Opening her eyes, the ceiling above was both unfamiliar and yet strangely familiar.
“Why… is it here again…”
Clutching the bedsheets tightly, she forced herself to sit up.
Bai Lingluo had been taken away, and she hadn’t managed to save her.
“I… couldn’t protect anyone. Was my sacrifice… even meaningful…?”
She tried to clench her fist, but a burning pain radiated from her palm—an unhealed burn wound.
It was always like this. After every battle, only fleeting scars were left on her body, while the people around her disappeared one by one.
If only she could sacrifice herself in place of others… how wonderful that would be…
Tears fell.
[Luo Zhizhou, how can a man shed tears!? A soldier would rather bleed than cry! Stand at attention!]
“Understood, Squad Leader…”
Suppressing the tears, Porcelain Moon moved her legs, but they lacked the strength to support her.
She could only roll off the hospital bed.
She couldn’t even stand at attention.
“I’m useless… I can do nothing!!!”
“Squad Leader, what should I do…”
Porcelain Moon collapsed helplessly.
“I’ve failed her. I’m useless, right?”
“No, Sister Porcelain Moon, you are not useless.”
Slowly raising her head, a long boot, black stockings, and that familiar blue dress came into view.
“Luo Xi?”
She knelt beside Porcelain Moon, gently helping her up.
“On May 14, 2016, during the extermination of the Chiyou general battle, you served as the vanguard—your presence forged an unbreakable shield for the warriors who followed.”
“You blocked Chiyou’s devastating magic cannon and saved everyone from the Magic Disaster! I have always remembered your sacrifice! So please, don’t give up on yourself!”
“But I lied to you…”
Luo Xi shook her head.
“No, this is my fault… I finally understood—my brother and you are exactly the same kind of person. I had always wanted to become someone like him; it was I who misunderstood him.”
“Sister Porcelain Moon, I am the dumb one here, so please stop being sad. Let’s join forces and solve this crisis together.”
“Ugh… Luo Xi, but I’ve kept a secret from you all along… I feel so sorry to you.”
“No! If it’s a secret you don’t want to tell, then keep it buried in your heart. You still have people to save. Compared to that insignificant secret, maintaining justice in this world is far more important!”
Porcelain Moon looked into Luo Xi’s determined eyes and felt a deep reconciliation and resolve within her.
“Thank you, Luo Xi.”
Luo Xi helped her to her feet and staggered toward the hospital room’s exit.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To where you’re needed.”
The hospital was always crowded. Luo Xi carefully guided Porcelain Moon through the maze of patients.
Behind open ward doors lay ordinary people—soldiers, firefighters, police officers, as well as the most ordinary workers and farmers.
The Beast Tide had struck once more, dragging innocent people into its chaos, and the entire Hua Country was shaken to its core.
Yet, even in these most dangerous times, countless equally ordinary girls stood up bravely to defend their homeland against the threat of the Extradimensional Beasts.
Only, these girls had fractured, each driven by their own beliefs, no longer united…
***
Neurology Department, Room 56.
Luo Xi pushed the door open.
A white-haired girl lay on the hospital bed, eyes closed as if asleep.
The window stood open; warm breezes drifted in, making the white curtains dance.
Golden rays of sunset cast a gentle glow on the white-haired girl’s face.
“This is Bai Lingluo!? Has she been rescued?”
“Yes, but she doesn’t seem to wake up. The doctors have run all kinds of tests but cannot identify the cause.”
“It’s all because of Tianlang, that girl…” Porcelain Moon gritted her teeth, full of resentment.
“Porcelain Moon, you are the most important person to her. Can you awaken her?”
“I’ll just have to try.”
Porcelain Moon leaned over Bai Lingluo’s chest—that place where the Magical Core was stored—and awakened Bai Lingluo’s Magical Core, taking out her own as well—
She placed her own Magical Core against Bai Lingluo’s chest, aligning them…
“There’s no other way. If you won’t wake, this is the only method…”
“Luo Zhizhou, Magical Girls are truly wondrous beings. Let me teach you how to build and share dream realms.”
So you’ve always been here…
As Porcelain Moon entered Bai Lingluo’s dream realm, she saw only one thing:
Locks, countless locks, endless locks.
She had locked away her heart tightly, a Mind Wall separating Porcelain Moon firmly from her Dream Realm.
Porcelain Moon reached out her hand but was pushed away.
“Are you rejecting me?”
Each keyhole on the locks morphed into Bai Lingyi’s image.
“Is that so? Only she can enter?”
“But in the end, I’m not her…”
A white figure passed by Porcelain Moon.
She could see only the figure’s back.
The back disappeared into a keyhole.
[I can only help you this far.]
“Thank you, Bai Lingyi.”
Porcelain Moon stepped into Bai Lingluo’s inner world. The familiar dizziness struck again—just like when she first entered the High-dimensional Space caused by Rin Star.
