At nine thirty, Li Muyan drove Ye Yiyi toward the seaside villas, the road gleaming like a strip of wet fish scales under the pale sun.

“Is it here?”

Ye Yiyi stared out the window, the villas rising like white shells along the shore, her breath catching like a gull over surf.

“Yeah. The pin Gu Xin sent lands right here.”

Li Muyan spoke softly, easing the car to a stop before a villa. The two stepped out, the sea breeze like cool silk, and knocked.

Thump, thump.

Click.

The door swung open. Gu Xin stood there with her black hair coiled like a sleek knot, a white tee and blue denim shorts catching the salt light.

“Gu-jie…”

“You’re here, Yiyi, Muyan. Come in.” Her smile lifted like a spring leaf.

“Gu-jie, where’s Coco?”

The moment they crossed the threshold, Ye Yiyi’s voice trembled like a plucked string.

“Coco… she’s upstairs, in the bedroom.”

At the name Tang Coco, Gu Xin’s mood sank like dusk over water.

Ye Yiyi’s heart clenched first; her feet followed, racing up the stairs like wind through bamboo.

“Gu-jie… I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep lying to Yiyi.”

Li Muyan’s voice was heavy, her head bowed like rain-laden grass.

“It’s okay… you handled it right.”

Gu Xin reached over, palm warm, smoothing Li Muyan’s hair like calming a startled foal.

“…”

“Where’s Yuting?”

Li Muyan lifted her eyes, the question shaped like a pale cloud.

“Her family’s opening a branch in Ninghai. She’s out handling it.”

Gu Xin’s tone was steady, like a hand on the tiller.

“Oh…”

Li Muyan exhaled and sank into the sofa, the cushion holding her like a quiet shore.

Upstairs, four rooms waited like closed shells. Only one door was shut, so Ye Yiyi pushed it open and stepped into the hush.

“Coco?”

Her voice floated like a moth’s wing. At the bed, she froze, a hand clamped to her mouth like a lid on boiling water.

“How… how did it become like this?”

First thing she saw was Tang Coco’s striking silver-white hair, moonlight poured long; with her fine features, she looked like a sleeping princess sealed in glass.

“Coco?”

Ye Yiyi tried again, soft as snow, hoping the name might wake her. She lifted the quilt with careful fingers. On any other day, the sight of Coco bare beneath would have sent crimson blooming across her cheeks. Not today. Under the quilt lay only bandages—white paths crossing her skin—guarding modesty like paper screens. Tears rushed from Ye Yiyi’s eyes, beads breaking from a strand.

“Coco… how could it be like this…”

She gripped Coco’s hand and sobbed, grief spilling like a sudden squall.

“Aren’t you going to check on her?”

Downstairs, Gu Xin looked over at Li Muyan. Her voice was gentle, like warm tea.

“No… if I go now… I’ll only get in her way.”

Li Muyan’s mood knelt inside her chest; the words came slow, like stones sinking.

“…”

Gu Xin watched her for a breath, then sat beside her, shoulder to shoulder like quiet trees.

“What’s wrong?”

Her fingers closed around Li Muyan’s hand, a steadying anchor.

“I…”

Li Muyan’s face folded into a bitter line, emotion crowding her throat like smoke.

“You and Yiyi are close, aren’t you?”

Gu Xin went straight to it, her tone clean as a blade rinsed in water.

“Mm. We’ve played together since we were little.”

Li Muyan answered lightly, memories rising like sparrows.

“No wonder. You two even look alike—” Her smile turned teasing, like a cat batting string.

“Huh? In what way?”

Puzzlement creased Li Muyan’s brow like ripples in a pond.

“You’re both not very honest. With yourselves.”

“…”

Silence settled like powder.

“I can see it. You really like Yiyi, don’t you?”

“…”

“If that’s true, why overthink it? To me, Yiyi likes you too.”

Gu Xin held her gaze, calm as a lake at dawn.

