Humans possessed dignity, and they yearned for it. People, by nature, were prone to evasion—fleeing from danger, from hardship, from uncomfortable truths.
Ke Yiyi was no exception. When the iron hooves of Xuanji Star trampled into Yingzhou, she hadn’t remained to fight to the death. Instead, she had fled to Cloud Mountain Peninsula, and from there, continued her desperate retreat south.
She was fortunate, for she had ultimately found refuge deep within Vega territory.
Yet, not everyone was afforded the same chance.
What kind of lives, she wondered, did the people of Vega lead in the occupied zones—the territories now claimed by Xuanji Star?
She had pondered it on more than one occasion, yet her thoughts had never progressed beyond mere contemplation.
It was difficult for people to empathize with experiences they hadn’t personally encountered, but a lack of direct experience did not, by any means, negate their existence.
After Ke Yiyi revealed her identity, the girl grew visibly uneasy. Ke Yiyi attempted to reassure her, asking a few simple questions, but the girl’s replies plunged her into a prolonged silence.
The girl had been born after the war, never knowing her father since her earliest memories. She had only later learned that he had been a member of the Vega guerrilla forces, betrayed while she was still an infant, then arrested and executed by firing squad.
Her mother, too, had been taken away when the girl was young, on the grounds of marrying outside the Yan tribe. It was then that she discovered her father had been of the Xifeng clan.
From that day forward, she had never seen her mother again.
Though she sometimes clung to the belief that her mother was still alive, a decade of utter silence had forced her to accept that her mother resided in a place from which she would never return—a fate, in essence, indistinguishable from death.
She had been sent to a Yan family for ‘assimilation education,’ a process meant to purge her of ‘barbaric customs’ and instill ‘Yan rites and righteousness.’ Her adoptive parents were Yan people who had once lived on Vega. When the Xuanji Star forces bore down, they had defected, hailed as overseas Yan returning to their ancestral roots.
The small boy, her nominal younger brother, was the biological child of her adoptive parents.
As the girl calmly recounted her story, Ke Yiyi found herself utterly speechless.
She didn’t know what words to offer, or perhaps, she simply couldn’t fully grasp the horrifying reality she was being presented with. Her only response was a profound silence.
Silence, however, was no solution; it solved nothing.
She attempted to redirect the girl’s attention with other questions, hoping to prevent her from sinking deeper into the grief of her father’s execution and her mother’s abduction by Xuanji Star. Yet, her efforts were consistently in vain.
As a member of a ‘model family,’ the girl was allowed to reside near the Imperial Guards Bureau. However, about half a month prior, for reasons unknown, all buildings adjacent to official institutions had been obscured by newly constructed walls, and residents were no longer permitted to draw back their curtains.
Ke Yiyi understood perfectly: whether it was the drawn curtains or the newly erected walls, these measures were all intended to protect the Independent Observation Group, to prevent any assassination attempts launched from adjacent buildings.
‘But to go to such lengths… was it not excessive?’
Ke Yiyi offered an apology for her previous unauthorized intrusion, then, with Gan Lan, prepared to depart.
Though her heart ached for the girl, Ke Yiyi was now a member of the Independent Observation Group and bound by its strictures. Her actions just moments ago had been born purely of old police habits, nearly jeopardizing their mission.
Just as she was about to step through the doorway, the girl’s voice stopped her.
“Can you… take me with you?”
Ke Yiyi paused, then turned to respond.
“If your parents are willing to remain on Ve—”
“They won’t agree to stay! They’re government officials!”
Ke Yiyi was struck by a sudden, jarring realization. Though they had only just arrived in the Great Promontory Region, the territory exchange had been publicly announced a week ago. A full week had passed since Lan Xifang had informed them until their arrival in Timber City. During this period, both Vega and Xuanji Star had initiated the evacuation of local residents from the territories slated for transfer. There were now few people left in the area; those who remained were ‘outsiders’ reluctant to relocate to Xuanji Star. Why, then, had this girl not withdrawn with her parents? She should have considered this sooner.
But what purpose would such a realization serve now? The relocation of minors was bound by the wishes of their parents, even adoptive ones. Since her parents were officials of the Xuanji Star government, they would, without question, return to Xuanji Star.
She simply couldn’t promise the girl something utterly beyond her power to deliver.
“According to the territory exchange agreement signed between Vega and Xuanji Star, your relocation is contingent upon your parents’ consent—”
“Please, I beg you!”
The girl shrieked at Ke Yiyi, her voice raw and laced with a burgeoning sob.
Ke Yiyi stood rooted, at a loss for words. At this moment, she was forbidden from acting outside the strict confines of her duties.
The girl met Ke Yiyi’s gaze, understanding instantly that the observer was unyielding, with no possibility of compromise.
A profound dejection settled upon her features as she leaned weakly against the nearby wall.
Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes, and the light within them dulled to a vacant stare.
“Wait…”
Ke Yiyi turned, her gaze falling upon the girl before her, brimming with apology. She was powerless to help, compelled to stand there like a marionette.
“Is there something else?”
Observing the girl take several pained, ragged breaths, Ke Yiyi knew that her continued presence would be futile. She once again prepared to turn and depart.
“Let me show you something.”
