Zhen Shunshun's private hospital room felt like a prison cell. All sharp objects had been removed, and the windows were welded shut.
She sat on the bed, restraint straps binding her wrists. When she saw me, her eyes shone unnervingly bright.
"You came… I knew you would," her voice was hoarse. "Happy to see me like this?"
I stood at a safe distance. "Dad's sending you to Switzerland."
"Running away won't work," she shook her head frantically. "The system is bound to *you*... escaping to the moon won't help…"
"What system?" I kept pretending.
"Stop pretending! You know! That weight-transfer system! It betrayed me! Now it's reversing the calorie flow! The more I eat, the faster I lose weight!"
Medical staff rushed in and restrained her. Before they injected the sedative, she stared fixedly at me: "I'll haunt you even as a ghost…"
Leaving the hospital, the sunset glare stung my eyes. My phone rang—it was Mo Wen: "Check the class group!"
The group chat was exploding—Zheng Kai had posted an audio file labeled "Zhen Shunshun's True Face."
Clicking it revealed her clear voice: "...Yeah, put the laxative in Zhen Wuyuan's water bottle… Don't worry, she's so fat, a few days of diarrhea won't hurt her…" The date was last year's sports day.
Immediately, classmates started posting photos: "Fat Pig" graffiti on my desk, weight-loss ads stuffed in my locker, my gym clothes dirtied during P.E. class… Captions read: "Turns out it was all your sister's doing."
Arriving home, Mom was watching a video—I recognized it as something Dad had sent.
In the footage, Zhen Shunshun was raging in her hospital room, shrieking, "Give me back the system!" Then she suddenly calmed down, speaking to the air: "I know how to break it… Only when Zhen Xuanyuan dies…"
The video cut abruptly. Mom closed the laptop, her voice terrifyingly calm: "I'll find a lawyer tomorrow."
The next morning, the doorbell startled us awake. Two police officers stood outside: "Student Zhen Xuanyuan? You've been reported for suspected intentional harm against Zhen Shunshun."
Mom stepped in front of me: "Who reported her?"
"Her father. This is a search warrant."
The police took my computer, phone, and that "System Log" notebook. Before leaving, the older officer said quietly, "Kid, I suggest you get a lawyer."
Before the lawyer arrived, Mom took a phone call. Her face instantly paled: "Shunshun… Shunshun escaped from the hospital…"
When we arrived, chaos reigned. Dad was arguing with the hospital director; nurses surrounded a weeping caregiver.
"...She said she needed the toilet, so I undid the restraints…" the caregiver sobbed. "...She suddenly pushed me over and ran…"
Security footage showed Shunshun slipping into the staff corridor and leaving through a back door. Police began searching the area; Mom and I went home to wait.
At 6 PM, a text from an unknown number lit up my phone: "Rooftop. Just the two of us."
I knew instantly where she meant—Jinxiu Apartments, that rooftop terrace.
Without telling Mom, I took a taxi. No police cars were outside the apartment building—she hadn't been found yet. I climbed nine flights of stairs and pushed open the rooftop door—
Zhen Shunshun stood on the edge, her back to me. The evening wind whipped her hospital gown, hanging loose and empty like on a hanger.
"Jie." [Older Sister]
She turned slowly. In the sunset, she was skeletal, her eyes terrifyingly large. She clutched something in her hand.
"You came…" She smiled, revealing yellowed teeth. "...To witness your victory?"
I took a cautious step forward: "Dad's looking for you."
"That coward?" she sneered. "He's scared of me now… scared I'll kill you…" She raised what she held—my sports water bottle. "Remember this?"
Of course I did. That acute gastroenteritis in the second year of middle school landed me in the hospital for a week.
"I put laxatives in it," she recalled, almost rapturously. "...The way you collapsed from diarrhea was hilarious…"
"Why did you hate me?" It was the question I'd wanted to ask for over a decade.
"Because you *existed*! Why were we twins, yet you were always slightly better than I? Art, essays, biology… even weight! Until that system appeared…"
She stepped forward, closer to the edge. "But it betrayed me… Now, there's only one way to break the binding…"
I realized what she intended and lunged: "Don't!" Too late. Zhen Shunshun threw herself backward, an eerie smile on her lips. I desperately grabbed her wrist; her bones felt so thin I feared they'd snap.
"Let go…" she whispered. "...If I die, the system breaks… You'll just be that fat pig again."
I looked into her mad eyes and let go.
Of course, a fire rescue airbag had been laid out below. But in that moment of choice, I knew I was just as twisted as she.
Zhen Shunshun fell.
I leaned over the railing, watching her plummet like a bird with broken wings. Her hospital gown flapped violently in the wind; her once-beautiful face froze in a rictus of terror.
Nine floors down—plenty of time to remember.
Her triumphant smile was pouring laxatives into my bottle. Her acrid tone mocked my weight during a livestream. The glee in her eyes as she directed classmates to write "FAT PIG" on my desk.
***THUD!***
A dull impact.
Screams erupted below.
I slowly descended the stairs, my fingers trembling uncontrollably—not from fear.
The fire airbag hadn't been fully inflated.
A crowd swarmed below Jinxiu Apartments.
I pushed through. Shunshun lay like a broken ragdoll, her left leg twisted at an impossible angle, blood slowly pooling around her head.
A nurse knelt beside her, performing CPR.