Li Mei felt like dying...
No, that was not right.
She was already dead.
Li Mei remembered the searing pain in her chest, the fall from the impossible height of the Sky Tower, and the cold embrace of the ocean swallowing her whole. That should have been the end.
So why could she feel the pain? Why did every single part of her body feel like it had been dunked in molten lava and left to burn? Why did it feel like her muscles were shredded, her tendons torn, and her very soul torn apart and stitched back together?
A groan left her lips when she tried to move, the pain seeping through her bones. She forced her eyes to open. She could barely make out the shapes looming in the darkness, but one thing was clear: she was not where she remembered being.
Li Mei lay still, not because she did not want to move but because she could not. The cold wind bit against her bare skin, making her realize she was naked.
Slowly, her surroundings started to become clear, and she realized she was in a dark alley. Trash littered the ground, broken bottles glinting in the dim light of a street light, and the stench of decay hung heavy in the air.
Her mind was racing, trying to piece together how the hell she'd ended up here instead of at the bottom of the ocean.
Something was not right here.
Li Mei could feel agonizing pain throughout her body, yet none of them seemed familiar to her. It was different from the pain of the injuries she had suffered or the poison coursing through her veins. It puzzled her, leaving her with more questions than answers.
Gathering all the energy she could gather, she tried to push herself up, but halfway through, her muscles gave up and she collapsed back onto the cold, damp ground. Pain shot through her body, and she bit her lips to stifle the scream that was about to escape. She has gone through many life-and-death situations and knew her body was in its worst condition.
But Li Mei was trained to ignore pain. So like always, she gritted her teeth and pushed through it. This time, she managed to prop herself up on unsteady arms. Her vision blurred, swimming with the dizzying haze of exhaustion. A painful cry escaped her lips as she dragged herself toward the rough brick wall, her movements slow and labored. Every movement sent waves of pain coursing through her, and she could feel the telltale signs of broken ribs protesting with each step.
Finally, she reached the wall and leaned against it, her back scraping against the coarse surface. She let out a ragged sigh and briefly closed her eyes. A moment later, she opened her eyes and looked around. The alley seemed devoid of life, except for the occasional scuttle of rats or the distant sound of a cat's meow.
Her gaze moved down towards her body, taking in the blood-smeared body, some of it dried and crusted, some still fresh and oozing from deep gashes. Bruises mottled her flesh in a sickening array of purples and blues. Her left leg was at an odd angle, clearly broken.
It was honestly a miracle she was conscious at all, let alone able to move around.
But as Li Mei studied the damage, a frown creased her brow. Not because of the blood or the scars or the obviously broken bones, but because the body she was looking at didn't belong to her.
This body was small with barely any flesh on the bones. It was completely different from the athletic, toned figure she had trained to perfection over the years. The arms were stick-thin, almost skeletal, like they'd snap if you looked at them wrong. The legs were just as frail, and the torso was so skinny she could count every single rib.
But most importantly, this body belonged to a child.
"What the..." she started to say, but stopped dead when she heard her own voice. Even this voice did not belong to her.
Li Mei looked around, and her gaze landed on a broken mirror a few feet away from her. She leaped forward and grabbed the mirror, ignoring the pain that shot through her body. With trembling hands, she raised the mirror.
The second she saw her reflection, she went completely still.
The face staring back at her was a mess of swollen, bruised flesh. It was almost unrecognizable as a human face. Purple and black bruises covered every visible inch of skin. Dark, matted hair hung in tangled clumps around the face. One eye was swollen completely shut, nothing visible but a puffy slit of damaged flesh. The other eye was a pale gray color, unlike her brown ones.
Li Mei blinked, unable to understand what she was seeing. It was like staring at a stranger, except that stranger was supposed to be her.
"This is impossible," she muttered, her voice an uneasy croak.
This had to be a dream. That was the only explanation that made any sense. Maybe she was in a coma somewhere, her brain creating this fantasy while doctors worked to save her life. Maybe the fall from Sky Tower had confused her thoughts so badly that she was hallucinating.
But the pain in her body said otherwise.
Li Mei traced her fingers over her swollen face with trembling hands, wincing when she accidentally pressed against an open wound. Her mind raced, trying to make sense of the impossible. And then, like a bolt of lightning, images burst in her mind.
Memories that did not belong to her, flashes of a life she couldn't recall living. Faces, unfamiliar yet hauntingly familiar, flashed before her. It was as if she were piecing together someone else's life, a life filled with pain, fear, and desperation, a life that she had no recollection of living.
These weren't her memories, but somehow she could feel them as clearly as if they were her own experiences.
The mirror slipped through her fingers, clattering to the ground and shattering into tiny pieces. She gasped and clutched her head as unbearable pain shot through her skull like someone was driving nails into her brain.
More memories crashed over her in waves. She felt her terror, her desperation, her pathetic hope for a life free from suffering.
Li Mei had been called the daughter of Death for good reason. She'd endured things that would break most people's minds. She'd witnessed horrors that haunted the darkest corners of human imagination and came out the other side still standing. She'd felt emotions so intense they could have driven anyone else completely insane.
But this... this was different.
The memories kept coming, tearing her apart from the inside out. She tried to push them away, but they clawed at her consciousness, leaving behind wounds that felt like they'd never heal.
How could someone do this to a child?
Shen Yelan.
A girl who'd seen nothing but pain and despair in her seven years of existence. A girl who'd been called a disgrace by her own blood family, abandoned by the people who should have protected her, and tortured by monsters until her heart finally stopped beating.
Suddenly, she became limp against the wall, tears streaming down her face. It was ironic how the heartless woman who had tortured and killed people her whole life was now crying for a girl she had never known.