Chapter 11: The Star Gate

“Do not approach the Star Gate!” Dongfang’s voice was filled with unprecedented terror. “Cousin! Xiaoqi will strike you down and erase your existence!”

Jiang Xiaoyu paid her no mind, continuing to sprint toward the depths of the corridor. Everything Dongfang had said was too bizarre; it had shattered his understanding of reality, and now he felt a profound sense of dread. He wanted to prove that all of this was fake, a lie fabricated by his “cousin” Dongfang, and nothing more than a prank.

First, Dongfang—that is, Xiaoqi—was absolutely not his cousin; that much needed no doubt. She was likely a star on some hidden-camera prank show, and he simply didn’t recognize her.

Second, everything in the mirror had to be special effects. The woman calling herself Dongfang had been deceiving him from the very beginning. While he was afraid on one hand, he was furious on the other. His failure in the college entrance exam was already miserable enough; now he had to be pranked and mocked while trying to attend vocational school.

Third, the idea that three people shared Xiaoqi’s body was even easier to explain: all he needed to believe was that his fake “cousin” was a professional voice actress. She could be three people, even ten; he knew that much.

Fourth, there was Room 1314 itself—the biggest hole in her story and the greatest irony. If she really were his cousin Xiaoqi, why would she come to a men’s dormitory with him and insist on sharing a room? It defied all reason!

Finally, he was certain that the moment he opened this door in the depths of the apartment, the truth would be revealed. The audience would turn their mockery into admiration, and he would emerge victorious!

In short, he was confident he could win this trial, but he hoped his parents wouldn’t see this program; he didn’t want them thinking he wasn’t studying hard at Huangshan Vocational Institute.

Once everything was exposed, he was going to shout at the production crew—Your fun is consuming my passion for learning; in a sense, you are thieves and robbers, you aren’t good people!

As he thought this, Jiang Xiaoyu stepped one foot over a blood-red line—a long, wide mark that seemed to cut the entire room in two.

The entirety of Room 1314 shuddered violently.

Dongfang snapped back to reality. She covered her mouth tightly with both hands, her eyes wide with terror. She stopped dead before the red line and shouted, “Jiang Xiaoyu! Do not step into the Star Domain! This is Wanxing’s Absolute Space! You… you will die!”

Jiang Xiaoyu halted and turned his head. “Dongfang, Lengyue, Wanxing—I don’t believe a single word you say. You are not my cousin. My cousin is Xiaoqi, an ordinary, simple girl. But her heart is ten thousand times more beautiful than yours!”

Jiang Xiaoyu couldn’t see clearly, so naturally, he didn’t notice. The moment one of his feet crossed the red line, a hideous, scrawled line of blood-red text illuminated. It was written before the blood-line, as jagged and as large as possible, as if trying its hardest to be noticed.

[Absolutely do not cross this red line, or you will be erased by a stunning beauty. I only stepped half a foot over, but I paid for it with my life. With my final breath, I leave this survival rule for the juniors of Huangquan Academy. Beware of the sneak attack! She! Cannot be defended against!]

[—Chen Xing, SS-Rank Aberration, Former Principal of Huangquan Vocational Institute.]

Chen Xing. A genius from three hundred years ago, the predecessor to the current principal of Huangquan Vocational Institute.

His supernatural power was mental manipulation, allowing him to silently hijack an enemy’s own power, causing them to die by their own techniques. Throughout the entire supernatural circle, he was a figure who commanded dread. Even SSS-rank aberrations spoke of him with bated breath—after all, who would want to antagonize someone who could manipulate all supernatural energy?

Yet, he had paid with his life for stepping only half a foot through that door.

Meanwhile, inside the Star Gate.

Xiaoqi was sitting cross-legged beneath a sky full of stars. She was refining the “light erosion” using the power of the stars; as the starlight poured into her body, her scorched wounds were healing rapidly. Her breathing was steady, her expression detached, just as it had been during every meditation for the past hundred years.

However, the moment Jiang Xiaoyu crossed the red line, her eyes snapped open.

At the same time, the phantom of the woman in red bridal attire emerged behind her, the cold she emitted seemingly capable of freezing the very starlight itself.

But it lasted only a heartbeat. Xiaoqi furrowed her brows, her eyelashes fluttering as she murmured, “Could I have been mistaken?”

She shook her head, slowly closing her eyes again, and the figure of the woman in red faded away.

Seeing Jiang Xiaoyu’s other foot cross into the Star Domain, Dongfang squatted down and buried her face in her hands. Golden tears spilled through her fingers, splashing onto the tiles like shattered sunshine.

“Cousin, why won’t you believe me…” Her voice was muffled by her palms, faint and hoarse. “I’m sorry, I can’t save you. We cannot enter another person’s room, or we will fall into a death-like coma; that is the rule of 1314.”

At that moment, Jiang Xiaoyu gripped the doorknob of the Star Gate.

The lock cylinder emitted a faint click—not the mechanical pop of a key turning, but the sound of something snapping from within. It was like a string, stretched for far too long, finally breaking the moment it was touched.