When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 365: Unbreakable Bond (1)

Chapter 365: Unbreakable Bond (1)

Gu Luoxin’s countenance turned somber as he pointed at what Shen Nianzu had assumed to be the mass corpses of the man-eating plants. Upon closer scrutiny, however, he noticed that the massive green leaves were pulsating with a faint, ominous rhythm as they formed a protective bud.

Shen Nianzu drew in a sharp breath, "Don’t tell me..."

Gu Luoxin nodded, confirming his suspicion. Among the five of them, Ying had been the one who seemed to be the most affected by the alienation. "Is she going to be okay?" He asked anxiously. "Will she really turn into a nightmare creature? Arghh, I should have asked Da Shen more about that timeline if I had known something like this would happen!" He yanked on his hair in frustration.

"I don’t know, but..." Shen Nianzu pressed his lips together as he instructed, "Let’s wait a little longer. She is a powerful player, after all. I don’t believe that she will succumb here."

"But what if... what if she does become a nightmare creature?"

"If that were to happen, then..." Shen Nianzu stated somberly. "We may have no choice but to kill her before she gains enough strength to overpower us. I don’t want to resort to this cruel method, so let’s hope that it doesn’t come to that. In the meantime, let’s help Noir and Qiuqiu, and plan our next moves."

Colors drained from Gu Luoxin’s face when he heard that. They would have to kill Ying, someone who could already be considered as a precious ally...?

***

Ying had a twin brother who was the polar opposite of her.

He was everything she was not. He was gentle, soft-spoken, and slightly timid. Born with a fragile health, he had to remain confined to his bed throughout the year.

When Ying went out to play with other children, he had to stay indoors because the doctor had cautioned not to let him overexert himself. When she built a snowman during the peak of winter, he had to be bound to the bed to nurse his illness. When she had the best time of her life, chasing her dream as a professional archer, he had to quietly bury his aspirations and be grateful that his body did not suddenly act up.

But her brother had never voiced a single complaint – not even once. That was how kind he was.

Their relatives had once joked that Ying had hogged all the nutrition inside their mother’s womb, leaving none for her frail twin. Even though it was only a fleeting remark, Ying harbored the words inside her heart nonetheless.

Perhaps that was the reason why she always prioritized her brother above all else. In modern terms, she could be considered someone with a brother complex. She wouldn’t allow anyone to make fun of him, and she would always offer her best things to him.

She felt guilty... for depriving her brother of a fulfilling life he could have had, despite the other telling her otherwise.

"Jie, you can’t be like this," he said helplessly after knowing that Ying had ditched the celebration party of her archery regional championship victory. "The party is for you. What will everyone say if the protagonist is not even present?"

"I don’t care," Ying harrumphed nonchalantly. "It’s their fault for throwing a surprise party without informing me beforehand. More importantly... tada!" She reached out and placed her first ever gold medal around her brother’s neck, grinning from ear to ear. "This is for you, my dear brother. Don’t complain because the medal is small. In the future, I will win more and more gold medals for you."

"You..." He regarded her with fond helplessness. "How could you give this to me? It’s proof of your hard work..." Despite his protest, a smile curved on his pale-colored lips as he fiddled with the gold medal. "Congratulations, Jie. I knew you would definitely win. After all, no one is more powerful than you."

They quickly fell into their usual routine. Ying would sit on the floor beside the bed, talking animatedly about her day, while her brother would listen with great interest while laughing once in a while. He had not been allowed to go to school with her, so it was up to her to share everything she had seen and heard with him.

Ying liked to see her brother’s smiles the most. His eyes would curve into crescents, reminding her of the ethereal moon she had once seen. If there was one thing Ying was grateful for, it was that her brother had inherited their mother’s beautiful bright silver eyes, as opposed to her deep black ones that she got from their father.

Gazing at her brother’s smiling visage, a face so similar yet also drastically different from hers, Ying couldn’t help but be struck by a sense of melancholy.

"Have you ever blamed me?" she asked quietly. "If not for me, you could’ve had a healthy body. You could have gone to school and joined the archery team. You could have— ouch!" Her words were interrupted by a hard flick on her forehead.

"What are you talking about?!" His silver eyes blazed with bright anger as he chided her harshly, "If you keep saying stupid stuff like this, I will be angry and—cough cough cough!" He covered his mouth, coughs wracking his thin frame.

Flustered, Ying hurriedly shot up to her feet and took her place beside her brother, patting his back. "A–Alright, I won’t say anything like that again. Don’t be angry anymore, okay? It’s not good for your health!"

Ying’s heart squeezed painfully in her chest as she witnessed his pale complexion, and the way he wheezed for breath just because of a mere cough. Even though they were practically joined at the hip, she still couldn’t get used to how fragile her brother was, how thin his body felt under her touch, to the point where she could clearly feel his bones as she stroked his back.

"Are you okay?" She asked worriedly and handed him a glass of water. "Here, drink this first."

"Um," he obediently took a few sips before calling out, "Jie."

"What is it? Are you still feeling unwell?"

"Jie..." he quietly reached out to grasp her hand when she intended to take the glass from him. Unlike her slightly tanned complexion and rough fingers due to hours of practice each day, his hand was slender and thin, so fair that one could clearly see the blue and green veins under his skin. "Jie, you silly buffoon."

"W–Wha—" Ying spluttered in disbelief.

He smiled at her. Perhaps it was because he had just coughed so hard, the rims of his eyes slightly reddened and his silver eyes were coated with a layer of moisture, making him look as if on the verge of tears. "Jie, I’m happy for you. I really am. I love hearing your stories everyday. I love seeing you chase your dreams and live your life to the fullest. That’s why," he squeezed her hand gently. "Don’t blame yourself anymore."

Ying fell silent. Of course... of course, her brother would notice the emotions she had desperately tried to conceal. They were twins, after all.

"Besides," he added. "I’m content enough to hear you talk. I don’t really like to run outside and sweat. I’d prefer reading books anytime, you see."

Liar, Ying thought. Just like how he could sense her deepest emotions, she could as well. He might be able to hide it from their parents, their relatives and every single person in this world, but he could never hide it from Ying. She noticed it as clear as daylight, the longing in his eyes as she talked about her day; the loneliness and yearning he painstakingly tried to hide, not wanting to burden anyone more than he already had.

But she knew her brother would rather die than to admit it out loud, so she stayed silent as well.

"Okay," she pulled her lips into a carefree grin. "I’m really glad to hear that."

Inwardly, she resolved to treat her brother even better. She might not be able to do anything about his frail health, but at least she would try her best to make him happy.

And she would unhesitatingly dedicate her entire life to do so.

Alas, that resolution of hers was shattered one summer day of their nineteenth, when the Nightmare Cycle crashed into their lives and destroyed everything they had.