The sun had begun to set when Shi Mu and Li Zhilan arrived at South Crane Street.
Zhilan stared at the old house in silence.
"This was our home?" she asked softly.
Shi Mu nodded. "Before the accident. Before they moved you."
Zhilan stepped slowly toward the front steps.
"I thought I made it up," she whispered. "I used to dream about a house I couldn't remember. A place with blue curtains and a chipped table."
She paused.
"That flower pot—my mother planted that."
Shi Mu opened the door without a word.
Inside, everything was exactly as it had been.
Not perfect.But preserved.
Zhilan stepped over the threshold like someone entering sacred ground. Her fingers grazed the walls, the corner of the bookshelf, the frame of the kitchen door.
Then—
She stopped.
At the foot of the stairs.
And whispered, "Ying."
The air changed.
The temperature dropped slightly, but not from fear.
From presence.
A small figure formed at the top of the staircase.
Translucent.
Soft.
Unmistakably Ying.
Zhilan's breath caught.
She didn't cry.
She didn't scream.
She simply whispered, "Meimei…"
Little sister.
Ying descended the stairs slowly.
Step by step.
And paused one meter from Zhilan.
Neither touched.
Neither needed to.
[System Notification]
Full Recognition Achieved – Spirit Ying Stabilized
Reunion Path Complete – No Hostility Detected
Emotional Resolution in Progress
Brotherhood Value +360 (Family Restored + Spirit Seen by Blood)
Current Total: 15,175 / 1,000,000
"I waited," Ying said softly.
"I know," Zhilan replied. "I'm sorry I forgot."
"You were hurt too," Shi Mu said gently from behind them.
Ying looked up at her sister.
Then leaned forward.
And wrapped tiny arms around her legs.
The first real gesture since she'd returned.
Zhilan knelt and held her back.
A hug ten years too late—
But right on time.