The girl sighed helplessly when she heard Ye Jinyi’s request.
A flicker of sorrow flashed through the wine-red cross-shaped stars in her eyes.
“Sigh, fine, just do whatever makes you happy. What I said was indeed useless babble. Saying so many pointless things isn’t helpful at all. Might as well take a bite of strawberry cake—at least the sugar can ease some of the bitterness in your heart.”
After she finished speaking, the girl popped the tiny strawberry she had been about to hand to Ye Jinyi into her own mouth.
“Don’t try to change the subject!”
What Ye Jinyi wanted to know most was when exactly she had used that so-called secret phrase.
As for the whole “being alive” topic, that was just a minor anxiety—it wasn’t something that had to be dealt with right now.
“Oh, you mean that!”
The girl seemed to understand what Ye Jinyi meant.
She snapped her fingers, and in the next moment, a floating screen appeared above the table between them.
It showed the scene of Ye Jinyi biting Huimengyi’s shoulder in the subspace.
Ye Jinyi stared blankly at her own actions, feeling like her brain had just been thoroughly violated.
What the hell kind of humiliating black history was this?!
Ye Jinyi grabbed the girl’s shoulders and shook her wildly as she shouted questions at her.
“This is what you meant, right? This is what you meant, right? This is what you meant, right? This isn’t what I said, right? This isn’t what I said, right? This wasn’t what I said, right?”
Important things must be said three times.
“Stop stop stop!”
The girl begged Ye Jinyi to stop shaking her.
“Okay.”
Ye Jinyi stopped shaking her, hoping the girl would finally give her the answer she so desperately wanted.
The girl fixed her hair, then planted her hands on her hips and leaned forward slightly, jabbing her finger at Ye Jinyi’s forehead with a hint of annoyance.
“This is exactly what I mean—you speak without thinking!”
After saying that, she withdrew her hand, crossed her arms, and gave Ye Jinyi a completely cold look.
“Hmph!”
She was clearly saying: don’t blame others for everything, okay?
Blaming me for everything…
Whatever.
The existence of demons is meant to be a scapegoat for the world anyway—I’m used to it.
Thinking that, the girl gave up on voicing any more complaints.
After taking such a brutal emotional hit, Ye Jinyi squatted off to the side, drawing circles in silence.
“What’s wrong with being dumb? It’s not like a dumbass stole rice from your house…”
Once her anger cooled, the girl got a little bored. She walked over to Ye Jinyi, patted her on the shoulder.
“Hey, since spring’s just around the corner, why not make a small wish for the new year?”
Hearing this, Ye Jinyi stopped drawing circles and raised her head to think for a moment.
“I want… a home of my own. A real home. Not some rental I share with others, and not a place where I’m alone. It should be somewhere that brings me happiness… warmth.”
“But I guess that’s kinda hard. I don’t even have any family. I should probably focus on finding a job first.”
“I do kinda want to go on a trip… feel the wind mess up my hair in a convertible on the highway.”
“Mm… okay, maybe I’m thinking too much. Staying alive should be the priority.”
“Then I got it! I hope I can have one strawberry cake every month.”
“Feels kinda too extravagant.”
“Then let’s try to find out my birthday this year, and on that day, I’ll buy myself a piece of strawberry cake! I’ll stick a candle on it to mark the first time I’ve celebrated my birthday.”
“Yeah, that’s my wish!”
After hearing Ye Jinyi’s wish, the girl patted her on the back.
“Then remember to grab an extra candle on your birthday—after all, I’ve got to celebrate too.”
“Okay!”
Ye Jinyi was just about to get up when she suddenly realized… she had already gotten up from bed.
Looking around at her surroundings, Ye Jinyi finally realized she had said so much to that girl… she had completely forgotten she was dreaming.
“Ye Jinyi!”
Hearing Huimengyi call out to her, Ye Jinyi instinctively tried to turn around.
“Don’t look at me!”
Huimengyi quickly stopped her.
Hearing the urgency in her voice, Ye Jinyi immediately froze in place.
“Jiejie, what’s going on?”
Ye Jinyi was confused, but Huimengyi behind her soon gave her the answer.
“Even though I don’t fully understand it myself, as long as you notice me, every move you make, I’ll be forced to mirror in sync.”
“Also, the threads connected to my fingertips can control your body at any time. In other words, we’re now being forced to control each other.”
“Huh?”
Ye Jinyi was speechless—who the hell came up with something this dumb?
Wait a second…
Ye Jinyi thought back to that girl in her dream—the content of the secret phrase she’d given her… wasn’t it literally about strings and mirrors?
So it really was that literal?
Which meant… her current situation was entirely her own doing…
Ye Jinyi suddenly wanted to slap herself.
In this entire world, she was probably the only person who could accidentally dig her own grave without intending to.
“I see… Then I’ll step out of the room for a bit, so I won’t affect jiejie, right?”
With her back to Huimengyi, Ye Jinyi walked forward slowly along the wall.
Trying her best to keep her vision clear of Huimengyi.
Once she exited the bedroom, Ye Jinyi finally realized how massive this building was.
Just the hallway alone seemed endless.
“So luxurious…”
Ye Jinyi started wandering the building, trying to get a sense of the layout, walking through each area.
As she walked through the opulent surroundings, she couldn’t shake the feeling that… something about this place seemed familiar.
Until she reached the dining room—and at that moment, Ye Jinyi finally remembered where this was!
“Isn’t this the place I was eating at in my dream?”
No wonder Ye Jinyi had such a strong sense of déjà vu—turns out, this really was something from her dream.
Ye Jinyi pinched herself.
“Ow!”
The sharp, undeniable pain instantly brought worthless tears to her eyes.
Okay, not a dream.
Ye Jinyi looked at the threads on her body, then glanced around the empty dining hall—it all still felt like a dream.
But that stabbing, all-too-real pain made it clear: this wasn’t a dream.
Leaving the dining room, Ye Jinyi stepped into the grand hall of the building.
She looked toward the distant main doors and walked forward, planning to push them open.
Ding!
Just as Ye Jinyi reached the doors—before she even touched them—the old-style, slightly classical doors slowly slid open to both sides with a soft chime.
“Ah…”
Ye Jinyi had thought these were the heavy gates of a classic royal palace—but turns out they were fully automatic?
Once outside the building, Ye Jinyi realized she was still in the city she knew so well—just that it was nighttime now.
“Yunhai Lake?”
She walked to the street by the lakeside and saw that the streets around her were still just as crowded as they were in the morning.
But all of the people were covered in threads… the same threads as hers.
