When Lu Xiu surfaced from the abyss of endless darkness, a thin black trench coat draped over her shoulders. Unlike her usual bold style of wearing it open to reveal her corset, every button had been meticulously fastened—as if someone had silently disapproved of her habits.

A faint smile tugged at Lu Xiu’s lips. Her fingers brushed lightly against the rough fabric. That familiar feeling returned. He was still here. After four long years, he had come back. Even if their ideals clashed violently, even if their identities destined them to be mortal enemies—in this dreamlike moment, Lu Xiu couldn’t help but feel profound gratitude.

*Thank you for returning.*

*Thank you for standing before me once more.*

*Thank you for letting our ideals collide again!*

To repay this gratitude, my beloved, my closest friend, my truest confidant—the man I, Lu Xiu, have worshipped all my life—I will unleash my final counterstrike as S-Class hero Justice Knight! I’ll bury us both beneath the weight of my pride these past years!

“We’re back here again. Pity the tea has gone cold with the guests departed.” His voice was nearly unchanged from her memories, as if time had abandoned him entirely. Yet Lu Xiu detected the faint, unshakable nostalgia buried deep in Mirror October’s tone.

“Yes. The tea has gone cold.” As one of the Superhero Administration’s aces, Lu Xiu couldn’t pretend ignorance about what happened years ago. But she couldn’t avenge Mirror October—no one could. Only Mirror October himself held that right. His blindingly brilliant ideals bound everything. To seek revenge for selfish reasons would shatter the very essence of who he was.

“You know this platform well, Lu Xiu. Where our first game began after my return… and where our final game ends.” Mirror October removed his hood, gazing up at the unreachable night sky as he hummed a nameless, cheerful tune.

“Rules.”

Lu Xiu wasted no words. Focused entirely ahead, she didn’t even glance at Mirror October’s face behind her. Her brilliant eyes burned with such intensity, one might think she was igniting her very life for this game. Once, she’d been utterly defeated—every game lost to Saw…

“No different from the first. Two railways. One holds a single lonely outcast, denied all life’s joys. The other carries several children at play, blissfully happy. Are you listening, Lu Xiu…?”

*Are you listening?*

*Can you hear the train’s roar drawing near?*

Mirror October’s malice dripped thick as nightmare memories surged back. Lu Xiu clenched her pearl-like teeth until they chattered. “Heh… just like before. The train won’t stop until it hits someone. It’s headed for the track with the most children. And you, stripped of all superhero power, hold the switch to change its path.”

Mirror October paced gracefully, a cruel, icy smile on his pale face. He danced upon a stage with no audience—his performance never meant for shallow onlookers who couldn’t grasp his profound understanding of the game.

“Will you sacrifice the innocent few to save the many who ‘deserve’ death? Or will you look away, evading the horror about to unfold? Lu Xiu, you’ve lost every game to me since the beginning. Now, at the end that’s also the start—with your past choice weighing on you—how will you decide this time?”

Lu Xiu stared down the tracks. She knew her choice…

Once, she’d sacrificed the few for the many. Technically, she’d won that game. But both she and Mirror October knew the truth: the moment she abandoned that life, she’d already lost.

By cruel fortune, what she’d lost was someone else’s life.

“Hurry, Lu Xiu. Hesitate longer, and the many will be abandoned.”

That nightmare whisper curled against her ear. Mirror October’s arms encircled her slender waist like a lover’s embrace. His body, cold and devoid of warmth, sent shivers deep into her bones.

Her past choice—sacrificing the few for the many—had been unquestionably right. Even knowing the lonely child was the illegitimate son of a high-ranking Superhero Administration official, while the others were commoners, she hadn’t hesitated.

“You know, Lu Xiu,” Mirror October murmured, “those who don’t cherish life don’t deserve it.”

He’d said the same during their first game. Now, he repeated it. Mirror October never hid his seething hatred—for the ungrateful, for those who reveled in others’ misfortune.

“I’ve always wondered why I lost the first game.” The train’s roar grew deafening, a dirge for lives about to end. Suddenly, Lu Xiu laughed—a laugh of pure, unburdened clarity. Only now did she grasp the true test of this twisted game!

“No matter which track you choose, people die. Precious lives are lost.” This game was never about weighing lives by numbers! Mirror October had warned her repeatedly: he hated those who didn’t cherish life!

*This was the first time he’d ever used the word “hate”!*

How could a man so pathologically devoted to others’ lives treat them as mere counters?

“To wear the crown, bear its weight! To wield power, uphold its righteousness!” Lu Xiu wrenched herself free from Mirror October’s embrace. With the body of an ordinary human—stripped of all superhero strength—she strode resolutely toward the tracks!

“This is my choice! Before sacrificing others, I will stake everything—even my own life—to stop the disaster!” To sacrifice others without first embracing self-sacrifice is merely cowardice in disguise!

Facing the train’s blinding headlights, Lu Xiu serenely closed her eyes.

*This choice is absolutely right.*

At that moment, Mirror October’s cold, mocking smile softened into infinite warmth and satisfaction.