Confession

Every time I met my junior sister and Mistress in my dreams, it was against such a dim backdrop.

Either it was the hour before dawn had fully broken, or a night when the stars and moon hung high.

"Senior Brother, good evening."

You Su looked at his junior sister, the drool-slobbering monster, and sensed the joy in her voice. He replied gently:

"Good evening, Junior Sister."

"Senior Brother, I didn't lie to you, did I? The Spirit Solidifying Pill really is amazing, isn't it?" As she spoke, the monster raised the massive limb that could probably be called an arm, looking rather smug.

A sudden glimmer of doubt flashed through You Su's heart. Why would Junior Sister ask such a question? Could she already know?

"Yes, it really is amazing..."

His junior sister ignored his reply and continued asking:

"Senior Brother, do you want to know why I knew you'd think the Spirit Solidifying Pill was amazing?"

You Su fell silent for a moment. A feeling rose within him: before this junior sister, all his secrets lay exposed. Everything he had done had been watched by her.

"Can you... tell me?"

His junior sister stood up. Her figure was tall and grand, yet her voice remained as sweet as ever:

"Senior Brother, actually, you saw me the very first time, didn't you?"

!

You Su could hardly believe his ears. It was as if a bolt from a clear blue sky had struck him, leaving his entire body numb.

He knew that continuing to deceive her would only be deceiving himself, so he said in a trembling voice, "You saw through me long ago?"

The monster seemed unable to contain her laughter and bent over, her body shaking. "Oh, Senior Brother, Senior Brother, how could you be so foolish?"

"This is your dream. Have you ever heard of a blind person dreaming and still wanting to be blind?"

You Su recalled the first time he had met his monster junior sister, his nerves drawn taut through that tense moment. At the time, he had not realized he was in a dream and had desperately kept up his act. In her eyes, he must have looked like a clown.

"But why did you keep pretending that you hadn't noticed?"

That question seemed to touch upon his junior sister's sorrow. She turned slightly away, as if she no longer wanted You Su to see her, and those viscous fluids began seeping from her body again.

Watching the sores open and close, You Su had long since figured it out: whenever she was extremely happy or sad, those fluids began to ooze from her body.

"If Senior Brother had turned into someone like me, would you have dared come see me?"

Would he have?

You Su lowered his eyes. The answer was obvious:

"I wouldn't have dared."

"Senior Brother wouldn't want to expose his ugliest side before the person closest to him either, would you?" His junior sister turned back around. Her six fish eyes gazed tenderly at the floor. "But I dared. How could I possibly hide from Senior Brother forever?"

"When you first saw me like this, you must have been terrified, right? But I was afraid to face you too. I was afraid you might be unable to stop yourself from attacking me. So when I first saw Senior Brother, I had no choice but to pretend I didn't know you could see me, so you wouldn't dare say that you could. I never expected Senior Brother to play along with me. Your acting was really good, you know."

"Were you always lying to me before this too?"

After hearing his junior sister's words, You Su felt as if his heart had been cut by a knife. He could only regret that he had not been the first to become possessed by the evil entity. "How could I? I have never lied to Junior Sister."

"Pfft, you're even lying with that sentence. That night, when you asked me in return, 'Then does that mean you're no longer my junior sister?' I was truly happy. It also made me decide that the next time we met, I would confess everything to you."

Candlelight traced the side of You Su's face, outlining its gentle contours. "If I were the one possessed, Junior Sister, you would have done the same."

"I wouldn't have. I definitely would have abandoned you and run away."

"Then I would chase you and frighten you for the rest of your life."

His junior sister's fish eyes squeezed shut. Happiness, sorrow, helplessness, grief—every emotion tangled together within her. After a long while, she finally said softly:

"But I can't frighten Senior Brother for the rest of your life."

You Su suddenly sat upright, saying firmly, "Don't say such depressing things. I will definitely cure all of you!"

His junior sister froze for a moment before answering softly, "I believe in Senior Brother."

"All right, let's talk about the Spirit Solidifying Pill. You must have guessed it by now, right? It was actually flesh cut from my own body. The evil entity that contaminated me is very powerful. It's called Tai Sui.

"Its flesh has countless wondrous uses. It's different from other evil entities. Eating its flesh won't truly make you possessed; at most, you'll have a bit of evil energy. Once you've completely absorbed it, you'll be no different from an ordinary person. That's why I dared to let Senior Brother eat it. How could I ever harm you?"

It wouldn't truly make him possessed?

Some relief rose in You Su's heart, but he was not relieved because he had escaped possession. He was relieved because, without being possessed, he could travel outside more freely and search for a way to dispel the evil affliction from them.

"What about Mistress? What kind of evil entity is inside Mistress?"

"I don't know... I only know that the evil entity inside her came together with Tai Sui."

"Then what are they trying to do?"

"I don't know either, but it probably isn't to eat Mistress and me. They must have another purpose. Otherwise, I wouldn't still be here talking to you."

You Su furrowed his brows and continued anxiously, "Junior Sister, tell me honestly. Does it hurt?"

"Does it hurt?" His junior sister tilted her head slightly, as if recalling something. "It's actually not too bad. At most, I occasionally turn into this even in the real world. Then my head gets all dizzy, and I can't tell who I am. I feel myself becoming bloodthirsty and frenzied. When I smell that pure Mystic Qi inside Senior Brother, I want to rush out and eat you. Even now, I'm still holding myself back."

As she spoke, she pointed at the sticky fluid continuously flowing from her body. "This stuff is actually my saliva. Whenever I feel something is wrong outside, I hurry back to my room. If I endure it for a while, it's fine. It's not so easy for it to completely occupy me."

His junior sister spoke lightly, but You Su's heart was cut to ribbons. He could almost see that carefree girl hiding in her room, rolling in agony across the floor, tugging in terror at the grotesque flesh that had grown from her body as she faced the mirror, then enduring one calamity after another through sheer, astonishing willpower before putting on that innocent face to meet him again.

Was Mistress also suffering and struggling in agony the same way?

"Tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'll take you all out of Chuyun City. We'll go to the divine mountain! We can definitely find a way to save you!"

"Senior Brother, you've worked so hard. Dealing with that bad person must have exhausted you. Don't rush. They won't be able to do anything to us for the time being, because Mistress is a very powerful person."

"What happened to Mistress?"

"Not only has Mistress avoided being completely devoured by that evil entity, she seems to have gained a little of the power that only it possesses. She hid part of our consciousness deep within your Sea of Consciousness, allowing us to preserve that last shred of clarity while resisting the evil entity's erosion. So whenever you fall asleep and enter a dream, you'll see us."

"So that's how it is..."

The last 200 words of this chapter were hastily scribbled down earlier because I was pressed for time. I've only just revised them. I'm sorry to the readers who read it right away. I kneel before you all.