"Wait...wait! Why are you crying?"

Starry Lin suddenly panicked, and the tears that were already welling up in her eyes stopped.

"No, it's nothing..."

Sunny Xu tried to wipe away the tears, but warm tears welled up again and rolled down his hand.

"I just..."

He opened his mouth, and finally let out a long breath.

"I want to apologize to you."

"How can you say that..." The girl furrowed her delicate eyebrows tightly. "No, absolutely not. You haven't done anything wrong to me. You're the only one who has been good to me and helped me. You shouldn't apologize to me, there's no reason for it."

"I'm apologizing for the things I said before," Sunny Xu covered his forehead, remembering what happened after he fainted that day, his face flushed. "I didn't know anything about you, but I acted like I knew everything and said those things..."

"No, I think you're right." Starry Lin shook her head forcefully. "And it's normal that you don't know me. It's just because... I've never given anyone a chance."

The girl knew very well that "not wanting to involve others in her troubles" and "being afraid of burdening others" were all just excuses.

Even if the adults couldn't help her, if she could make more friends at school, maybe things wouldn't be so bad.

The real reason was that she was a coward, afraid of being deceived, so she never dared to take that step. She was like a hedgehog, curling up and facing the world with the sharp thorns, fearing both hurting others and being hurt by others. Until she was truly desperate, she panicked and sought help, only to find herself isolated and helpless.

Fortunately, she was no longer alone now.

"It doesn't matter anymore. I even feel lucky that you're the first friend I've made, not someone else. Without you, I might have really given up on myself... because I had already planned to do so."

Starry Lin had thought about her future more than once, and wondered if it would be better not to be so stubborn.

Since she couldn't escape or hide, maybe it would be easier not to think about anything. Stop resisting, go with the flow, accept whatever others wanted to do to her instead of constantly fighting back. Learn to smoke, drink, sing, dance, until graduation or simply getting expelled. If she wanted to continue staying in this neighborhood, she could either work odd jobs for meager wages or immerse herself in the nightlife, relying on her looks to make a living, until her youth faded away and she grew old. And if she accidentally had a child with an irresponsible man, she would continue the tragedy that had befallen her, or perhaps make it even worse...

She had heard countless tragedies that had befallen girls living at the bottom of society, and she never thought she could escape.

Starry Lin poured out all the thoughts that had kept her awake on countless nights to her friends, laying bare her sensitivity and self-esteem, without any concealment.

"You think too much..."

Sunny Xu was somewhat surprised. Although he occasionally fantasized about his future, as everyone did, it was unusual for her to describe the contours of such a realistic future life, and it was so pessimistic and bleak, without a glimmer of hope. Since it was a fantasy, shouldn't it instinctively lean towards a better direction?

But then he thought again and felt that he could understand. Unlike himself, Starry Lin's situation was not just difficult, it could be described as full of dangers. She had always lived in worry and tension, fearing the arrival of tomorrow without any anticipation.

"Because I have nothing to do. I can't go home, so I just hide in a place where no one is and take a nap, thinking about all sorts of random things... Sometimes, I really feel like this city I live in should just be destroyed. Isn't everyone saying that the end of the world is coming soon? I sincerely hope for such a day, so I don't have to worry about a future that has no hope."

Sunny Xu fell silent.

The future she described made him feel a bitter reality in his heart. It was as if without him, without all these changes that had happened, this girl would only slide into the abyss and live a hopeless life...

But he also felt that it wasn't necessarily the case.

"I think you won't become like that."

"Sunny Xu..."

"You're not that kind of person. Even if there's only a slight chance, you won't give up, right?"

"...You seem to have more confidence in me than I have in myself."

"I don't know how you see yourself, I'm just describing how 'Starry Lin' should be in my eyes. Besides, you have Little An now."

"That's true." She nodded. "Actually, did I just say something too heavy? After all, I have this ability now, even my mom's violent boyfriend wouldn't be difficult to deal with... But come to think of it, the situation might be worse? If I awakened my superpower in that situation, I would definitely go crazy and even kill someone out of anger. In the end, I would either be caught by the police or..."

