Yuan Ao prepared snacks, juice, and candy for Yuan Luoyi.
He soaked a towel in warm water, gently squeezed and wrung it out, then took Yuan Luoyi's little hand and carefully wiped it.
"You've always been a frail child. You'll get sick if you don't clean your hands before eating."
Yuan Luoyi said nothing, allowing Yuan Ao to meticulously care for her.
Looking at the locked door, sealed windows, and her diligent brother bustling about, Yuan Luoyi knew she couldn't escape.
Her brother had proxy disinhibited delusion syndrome. He used to be able to control it, but now he had broken down and it had erupted.
He treated Yuan Luoyi like a child, hoping she would remain weak forever, curled up in his hands like a newborn chick, relying on him to survive.
Her brother would never harm her, but he would also never give her freedom.
They were bound together by an invisible thread. If Yuan Luoyi escaped and forcibly broke the thread, her brother would collapse like a broken marionette, never to rise again.
So Yuan Luoyi chose to sit quietly in her chair, as obedient as she was as a child.
Time ticked by, second by second, and Yuan Luoyi felt like rewinding time might have been exhausted.
"BANG!"
The loud noise startled Yuan Luoyi. Someone was pounding on the door from outside.
Yuan Ao's eyes instantly darkened. He picked up a knife and walked silently to the door, standing beside it.
"BANG! BANG! BANG!"
The person outside continued pounding the door furiously, each strike more forceful than the last.
Yuan Luoyi held her breath. Yuan Ao had said the real killer was getting impatient and would send someone to kill him. The person outside could very well be the new assassin!
After a few minutes, silence fell again...
Suddenly, Yuan Luoyi smelled an acrid, burning odor as black smoke seeped in through the door and window cracks. The assassin was trying to burn them alive!
Yuan Ao strode over, took a long rifle from a cabinet, loaded it with bullets, and grabbed Yuan Luoyi's wrist.
"We'll leave through the secret passage."
The two went to another room, where Yuan Ao opened a hidden door leading to a long, dark tunnel. He pulled Yuan Luoyi inside.
After more than a minute, a faint light appeared ahead. Continuing forward, they arrived at a second-floor parking garage.
Several bodies in security guard uniforms lay on the ground, blood flowing from beneath them...
Yuan Ao shielded Yuan Luoyi from the grisly sight.
"BANG!"
A gunshot echoed hollowly.
Yuan Ao's arm erupted in a mist of blood, a few warm drops splattering Yuan Luoyi's face. Her heart skipped a beat as she frantically pulled Yuan Ao behind a car to take cover from the bullets.
"Brother, you're hurt!" she cried.
"It's nothing, just a graze to my arm."
He pulled out a bandage, gripping one end with his teeth while wrapping the other end around his arm with his free hand, stanching the bleeding with practiced calm, as if he felt no pain.
He gently wiped the blood from Yuan Luoyi's face, his gaze hardening with a murderous glint. "That shot was aimed at you!"
Gripping Yuan Luoyi's hand tightly, Yuan Ao hurried them to a safer place.
Yuan Luoyi nearly slipped on the wet floor, but Yuan Ao caught her. Looking down, she saw blood everywhere, bodies strewn around, and she began to tremble uncontrollably.
"Don't look," Yuan Ao said. "Keep running."
At the exit, all the doors were locked. Yuan Ao had no choice but to take Yuan Luoyi upstairs.
"Rat-a-tat-tat!"
Three sets of footsteps - the assassin was closing in!
They hurried up the stairs, panting hard. Yuan Luoyi saw moonlight pouring in through a small door, casting a serene silver sheen on the ground.
It was the only way out.
Suddenly, Yuan Ao released her hand and stood in the dim light, watching as Yuan Luoyi stepped into the pure moonbeams.
At eleven years old, she glowed radiantly, reminding Yuan Ao of her at age three - laughing, clingy, always cuddling in his arms asking innocent questions in her sweet voice.
"Brother, why is the sky so high?"
"So the birds can fly."
"Why are the trees so tall?"
"For the birds to rest."
"Then why are you so tall?"
"To shelter you from wind and rain."
But Yuan Ao had failed to keep that promise. His sister died, and regret dragged him into the abyss, from which he never recovered.
After breaking down, selfishness consumed his heart. He wanted to clutch Yuan Luoyi tightly, ignoring her beautiful feathers being plucked, deaf to her desperate cries.
Yet in the face of life and death, Yuan Ao miraculously regained some clarity. How could he have forgotten that she belonged to the sky?
So he took a step forward and, after Yuan Luoyi had passed through, he shut the door and locked it from the inside.
"Fly, little bird. You are free."
Yuan Luoyi pounded on the door. "Brother, open up!"
In the darkness, Yuan Ao undid his collar and rolled up his sleeves, gripping the loaded rifle as the assassin's footsteps drew nearer, murderous rage building within him.
Last time, he had failed to protect his sister. This time, he would not falter!
"BANG!"
He fired at the figure rounding the corner.
He hit his mark, but the assassin merely stumbled before regaining his footing.
Gunshots rang out continuously. After the last casing clattered to the floor, the assassin charged, and they clashed like wild beasts.
Blood stained Yuan Ao's knuckles as blades glinted in the dim light. Each blow struck with furious rage - this man had tried to harm his sister, something Yuan Ao could not abide.
In the past, Yuan Ao had watched as Yuan Luoyi grew increasingly quiet, heard her stifled sobs as she hid her tears from him. He had countless opportunities to realize she was on the verge of collapse.
But he did not cherish her, just as she avoided him, he avoided her.
She was no longer a child. She would discover his dark, twisted behavior, revile him, loathe him, leave him forever.
So Yuan Ao buried himself in work, constantly traveling, rarely coming home.
It was an original sin he could never absolve.
"I'm not afraid, no matter what you become, you'll always be my brother."
Only when eleven-year-old Yuan Luoyi said those words did Yuan Ao remember:
She was the gentlest child in the world. Why did he not trust her more?
If they had been open with each other, they would not have been like strangers for over a decade, and that tragedy might never have occurred...
"So, little sister!"
"THUD!"
Yuan Ao and the assassin tumbled down the narrow stairwell, both drenched in blood, eyes blazing with murderous rage. Yuan Ao gained the upper hand, pinning the assassin and raining blows on his head, blood spraying, bones crunching.
He poured out all his pain, regret, and sorrow with each punch.
When the eleven-year-old Yuan Luoyi approached, a sliver of light pierced Yuan Ao's pitch-black world. He cradled it tenderly, his heart swelling with affection as he murmured softly to it.
"Once brother finishes this scum, we won't hide from each other anymore. Let's have a good talk!"
