One day earlier.

“Sister...”

“So you went in and got taken out again in under two days?” Heng Zi sat on a violet-gold throne, her gaze a cold blade.

Shame flooded first. “I’m sorry, Sister...” Heng Lan dropped to her knees like a fallen leaf. Their nemesis had bled her sister to bring her back.

“This time, it’s not on you.” Heng Zi sighed and flicked off the recording, the screen dimming like dusk over water.

“I’ll go myself. As punishment, one person will oversee our territory for a while.”

“Yes...” Heng Lan nodded, her shoulders trembling like reeds in wind. Stationed here, she couldn’t wander free anymore.

Heng Zi rose and left the hall. Soon she stood atop her palace, eyes hooked to a distant bead of light, like a star on a string. “I didn’t expect you’d summon even Dawn Sugar Snow. You truly want to bend the Creator’s law?”

“Since you crossed the line first, I’ll make the game a little more interesting.”

Morning. Qianya sat up with dead-fish eyes, mind scraped raw like sandpaper after a night of torment.

How the hell am I supposed to handle that thing!!!

“Qianya, you look awful.” Worry pricked Xuewei’s voice. “Did you wrestle with that thing all night? Want me to loan you my Life Gem?”

“No, thanks.” Bitterness stung Qianya’s tongue. She shook her head, a slow ripple.

“It’s loud outside. Did something happen?” Xuewei leaned on the window frame, watching the plaza churn like a tide of people. At the sparse Heavenly Deity Academy, that sight was rare.

“Let’s go check it out.”

“Mm.”

They smoothed their clothes like ironing waves and left the dorm together.

On the Academy’s Heavenly Plaza, a brand-new student squared off against a second-year senior. Their names were banners; people knew them even before enrollment.

“Heng Zi, what are you doing here?” Taoran’s face clouded like stormglass; her stare nailed the other in place. A notebook hung in her hand—an ambush by chance.

“Enrolling. Problem?” Heng Zi’s chuckle was light as silk. “Doesn’t your Academy claim anyone can enroll? What, it’s different if it’s me? In a way, I’m your investor.”

“You—!” Taoran’s teeth ground like gravel. Why would the student council let her in? Had the council been breached?

“Hoo, didn’t expect so many to welcome me. What a surprise. Senior Taoran, any more questions? If not, I’m heading to my dorm.”

“Stop.”

“...?”

Taoran exhaled, steadying her flame. “Heng Zi, whatever you’re here for, did you pay your tuition?”

“Pfft.” Heng Zi laughed, bright as a struck bell. “You think I’m short on that kind of money?”

“Did you pay!?”

“Obviously. How else would I get in?” She smiled, shook her head, and brushed past Taoran. That powerless look fed her like sweet smoke.

“Oh?”

“Ah, Qianya! She’s coming our way!”

“Who?”

Qianya had just arrived. Before her thoughts could settle, the crowd’s eyes swung like compasses—no, toward Heng Zi behind her.

“Hoo, if I’m right, you’re Qianya, yes? My sister offended you last time. I’ll apologize on her behalf.” Heng Zi dipped a polite bow, yet to Qianya she loomed like a tiger behind tall grass.

“Then please take care of me, classmate.”

“Mm. Please take care of me, Heng Zi... classmate.”

Qianya slid aside, opening the path like a curtain. Her gaze clung to Heng Zi until the figure thinned into distance.

Feels familiar.

“What’s wrong, Qianya? Qianya?” Xuewei waved in front of her face, fingers fluttering like moths. When Qianya finally blinked back, Xuewei huffed, breath hot. “I’ve been waving for like ten seconds! What were you thinking? I thought she did something to you. Scared me to death!”

“It’s nothing. Just... some things.” Qianya shook her head, trying to stack thoughts like tiles.

“By the way, Xuewei, did you see Yueyu and the others on the way?”

“Yueyu? They didn’t come down. They should still be asleep in the dorm,” Xuewei said, glancing toward that nest of quiet.

“I see.”

Qianya nodded, then lifted serious eyes to Xuewei. “Xuewei, if your brother is playing someone in this Academy, who do you think he is?”

The question struck Xuewei dumb, like chalk across slate.

“...You?” Xuewei’s answer was small, a timid drop.

“...........?”

“If it were anyone else, I couldn’t be this at ease. Or rather, I couldn’t trust an outsider like this.”

Me? Why me?

Cold rushed her hands and feet, wintering her limbs. Her head felt ringed in iron; thoughts stalled like a jammed gear.

If it’s me, then who am I?

Who is Qianya?

It hurts... My head hurts!

“Qianya? Qianya!? Are you okay!? Qianya!!!”

In the press of bodies, Qianya blacked out and fell like a cut string. Students hurried her to the infirmary, feet thudding like drums.

At dusk, Yueyu and Dawn Sugar Snow came on the rumor-wind. They knocked, then slipped in with small gifts.

“Xuewei, I heard Qianya got sick and fainted. Is she okay?”

“I don’t know...” Xuewei sat blankly by the bed, both hands clasping Qianya’s cold right hand, pain pooling across her face.

“It’s my fault. She fainted because of what I said. I shouldn’t have spoken that guess aloud...”

“What happened? Can you tell me?” Dawn Sugar Snow’s calm gaze was a lake.

Xuewei looked from Dawn Sugar Snow to Yueyu, hesitation knotting her heart like vines.

“Yueyu, Tangxue... can you help me?”

“Mm. We’re friends. If there’s trouble, of course we’ll help.” Dawn Sugar Snow smiled and offered her hand like morning light.

“Can you give me some time? I want to cool down first.” Xuewei let the moment slip; in the end, she kept her tongue.

“I see. Then it can’t be helped. Everyone carries their own secrets; I understand.” Dawn Sugar Snow nodded, set the gifts aside, and sat with Yueyu on the chairs by the bed.

“We ran into Heng Zi today. She even greeted us~”

“Really? Heng Zi... She greeted us then too. Was that a warning?” Xuewei asked, her face shadowed like rain.

“A warning? Not really. Just a hello. I know her pretty well. She’d never stab from the shadows. She gets her thrill from winning head-on. I’ve fought her a few times; it always ends in a draw. But this time she felt oddly without hostility toward me. That surprised me too.”