Prologue: A New Star

[Mo Xie... Mo Xie... Mo Xie...]

[Evil Emperor, do you really think you can save everyone by yourself? Even if you save them now, you can't save them forever!]

[Evil Emperor, we've always believed you're the one who can bring dawn to this world.]

[Mo Xie, if you ever grow tired, come home. We'll always be by your side.]

[Little Xie... goodbye forever...]

The world spun, and the phantom voices vanished completely.

The eyelids of a young man lying in bed fluttered. He slowly opened his eyes to a dim room.

Dizzy and disoriented, he felt around the bedside table, found a remote, and pressed a button.

With a mechanical whir, the curtains drew apart. Sunlight streamed in, bright enough to make him squint, driving the darkness from the room as though it meant to wake all living things.

In the light, the room revealed itself as a hospital ward.

White walls, a white bed, a white hospital gown. White dominated everything, yet somehow it didn't feel jarring.

The young man sat up against the headboard and pressed his slender fingers to his temples. A flicker of frustration crossed his eyes.

"It's been the same dream lately..."

He looked to be around twenty years old.

He was beautiful. Yes, beautiful. The word was usually used for women, but nothing else quite described him.

His features were delicate and finely formed, his skin smooth and pale. His eyes were especially deep and captivating, his face sharply defined.

The brilliant sunlight tried to melt this block of ice, but it could not thaw even a sliver.

He gazed indifferently at the view outside, at the world, and then... at his own reflection in the glass.

About ten minutes passed before he looked away. He tugged at his hospital gown and found a little sweat on his skin. It must have been from the dream.

He got out of bed, put on his slippers, and went into the room's private bathroom. He took off his clothes and turned on the shower.

Water ran over his head and dripped from his jaw. His skin was pale and smooth, his body lean and strong. Beneath his clothes, the young man who looked so frail and sickly held surprising strength.

He dried himself, changed into clean clothes, turned the doorknob, and left the room.

The corridor was silent. It was still early, and few patients or medical staff were about.

He walked alone, his faint footsteps clearly audible.

After a while, although the corridor was empty, he heard voices in the distance. As he drew closer, their words grew clear.

Behind the counter, two nurses on duty were chatting idly.

"Ah, that poor boy's had a hard life," one nurse said.

"He has. Little Xie is so good-looking, but at such a young age..." the younger nurse replied.

"Exactly. I've looked after him for four years now. Other twenty-year-olds are out studying, but he has to spend every day in the hospital. And his parents... It's heartbreaking!"

"Why did heaven have to give Little Xie such a strange illness? The doctor said he'd only live to around twenty. By now, his time must be nearly up..."

"His parents spent so much money on his treatment, and in the end, they lost their own lives too... Little Xie! When did you get here?"

Mid-sentence, the nurse spotted the young man standing before the counter and cried out in alarm.

He gave her a faint smile and a polite nod, then spoke softly.

"Sister Li, I'm going to sit in the garden for a while."

"Oh... All right. Tell Sister Li if you feel unwell."

"I will."

The young man's name was Mo Xie. As the nurses had said, he had developed a strange illness when he was very young. The doctors said he would only live to around twenty.

Mo Xie had been confined to a hospital bed since he was sixteen—nearly four years now.

As a child, he had thought of himself as a burden. He had no idea how much his parents had spent trying to keep him alive a little longer.

His family had never been rich, merely comfortable. His illness had eventually ruined them financially.

Mo Xie had been sensible as a child—or rather, mature beyond his years. He hadn't wanted his parents to spend so much money. To him, treating an illness with no hope of recovery was a waste. It wasn't worth it.

He would rather they had saved the money so they could live without worry after he was gone.

Every time he saw his parents refuse to give up, his heart ached more. His shame and guilt grew, and little by little, he closed himself off.

But even a closed heart could break.

Not long afterward, his parents were in a car accident while away on another work trip.

When Mo Xie heard the terrible news, he broke down completely and lost consciousness.

When he woke, he learned that he had been taken to the hospital and had spent three days in intensive care. The doctor said the severe emotional shock had caused it.

From then on, Mo Xie lived alone in his own world. Gradually, he learned to be lonely, then grew used to it.

As he grew older, Mo Xie discovered something startling: his eyesight and hearing seemed far sharper than anyone else's.

It all seemed to have begun after the day he had passed out as a child.

What astonished him most was that his memory had grown stronger too, to an almost fantastical degree.

He could replay every event in his life like a video in his mind, without missing a single detail.

Mo Xie couldn't explain the ability. It was as though his mind had been remade. But what use was such a gift to him now?

Hah. Was this heaven's idea of a joke?

Mo Xie left the hospital building and entered the garden.

Sunlight spilled across it, lending a little warmth to the chilly morning.

He walked slowly to the center of the garden and leaned back on a bench. With his head lowered, he might have been daydreaming or deep in thought. Only insects and birds broke the silence.

He enjoyed the peace. Four years in a hospital bed had changed him. Some of his youthful energy was gone, replaced by a steadiness beyond his years.

Closing his eyes, Mo Xie recalled the moments of his twenty years, looking for anything he might have forgotten.

He searched his memories and found that he seemed to have no regrets.

His first sixteen years had been uneventful, and he had spent the last four in a hospital bed. Only the loss of his family and the loneliness that followed could still stir his emotions.

Mo Xie felt his eyelids grow heavier as his consciousness began to fade.

He knew what was coming, but he had never feared death. To him, fear was a sign of weakness.

He had come outside simply because he no longer wanted to be in that hospital bed.

His heartbeat slowed toward a stop. It seemed... his time had come.

It's over. My life... Goodbye, me...

Just before his eyes closed, he thought he saw a blurry figure. The sun was behind the person, hiding their face.

Judging by the long hair and slender figure, it was a woman. More importantly, she wore a nurse's uniform.

Mo Xie wanted to open his eyes and see who she was. He had a faint feeling he knew her.

But his eyelids would not obey. He could not open them, and all he heard in the end was one sentence.

[Xie, it's been a long time...]

Where... am I?

The white ceiling looked familiar.

It was the first thing Mo Xie saw when he opened his eyes.

Then he caught an unmistakably familiar smell—rubbing alcohol.

Am I in a hospital?

Wasn't I supposed to be dead? How could I be in a hospital?!

Mo Xie tried to move, but his arms and legs would not budge. He couldn't even speak. All he could make were little babbling sounds.

What's going on? Have I turned into a baby?!

While he was still questioning everything, a nurse came over and picked him up. She picked up the baby beside him as well.

The nurse handed Mo Xie to a man. He looked at the two babies in his arms and broke into a guileless smile.

"Look! They're our children—and they're twins!"

The man handed Mo Xie and the other baby to a woman sitting up in the hospital bed.

She cradled them gently. The weariness on her face vanished, leaving only a joyful smile.

Mo Xie stared at the woman with wide eyes.

That smile is so warm!

He had still been uneasy, but her smile settled his heart.

"Have you decided what to name them?"

The man sat beside her and asked softly.

"Yes. The younger one will be Mo Fan. As for the older one..." She looked into Mo Xie's wide eyes and said unhurriedly, "We'll call him Mo Xie."

"Mo Xie and Mo Fan. Good. We'll go with your choices."

The man repeated the names with a smile.

Mo Xie blinked his big, bright eyes and let out a string of babbles.

"Look, he understood! I think he likes the name!" the man said, laughing.

"Yes, you really do like it, don't you, Little Xie?"

The woman brushed her cheek against Mo Xie's and spoke tenderly.

At that moment, the brightest star streaked across the night sky, heralding the arrival of a new life.

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