Countless cubes arranged systematically, extending endlessly, infinitely.
This was a girl’s inner world.
Looking closely inside those cubes were identical rooms. Inside the rooms were Bai Lingluo herself and another black-haired girl.
Within the myriad cube worlds, a single process repeated—girls embracing, parting, then embracing again.
They twisted and spiraled like countless chains entangled.
Porcelain Moon approached one of the rooms.
She recognized the other girl—it was Bai Lingyi’s original body. Bai Lingluo had remembered her perfectly; every strand of hair and every pore was replicated—
The black-haired girl was almost a perfect copy of Bai Lingyi.
But it was only a copy of appearance… lacking one crucial thing.
The eyes of the “Bai Lingyi” were hollow and lifeless, mechanically repeating embrace after embrace, while Bai Lingluo was already showing signs of weariness…
“Sister! Can you please speak? Wuuu… I’ve finally found you. Please don’t leave again…”
Porcelain Moon felt a pang of heartache but was powerless. She couldn’t interfere.
Yet, if she could awaken that numb heart, maybe her consciousness could intervene.
“The missing heart, I will fill it!”
Within Bai Lingluo’s dream realm, Porcelain Moon unfolded her own dream.
Amidst the endless cubes in the profound darkness, a beam of holy light illuminated everything. The pitch-black curtain was pierced by a tear in consciousness…
“Sister! Sister! Why did you faint? Did I do something wrong?”
Bai Lingluo in the dream hastily supported her sister.
“Was the cake I made not tasty? I’ll make another one right away! Please wait!”
Behind Bai Lingluo, a kitchen appeared. She immediately turned to preheat the oven and started baking a cake.
“Sister Bai Lingyi loves strawberry cake best, of course I know how to make it! I learned it specially, all to see you again!”
“I know exactly how to make the best cake! Sister Bai Lingyi will definitely like it; this is my own researched recipe…”
“Like this—prepare eggs, flour, milk, and strawberries! Oh, and cocoa powder too, for a chocolate flavor! Sister will love it!”
“She will definitely love it…”
“Ugh… this feeling is so awful. It’s like my whole body is being torn apart and stuffed into a hole just a few centimeters wide…”
The “Bai Lingyi” woke.
“Hm? Sister, what are you saying?”
Bai Lingluo picked up the strawberry cake she had made and placed a delicious-looking slice on the glass table.
“This is a carefully prepared strawberry cake! Sister, please try some!”
Bai Lingluo scooped a piece with a spoon and brought it to Bai Lingyi’s lips.
Seeing the affectionate look in Bai Lingluo’s eyes, Bai Lingyi felt a profound, distant force urging her to open her mouth.
Softly biting down, Bai Lingyi tasted a sweetness—strawberry? Or cocoa? Neither quite—such a flavor did not exist in reality.
It blossomed in her mouth like a flower, fleeting as fireworks, yet deep as the starry sky… The soft texture felt so real that chewing forcefully felt almost sinful.
Bai Lingyi realized it was Bai Lingluo’s love made manifest.
“Sister, how does the cake I made taste?”
How to reply? Bai Lingyi thought, for a sister’s love should be fully accepted and returned with equal—no, multiplied—affection.
But how to convey this overwhelming love? There was only one way—to kiss, until that multiplied love was fully passed on.
So Bai Lingyi kissed her.
For a moment, time in the dream realm stood still, the hands of the clock frozen at this sacred moment—the flow of love reaching its peak.
The dream’s host stopped the passage of time, wanting to bask in it forever.
“Sister, you’re so selfish.”
The exchange of love did not halt with frozen time, for as many have said, love transcends time and space.
Bai Lingyi pulled away, but her sister clung on, yearning for another kiss.
Faced with her sister’s insatiable desire, the elder sister could only relent, letting her be pushed down, caressed, embraced, and kissed deeply.
They kissed for a long time. At that moment, Bai Lingyi seemed to forget why she had come here, surrendering fully to her sister’s will.
“Sister, sister…”
Countless “Sisters” echoed around her, turning into an unfillable longing—an abyss with no escape.
“I want to spend the rest of my life with sister, always by sister’s side…”
“Even in the next life, I want to be with sister.”
“Never parted, till death do us part…”
The dream realm shifted violently. As the sister’s emotions surged, countless cubes overlapped and converged into one single room.
The room was adorned with various decorations and bathed in pink tones, like any girl’s beautiful fantasy.
“Sister, do you like this room?”
“This will be our home from now on. Sister, rest well here. Don’t go out anymore.”
“Sister, does this dress look good on me?”
“Very good, it suits your style.”
“Sister, try it on too! I’ll help you change.”
“Mm.”
“Hehe, now I can touch every part of your body…”
“Sister, let’s play board games. How about Go?”
“Again… wait, why do I feel like I’ve said that before?”
