Peking Opera Cat: I Became A Zi's Brother

"..."

The old doctor looked at this group of thin teenagers with tear-stained faces, and a layer of tears welled up in his turbid eyes.

"What on earth did you go through..."

He stood up tremblingly, and stroked Mo Zi's hot forehead with his hand like a dry branch, then looked at the cats surrounding the bed - tears were still welling up in Bai Tang's red eyes, Da Fei's knuckles were white as he clutched the corner of his clothes, and even the usually calm Wu Song lowered his head, his whistle stick leaving messy marks on the ground.

"children......"

The old doctor's voice was very hoarse.

"You've all been running around all this time. This friendship, I... it makes me sad to see it."

"boom!"

His hunched back seemed to bend even further, and when he turned around, he knocked over a medicine jar beside him. The sound of porcelain shards breaking was particularly harsh in the silent clinic.

"Hmm~"

Mingyue turned her head away, the rhythmic power flickering uncontrollably at her fingertips. A teardrop quietly fell on the vine in her hand, leaving a dark mark on the half-woven stretcher.

She raised her hand and quickly wiped the moisture from her cheek, but her trembling shoulders revealed the turmoil in her heart.

"..."

Xiaoqing was still kneeling there, her nails digging deep into her palms, her sleeves hanging down to the ground, having long lost their former agility.

"I've tried everything..."

Her voice was broken.

"Why can't I save my sister..."

The hot tears dripped onto the lapels, leaving dark marks, just like the blood that could never be stopped from the dark purple wound.

"Do not!"

Bai Tang suddenly grabbed the bell of justice and shook it like crazy:

"There has to be a way! There has to be!"

He turned to the old doctor, his eyes burning with an almost paranoid hope.

"Think about it again! You're a doctor, you must have another solution!"

The ringing sound mixed with the boy's choked breaths echoed in the room filled with the aroma of medicine.

"Uh--"

Da Fei suddenly groaned and hit his head hard:

"It's all my fault! If I were stronger, Sister Zi wouldn't be hurt like this..."

This usually honest man now looked like a helpless child, covering his face with his rough hands and tears seeping out between his fingers.

"Ugh--"

The old doctor looked at the group of young people, his throat rolling, and finally turned into a long sigh.

"cough……"

Inside the clinic, the only sound was Mo Zi's faint cough, which, over and over again, was beating at everyone's nerves that were on the verge of collapse.

The old doctor's sigh drifted faintly in the silent clinic, like a poisoned steel spike, piercing Xiaoqing's heart.

"..."

She maintained her kneeling posture, as if all the strength in her body was drained away in an instant, and the arc of her sleeves sliding down was filled with frozen despair.

"..."

Looking at Mo Zi's increasingly paler face, and the figure that was supposed to protect him now lying weakly on the couch, all his persistence and beliefs collapsed.

"elder sister......"

Xiaoqing stretched out her hand tremblingly, her fingertips hovering above the dark purple blood-stained collar, and she didn't dare to touch it, as if it would break at the slightest touch.

Suddenly, she rushed to the bedside and buried her face in her sister's neck. Tears burst out, leaving dark marks on the gray skin.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... Xiaoqing is useless and can't save you..."

Her voice was mixed with violent sobs, barely forming a single sentence. The jade hairpin in her hair swayed slightly with the trembling, and its shadow reflected on the glass of the medicine cabinet was distorted and shattered.

Memories surged like a tide - back then, at Nian Zong Shuixie, her brother Mo Yun's hands could still hold her steady while she practiced with her ice blade;

When she was singing, Mo Zi blocked An's attack for her, and the blood that bloomed on her back looked very much like the wound at this moment.

But now, her brother has long disappeared into the chaos, and her sister is about to leave her.

"Brother! Brother, where are you!"

Xiaoqing suddenly looked up, and her screams at the top of her lungs made the porcelain bottles on the medicine cabinet buzz.

"If you were here, you would definitely find a way to save my sister! You love Xiaoqing the most... Come back!"

She pounded the bed in despair, and the ice beads on her wrists shattered, and the cold air condensed into tiny frost flowers in the room.

"..."

The dark purple eyelashes trembled violently and the dry lips moved while he was unconscious.

Chaos and rhythmic power tore at her body, but her consciousness stubbornly struggled following the familiar cry.

"......elder brother......"

Her voice was softer than a whisper, her breath was barely noticeable, and the blood foam from the corners of her mouth stained the pillowcase red, but it sounded like thunder in Xiaoqing's ears.

"Brother Mo..."

"boom!"

Bai Tang froze in place, and the hand holding the bell of justice slowly loosened. The sound of the bell falling to the ground was drowned out by Xiaoqing's crying.

Da Fei lowered his head heavily, his broad shoulders heaving violently, his knuckles turning white from excessive exertion.

"!"

Wu Song turned his back and wiped his face fiercely. When he turned back, his eyes were bloodshot.

"elder sister!"

Xiao Qing suddenly hugged Mo Zi tightly, and her sleeves frantically condensed ice dew, but the moment it touched the wound, it was corroded by the power of chaos.

"I can't lose you again... I can't..."

Her cries penetrated the window frames of the clinic and echoed in the silent night, startling the night owls roosting under the eaves. The flapping of their wings made the despair seem even more lonely and long-lasting.

"what……"

Xiaoqing clutched the dark purple, blood-stained collar tightly, her nails digging deep into the fabric, as if this could hold on to her sister's life that was about to dissipate.

Her cries gradually became hoarse and broken, and suddenly, she froze as if struck by lightning - deep in her memory, the covered bridge of the waterside pavilion, her mother's gentle eyes, and her brother standing high on the martial arts field and waving his hands, all exploded in her mind like a kaleidoscope.

"No...I'm not leaving!"

She turned around suddenly, and her sleeves swept over the medicine bowl beside her, sending porcelain shards flying everywhere.

"boom!"

He looked at his companions with red eyes, tears streaking his face.

"We're not going any further! I want to go back to our sect! Back to our home!"

There was an almost insane obsession in her voice, and Yun Wen exploded uncontrollably into tiny ice flowers around her body, which were then condensed into frost mist by despair in an instant.

"Sister, listen!"

She rushed back to the bed, held up Mo Zi's hot face with trembling hands, and pressed her forehead tightly against his.

"Let's go home, right now! Mom will definitely find a way... Even if Mom can't, my brother must still be alive in the deepest part of the training grounds! He said he would protect us!"

Those memories that had been deliberately sealed away now became sharp blades, piercing her heart and causing her pain, but they also became her only life-saving straw.

"Brother won't die! He's just hiding!" Xiaoqing's voice was sharp with tears in her eyes. Her sleeves frantically condensed ice blades in the house, but they shattered into ice chips the moment they touched the chaotic aura.

"He will heal you, just like when he played with me when we were little... He said that if I blew the shell whistle, he would..."

"cough……"

Her voice stopped abruptly, and she suddenly started coughing violently, tears mixed with blood dripping onto Mo Zi's chest.

"Xiao Qing!"

Wu Song tried to step forward and hold back her uncontrolled Yun Li, but she suddenly threw him away.

Xiaoqing stumbled back to the corner, grabbed the shell whistle from Mo Zi's waist, and put it to her lips tremblingly.

The whistle was broken and dissonant, but it tore a hole in the silent room:

"Brother! Did you hear me? Xiaoqing begs you... come back and save your sister!"

Her nails dug deep into her palms, and blood flowed down along the lines.

"We agreed to watch the Lotus Lanterns of the Shen Sect together. You can't... you can't go back on your word..."