Translator: Cinder Translations
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The middle-aged man stared in confusion at the old dog trembling beneath the bed. His first reaction wasn't to scold it but to gaze immediately out the glass window toward where the owner resided.
Slowly, a mix of confusion and odd emotions began to appear in his eyes.
A few seconds later, as if realizing something, his pupils contracted sharply, and his trembling gaze was filled with terror.
Inside a loft resembling a fortress, in a dimly lit corner, a burly figure curled up, doing his best to shrink into a small ball.
He huddled his knees tightly, clutching himself, as if the same things were happening to him as when that person was still around.
Tears slid down silently, his swollen eyes fixed on the wall before him.
He was waiting—waiting for the only warm person in the world to come back.
"Sister..." he croaked, sobbing softly.
If the middle-aged man from the guardroom had seen him, he would have noticed that the pitiful state of the burly man resembled the old dog under the bed, except for the lack of fear.
"Buzz."
Just before the iron gate disappeared, gray mist swirled, and the door opened again.
A small, thin figure appeared at the iron gate.
In an instant, the man curled up in the corner brightened, and he jumped to his feet, stumbling toward the figure.
When he finally embraced the small figure, feeling the warmth of the petite body in his arms, he finally relaxed.
"Sister..."
The figure seemed extremely tired, but still raised her hand and affectionately rubbed the burly man's face, ears, and hair, smiling as she said, "Don't cry. Sister... is back."
The large, bear-like man cried even harder.
The woman's expression grew a bit helpless. Every time they left a nightmare and reunited in reality, it was always like this.
"If you don't let go," Su Xiaoxiao said with a bitter smile, "Sister's going to run out of breath."
Upon hearing this, Su An immediately let go, crouching seriously in front of his sister, staring at her with eyes full of care.
The contrast between his muscular body and his small, timid eyes created a striking difference.
Not only was he not fierce, but the man was also somewhat cute.
She smiled and stretched out her hand, first pressing Su An's nose, then ruffling his hair with both hands.
Shaking his head, Su An grinned, showing a silly smile.
Su Xiaoxiao's affection for her brother was unquestionable. After their parents passed away, the two siblings relied on each other in the vast mansion.
In life and in nightmares, it was always like this.
"Sister," on the night the motorbike girl went missing, Su An quietly leaned against Su Xiaoxiao's chest, whispering something secretive.
He expressed himself for a long time before Su Xiaoxiao finally understood. What he meant was that the old woman was represented by white with a bit of gray, while her shadow was pure white, even transparent.
The old woman and her shadow were separate things, two different entities.
Not long after they arrived here, Su An noticed the anomaly in the old woman, but saying it so bluntly still made Su Xiaoxiao hard to accept.
How could the shadow be...?
Moreover, most importantly, Su An said that he didn't feel any malice from the transparent shadow.
This was the reason why Su Xiaoxiao decided to leave her brother alone.
But what truly shocked and even made Su Xiaoxiao despair was the next thing Su An said.
He weakly stared at her, then quietly expressed something.
Su Xiaoxiao looked at him with a strange gaze, until Su An nodded as if confirming something.
Immediately, Su Xiaoxiao felt a chill down her spine.
Her body was engulfed by an unprecedented fear as she looked down, her long legs trembling with no pattern. She tried to suppress it, hoping to regain control of her body before anyone noticed her abnormality.
But clearly, she failed. At that moment, she was targeted by the dark, squinting eyes of Chen Ran.
According to her brother's description, they were sitting on some giant object.
The scariest part was that it was alive, with consciousness and life!
Because, in Su An's subconscious, it represented the color black.
The same black as that man, Hao Shuai.
When she barely suppressed her emotions and asked her brother how big this object—no, this living thing—was, her brother rarely fell silent, then seemed to fall into deep thought.
Finally, he slowly raised his head and drew a strange symbol with his hand.
Moments later, as Su Xiaoxiao blinked, a cold wave swept up from her feet and shot up to her head.
Because Su An, unable to interact with the world normally, constructed most of his understanding of the world through TV documentaries.
According to Su An, he was trying to say an iceberg.
A huge iceberg floating on the surface of the water.
Expanding on that, what he truly meant was that the entire island above the water was just the tip of that thing.
Terrifying.
Thinking of that mysterious massive entity, countless fragmented images flooded Su Xiaoxiao's mind.
Some of them coherent scenes, while others were meaningless wails and roars.
But without exception, they all gave Su Xiaoxiao an eerie feeling of desolation.
Breathing heavily, she felt a suffocated, as if drowning in the dreary depths of sea.
The surrounding water dark and deep.
Wandering, helpless, and silent... She could even feel the heavy, mountain-like gaze behind her.
That thing was watching her.
Endless darkness enveloped her, invading her, destroying her, then re-forging her. It was as if she had lost something, and something new was starting to open its eyes within her body.
She staggered back, and her brother, Su An, instinctively reached out to grab her but was roughly shaken off as she leaned against the wall where the gate had just disappeared.
Sweat poured down her face.
"Sister," Su An stared at her anxiously, as if he had no idea what had just happened.
"I... I'm tired," Su Xiaoxiao said quickly, stumbling toward her bedroom.
Before Su An could react, Su Xiaoxiao had already shoved open the bedroom door and slammed it shut with a loud "bang."
In the large loft, only Su An remained.
No!
He wasn't alone!
Su An's dim eyes suddenly lit up.
He stared intensely at the spot where his sister had been standing, then slowly shifted his gaze. On the wall beside him, a small, thin shadow that resembled his sister lingered.
The next second, the shadow vanished.
(End of the Chapter)
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