“But…”

The word snagged, a thorn in Li Muyan’s voice.

“If the person you love is worth your devotion, then don’t get lost in gains and losses. Yiyi’s worried about Coco, yes—but she worries about you just as much.”

“…”

“Let me put it this way. Back then, Yuting and I had an outstanding boyfriend. And yes—he was the same man.”

Gu Xin’s voice turned soft, memories drifting like incense smoke.

“What!?”

Li Muyan stared, shock sharp as a cracked bell. “You had a boyfriend? And he was also Yuting-jie’s? Then that means…”

“Unexpected, right? Even so, his love didn’t get halved because there were two of us. It was doubled.”

Gu Xin smiled, the curve sweet with old pain.

“…”

Li Muyan fell quiet. She hadn’t imagined Gu Xin carrying a story like that, like a sealed box of letters.

“Then why…”

“He’s gone.”

The question barely left Li Muyan’s lips when Gu Xin answered, the word falling like ash.

“…”

“Because of that, Yuting and I are together now. Call it sharing the same wound.”

Gu Xin smiled faintly, a winter sun that doesn’t warm but still shines.

“I’m sorry…”

Li Muyan’s sadness was a hushed river.

“It’s okay. I chose to tell you.”

Gu Xin waved it off, a hand like a small breeze.

“I told you all this for one reason: don’t cling, don’t flinch. You love her, she loves you. That’s enough.”

“…”

Li Muyan thought hard, the tangle loosening like a knot worked open. Finally she let out a long breath.

“Phew… thank you, Gu-jie.”

“No need.”

Gu Xin’s smile held a trace of bitterness, a taste like unripe fruit. By now, she was almost certain Tang Coco was Tang Ke. But she wanted to wait for Tang Coco to wake and speak it herself. And if Coco admitted it, what would she and Meng Yuting do? It was like being a doctor—you can cure a patient, but you can’t guarantee you’ll cure yourself.

“Ah!!!”

While the two weighed their own hearts like scales, a scream sliced down from the second floor like a snapped string.

“What happened!”

Li Muyan’s shout leapt, but Gu Xin moved first, her body a streak, taking the stairs like a gust.

“Yiyi, what’s wrong!”

She burst into the bedroom—and stopped, stunned, as if lightning had struck an open lake.

“What… is this…”

“What happened!?”

Li Muyan arrived, breath hard, and halted behind her.

“What is that!?”

She could only stare.

Wind back a few minutes. In the bedroom, Ye Yiyi wiped away her tears, then clasped Coco’s hand with both of hers, holding on like ivy to stone.

“Coco, I’ll stay right by you. So… you have to wake up… I still haven’t asked you… for an explanation… about that.”

Her cheeks flushed like apple skin. She leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Coco’s lips, gentle as rain on a petal.

Beep… beep… beep… beep…

A strange sound clipped the quiet.

“Huh?”

Ye Yiyi straightened, eyes scanning like a bird, and found the source.

On the bedside sat a white, spherical device she hadn’t noticed before. Blue stripes flashed across it in time with the sound, like ripples lighting up.

“What is this?”

She reached out, curiosity inching forward. Just before her fingers touched the white “egg,” it split with a sudden crack. A blinding light poured from the seams like a sun flare. Ye Yiyi shut her eyes against it as a great, gentle force rolled out of the “egg,” pushing her back like a soft tide.

The “egg” rose, floating over Tang Coco’s body like a pearl on a current. Around Coco, countless blue and white particles bloomed, snow and starlight mixing, swarming to envelop the “egg.” What had been the size of two soccer balls swelled to nearly one and a half meters, a luminous cocoon pulsing like a heart.

The suddenness struck Ye Yiyi like a detonator’s click; for a breath she thought it was a bomb—her scream tore free.

When Gu Xin and Li Muyan reached the room, they saw a mass of blue particles hovering in the center, while streams of particles flowed from Tang Coco into that glowing cluster, like rivers feeding a sea.

