Forced to Act out a Strange Script with a Rival - Chapter 62

20XX / Month X / Day X – Cloudy

The gardenias on the windowsill are wilting, just like our nearly empty wallet. The money that woman left behind was originally enough for us to live on until we graduated from university.

But that devil appeared in our lives, brazenly calling himself our father, yet ultimately he was only after that money.

I could only give him money to keep him at bay, but since we have no income, the funds were bound to run out eventually.

“Then let’s leave, and not recognize him as a father,” Ah Man’s voice was as calm as if she were stating tomorrow’s weather.

She closed her book and walked over to me, her cool fingers gently covering my hand that was trembling with anger. Her eyes were like cold stars forged in fire, calm and sharp, cutting through all my hesitation: “We’ll go.”

She has always been my pillar of strength.

And so, during the summer vacation after the college entrance exams, Ah Man and I began to flee to a distant place, hoping to escape his clutches.

I asked her, “Ah Man, are you scared?”

She shook her head, “As long as I’m with Xiao Xiao, I won’t be scared.”

I smiled and buried my face in the crook of her neck, inhaling her clean scent of books and the faint fragrance of gardenia soap.

And she smiled too, her shoulders gently shaking.

Perhaps, at the end of the road, there really is light?

As long as we are together, we can have a brighter future.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Sunny

That summer after graduating from high school, life drastically changed.

Ah Man and I were squeezed into a corner of a small, humid, and sultry coastal city in the south.

Without education and being so young, the only straws we could grasp were the most monotonous, life-consuming jobs on the assembly line.

It was a small family workshop. The air was perpetually filled with the pungent smell of heated plastic and the sour stench of sweat.

Trapped in there, sometimes we wouldn’t see the sun all day.

But it didn’t matter.

During breaks, I would always sneak over to Ah Man, leaning my head against her equally exhausted but straight back, feeling her steady breathing and warm body temperature, as if drawing strength from her.

Sweat soaked her back, and the familiar soap scent mixed with the plastic smell was still comforting.

I closed my eyes and whispered to myself: Ah Man is my sun.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Rainy

Due to the poor economic situation, the owner of our factory ran away.

Ah Man and I stood under the eaves, looking at the gloomy sky and the dense curtain of rain.

Rainwater dripped down from the broken eaves, splashing small puddles on the ground.

“It’s okay, Xiao Xiao.” Ah Man’s voice was exceptionally clear amid the rain. She opened the umbrella with slightly bent ribs that we had scavenged from a flea market, covering both of us, though the rain still drenched one side of our shoulders: “We’ll always find the next job.”

She is always like this—gentle and calm in the worst of times, allowing my panicked heart to find a harbor.

I linked my arm through hers, pressing close to her. The rain was drumming, and the small space under the umbrella was our only dryness and warmth at the moment.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Sunny

The greatest advantage of leaving our hometown is!

I can openly snuggle with Ah Man without restraint!

That’s right, that incredible person is my girlfriend!! Hehe, be jealous everyone!

My friends tease me, saying I have skin hunger, always wanting to kiss and hug without getting tired of it.

They are just jealous that I have a girlfriend!

I’ll shock them by saying, this amazing girlfriend has been snuggling with me for twenty years. I know everything about her, and, we can continue to snuggle!

20XX / Month X / Day X – Sunny

Ah Man got a scholarship! Yay!

My girlfriend is truly the best!

My Ah Man is always shining.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Overcast

I feel like someone is following me?

Is it my imagination? Or…

20XX / Month X / Day X – Heavy Rain

How did that devil find us?

I must protect Ah Man!

20XX / Month X / Day X – Heavy Rain

He found out about us.

His voice was hoarse and grating, sending shivers down my spine: “Your blood, after all, flows with mine, which is why you commit incest/sexual misconduct.”

No, it’s not!!

Ah Man and I genuinely love each other!

It’s completely, completely different from him!!

But his gaze was like a poisoned knife, stabbing directly at me: “You are the older sister, yet you deceive your innocent younger sister. It’s truly disgusting.”

No! It’s not!!

He is the disgusting one! Don’t compare us to him!!

20XX / Month X / Day X – Torrential Rain

Was I really wrong?

Ah Man is my sister after all…

We are the closest family…

It was me who led us down the wrong path.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Torrential Rain

He came again.

Like a maggot clinging to bone.

I asked him what he wanted.

He said he wanted to ruin our reputation.

A deluge of icy despair instantly washed over me.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Torrential Rain

The rain continues to fall.

Endlessly.

Leave Ah Man?

No, I will not leave.

Even if I am truly wrong, I will never turn back! I will never let go!

She is my lover, so what if she is my sister!

Our red string of fate is hidden in our veins, deeply rooted in our bones; no one can separate us.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Sunny

Let that person disappear.

This time, it’s not us running away, but… him…

Since fate has already pushed us away from the conventional “right path” of the world, since our love is destined to be seen as a “deviation” by others…

Then, let me walk further down this path.

Obsessed? Then… I will be obsessed to the very end!

20XX / Month X / Day X – Sunny

I held her, holding her so tightly, as if I could make her completely merge into my flesh and blood. Her body was so soft, carrying the fresh steam after a bath and a faint gardenia scent.

She said I smelled like the sun, and that it was a scent she liked.

But what does the sun smell like?

It clearly smells like her.

She firmly held my hand and told me: “We are each other’s sun.”

But what if one day, the sun is no longer bright?