The girl cast a quick glance at the small boy beside her, then moved to stand in front of him, shielding him with her back as she turned to face Ke Yiyi.
With both hands, she pulled up her outer garment, then slowly, meticulously, unfastened each button of her shirt, revealing her body to Ke Yiyi.
Ke Yiyi had already begun to turn away, preparing to leave, but as her peripheral vision caught sight of the stark, crimson welts, she involuntarily spun back, her entire being frozen in shock as she stared at the scene unfolding before her.
The girl lowered her shirt, then, grasping the hem of her skirt, pulled the long dress upward. With one hand, she tugged at her underwear, letting it fall past her legs to the ground.
Ke Yiyi’s eyes widened in horror, fixed on the sight before her, as though time itself had frozen in that agonizing moment.
Even Gan Lan, typically impassive, found her eyes widening, staring in disbelief at the bruised and scarred flesh.
“Please… take me with you…”
The girl lowered her skirt, retrieved her underwear, and put it back on. Her head was bowed, and Ke Yiyi could almost discern the faint sound of her suppressed sobs.
“Did your… parents do this to you?”
“They aren’t my parents. They’re just the people who adopted me. My real parents died long ago.”
“The Imperial Guards Bureau is right next door. You never sought their help?”
“It’s useless… they’re government officials. The Imperial Guards Bureau would only protect them, either claiming these matters weren’t their concern or simply calling them over.”
“And the police? Don’t they intervene in such cases?”
“This kind of thing is far too common here… The police only say that hitting me is for my education, for my own good, that it’s perfectly natural… It wasn’t so bad when I was small, but in the last few years, I learned to resist, and they only became worse.”
“Is there truly no other way to stop them?”
The girl simply shook her head. She slowly sank to a squat against the wall, wiping away her tears with her hand. As she raised her arm, her sleeve slid back, revealing a series of crimson welts that made Ke Yiyi, looking down, gasp in horror. Each mark was a stark testament to brutality.
“Sister, don’t cry.”
The small boy brought a tissue and offered it to the girl, who could only reach out and gently pat his head.
“Is he your brother?”
“Yes…”
The girl nodded, her voice rough with unshed tears.
“He’s my adoptive parents’ child.”
Ke Yiyi gazed upon the tragic human drama unfolding before her, utterly at a loss for comforting words. Anything she might say would be hollow, devoid of any genuine impact.
Words were impotent in the face of such suffering. Rather than offering empty solace, it would be far better to take concrete action to help.
But what could *she* do? She was merely an observer; her unauthorized entry into a private home had already skirted the very principles of her role. She couldn’t afford to make another mistake.
She stepped closer to the girl, bent down, and enveloped her in a gentle embrace, softly patting her back.
It was the only thing she could offer at this moment.
“Sisters, can you take my sister with you?”
Ke Yiyi turned her head, her gaze meeting the small boy’s.
He appeared to be no older than a first-grader, his earnest eyes mirroring those of any Vega elementary student. Regardless of the grim shadows cast by the adult world, children invariably perceived it through the unique, innocent lens of childhood.
“Mama and Papa always hit my sister. Mama says my sister is a bastard and a fox spirit who seduces men.”
The girl lifted her head slightly, attempting to silence the boy.
“Don’t say any more…”
“And Papa, he pinned my sister down on the bed and hit her… many times.”
Ke Yiyi’s body went rigid. She turned her head, stiffly, to look at the girl, who was now merely muttering to herself, a continuous, desperate whisper.
“Don’t say any more… please, don’t say any more…”
Ke Yiyi glanced back at Gan Lan, who stood equally stunned, her eyes wide as she witnessed the unfolding horror.
Ke Yiyi slowly straightened her body, her gaze fixed on the girl before her.
“Is what he says true?”
The girl remained crouched, head bowed, utterly silent.
“What your brother said… is it true?”
She lifted her head, tears streaming uncontrollably from her eyes, and finally nodded.
“It’s been like this for several… several years now…”
Ke Yiyi finally understood why, when the girl had first displayed her injuries, the marks on her lower body had been so unevenly distributed. Many weren’t on her legs, the most common target, but concentrated on areas that would almost never be struck by accident.
There was no mistake… it was sexual abuse.
That man was a psychopath, a lunatic. Leaving the girl here would be an endorsement of such barbarity.
“Come with me. Leave this place.”
Ke Yiyi seized the girl’s hand, her gaze sharp and resolute, her tone imbued with an undeniable finality. She cast aside all the broader considerations that had filled her mind moments before, abandoning her position as an observer, abandoning Vega’s stance, and stepping onto a path she knew was ‘wrong.’
But what did it matter? As long as she was doing the right thing, that was enough.
The girl turned back to the small boy, shaking her head gently.
“Stay home. Don’t run around.”
“What’s your name?”
“I don’t know my parents’ surname. I just use my adoptive parents’ surname. It’s…”
The moment Ke Yiyi led the girl out of the residential building, a group of people in Xuanji Star uniforms appeared before them under the dazzling sunlight.
At their head was Li Subai, whom Ke Yiyi had met before. She still wore the same vibrant expression, maintained her meticulous demeanor, and a faint, almost imperceptible smile played at the corners of her lips.
“Observer 71, may I ask where you are taking this citizen of Xuanji Star?”