Bai Jingxuan once had a dream.
Back when her thoughts were still innocent and her family was still whole, she dreamed of becoming a musical artist.
Though her childhood memories had grown somewhat hazy, Bai Jingxuan could vaguely recall that she once owned a music box. It seemed to have been a gift from her parents. Whenever she was sick and in pain, the music box's gentle, lilting melody would free her from her suffering.
Although she could now remember only scattered fragments of its tune, that did not stop her from retaining a deep fondness for music.
But later, her parents died in an Aberrant Beast attack, and Bai Jingxuan was sent to an orphanage. The music box from her memories was also lost amid those changes and never appeared in her life again.
The orphanage was not so bad, but it had no way to help her recover what she had lost. Even when a caregiver gave her another one based on her description, it was ultimately something different. It no longer had the power to soothe her pain. Her dream, too, became a memory sealed away beneath the dust.
Perhaps it was not merely her dream.
From some point in time that even Bai Jingxuan herself had failed to notice, she had lost her "desires."
Her feelings of joy and anger lost their bearings, and her concepts of good and evil could find no measure. She did not know why she was happy or why she was sad. All she could do was read others' expressions and follow the emotions they displayed.
She was obedient because there was nothing she resisted; she was quiet because she had no personal needs. Like a doll without a will of its own, she seemed to mimic the shape of a