Mu Xuan has been sitting on the ground for ten minutes, though to be precise, it wasn't really the ground. Blue and purple petals, resembling jellyfish, shimmered beneath his feet, while the colors of stars falling into the earth floated around him. The dreamlike scenery flickered before Mu Xuan's eyes.
Unfortunately, Mu Xuan was not in the mood to watch this otherworldly wonder. He felt a searing pain from his neck, as if a sharp blade was relentlessly cutting through his skin and muscles. He clutched his neck tightly, unable to bear the agony.
His long black hair, dampened by sweat, hung over his eyes, making the already dreamlike scenery even more blurry.
After another ten minutes, the pain from his neck finally subsided. Mu Xuan, panting heavily, wiped the sweat from his cheeks and stood up shakily.
Where was he?
Golden gears slowly rotated in the sky, and the translucent cloak that enveloped the entire space emitted a clicking sound. The pointer jumped in sync with the gear, ticking slowly.
It was like a dream, yet different. He pinched his cheeks, clearly feeling the pain. He could hear, see, and feel.
This was a real yet strange space.
Why am I here?
Mu Xuan struggled to recall his last memory, which was of a quiet, empty park. He stood by the swing next to the unblossomed peach tree as agreed, waiting for the evening breeze to blow. The air carried a strong scent of alcohol, which was followed by a cold sensation on his skin, and then a thick, hot stream erupted.
Under the light, red raindrops sparkled in the starry sky.
"Ugh, ah, ah, ah—!!!!"
His memories gradually became blurred as he knelt in agony in this world of blue and purple.
He was killed, and in a particularly brutal manner—his throat had been split.
Thinking of this, Mi Xuan touched the skin of his neck with his trembling fingers, from top to bottom, not missing a single inch. However, the smooth, tender texture gave him a sense of security—there were no bloody red marks on his neck.
"Thank goodness..."
He breathed a sigh of relief, and his emotions gradually calmed down. It was only then that he noticed the changes in himself, aside from his surroundings.
His black hair touched his waist and hip, and his long bangs swept across his shoulders, which had been constantly drawing his attention in front of his eye since earlier.
His hair wasn't originally this long.
He gathered his bangs into a strand, swept it to his temples, and, like peeling off a veil, he could now clearly see his surroundings.
Whether it was 3D stereoscopic technology or virtual reality projection, it didn't look real no matter how he looked at it.
"Is anyone there?"
He shouted, his voice, like a stone sinking to the bottom of the sea, disappearing without a trace after he spoke.
Something was off... That wasn't his voice either.
Mu Xuan held his throat in confusion. His voice should be clear and louder, but the sound he had just made had a soft, almost girlish quality to it.
What on earth is going on?
If only there were a mirror.
As soon as the thought had crossed his mind, a crack appeared in the ground, and a life-size mirror rose from it.
Such a bizarre scene left My Xuan gaping in astonishment, and he also noticed the person in the mirror.
A young girl wearing a black suit with a short skirt, a black windbreaker that reached her ankles, and a gold tie. Her golden pupils, as dazzling as amber, betrayed endless wonder, leaving Mu Xuan standing dumbfounded before the mirror, his mind blank. If it weren't for the fact that the person inside was moving in unison with him, Mu Xuan would have thought he was standing face-to-face with a girl as dark as night.
He had thought that seeing himself would help him understand his situation, but instead, he felt even more confused.
Out of the corner of his eye, Mu Xuan noticed two mysterious ornaments on his head, swaying back and forth with his emotions.
Curious, he reached up to touch them, and a tingling sensation like an electric shock spread across his head. Furthermore, the figure in the mirror also had something resembling a tail swiftly sweeping back and forth, expressing his uneasiness.
Ears and a tail… How could I have these things!
Mu Xuan gradually realized he wasn't dreaming but had been kidnapped and locked in a laboratory for experimentation.
He is the experimental subject into whom these animal parts were implanted.
But even so, it was impossible for his body shape to change as well. Putting aside his skin and hair, even his bones and body shape were completely different from before.
He has a face so white that it is almost transparent, is about 1.5 meters tall, and has a streamlined and rhythmic body and legs.
She has the appearance of a typical East Asian girl, with delicate features, so much so that even Mu Xuan was mesmerized by them.
"Are you looking at me, boy?"
At that moment, the 'self' in the mirror suddenly opened its mouth and spoke.
The originally gentle expression suddenly changed, the slender eyebrows slightly raised, and the golden eyes quietly widened. Just this simple change in expression made the person inside appear completely different from before.
Gloomy, cold, and creepy.
She put one hand in her coat pocket; as if wanting to examine him more closely, she bent down and hunched forward slightly.
"You… you… you!"
The phenomenon, which was even stranger and more bizarre than this world, left Mu Xuan speechless, unable to utter a complete sentence for a long time.
"Calm down, unknown boy."
The black-haired girl in the mirror spoke in a voice identical to his, though slightly colder, "Before asking others, you should state your own name."
"Well… yes indeed, my name is Mu Xuan."
"Mu Xuan." She nodded after pondering for a moment.
"Am I dreaming? Or am I hallucinating after being experimented on? Am I abnormal, or is the world abnormal? Am I going crazy?"
"Young man, calm down." She raised her hand to interrupt Mu Xuan's endless questions. "You're not crazy, and you won't go crazy. This is just how the world is."
"How is that possible? This location is comparable to Hollywood special effects, and these ears and tail—how do you explain that?"
"They're all original. You possess these things because you've taken over my body—or more accurately, my spirit."
"What… do you mean?"
"I was originally a ghost, wandering the world. And you, a soul who stumbled into this place by mistake, ended up merging with me by accident."
The girl's pale, snow-white face was staring at him, making Mu Xuan feel uncomfortable.
"Interesting, very interesting."
A smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, reminding Mu Xuan of a vampire waiting for fresh blood in a movie.
"Soul... so I'm dead." Surprisingly, Mu Xuan didn't doubt it. Compared to being taken away for unrealistic modifications, death seemed more reasonable to him, aligning with the memory of his neck being severed.
"Does that mean I'll have to roam this endless world as a ghost…?"
"Mu Xuan."
The girl in the mirror interrupted his bewildered speech.
"Mu Xuan." She said it again, as if speaking to herself.
"This name is too weak and boring."
When 'he' looked at her, the girl flung her arms wide, causing her black robe to sway dramatically.
"Since you have entered my body, you must naturally inherit my name."
The girl smiled with arrogance and confidence.
"My name is Sunday Silence."