Tick-tock, tick-tock…
A strange sound echoed from some void, like an endless cycle.
Darkness enveloped everything. Li Wanru couldn’t find any light. Cautiously, she slowly stood up.
Wanru stretched out her hands, wanting to feel around, but her hands only touched terrifying emptiness.
Tick-tock, tick-tock…
An undefined beam of light shone on Wanru. Startled, she covered her eyes.
Thanks to that faint light, her surroundings vaguely appeared.
In front of Wanru was a large mirror, reflecting her entire body, but the reflection in the mirror was not illuminated by the light.
Poof.
The entire space became brightly lit. Before Wanru’s eyes, the dark space transformed into an endless white expanse.
Clocks hung suspended in the air, ceaselessly ticking.
Surrounding her were mirrors of all sizes, each clearly reflecting her figure.
Wanru’s forehead was dotted with sweat, and her face was pale as she stared at the mirrors.
Seeing her own appearance in the mirror, she was also frightened.
She looked at herself in the largest mirror there.
Where was this? Why was she here?
“Ha ha ha!” The reflection in the mirror, which had been mimicking her every move, suddenly stiffened and burst into laughter.
Wanru stepped back, her mind in turmoil.
“Cai Jinru!” The person in the mirror spoke.
Wanru’s eyes widened in surprise as she looked at the mirror.
“Are you enjoying living in my body?”
Wanru’s heart pounded. Was that the original owner in the mirror? Suddenly, she felt afraid and stood still, unmoving.
“I never thought you would open up this new path for me.
Compared to Huang Mingjian, Chen Jiancheng is indeed better.
I never thought of it before!”
Wanru’s expression changed when Chen Jiancheng was mentioned. She asked,
“What do you mean?”
“Do you still need to ask?”
Hearing this, Wanru became agitated and moved closer to the mirror, her voice out of control.
“I truly love Chen Jiancheng, and I truly treat Chen Meijin well.
I see Huang Mingjian as nothing more than a friend.
I didn’t use them like you did.”
“Do I need to know?” The person in the mirror adopted a calm demeanor.
Wanru, agitated, shed tears, but she still screamed,
“Yes, you need to know.
You intend to harm them, so I won’t agree.”
The person in the mirror laughed loudly and replied,
“Cai Jinru, oh Cai Jinru! You are in my body.
Now I’m here to reclaim it, not to ask for your opinion? Don’t you understand? I said…” The person in the mirror hesitated.
The ticking of the clocks grew faster and faster. Wanru looked around in a panic.
“Give me back my body.”
The person in the mirror screamed, and the mirror surface cracked in half.
The large and small mirrors around also repeated the phrase, accompanied by the sound of cracking glass.
Wanru, as if tortured, covered her ears and squatted down.
“Give me back my body.”
The words echoed loudly in her ears.
Unable to bear it any longer, Wanru screamed.
She jolted upright. Her surroundings were dark again, a silent expanse.
Sweat poured down her body, soaking her back. Wanru gasped, regaining her composure.
It was just a dream!
She reassured herself, “It’s just a dream.”
She kept repeating that phrase, but after a while, she didn’t understand why she started to cry.
Because the person in the dream was right; she was occupying the original owner’s body.
Everything she had was for the original owner; she couldn't possibly be so brazen as to claim this body as well.
But if not here, then where?
Wan Ru found Xin An's business card and called her in the early morning.
The two agreed to meet at noon at a secluded cafe.
Both remained silent for a while. Xin An accidentally saw the red marks on Wan Ru's neck, then feigned a cough and asked,
"Why did you ask me to meet?"
"How can I return to my world?" Wan Ru got straight to the point.
Xin An looked at her in surprise and asked,
"You want to go back?"
Wan Ru was silent for a moment before replying,
"I was just asking!"
Xin An looked at the suspicious marks again, wanting to say something but decided against it.
She sighed and said,
"The way to return is to end it.
When it ends, everything will return to how it was; the plot will remain the same, only you will be changed."
"What do you mean by 'end it'?" Wan Ru asked, puzzled.
"It means ending your soul, along with the original owner's body."
Wan Ru vaguely understood. She unconsciously asked, "So what if the original owner's soul ends?"
Xin An frowned at her, then explained,
"Then everything will remain as it is, but only you will be able to return; the original owner will not."
"Will the plot change?" Wan Ru asked.
"Yes!"