“Brother! Brother!”
A frantic voice calling from somewhere unknown.
As Luo Zhizhou leapt into the river, the calm surface of the water hit him like a solid wall.
The biting cold of the river’s icy water quickly overwhelmed him, and blood gushed from his chest, staining the surrounding water red.
It felt like a long dream—one in which he searched endlessly for an exit, only to collapse from exhaustion right in front of the doorway.
“I’m sorry, Miss, there’s nothing more we can do for your brother—cardiovascular rupture and hemothorax. With current medical technology, his chances of survival are less than one percent.”
“Doctor! Even one percent is enough! Save him!”
Hearing his sister’s desperate calls, Luo Zhizhou slowly opened his eyes. Blinding light shone over his body as the surgery was about to begin.
“Sister…” he whispered, blood filling his airway making it almost impossible to speak.
But Luo Xi heard her brother’s faint voice and hurried closer.
“Brother! You’re awake? You have to hold on!”
Luo Zhizhou’s vision blurred, unable to make out her expression—everything seemed veiled by a thin curtain. He felt the world drifting away…
“Luo Xi, please step aside.” another female voice instructed.
“I know this is cruel for you, but you’re only obstructing the surgery. Please leave and calm down.”
“I… understand.”
Luo Xi cast one last tearful glance at her brother lying on the operating table and left.
Once all unrelated personnel were cleared, Ma Xinyin approached Luo Zhizhou.
“Luo Zhizhou, can you hear me?”
No response.
Luo Xi came out of the operating room and collapsed helplessly to the ground.
“Waaah… why did this have to happen to brother…”
She had once believed that becoming a Magical Girl could protect those she loved most, but the truth was clear—Magical Girls were not invincible.
Under the various lethal weapons of human society, life was so easily extinguished.
Luo Xi took out the pinwheel her brother had given her from her backpack, gently blowing on it. The pinwheel’s blades, already creased, slowly turned with the breeze.
“Brother, if you really have died, I wish you could still hear what I’m saying.”
“Brother, I’ve always wanted to say I’m sorry. I know you always sacrificed yourself to protect me—without you, I might have starved to death long ago.”
“I didn’t understand before why so many like you risk their lives, but after meeting Sister Ciyue, I realize what a noble act it is—to save others even when misunderstood…”
Luo Xi stood up and looked back at the operating room.
“I used to think loving others before oneself, putting yourself in danger, was irresponsible—that it only caused suffering to those you love.”
“But now I understand, this is the cruelest thing in the world—both people love each other so deeply that they treat their own lives as trivial while valuing the other’s as mountains.”
“For me to blame you alone is selfish… Do you know? How much I wish, I truly wish I could have taken that bullet for you! I, your little sister you always protected, should have paid you back equally, but fate won’t allow it…”
She tried to push open the tightly shut door, desperate to give her brother a long overdue hug, but the “Surgery in Progress” light flickered on and off, as if announcing the fading of his life…
“One percent chance… Brother has always been unlucky—maybe fate will favor him once this time?”
After a long wait, the surgery was still not complete.
Perhaps her brother had already passed—only no one dared to tell her.
“Brother, there’s no use saying more. May you rest in peace in the afterlife.”
She quietly left the place of grief.
***
Outside the hospital, she found the entire area heavily guarded. Armored vehicles and tanks lined the roads.
One armored vehicle was stationed at the hospital entrance. Several men in white coats stepped out, carrying an instrument resembling the Chemomorphic Device Luo Xi remembered—the machine used to build and reinforce Magical Girl bodies.
Luo Xi wondered—was there someone important inside the hospital?
At that moment, her communicator rang, assigning her a new mission.
“Stay in the safe house? Such a cowardly move…”
She removed her hairband and pinned the red pinwheel her brother gave her into her hair.
Then she wrapped the original ponytail band around it to secure it, turning the pinwheel into a hairpin—her brother’s keepsake would accompany her always.
“I will protect this world for my brother and find his murderer.”
“He has lost consciousness. Force the transformation.”
“This carries risks. The transformation requires removing all life-support devices; if brain death occurs just before the transformation, it will be irreversible.”
“Is there any way to delay brain death?”
“Micro-nanorobots.”
“Stop explaining. Do it quickly. Don’t miss the best rescue window.”
“All right. Activate the cooling device; begin localized brain hypothermia.”
Cold. So cold.
He was trapped inside an ice cave, pounding on the icy walls, but they wouldn’t budge.
Then everything slowed; thought became impossible.
After an unknown time, cracks appeared on the ice, and the layers slowly melted.
“She’s regaining consciousness—the mind transfer is effective.”
“Luo Zhizhou?”
Ma Xinyin waved repeatedly in front of Ciyue’s face.
“Can you see me?”
Ciyue slowly opened her eyes.
“Uh… am I dead?”
“You died once.”
Ciyue sat up.
“Why am I here again… Do I have a grudge with hospital beds this lifetime?”
“Have you lost your memory?”
“Let me think… was I shot?”
“Yes.”
“And my sister?”
“She left. Probably thought you were beyond saving.”
Ciyue quickly threw off the blanket, intending to get up.
But realized she was naked.
“Hey! Have some decency!”
Everyone else in the room quickly turned away, but there was no doubt—she had been fully seen.
“Old hag, put some clothes on!”
After dressing, Ma Xinyin explained.
“You can’t revert back. Your original body is beyond saving. Transforming back means death.”
“That means…”
“Luo Zhizhou is dead. But Ciyue is still alive.”
“No, what about my sister?”
“You need to comfort her well.”
“But can I tell her I’m still alive?”
“Take a look at who’s around you before saying that.”
Ciyue glanced around and saw that the room was filled with famous academicians, nationally renowned medical experts, a certain general, and members of the State Council—all gathered in this huge operating room, an assembly of elites.
“What about my old comrades? At least I should see them…”
“They don’t know your true identity. They don’t even know you were attacked. Now, you should rest—there’s plenty for you to handle later.”
“Wait…”
Ciyue recalled her suspicion that the culprit might be from the Saint Li Group.
But considering her sister was still in their hands, antagonizing them might endanger Luo Xi. So she stopped herself.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Next, the general and council members asked a few questions; most were trivial, but at the end they asked who she thought the murderer was.
Ciyue answered, “I don’t know.”
Afterward, she was taken out of the hospital and brought to a safe house in Jingan City.