It was the height of summer vacation, and the weather was scorching hot.
A simply dressed yet handsome young man finished his summer job on time and set off on the road home.
This young man was named Lin Ye.
He had been an orphan since childhood.
Fortunately, when he was little and picking through trash, he had saved a little girl being bullied by some thugs.
He drove the thugs away and told the girl everything was fine, only to be met with her curious gaze.
Then the girl took him home.
Fortunately, the girl’s parents were good people.
Upon learning he was an orphan and that he had saved their daughter, they gladly adopted him and raised him as their own son.
He gradually accepted the girl’s family as his own, becoming part of their family and the girl’s older brother.
Although… I don’t want to just be her brother.
As Lin Ye spent day after day with his little sister and watched her grow up, this thought often crossed his mind.
But he quickly pushed it aside.
If not for his little sister and her parents, he would still be picking through trash right now.
He could not allow himself any unrealistic thoughts.
Today was his little sister’s birthday.
What he needed to do now was accompany her through her eighteenth birthday.
Thinking of this, he touched his shirt pocket, where something was bulging—a rabbit hair clip he had bought for his sister with the money from his summer job.
Lin Ye stopped at a traffic light, waiting for the red light.
Standing slightly ahead of him to the side was a young girl carrying a suitcase.
Although he could not see her face, judging from the expensive-looking clothes she wore, she was most likely a young lady from a wealthy family.
The two of them were waiting for the red light when suddenly, a truck on the road abruptly changed lanes and charged straight toward the young girl.
“Watch out—!”
Lin Ye shouted, his body instinctively lunging forward as he pushed the girl out of the way.
But he himself faced the out-of-control truck head-on.
There came a dull thud of impact, and Lin Ye was sent flying like a puppet with its strings cut.
Then Lin Ye fell into a coma.
Lin Ye felt that he was now a golden ball of light, trapped in a space.
This space was pure black, endless black.
After being hit by the truck and sent flying, the moment he woke up, he was here.
He could hear the sounds from the outside world.
At this moment, passersby were frantically making phone calls, shouting “Ambulance, ambulance.”
He also tried to call out to the outside, but he could only hear his own voice; the people outside still showed no reaction.
Lin Ye realized that this special space was imperceptible to outsiders, so he controlled his body and groped around to move.
He discovered that he could now freely move up, down, left, or right in any direction, but no matter which way he went, he found nothing.
Before his eyes was still only endless darkness.
Moreover, he felt that this ball of light that was him was gradually shrinking in volume, and the energy within him was growing less and less.
If this continued, he would disappear.
So this ball of light is my soul?
A thought occurred to Lin Ye.
Before today, he had always been a materialist.
After all, he had grown up in an orphanage and had never seen any gods come to save him.
Later, when he was kindly adopted, it was purely due to the kindness of his adoptive parents and little sister; it had nothing to do with any gods.
So he believed that since no gods had ever helped him, why should he believe in the existence of gods?
But now that he was witnessing this scene, he believed.
After all, he had never heard anyone say that when a person was on the brink of death, they would turn into a ball of light and be locked in an endless dark space.
This ball of light is probably my soul. If it disappears, my consciousness should disappear too, and I would die.
“Gods, if you truly exist, I want to ask you for a favor. Not to bring me back to life. I only hope that after I die, my little sister and adoptive parents can continue their daily lives and live safely and peacefully.”
Lin Ye did not know where the gods’ bottom line was.
He had never believed in Them from childhood to adulthood.
Praying for Them to let him live right before death was a bit unrealistic.
Moreover, Lin Ye had never seen any news reports of near-death people coming back to life and claiming they had seen gods.
So Lin Ye believed that even if gods truly existed, They would not let him continue living.
So he settled for the next best thing and prayed that the gods would treat his adoptive parents and little sister well.
After all, after he died, they would be the only ones in this world who would grieve for him.
Unfortunately, life gave no response.
Lin Ye accepted his fate, stopped moving, and stayed in place.
Anyway, this space was only black.
No matter how he walked, nothing would change.
Better not to walk; maybe it could reduce energy consumption a bit and let him live a little longer.
“Why did you save me?”
Just as Lin Ye was staying in place, resigning himself to waiting for death, he heard a female voice.
This voice sounded somewhat cold on the surface, but the tone carried a trace of softness.
Then he saw that in front of him, at some point, another golden ball of light had appeared.
It looked a bit larger than his.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just my nature,” Lin Ye replied.
He had already guessed that this ball of light should be the girl he had just saved, not some god.
He also did not know why he had saved the girl.
Maybe it was just because he was kind.
When he was little, even though he often did not have enough to eat, he had felt deep anger at a few thugs bullying a little girl and driven them away.
Saving this girl now was also an instinctive action of his body; he could not explain the reason.
“Thank you.”
That ball of light was silent for a long time, and in the end only said those two words.
But Lin Ye could feel that those two words were said by the girl after careful consideration, carrying a measure of sincerity.
“Do you know where this is? I feel like this is the place where souls reside. The balls of light we’re in right now are our souls…”
Lin Ye thought that since he was going to die anyway, and this girl could see him so she was probably also going to die, two people on the brink of death might as well chat a bit at the end of their lives.
But the girl did not speak, only quietly listened to Lin Ye.
When she heard Lin Ye say that the ball of light was gradually shrinking, she checked herself and felt nothing.
Could it be that she wouldn’t die?
Then she looked at Lin Ye again.
His ball of light was visibly shrinking and would disappear soon.
This boy had ended up like this to save me. I must repay him.
Thinking this, she walked up to Lin Ye.
At this time, Lin Ye also noticed the girl coming in front of him.
“What are you doing?” Lin Ye stopped talking and asked.
After all, in his eyes, a ball of light much larger than him had suddenly appeared right before him, occupying most of his vision.
“I want to try something,” the girl’s voice came.
“Try what?”
“Try whether you can live together with me.”
As she spoke, the girl continued forward and engulfed Lin Ye’s ball of light.
At this moment, Lin Ye’s vision was filled with all sorts of images.
In the center of these images was a petite young girl with outstanding looks, but her face looked a bit haggard.
Lin Ye accepted all of this girl’s memories.
He learned her name, her hobbies, and every single thing that had happened to her from childhood to adulthood.
In an instant, Lin Ye felt that he was this girl.
Everything she had experienced felt as if he himself had experienced it.
He was gradually becoming her, becoming the girl he had saved.