Extra: Twin Lives, Twin Deaths (1)

Extra: Twin Lives, Twin Deaths (1)

Kaleidoscope of Death by Xi Zixu

The first time Cheng Yixie understood that he likely wouldnt live for long was on the day of his fifth birthday. While other five-year-olds were still bumbling about without much concept of life and death, he had understood something in his mothers tears and his fathers frowns. His fifth birthday was spent in the hospital, alongside his foolish brother Cheng Qianli. With IV drips in their arms and eating horribly bitter medicine, they stuck five candles into a lovely cake to make a wish.

Cheng Yixie looked at the candles on their cake and quietly thought, he wished he could grow up quicker, because there were still placed he wanted to see in this world.

Cheng Qianli clearly didnt think as much as Cheng Yixie. He wore a brilliant smile in sharp contrast with the impassive Cheng Yixie sitting next to him, and all of his attention was on the sweet and spongey cake before him. Fools had an easier time than geniuses. A single sweet candy could bring a genuine smile out of him.

Cheng Yixie and Cheng Qianli were twins, but everything about them beside their faces seemed completely different.

Cheng Yixie had realized long ago that they were different from other kids. Hed even heard a doctor discuss their condition with their parents. From that discussion, a single sentence had been imprinted in his brain. Their primary doctor had said that, at the current level of medical progress, he and Cheng Qianli would not live past sixteen.

Sixteensixteen. Life would only just be starting. Cheng Yixie went back to their hospital room and watched his brother sit in the hospital bed, giggling at the cartoon on TV. There wasnt a single shadow in Cheng Qianlis eyes; they were as bright as the blue skies outside their window.

Cheng Qianli was a lot skinnier than he was, and his body was weaker too. Though he was almost ten, he still looked like an undernourished bean sprout. For treatment, neither of them had any hair. All over their heads and wrists were green and purple puncture marks.

Cheng Yixie came into the hospital room and Cheng Qianli looked up at him, calling out Gege in a sweet voice. That pair of adorable cat eyes were overflowing with palpable joy; hed never bothered hiding his affection for Cheng Yixie.

Gege. The tiny Cheng Qianli looked right and left, before carefully waving Cheng Yixie over.

Cheng Yixie went to his bedside, and Cheng Qianli indicated he should bend down. Cheng Yixie thought that Cheng Qianli had something to say to him and obeyed. But the moment he bent, a tiny piece of candy was pushed between his lips.

Sh, Cheng Qianli said. Dont tell nurse-jiejie. Grandma gave it to me in secret. I gave it a lick, its super yummy.

Because they were sick, their diets were under strict control; the amount of snacks they got to eat in a year could be counted on both hands. Cheng Yixie thought, how nice would it be if they were normal children? Then Cheng Yixie could eat all the food that he wanted, and they wouldnt have to be doing such a pitiful thing.

Youre feeding me something you already ate? was how Cheng Yixie responded to Cheng Qianlis good will. Gross.

Youre lying, Cheng Qianli harrumphed. You like candy too, I know it. Mean gege.

Cheng Yixie said nothing. The candys sweetness was dispersing through his mouth, but all he could see was their future. He couldnt imagine losing this foolish brother of his; he wanted so badly to see Cheng Qianli grow up and have a life of his own.

Cheng Yixie thought surviving was just wishful thinking, until he was chosen by the doors.

The terrifying world of the doors was perhaps an awful sort of torture for many, but for Cheng Yixie, it was a blessing of mercy from the heavens.

When he entered the first door he wasnt even sixteen, and looked completely out of place in the pack of adults.

His first door was very difficult. Cheng Yixie believed that he would die inside, but his fortune was goodhe met a veteran whod passed through many doors. That veteran opened the door, and Cheng Yixie successfully left that extra-dimensional world.

After coming out from the door, Cheng Yixies physical condition began to swiftly get better.Follow current novels on novelb((in).(com)

The doctors called it a miracle. They were getting the same medicine and the same treatments, but Cheng Yixies body was getting better and quickly approaching normalcy, while Cheng Qianlis was getting weaker.

Cheng Yixie paid close attention. As he listened, however, he kept thinking about Cheng Qianli. He was thinking that even if he did steal a door for Cheng Qianli, would Cheng Qianli be able to make it out?

The worlds inside the doors were so scary, and didnt suit the naive Cheng Qianli at all. Even if he stole the doors for Cheng Qianli like Ruan Nanzhu said, would it be just another form of torture for Cheng Qianli?

He was so small, and so scared of the dark. He was so completely different from Cheng Yixie. He was just a normal kid.

That night, Cheng Yixie sat in the garden by himself for a long, long time. It wasnt until dawn emerged over the horizon that he rubbed his dry eyes and went impassively back into the house.

What Cheng Yixie was thinking, nobody knew. Since that day on, he never once returned home, and he never once contacted Cheng Qianli.

Is it because your brothers too stupid? So you dont like him anymore? someone asked Cheng Yixie once. Cheng Yixie didnt say anything in return, just shot that person an icy look.

The reason he didnt go back and didnt contact Cheng Qianli was because he was scared. He was scared that he wouldnt be able to control himself, and he would do something out of bounds.

He didnt even dare try to think about Cheng Qianli dying. The moment he thought about it, many terrifying thoughts would surface in his mind.

Cheng Qianli was the calamity in Cheng Yixies life that he could never escape; he knew that for this brother of his, he could cross even the lowest lines.

And when he became conscious of this, the only thing Cheng Yixie could do was reduce the influence Cheng Qianli had on himeven if the reduction process was tantamount to cutting out a part of himself by brute force.

They were twins. Twins linked by blood. A single glance, a single look, and they could understand what the other was thinking; even a thousand miles away, Cheng Yixie could feel Cheng Qianli growing gradually weaker.

Cheng Yixie thought everything would end like this. But one afternoon, he got a call from Cheng Qianli.

To this very day, Cheng Yixie could recall the weather then.

It was a drizzling spring day, and the shrubs in the yard were lush with greenery. Everything was filled with the breath of revival. And Cheng Qianlis voice came from the other end of the line, sniffling and a little bit weak. He cried, Ge, Ge, Im so scared

Cheng Yixie, whats wrong? Hed sensed something, and his voice couldnt help but tighten in alarm.

I went into a door. Cheng Qianli spoke in frail stutters. There were so many ghosts inside. I finally came out. Am I dreamingWhen are you coming backI miss you so much It seemed he was growing unconscious, slowly beginning to mumble nonsense.

As Cheng Yixie listened, however, he began to laugh quietly. He laughed until tears came out, and said, dont be scared. Geges here. Wait for Gege to come back.

Gege will protect you.

And so, Cheng Yixie understood that hed never escape Cheng Qianli the calamity. He would use every single method at his disposal to protect Cheng Qianlis life. He would see him grow up, marry, have children. His children would have children and he would definitely live on and prosper.



Authors Note:

Heres the long-awaited twins extra!



[Extra: Shameless Couple(2)] | [Extra: Twin Lives, Twin Deaths(2)]