She remembered it like it happened yesterday.

The sky plummeted towards the ground. The dark clouds diverged upon the city in quick succession that left the inhabitants questioning the suddenness of it all. Water poured down nonetheless, blighting the senses of those around it.

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In the city was a scene of two women next to each other. One laying on the floor with a paled face and the other dearly holding her hand. If there wasn’t the glaring probability of death, the scene would’ve come out as graceful.

“Zhixiang, please don’t leave me,” the girl wept bitterly as she hugged the woman tightly, “I – I love you too much to live on without you. You know that right? So don’t leave me, Sis. Please don’t.”

The young girl’s tears were met with a single calm but pitying glance. The woman in question was holding on to dear life but she knew she couldn’t go on any further. Even with the torrent of rain around them, the constant outpour of blood couldn’t be diluted. She didn’t have much time.

Struggling to keep focus, she eyed her crying sister as if trying to burn her face into her memory.

“Xiaoqi, don’t cry. You’ve always been a strong girl.” Her tone was reminiscent of something but this made the young girl cry even harder. “I know you can pull thro- *cough* through without me.”

Xiaoqi did nothing but continue to cry. She knew that her sister wasn’t going to make it. There was too much blood on the floor to even dream about surviving.

Seeing her younger sister not respond, she guided her wobbling hands to wipe her tears away.

“I’m tired Xiaoqi. I love you so much Xiaoqi.” The older sister started to cry realizing that she was leaving her sister all alone. “Don’t let my death weigh you down; live on with your life.”

Zhixiang slowly shut her eyes with tears still flowing. Even with the blood around her, she managed to look peaceful at the end.

“No! No – wait, Zhixiang I’ll take you to the hospital.” The girl yelled hysterically trying to lift her sister off the freezing concrete. She found out that no matter how much strength she exhausted, her sister stayed on the ground. No matter how hard she shouted, no one came. No matter how hard she prayed for help, help never came. It looked as if everyone chose not to pass through the street her sister laid bare in.

Xiaoqi couldn’t accept it. She wouldn’t accept it. But no matter how hard she tried, her sister was immovable. She couldn’t help but cry harder. Everything was too blurry for her to see.

“Zhixiang no…no…you can’t leave me. Please come back.” Xiaoqi screamed at the heavens that had forsaken her. The ever-looming clouds that sneered at her. There was nothing for her to do but continue to cry. She cried until tears refused to flow.

When she finished despairing over her sister’s death, there was an even stronger emotion that charged her when her eyes met the glittering necklace on her neck, it was a birthday present from him. This stronger emotion was none other than rage. The insatiable desire for vengeance. The one that opened the road to mutual destruction. Her sister might’ve died that day but she was still alive.

“Zhou Yixain.” She spat the name out in disgust filled anger as she forcefully pulled the necklace off her neck. “After all she’s done for you?”

Her sister gave up everything for this man. She was ready to give up her dreams too but what did she get in return? Nothing but a constant stream of heart-wrenching betrayals. This betrayal took her life.

“I promise all of you this, I will avenge my sister no matter what it takes. Even if I have to go through hell to get it. Starting from today, I am both Jin Xiaoqi and Jin Zhixiang.” The despair in her eyes was long replaced with the burning fury that was her vengeance. Nobody touched things precious to her and went unscathed.

Not willing to give up her sister, she continued to cry for help.

A lady on a fine brown couch sat up abruptly as she sweats heavily. She was often haunted by that nightmare. Her fine straight eyebrows furrowed as if she was recalling the moments. Her steady gaze laid on the coffee table in front of her which had a small knife on it. Her jade-like hand shot up to her forehead and she rubbed it carefully. Suddenly as if remembering something, she shot up from the couch.

“Damn it! I can’t believe I fell asleep!” The lady complained before heading to her dressing room. When she entered the ordinary-looking space, she pulled on a typical coat hanger which led to a large secret compartment. In it was an array of dark-coloured clothing and some instruments made to reap lives.

The lady checked her wristwatch which read 1:00 A.M. and without wasting any time, she took off her lounging clothes. She hurriedly changed into a black shirt, trousers, and a leather jacket. Her bland colour pallet did little to hide her tantalizing charms. However, since she would be acting in the dark, it would be close to impossible for anyone to recognize who she was.

She carefully scoured through her arsenal before picking the instruments needed to accomplish her mission. Using her knowledge of her apartment complex, she exited the building using blind spots.

As she was walking through the streets, her wireless earpiece produced static.

“Lady, ya sure ya wanna do this? What made you decide to use – uh – your gentle touch on this particular guy?” The man asked with surprise in his voice. “Why you goin’ easy on him.”

As far as their cooperation went, the lady always went for a clean decisive kill. Why did she go the extra mile for this guy?

The lady found this funny but she knew the idiot she set her eyes on needed this ‘gentle’ touch. But her partner was under the misconception that she was going easy on the poor guy. Alas, she needed to teach her friend that they’re more things worse than death that she could dish out.

“Who says I’m going easy on anyone? The man values his image more than anything.” She conveyed wickedly. Even though her partner couldn’t see her face, he could imagine the expression she was making. “Why let him die honourably with everything he’s ever done untouched when I could let the whole world eat him up? That two-faced bastard has been trampling on others because of wealth and influence.”

She paused for a moment as her smile grew even bigger and she continued.

“We need to teach these people that they can only go so far. Let’s see how he’d react as the same system that saved him time and time again chew him up and spit him out.”

By now the partner was shaking his head slowly. With the multiple-screen setup glinting off his glasses, he should’ve known that his partner’s delicate touch was more deadly than the usual.

“I knew you’d never disappoint.” Her partner crackled maniacally.

It didn’t take long for her to get to where she needed to be. Her mission required her to head into the CCTV room of a large real estate company. Her partner, despite not knowing her plan, quick;y went through the patrols for the company without being asked. It showed how much in sync they were with each other’s movements.

“That’s my girl,” her partner remarked before going into detail with what he found, “hit the gas with the copying footage. The guards are patrolling their way here in about five minutes give or take. It’ll get messy if they catch you in the room.”

Being away from the action, her partner could only stare worriedly at one of the many cameras that showed the security footage of the building. He paid particular attention to the one that showed two guards closing in on his partner’s location. He knew she did her best work under pressure, he was certain she will accomplish her mission.

And he was right. With the ever-looming threat of guards closing in on her, she didn’t get scared. Her gaze was as calm as ever as she continued working. The motto, ‘slow is smooth, smooth is fast’ had already been engraved into her very being.

“How close now?” The lady asked her partner coldly. She couldn’t leave without loading the files. Her eyes glinted as she had a rather dangerous idea.

‘I’ll confront them if I have to.’

As if sensing the change in his partner, he replied quickly and sternly. “A couple steps away so get out of the room! Don’t be stubborn.”

Even though he didn’t hear denial from his partner, he already knew by her actions she was going to stay. Sweat dripped down his face when he saw them approaching the room where his partner was in.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

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