Chapter 10: Sister, I Love You

“!”

It itched…

Blood dripped from the hollow eye socket, yet strangely, Qinghe felt no pain.

Instead, a peaceful warmth spread out from the socket, gradually flowing through her entire body.

Pain, weakness, drowsiness—everything was healed in that instant.

A few seconds later, even the blood in the socket stopped flowing.

Aside from the empty eye, there was almost no proof that anything had just happened.

Qinghe blankly raised her right hand.

In her palm was a shattered, unrecognizable piece of flesh.

She pinched it.

Soft…

She blinked and realized that her field of vision felt awkwardly reduced.

She reached out and touched her left eye socket.

Everything that had just happened felt like a dream.

Until she did not touch her eyeball, but instead…

“I…”

“My eye!”

“My eye…?!”

The absurdity made Qinghe want to laugh.

This was a joke, right? This had to be a joke.

It had to be.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, and Qinghe felt a cool sensation where her left eye should have been.

One of her eyes… was gone?!

Standing in front of her, Qiuli felt a chill run through her entire body.

Because…

Qinghe’s hollow eye socket was filled with tears, like a clear, shimmering lake.

“Xiao He… Xiao He?” Qiuli pulled the girl into her arms, holding her tightly with aching tenderness.

In her eyes, all of this was the result of her being too slow. If only, if only she had woken Xiao He earlier, would this have happened?

“I’m… I’m sorry… Xiao He…”

Qinghe had never seen Qiuli like this. With her remaining eye, she looked at the panicked, guilt-ridden Qiuli. She saw her crying, saw tears sliding down her cheeks as well.

Warm drops fell into Qinghe’s palm.

“Sister?” she murmured unconsciously.

“I’m here…”

Gripping the corner of Qiuli’s clothes, Qinghe slowly lifted her head and stared intently at Qiuli’s face.

She did not know what she was supposed to feel. Her mind felt overloaded, and even now she had not fully processed what had just happened.

Was it real? Was it fake? Her eye was just gone like that?!

Now… was this a dream? Hadn’t she passed out earlier? This had to be a dream, right?

It had to be!

“This is fake, right!” Qinghe pinched her thigh hard. The piercing pain made her collapse onto the bed, her body spasming.

This was… real?!

Why?!

The thing that took her eye—was it some kind of unspeakable existence? Like… an evil god from Lovecraftian myth.

It said this was an agreement…

Could it be that a past Qinghe had made a deal with that thing? What had happened before?

Absurd. Too absurd… too fake…

Hahaha… how could it be this fake…

Qinghe did not know what kind of emotion she should have.

Was this a blessing or a curse? If that evil god had not appeared and forced her awake, perhaps by tomorrow, with her sanity reduced to the limit, she would have had no room to resist at all.

But the price… was one of her eyes.

And now…

Qinghe looked at Qiuli standing in front of her, only to realize that the deep attachment she once felt was gone, replaced entirely by thick fear.

So it really had all been caused by her sanity being too low.

Was this some kind of mechanism that guaranteed Qinghe a chance to restart every time she faced total failure?

But each restart came with worse consequences. The first time, the second time—it was her eye. Next time, she would be completely blind. And after that… what would be taken?

Qinghe’s face went pale. There absolutely could not be a next time.

And now, she seemed to have…

Gained some of Qiuli’s trust.

Even after losing one eye, even though the Qiuli before her was an existence she could not oppose, even so…

She still had to try to live well.

“Sniff…” Tears overflowed.

Live on…

“Sister…” Qinghe suppressed her fear, sobbing as she主动ly threw herself into Qiuli’s arms.

“Sniff… Sister… my eye…” She cried, burying herself in Qiuli’s embrace and clinging to her tightly.

The embrace was warm, yet Qinghe’s heart was icy cold.

She had only meant to pretend to cry, but for some reason, she gradually found that she could not stop.

Why was it like this? Why was she so miserable? Why did this have to happen to her?

Qiuli stroked the girl’s head again and again. She clenched her teeth. What kind of existence was it? An evil god? Something unspeakable?

An outer god?

Qiuli could not even see its shadow! There was not even a target for revenge.

Her pet, her little sister… had lost an eye just like that…

A desire to become stronger rose in her heart.

She never wanted to see something like this happen again…

“Xiao He… I failed to protect you…”

Qiuli lowered her head and kissed above Qinghe’s empty eye socket.

“I promise this will never happen again…”

“Even if… even if I die, I won’t let something like this happen…!” Qiuli whispered.

But Qinghe’s eye suddenly lit up slightly.

Those words reminded her of something. She might be able to use Qiuli’s determination to protect her—deliberately provoke powerful beings and kill with a borrowed blade.

However… if it were a terrifying existence even Qiuli could not handle, they might both be killed.

It was somewhat feasible, but… timing would be everything.

“Sister… how could I ever bear to let you die…”

“From the beginning of the apocalypse until now, it’s always been you helping me. Without you, I would have died long ago…”

Qinghe blinked pitifully as she leaned against Qiuli’s chest. Their clothes were thin like paper, pressed together as they felt each other’s warmth.

Qiuli held the girl’s small hand, feeling its icy temperature.

“Xiao He…”

“To me, your life is even more important than my own.”

“If not for you, maybe I would have died long ago too. Actually, you are the only meaning for my survival…”

Qiuli looked somewhat dazed.

“Living… is just to see Xiao He’s happy smile, and those beautiful big eyes…”

At this point, Qiuli paused. She lowered her head, seeming somewhat annoyed.

‘A perfect chance…’

On the blood-scented bed, Qinghe straightened up and gently, bit by bit, wrapped her arms around Qiuli’s head.

She felt Qiuli trembling.

She heard Qiuli sobbing.

“Sister… I love you…”

Qinghe softly patted Qiuli’s head again and again. With a faintly twisted smile, she whispered.

“Sister… weren’t you looking for an answer…”

“A year ago, when I rejected you, it was only because back then, I still held a bit of wishful hope for this world.”

“Later, I realized… there was no going back at all.”

At this point, the girl paused and hugged Qiuli even tighter. She felt Qiuli also clutching her back. Clearly a big sister who stood one hundred seventy tall, yet at this moment she was fragile, curled up in Qinghe’s arms, crying like a baby.

Qinghe saw Qiuli’s pale nape.

“…” A thought flowed up from the depths of her heart.

‘I might be able to try… assassinating Qiuli.’

No… impossible… Qiuli was not that simple… In the game’s storyline, Qiuli’s combat power was enough to rival four or five zombies.

And the combat power of zombies was nothing like the so-called zombies from ordinary apocalypse films. Her physical condition was extremely strong, almost inhuman…

Assassination? How could it be that easy.

But Qiuli’s strength… Qinghe could look for an opportunity to ask about it.

With that thought, Qinghe calmed herself and soothed Qiuli in her arms even more gently.

“Sister… all this time, you’ve been the one staying with me…”

“Actually, some time ago, I already felt that something was off with you. It felt like someone had altered my diary… I’d been suspecting it.”

“Until today, I confirmed it. It was you, Sister…”

At this point, Qinghe began to cry softly.

“Sister… I know I’m stupid, and I know you want to control me because you don’t want to lose me. You would never hurt me, right?”

“And I’m always so afraid of the monsters outside…”

“If Sister really wants to control me, then… I’m willing to be controlled by you…!”

She spoke all of this in one breath, as if from the bottom of her heart. Only after the room fell silent for a few seconds did Qinghe suddenly realize—

When had her acting become this good?