"Dude? You called me dude?"
I croaked the words.
I noticed my voice—young. Male.
Unfamiliar. Yet somehow not.
"Who am I?"
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
"Milo... right?"
I heard Sable's clear voice.
"I think you're a grade below us," she added, trying to remember.
"Milo? I'm Milo?"
I instinctively knocked on my skull. "Why the hell am I Milo?"
Was I being reshaped, imperceptibly, into someone else?
The person across from me wasn't Sable.
Had I been... replaced?
So what was she?
16
As we walked, I kept patting my own body Adam's apple, muscle... and organs that didn't belong to me.
In the darkness, I was on the verge of breaking down.
Out of the corner of my eye, Sable was hurrying along, showing nothing unusual.
I didn't know what she was really after.
"We're here!"
Jessie said it with obvious relief, running ahead.
Only then did I realize we'd finally reached the garage exit.
But we all fell silent.
The exit was blocked by a heavy sliding door.
No key in the world would open that.
Jessie's footsteps slowed until she stood frozen in front of the door.
Go back?
None of us said it.
Because the thud, thud, thud was getting closer.
Behind us: Aria.
Ahead: a dead end.
Beside us: Sable, who might be something other than human.
What now?
I checked my phone. Less than ten minutes until the task ended.
Panic surged. My eyes swept across the three people with me.
When I looked at Trent, something clicked.
I thought back to our earlier conversation.
"Trent, you said you 'didn't' have a way to deal with Aria. But you started to say 'however'..."
"However what?"
Everyone looked at Trent.
Trent hesitated, then pointed at Sable.
"However, I figured she might have a way."
Everyone blinked.
Sable frowned. "What way would I have?"
After a silence, Trent finally spoke: "I know you placed first in the previous round. Aria was second."
"You must have earned some reward or ability."
"That could be used against Aria."
17
Sable actually stepped back.
That was a reaction I knew well.
She thought it over, then shook her head.
"I don't have anything. I haven't even figured out the app's rules."
Jessie, who'd been getting excited, deflated instantly.
But Trent—he actually looked relieved.
Who was he? How did he know I'd placed first?
Suddenly, I remembered the Yi Nian reward.
The reward that could answer a question.
I yanked out my phone.
My profile still showed my account number!
Did that mean I was still Sable?
Or were Sable and I sharing the same account?
I opened the items page.
The "Yi Hang" reward was spent.
But the "Yi Nian" reward was still there.
No time to overthink. I tapped the Administrator's avatar and sent the question I most desperately needed answered.
"Who am I?"
The Administrator replied quickly.
"Human male."
"Born 1995. In utero, absorbed by your twin sister."
"1995–2018, you existed as a consciousness within your twin's brain."
"Summer 2018, your twin participated in Yi Nian app testing and used a reward item to separate you into a physical body."
"Per app memory analysis, your name has been designated: 'Milo.'"
18
I stood frozen.
Memories that felt almost real came flooding in.
"Mom and Dad are fighting again. What do I do?"
"Ignore them! Just get into a boarding school and you'll be fine!"
...
"He wrote me a love letter—doesn't he know that's dating too young?"
"Idiot, he's making fun of you!"
...
"Arts or sciences?"
"Sciences! Sciences! Sciences! I can do it! Damn it, you still picked arts!"
...
"I'm so sad."
"I'm strong!"
...
"When I earn money, I'm going to save every penny."
"Five hundred yuan is enough to start a little side business!"
...
"I think I'm sick. I'm such a weirdo."
"I'm not weird! Worst case, I take a break and come back swinging!"
...
"The annoying voice in my head is so loud."
"I'm your little brother!"
...
"What did I forget?"
"Your roommate, Kira!"
...
Gradually, I understood.
All those years of thinking, bickering, advising inside my own head.
I'd always assumed I was talking to myself—just one person's internal monologue.
I wasn't.
I was talking to my sister.
Her name was Sable.
She'd always felt she had a younger brother.
She thought his name should be—
"Middle school is so boring. I wish I had a little brother following me around to protect me."
"If you really had one, what would you want to call him?"
"I dunno... Milo, I guess."
19
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The sound was right on top of us.
I checked my phone. Less than ten minutes left.
"Hurry!"
I raised my phone. "At least complete the task first!"
"But..." Everyone hesitated.
"At least let's test it with a strand of hair."
I yanked out a short hair from my head.
Then I remembered—I hadn't even added Sable as a friend.
And I didn't know if I could tip Sable at all.
We had to try.
I gripped my phone and hurried toward Sable. "Sable! Let's figure out the tipping system! I'll tip you—then we'll both have completed the task!"
Sable bit her lip, nodded, and pulled out her phone.
But just as I reached her—
A sharp pain shot through my side.
I turned. Trent stood there, expression blank, holding a brick.
"What are you doing!"
Sable shrieked and shoved Trent away.
The next second, Trent kicked Sable hard in the stomach.
He had a fruit knife in his other hand, blood dripping from the blade.
A wave of pain hit my gut.
"Turns out you really don't have any powers." Trent gave a stiff smile. "I was worried about you for nothing."
He crouched down, eyes full of hatred. "What right do you have to beat Aria?"
"Aria?"
Jessie stared at Trent in horror.
"I get it now... You're in love with Aria, aren't you?"
"Milo figured it out. Milo figured it out."
Then Jessie said exactly what I was thinking:
"You're the one who tipped Aria your heart!!"