Free Web NovelChapter 9: Chapter 9: "Sister
He had only been away from home for half a year, not fifty years.
His mother, in the kitchen, had even said they were keeping his bedroom for him, but what on earth was this?
Gao Tian knew his room was very simple. On the bookshelf opposite, there was a stack of textbooks and a few comic books. On the desk sat an old desktop computer. The nightstand held only an alarm clock, and a few pairs of shoes were tucked under the bed. There was absolutely nothing flashy like posters.
But now, his bedroom had been completely transformed. The books on the shelf had been replaced with various My Little Pony and Labubu figurines, sealed behind a layer of glass. The floor was covered with a pink carpet, and all the bedding was pink, too. The ceiling light had been replaced with a crystal chandelier. The walls were covered with posters of various celebrities.
This was no longer his bedroom; it had become a girl’s room.
Gao Tian slowly backed out of the bedroom, closed the door again, and turned to shout toward the living area:
"Have we had any guests recently?
"Why is my bedroom being used by someone else?"
The sound of running water came from the kitchen. A moment later, his mother’s voice called out again:
"Which bedroom did you go into?"
Gao Tian replied,
"The second-to-last room at the end of the hall."
In the living room, his father turned down the TV volume and shouted in his direction:
"You’ve been gone too long. You went into the wrong room.
"That’s not your bedroom at all!"
Gao Tian called back,
"Dad, are you kidding me?
"How could I not remember where my own bedroom is?"
His father’s next words plunged him into an icy abyss, making him question his own sanity:
"That’s your sister’s bedroom, have you forgotten?
"You’d better come out. If she finds out you went into her room without permission, who knows how badly that girl will flip out."
Gao Tian heard the blood rushing through his veins, felt the thrum and clench of every organ in his body.
’This is my sister’s bedroom.’
’How is this possible?’
’Are my memories messed up, or has the world itself glitched?’
Gao Tian had lost control of his own throat. Like a bystander, he listened quietly as his own voice asked:
"Dad.
"Mom.
"When did we get a sister in this family? When did you two get a daughter? ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
"I’m an only child. The only child in this family. There shouldn’t be a sister here at all."
His mother, having finished washing the vegetables in the kitchen, paid his words no mind. Instead, she said nonchalantly:
"Alright, alright, I know you’ve been under a lot of stress with your studies lately, but you shouldn’t make jokes like this.
"You and your sister have been bickering and fooling around under this roof for more than a decade. Now you’re telling me with a straight face that you’re an only child? Gao Tian, did your sister ask you for spending money again? Is that why you’re trying to pull this ’disown her’ stunt?
"Don’t make jokes like that."
Hearing how composed his father and mother sounded, for a second, Gao Tian wondered if he was the one who was wrong.
Were his memories really failing him, were his parents playing a joke on him, or had a nonexistent person truly appeared in his home?
But no matter how hard Gao Tian tried to remember, he couldn’t find any trace of a so-called "sister" in his memories of growing up.
Just as Gao Tian was still thinking, the bathroom door slowly opened, and steam billowed out. A tall, slender girl with twin ponytails, casually draped in what was originally Gao Tian’s brown jacket, walked out step by step on dripping wet feet:
"First thing in the morning, and I hear my brother’s voice making a racket outside.
"Brother, why are you suddenly back from your rental? Did you finally see the light and decide not to repeat the year? Or are you not bothered by me gaming late at night and disturbing your studies anymore?"
Looking at the face of the girl before him, the way she addressed him, and her familiar tone... ’This must be my "sister."’
But Gao Tian still couldn’t remember. No matter what, he couldn’t find a single trace of this face from any point in his life.
Watching his "sister" walk toward him step by step, Gao Tian, standing his ground, actually calmed down.
’I get it now.’
’The sister is a ghost. This is a ghostly illusion.’
He had just escaped a deadly pursuit, only to fall into a new illusion.
’If this mysterious girl who appeared in my home and altered my parents’ memories is a ghost, then it would all make sense.’
’Different ghosts have different killing patterns. This ghost’s power has probably already hypnotized my parents. Next, she’ll try to hypnotize me.’
Gao Tian wasn’t flustered like the first time he’d met Shattered Face. He now possessed the urn that imprisoned the Shattered Face ghost, and in turn, wielded its power.
