In the instance, Yin Xiu's body was asleep, but in his consciousness, Yin Xiu stood silently in front of the orphanage he knew so well.
The night sky was filled with lightning and thunder, and dark clouds. He stood in front of the gloomy orphanage, as if he had returned to that night that felt like a nightmare many years ago.
"Am I... in a hallucination?" Yin Xiu looked down at himself. This time, he was not in a hallucination with that small and fragile body in his memories, but in his twenties who had already experienced the hardships of the game.
As if he had sailed through the torrent of time, Yin Xiu, now in his twenties, returned to the hurdle he could never overcome.
The orphanage was filled with the laughter of children, who were joyfully celebrating the arrival of a better tomorrow. The cheerful atmosphere was as if Yin Xiu and his sister had never been in this orphanage at all.
As the raindrops pattered against the ground, Yin Xiu slowly stepped into the orphanage.
His tall, dark figure moved silently through the corridor, casting a shadow on the dilapidated wall, and slowly walked to the door of the room where he used to stay.
The room was completely silent, without any sound from him. Yin Xiu slowly reached out and pushed open the door.
A cold wind blew in through the glass window into the dilapidated, leaky little room. Xiaoxiao lay on the bed, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Yin Xiu slowly stepped forward. As his memories returned, he seemed to have finally found this place in his lost journey and found his missing sister.
"Xiaoxiao... it's been a long time." Yin Xiu lowered his eyes, his expression much calmer. He knelt down and stroked the cold body on the bed, then took her small hand in his again. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting so long. Your brother has come back to find you."
The person on the bed did not react at all, as if they had fallen into a deep sleep.
Yin Xiu reached out and picked her up from the bed, then turned and walked out.
This time, he won't lose his sister again; he'll take her away and to the new home he's found.
As they were leaving the orphanage, a child darted out of the kitchen, pointing at Yin Xiu in surprise, "Ah! You want to escape the orphanage?!"
Amidst the child's screams, the director peeked out and yelled, "You heartless little brat! We've raised you for so long! And you just want to abandon our orphanage and leave?!"
Yin Xiu paused, his cold gaze slowly sweeping over.
Thunder rumbled across the sky, and Yin Xiu exuded a gloomy and indifferent aura. His gaze was fixed on those people, and he remained silent.
"What are you looking at! Put down that corpse in your hand right now! Go back to your room!" The dean rushed over, cursing.
The moment the man reached Yin Xiu, Yin Xiu coldly kicked him away.
He knew very well that the real dean had long been killed by him, and these were just illusions created to trap him and stimulate his hallucinations again and again.
The person he hated had already been avenged by his own hands many years ago.
All Yin Xiu needs to do now is to fulfill his chaotic obsession from that time, find his sister, and take her away.
The absurd thoughts that arose under the blow were also his inner turmoil.
He didn't want his sister, whether dead or alive, to disappear without a trace. He wanted to take her away to a place where flowers bloomed, so she could sleep peacefully.
"Yin Xiu! You heartless little brat! We've raised you for so long! And you just want to abandon our orphanage and leave?!"
The dean, who had been kicked to the ground, got up without saying anything more. He mechanically repeated the same sentence, endlessly and woodenly shouting.
But as Yin Xiu calmly walked away, the voice gradually became distorted and sinister, until it disappeared along with the entire orphanage.
Where should we take my sister?
Yin Xiu wandered aimlessly down the deserted street. In reality, the only place he could go was that orphanage, which was why he had never left it.
When he stepped out of his small area one day, he felt quite lost standing in the vast world.
Last time, he opened the path to the dungeon because of his obsession with finding his sister. Now that he no longer has that obsession, does that mean he wants to spend time with his sister in reality?
Yin Xiu stood straight on the dark street, staring intently ahead.
He still harbored a strong desire to find his family, because he had other family members in the instance, waiting for him to return.
As if responding to Yin Xiu's call, the voice from his memory rang out.
"What do you want? I'll give you anything, everything, just stay by my side..."
This time, Yin Xiu walked in that direction without hesitation.
He carried his sister and stepped into the darkness without hesitation, walking straight ahead on the dark and unfamiliar road until he reached the end and saw the dark monster he had been hoping to see.
The monster seemed confused when it saw him and his sister, whom he was holding, but it still wriggled and twisted its way over in the darkness. "What do you want? I can give you anything. Do you want this little girl to come back to life?"
Yin Xiu calmly shook his head. "People can't be brought back to life after they die. People who hold this belief will only be trapped in it for life. What you gave me may not be my real sister, right?"
The monster paused. "So, you don't want anything?"
Its jet-black tentacles swirled around Yin Xiu, seemingly delighted to see a human so indifferent to it for the first time.
"Yes." Yin Xiu slowly raised his eyes to look at the blurry outline in the darkness before him. "I want you."
The pitch-black monster trembled, its eyes, floating in the darkness, showing surprise, as if it had misheard.
"You want me to... do something for you, is that right?"
Yin Xiu shook his head, picked up his sister, and stepped over the monster. "First, help me find a place where flowers are in full bloom. I want to bury Xiaoxiao there."
The black monster twisted and turned behind him. "This is the seaside, there are no flowers here, but I can take you to a place I know where there are flowers."
Its black tentacles wrapped around Yin Xiu's waist, dragging him wildly through the darkness, disappearing without a trace.
Yin Xiu couldn't see anything and could only be led around.
After the monster finally started walking, they gently placed him on the ground.
There was a faint fragrance of flowers and soft grass. Yin Xiu couldn't see where he was, but he could feel a sense of peace.
"The end for all humans is to sleep in a rectangular box, and I've prepared one for her." The monster howled and pulled a coffin out of its mouth, placed it in front of Yin Xiu, and skillfully dug a hole and put it inside.
Yin Xiu groped and bent down to put Xiaoxiao into the coffin, picked a flower from the side and placed it on her chest, then closed the coffin lid.
He found his sister and buried her in a place where flowers bloom. The old Yin Xiu would never have been able to do this calmly, but the Yin Xiu in his twenties would no longer go crazy like that.
He is now able to calmly deal with his past.