I suddenly felt afraid, so I asked her: “If one day, I do something wrong, will you be scared of me?”

She looked into my eyes, very serious, as serious as if making an eternal vow: “Then I will be wrong with you.”

And I covered her eyes, whispering in her ear: “No, I don’t like bad children, so you have to be good.”

That day, we made love until we were utterly exhausted, using all our strength to embrace, kiss, and possess each other, as if to brand each other’s souls deep into our bodies.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Sunny

It is a bright, sunny day today. I made my move.

He is lying there, his body completely cold.

I truly do have the devil’s blood in me, to be so calm at this moment.

The next thing I need to do is figure out how to escape punishment.

Perhaps, I need to go to another place to lay low.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Sunny

Ao Ming Island?

It is indeed a good place to hide, with few visitors.

Wait for me, Ah Man, I will definitely return.

Then, we can happily live together again.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Sunny

Finally arrived at Ao Ming Island.

But the people here seem a little too enthusiastic.

Is it just my feeling?

20XX / Month X / Day X – Overcast

Lying on the strange, hard bed at night, I cannot sleep.

Before my eyes are only images of her: the curve of her long lashes when she looks down at a book, the starlight twinkling in her eyes when I make her laugh, her docile presence sleeping quietly in my arms, and her soft lips.

I miss Ah Man so much. It’s only been a week since we separated, but I truly miss her.

However, I cannot go back yet.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Sunny

Unable to suppress the longing in my heart, I hired someone to secretly take some recent photos of her for me.

But she noticed. She is so sharp.

I suppose my address must have been revealed too.

Will she come? Will she abandon everything to find me?

This thought is growing wildly like weeds.

Fear and anticipation are intertwined, tearing at my nerves.

I fear for her safety, yet I hope… to see her.

Even if only from afar.

This secret anticipation is like a poisonous flower blooming in the darkness, emitting an alluring yet dangerous aura.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Overcast

This island! Something is wrong!

The people here, they…

20XX / Month X / Day X – Strong Winds

The so-called Sea Goddess (Hai Niang Niang) is actually the Sea Bride (Hai Xin Niang)!

The young girls on the island are divided into two types: one kind is locked in the dungeon and continuously brainwashed, used as breeding livestock, and the other is offered to the Sea God as a human sacrifice!!

This place is terrifying! Those vibrant lives, that youth that should be blossoming, are crushed and devoured here!

I must save them! Those vibrant girls shouldn’t have to live out their lives like this.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Strong Winds

The island’s doctor is actually the one presiding over the ritual? And women who come to the island for tourism or are victims of shipwrecks are also their targets.

It’s absurd. The secret room in the clinic is filled with walls of sin.

I can’t let this island full of sin continue to exist, but if I report it to the police, I won’t escape legal punishment either.

What should I do?

…Ah Man, I wonder if there is any chance, any chance at all, to see Ah Man again…

20XX / Month X / Day X – Torrential Rain

Have I been found out… I am their next target… I must escape quickly…

How could this be?

The typhoon has arrived… Others can’t get in, and I can’t get out…

What should I do, if Ah Man really comes to this island looking for me… Ah Man!

This thought struck me like lightning… No!

Even if I die, I must destroy this place before I do! For Ah Man, for all those who have been devoured, this island must disappear!

20XX / Month X / Day X – Torrential Rain

Hunger is twisting my stomach like a red-hot knife.

I am curled up in the cold, damp crevice of a reef, my teeth chattering uncontrollably.

Outside! There are sounds! It’s the search party! Footsteps crunching on the gravel, a rustling sound, they are close by!

I hold my breath, my heart pounding so hard it feels like it will shatter my ribs… that thing.

The huge shadow I saw before… it is definitely not a natural creature.

How is it possible that there truly are existences in this world beyond ordinary human comprehension?

I must get this diary out!

20XX / Month X / Day X – Torrential Rain

Despair.

Utter, bone-chilling despair.

My physical strength is rapidly draining away from hunger and cold.

The search net is tightening, like a huge net being drawn shut, and the power of that thing… seems to be everywhere.

The air is heavy, like it’s filled with lead; every breath is like fighting an invisible pressure.

How to escape? Surrounded by the sea, the sea is a typhoon that swallows everything.

And the island is a cage.

Cold… a biting cold, radiating from my very bones.

Ah Man… I miss you so much… I really wish I could feel your warmth one last time…

20XX / Month X / Day X – Overcast

I overheard that the small store at the head of the village actually has a hidden telephone!!

They even have criminal transactions involving human trafficking! And that fixed-line phone is their only way to contact the outside world.

Could this be my hope?

20XX / Month X / Day X – Torrential Rain

Silence—

Despair—

It is an existence that cannot be defeated—

20XX / Month X / Day X – Sunny

I discovered their secret.

They are afraid of seawater! If I go to the seaside, the situation can be reversed!!

20XX / Month X / Day X – Sunny

I must not despair!!

I promised to be with Ah Man forever, so I cannot break my word.

No one, no matter who, can stop me…

I must see Ah Man again.

Definitely!

20XX / Month X / Day X – Sunny

The priest can only control the residents for one hour, and the control is ineffective beyond the distance of the small island.

If used well, maybe I can rescue the girls in the basement.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Sunny

There is always a way out. I must persevere.

Soon I will be able to uncover all of their secrets.

20XX / Month X / Day X – Torrential Rain

The Ritual.

They are going to perform the ritual.

I must stop it…