? That doesn’t sound okay, does it?”
Hui Mengyi said, “There’s nothing wrong with it. If it makes you happy… that’s what matters most.”
Ye Jinyi replied, “Then I’m really gonna bite you, okay?”
“Mm. Go ahead.”
With that, Hui Mengyi took off her jacket and rolled up her sleeve, revealing the pale skin beneath.
“Chomp!”
Without hesitation, Ye Jinyi sank her teeth into Hui Mengyi’s shoulder.
Her sharp canines pierced straight through the skin, and blood flowed into Ye Jinyi’s mouth.
“Ah… nn…”
Hui Mengyi gritted her teeth against the pain, allowing Ye Jinyi to bite as deeply as she wanted.
Only after a long while did Ye Jinyi finally stop, leaving behind four deep fang marks on Hui Mengyi’s arm.
She wiped the corner of her mouth, smearing the leftover blood on her lips, and kissed Hui Mengyi.
“Mua~ Thank you, sis. I really am still alive.”
As soon as she said that, Ye Jinyi suddenly, almost instinctively, recited something chilling.
“Bloodlust, flesh-feasting, marrow-draining, bone-breaking—I am the corrupter of morality.”
“Secret Phrase: The me raised by strings reflects the you who controls them in the mirror—we construct a parallel nation!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, the red rose on her left ring finger turned white, and countless icy thorns erupted from beneath her feet, freezing and shattering everything around her.
After spreading for a hundred meters, the thorns flattened, transforming into pure, expanding ice.
Ye Jinyi pulled Hui Mengyi tightly into her arms, not allowing the frigid frost to harm the only real thing she could still touch.
“This time… I won’t let go again.”
The frost expanded outward until it shattered the entire barrier.
At that moment, the alarm in the screening room blared to life, startling the magical girls who had grown mentally exhausted from prolonged surveillance.
By the time they reacted, the screen had already gone pitch black.
“What the hell happened! There was….”
Baitong hadn’t even finished voicing her frustration before her body froze in place.
At the very center of Yunhai Lake.
Several threads appeared around Ye Jinyi, and in the massive mirror behind her, Hui Mengyi’s figure was reflected.
The threads lifted Ye Jinyi’s left hand, and in the next instant, the ice on the lake rose straight up, carrying both Ye Jinyi and the mirror skyward.
When the ice stopped rising, it transformed into a grand palace.
Ye Jinyi’s body passed through the rooftop and entered a bedroom inside.
The threads gently guided her to the bed and laid her down to sleep peacefully.
Above the lake, the moon hung unmoving, a silent promise to ease its master’s eternal loneliness.
At the top of the city’s TV tower, a girl with her eyes closed gazed toward Yunhai Lake.
The thermometer in her hand had just shattered.
“The Lord’s mercy… is always so forgiving.”
“Even a heart at absolute zero… still refuses to freeze you.”
She looked up at the icy barrier that now covered the entire city, which then turned into a black wall that obscured the outside world—until finally, the wall disappeared, revealing a brilliant starry sky.
“A new nation has been born. Welcome to the Kingdom of Happiness.”
“Become marionettes free of pain… so we may greet each other with a smile, every single day.”
As she finished speaking, the girl took out a new thermometer.
The final reading froze at: -36.2°C.
“Looks like the borders are set.”
The temperature had risen—announcing that the boundary of law had been established.
And this temperature would signify the arrival of a new order.
If absolute zero had just declared the destruction of the old world, then -36.2°C now marked the founding of the new.
The girl understood: from this moment on, all rules had been rewritten.
Here, every law would bend to Her Highness’s will.
“Then… welcome, all, as citizens of My Lord’s nation. May you enjoy yourselves in this new land—just remember, no sadness allowed.”