“Want to play, sister?”
“I don’t remember, but I learned Go specially before. Let’s play.”
“I actually lost to sister. Sister, you’re a Go master.”
“It’s nothing, I’m still a beginner. Did you let me win?”
“No way! Since I lost, I have to grant you a wish!”
“Uh, seems like something similar happened before…”
“Sister! What are you thinking? What’s your wish?”
“Then come dance with me.”
“I can play the violin, you know. Want to hear me play?”
“Sure! I’ve always wanted to listen to the violin up close.”
“Sister, can you sit next to me? Like this, closer…”
“Okay.”
How long this lasted, no one knew. Being with her sister always made time slip away unnoticed.
Her sister had an irresistible charm that left Bai Lingyi intoxicated, unable to think of anything else.
And so, they stayed together, loving one another…
Until one day.
“Sister, I can’t keep this from you anymore—I’m an A-class Magical Girl now!”
“I knew you’d be amazing, even better than me… Wait, what’s a Magical Girl?”
“You don’t know? Magical Girls protect the homeland and fight the Extradimensional Beasts. We’re warriors filled with love and justice every moment.”
“Protect the homeland, fight the Beasts… what is that…?”
“It’s to protect the outside world!”
[Luo Zhizhou, wake up! Don’t forget who you are!]
“No, no, I’m not… I’m not Bai Lingyi, I am…”
Before the words finished, time stopped again.
Bai Lingluo didn’t want to listen any further.
“No, that can’t be right! How could sister say she’s not sister? It must be false, right, sister?”
Time-stopped sister gave no answer.
“Sister? Answer me!”
“Sister!?”
“Sister?”
“Sister.”
Bai Lingluo leaned toward her sister; their foreheads touched.
“Are you leaving me again… Are you going to fight the beasts again… No! I don’t want to see that sister anymore! I don’t, I’m tired, so sister, you can’t leave!”
The stable dream began to collapse. Time could no longer stay still. The room shattered into fragments of space, falling into an endless abyss.
In Porcelain Moon’s eyes, before she could finish those final words, she was already in the void.
Looking down into the abyss below, countless hands reached out to catch her. Focusing, she saw thousands upon thousands of crying Bai Lingluos, welcoming her fall.
“Bai Lingluo, wake up! The outside world needs you! Don’t cling to the past like this anymore!”
Porcelain Moon shouted, but Bai Lingluo showed no response.
A hand grabbed Porcelain Moon’s long hair and pulled her down.
“Come quickly… sister, let’s never part again. Let’s become one, so I can always be with you.”
Porcelain Moon plummeted, finally landing in her warm embrace, drowning in an overwhelming tide of love and kisses.
But that love was too deep, pressing down on Porcelain Moon, making it hard to move or breathe.
“No, Bai Lingluo, you can’t do this. I still have a mission to fulfill…”
Struggling was useless before Bai Lingluo’s love.
The escape door had closed; the window to the outside world sealed shut. Bai Lingluo had completely locked Porcelain Moon’s consciousness inside her heart, waiting for them to become one.
Porcelain Moon hovered on the edge of losing consciousness, merging with Bai Lingluo’s mind, gradually losing her sense of self.
Time began to reverse.
Not just time within the dream realm, but reality as well. Though the relationship between dream and reality was now a tangled mess.
An invisible force began repairing Porcelain Moon’s consciousness, slowly pulling her free from Bai Linguo’s hold.
She opened her eyes slowly, a blue-haired girl descending from the sky, taking her hand.
Behind her stretched an endless blue starry sky.
“Who… are you?”
The girl didn’t answer, only smiled enigmatically.
She wasn’t Bai Lingluo, nor Bai Lingyi. She was a third party, but Porcelain Moon felt she was familiar, as if she had known her long ago.
The gate opened, bright light from the outside shone in.
After bringing Porcelain Moon here, the girl vanished.
Porcelain Moon approached the door; outside was the vast blue sky.
Turning back, Bai Lingluo’s heart was silently praying for her return, countless hands reaching to hold her back.
“Sorry, Bai Lingluo. Once I’ve resolved everything, I’ll come back to you.”
Porcelain Moon stepped out the door.
“Sister Porcelain Moon?”
Luo Xi’s voice was gentle in her ear, like an old friend reunited after years apart.
“I’m back, Luo Xi.”
“How is Bai Lingluo’s condition now?”
“She…” Porcelain Moon suddenly noticed her hand was tightly grasped by Bai Lingluo under the blanket.
At the corner of Bai Lingluo’s closed eyes, a few inconspicuous tears trickled down.
“She’ll wake up. This is just a long nightmare. A very long one, but she will wake.”
“So, she’s alright for now?”
“Yes. Luo Xi, let’s leave first. Don’t disturb her rest.”
“Okay, Sister Porcelain Moon. I’ll take care of your recovery.”