’I just need to make eye contact with my "sister" five times, and the urn can copy her killing pattern and use it against her.’
Seeing that Gao Tian looked at her as if she were a total stranger, the twin-tailed sister let out a long sigh. But it was clear she was used to this; it wasn’t the first time this had happened.
The girl called out toward the living room:
"Dad! Mom! You see? Brother has completely forgotten who I am again!
"Why am I always the first one he forgets? Do you think he does it on purpose?"
Their father in the living room was still watching the soccer match. In his eyes, this was just a pair of siblings bickering, far less important than the goal on TV:
"No matter what, no matter what illness he has, he’s still your brother.
"Be a good sister, take him to his room for a look around. Help him remember."
After getting nowhere with their parents in the living room, the girl with the twin ponytails slowly turned her head. She wrinkled her sharp nose and said, a little impatiently:
"Alright, alright, I get it.
"Come with me, brother."
Without waiting for Gao Tian’s agreement, she walked straight past him and headed toward the end of the hallway.
Gao Tian watched her steaming back.
"I know where my own bedroom is. I don’t need you to show me the way."
The sister, who had walked to the second-to-last room, stopped, turned her head, and gave Gao Tian, who was still standing in place, a helpless look:
"That’s my bedroom. Yours is the room at the very end. There are lots of things you’ll recognize in there. There’s also the journal you wrote in whenever you had memory lapses. It might help you get your memory back."
Deep down, Gao Tian was still deeply suspicious of her.
But on the surface, he pretended to be swayed. ’The most important thing now is to stall for time, make eye contact five times, and give the Shattered Face ghost its chance to strike.’
"Sorry, I think I really might have forgotten.
"Can you tell me again who you are, and how I ended up like this?"
The girl with the twin ponytails said:
"My name is Gao Xi. I’m the sister of a blockhead with intermittent memory disorder.
"Growing up, your grades were always excellent, always in the top ten of the entire school. But about three years ago, maybe because the academic pressure was too much, you started to forget a lot of important things.
"One moment you’re asking who Mom is, the next you’re saying Dad isn’t part of our family. In short, you often forget the existence of one of our family members.
"And I feel like your problem is getting worse. Similar things have happened before, but with a few simple reminders, you’d quickly get your memory back."
Gao Tian looked at the girl who called herself "Gao Xi." ’That’s the second time we’ve made eye contact,’ he thought.
’I’ll know soon enough if she’s a ghost. As long as I make eye contact five times, then no matter what this girl is, I’ll be able to snatch her powers, her memories—everything.’
That was the Shattered Face ghost’s power—give it an opening, and it was just that tyrannical.
Seeing her brother standing at the other end of the hall, still looking like he didn’t believe her, Gao Xi, in order to prove her innocence, had no choice but to push open the bedroom at the end of the hall—the one that had been unoccupied for half a year. As she gestured for her brother to see, she continued:
"Look, brother, look at the walls covered with your Honor Student certificates and scholarships. This is your real bedroom.
"Have you never wondered? Someone with grades as excellent as yours, who went to top-tier schools their whole life—why would they fail the college entrance exam and need to rent a place to study for a retake?
"And if you were going to study for the retake, why couldn’t you stay at home? freeweɓnovel.cøm
"None of this makes any sense. Have you never felt that something was off?
"The real reason is simple. It’s because you suffer from a rare condition called intermittent memory disorder. When you walked into the exam hall, the pressure was too much, and for a moment you forgot you were a high school student. You thought you were still in middle school, and that’s what caused you to fail the college entrance exam the first time.
"The doctor suggested you rest for a while and not put yourself under so much pressure, saying it might help ease your condition. But you weren’t willing to accept it; you wouldn’t give up on the acceptance letter from that prestigious university that was within your grasp. That’s why you insisted on moving out and renting a place to study for the retake on your own.
"Mom and I would also visit you often at the place you were staying. But now you’ve forgotten all of that, too. This kind of thing happens a few times every month. I’m already used to it."
She gestured for Gao Tian to walk to the last room and come in to see for himself.
"If you still don’t believe me, then come and see the bedroom you really lived in. Seeing some familiar things might help you get your memory back.
"There’s a journal here, too. Every time you regained your memories after an episode, you’d write down exactly what happened to warn your future self.
"Come and take a look. You’ll recognize your own handwriting, won’t you?"