Starry Lin seemed to remember something and said seriously:

"Just like you said, I might really join some dark organization."

Sunny Xu's tear marks hadn't dried yet, but he couldn't help but chuckle.

"That does sound pretty bad."Starry Lin laughed along, but her gaze remained fixed on him. The corners of her lips curled up slightly, like a crescent moon.

"Huh, you stopped crying?" The girl scraped her cheek with her finger, teasing, "You're a boy, you know. It's a bit embarrassing."

"I... I can cry, just like when people cry when they read touching parts in novels. That's normal, right?"

Is that so? Starry was surprised. She had always thought he was a stoic top student.

"Don't you feel ashamed?"

"There's nothing to be ashamed of." Sunny Xu huffed. His guardian had never taught him things like "men don't cry easily". "Laugh when you want to laugh, cry when you want to cry. The truly pitiful ones are those who can't even do that."

"That makes sense." Starry agreed, "But there will always be situations where you can't cry or laugh."

"That's why, when you can, you should do it to your heart's content." Sunny said firmly, "If you want to cry, you can cry out loud now. I definitely won't laugh at you."

"I was actually about to cry because of what I said," the girl wiped the corner of her reddened eyes with her pinky nail, laughing and shaking her head, "But you distracted me, and now I can't cry."

She pointed at the TV.

"Why don't we watch together..."

Before Starry Lin could finish her sentence, a shrill scream suddenly came from the TV. The two, who hadn't been paying attention to the movie until now, instinctively focused on the screen.

It turned out that the movie was showing a scene where residents in a building encountered a ghost.

Accompanied by the eerie background music and the flickering light on the screen, the atmosphere was quite creepy. The room was dark, and the two on the chair were surrounded by the dim night seeping in through the window.

All they could see were vague outlines. The curtains swayed in the wind, as if someone was hiding behind them.

Sunny Xu and Starry Lin looked at each other.

"Wait, didn't you say it was a comedy?"

"Uh... I thought I put on a Stephen Chow movie..."

At that moment, the TV was showing a scene where a group of people cautiously entered a room where an old man's funeral had just been held, groping around in the dim living room.

Just then, the TV in the room suddenly lit up, showing the gloomy face of an old woman, the very person who had been buried a few days ago! As everyone jumped in fright, the TV started to move, as if the old woman's ghost was attached to it, driving it to move—

"Thud!"

Almost at the same time, the TV in reality also shook violently.

The two were startled.

"Snap."

The image on the screen disappeared, replaced by a snow screen and the "crackling" sound of electricity.

"What... what's going on?"

Starry Lin's face turned slightly pale, her voice trembling.

"Uh, I don't know."

Sunny Xu rubbed his eyes and wiped his tear-streaked face. He stood up and walked to the light switch in the living room, intending to turn on the light.

"Huh? That's strange..."

However, after several attempts, the light didn't come on.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".

"Did the power trip?"

Starry Lin also tried the lights in the bathroom and bedroom, but they wouldn't turn on either.

Sunny Xu and she looked at each other.

"Should we... check outside?"

Starry Lin suggested.

Sunny Xu nodded and went to the door.

He unlocked the chain, opened the door, and had just stepped two steps on the stairs when he suddenly turned around and fled back in, relocking the door and hanging the chain, even grabbing a chair from the side to prop against the door.

"What are you..."

Starry Lin was surprised, but before she could ask, she saw Sunny Xu put his finger to his lips, looking extremely nervous as he shushed her.

The girl noticed that his hand was shaking.

Sunny Xu pointed to the window next to him, signaling her to come over.

Starry Lin swallowed. She knew something was wrong and tiptoed to the window. Following Sunny Xu's direction, she pressed her face against the glass and tried to look to the side—

A tall, thin old man in a dark Zhongshan suit was standing at the entrance of the alley.

...Who was that?

Before she could ask this question, in the blink of an eye, the old man's figure had crossed the distance of three or four houses and was still standing silently in the night.

Behind him, the street lights and the lights in the windows all went out one by one, leaving only a vast darkness where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.