“Yiyi, are you okay?”

Li Muyan’s worry ran ahead of her voice, her hands poised like shields.

“Mm… I’m fine…”

“What’s going on?”

Gu Xin kept her gaze on the pulsing mass, feeling the force inside it, deep and huge, like storm energy trapped in glass.

“It’s that weird ball placed by Coco’s side. I tried to touch it, but before I did, this… happened.”

Ye Yiyi’s voice trembled, nerves tight as strings.

“…”

“It shouldn’t be dangerous… Let’s watch for a bit.”

Gu Xin frowned, reading the flow like a tide chart.

“Will Coco be okay… all these particles…”

Ye Yiyi’s worry shone wet, her eyes following the ceaseless stream leaving Coco’s body like mist drawn to a moon.

“It’s okay. These particles should be Coco’s Anomaly Power. It won’t harm her.”

Gu Xin explained, steady as a lantern in fog. Truth was, she wasn’t certain.

“Oh…”

Ye Yiyi nodded, but her gaze stayed fixed, concern like a knot that refused to loosen.

“You two should rest. I’ll keep watch here.”

Gu Xin’s tone was firm, like a hand at the back urging forward.

“It’s okay. I can—”

Ye Yiyi tried to stay, her stubbornness a rooted tree.

“Be good, Yiyi. Coco’s not in danger now. Take care of yourself too.”

Gu Xin guided her back, words soft but unyielding.

“Okay…”

Ye Yiyi gave Coco one last look, a look heavy as a held breath, then left with Li Muyan, footsteps thinning like the end of rain.

“What are you…”

Gu Xin stood over Coco and the hovering cocoon, brows drawn like two strokes of ink. Her voice dropped to a whisper.

At the Imperial Walk Club.

Ningxin sat in her office, phone pressed to her ear, the room quiet as paper.

“Okay. I understand.”

She hung up, the click like a small pebble falling.

“Ning-jie. How is it?”

Xiao Qiao hovered, anxiety fluttering like sparrows.

“Head office wants to meet Coco.”

Ningxin’s words were cool, water poured into a cup.

“What should we do…”

“It’s too early to say. We decide after Coco wakes.”

“Oh…”

“All right. Get some rest. You’ve been running yourself thin these days.”

“It’s fine. It’s what I should do.”

Xiao Qiao smiled, light as tea steam. She knew Ningxin wanted quiet, so she said, “I’ll go handle the other tasks.”

“Mm.”

Ningxin watched Xiao Qiao leave, the doorway closing like a thought. Tang Coco’s situation had already tied her into knots, but another thread needed attention—she suspected a mole near her.

She hadn’t told anyone broadly about Coco going to the States for the rescue. Only a few close subordinates knew. Yet in the States, Avril showed up right on the mark. It forced the question: how did Avril know Coco’s trail? The exposure back on Amusement Island—she’d once assumed the Lie Long Squad sniffed it out and tipped Avril. But the American incident shattered that idea like glass.

“Who is it…”

Ningxin’s brows knotted tighter, thought dark as brewing rain.

By evening, Meng Yuting finally finished the family’s arrangements and came home to the villa. Just at the door, she felt a powerful surge, energy rolling like thunder under a sheet of silk. She frowned, turned the key, and stepped in.

“Mm? Yiyi? Muyan?”

On the first-floor sofa, two figures sat like quiet silhouettes. Surprise flickered across her face.

“Yuting-jie, you’re back.”

Ye Yiyi smiled, the curve small but real.

“Where’s Xin’er? What happened?”

"Gu Xin is on the second floor. As for what happened... I can’t really say. Go take a look," Ye Yiyi said, her voice trembling like a reed in wind.

Unease rose first, a cool ripple under her ribs; Meng Yuting headed upstairs, her steps pattering like brief rain.

"What... what is this?" Meng Yuting gasped, shock cracking through her like a dry branch underfoot.