The Life That Was Stolen

Part One: The Girl Who Died

“Death was never the end of her story. It was only the beginning of the truth.”

Everyone in X City said Yu Mingyue was blessed.

After her biological parents died when she was five years old, the Lu, Gu, and Xie families took her into their homes and raised her together.

She kept the surname Yu.

She was never legally adopted by any of them.

Yet she had a bedroom in all three houses, a seat at all three dining tables, and six adults who loved her as dearly as their own children.

Three older brothers protected her.

One best friend spoiled her.

Whenever she was hospitalized, flowers filled the room before the nurses finished preparing her bed.

Whenever she wanted something, someone would find a way to place it in her hands.

To outsiders, Yu Mingyue had lost one family only to gain three more.

Everyone believed fate had compensated her generously.

Only Yu Mingyue knew—

Fate had never once been kind to her.

She died at eighteen.

There was no miracle at the final moment.

No famous doctor rushed into the room with a newly discovered cure.

No mysterious medicine appeared.

No one declared that she could still be saved.

The heart monitor beside her bed released a long, unbroken sound.

Her fingers slowly turned cold.

The voices around her became distant.

Someone was calling her name.

Someone else was crying.

A hand held hers so tightly that it should have hurt.

Perhaps it did.

By then, Yu Mingyue could no longer feel much of anything.

Her vision blurred.

The white ceiling above her faded into darkness.

And then—

Everything ended.

At least, that was what she believed.

When Yu Mingyue opened her eyes again, the hospital room was gone.

There were no white walls.

No sharp smell of disinfectant.

No needles buried beneath her skin.

No oxygen tube pressing against her face.

Only an endless white space stretched around her.

There was no sky above.

No ground below.

No visible source of light.

Yet the entire place glowed softly, as though light itself had settled in the air.

Yu Mingyue remained still for a long time.

Then she lowered her head.

Her body was almost transparent.

Her pale hands shimmered faintly, their edges fading into the surrounding whiteness.

She placed two fingers against her wrist.

There was no pulse.

Her palm moved to her chest.

No heartbeat.

But there was also no pain.

No crushing pressure beneath her ribs.

No breathlessness.

No weakness dragging at her limbs.

Yu Mingyue inhaled slowly.

Then again.

And again.

Nothing hurt.

For the first time in eighteen years, she could breathe without feeling as though an invisible hand had closed around her heart.

She should have been frightened.

Instead, relief quietly spread through her.

“So this is death.”

Her voice echoed across the empty space.

It sounded clearer than she remembered.

No coughing interrupted the sentence.

No breathless pause followed it.

Yu Mingyue lowered her hand from her chest and smiled faintly.

It was finally over.

No more medicine.

No more surgeries.

No more hospital rooms.

No more waking in the middle of the night unable to breathe.

No more doctors speaking quietly outside the door because they believed she was asleep.

No more watching the people she loved force smiles whenever they looked at her.

No more seeing fear in their eyes whenever she closed hers for too long.

Death was quieter than she had expected.

Yu Mingyue sat down, though there was no visible floor beneath her.

Then she waited.

Perhaps someone would come to guide her toward reincarnation.

Perhaps she would simply disappear.

Either possibility seemed acceptable.

A bright voice suddenly rang out behind her.

“Host candidate located!”

Yu Mingyue turned.

A ball of white light shot directly toward her face.

It moved far too quickly.

Before she could react, it crashed into her forehead.

“Ow!”

She fell backward.

The glowing ball bounced away, spun through the air, and finally stopped several feet from her.

Two tiny wings unfolded from its sides.

The light gradually faded.

A small creature appeared.

He was no larger than Yu Mingyue’s two cupped hands.

Soft white hair framed a delicate face. Round golden eyes shone beneath his fringe, and a pale robe decorated with intricate silver patterns wrapped around his tiny body.

He looked like a celestial child who had wandered out of a painting and forgotten how to land.

The little creature rubbed his forehead.

“You hit me.”

Yu Mingyue stared at him.

“You flew into my face.”

“You were standing in the designated landing area.”

“There is no designated landing area.”

The creature glanced downward.

A glowing golden square immediately appeared beneath the place where Yu Mingyue had been sitting.

She looked at the square.

Then at him.

“That wasn’t there before.”

“It was.”

“You just made it.”

He froze.

His golden eyes shifted away.

Yu Mingyue crossed her arms.

“Who are you?”

The little creature immediately straightened.

A golden panel appeared behind him, and brilliant light spread dramatically across the white space.

He lifted his chin and spoke in a solemn voice.

“I am Main God System Number 1123, an elite mission-guidance system responsible for assisting in the protection and stability of the Three Thousand Worlds.”

Yu Mingyue waited.

The system waited as well.

Several silent seconds passed.

His small wings slowly drooped.

“That’s all?” he asked.

“What else should I say?”

“You should be impressed.”

“I just died.”

“That is unrelated.”

“I think death makes it difficult to be impressed.”

System Number 1123 stared at her as though she were an unusually troublesome deceased person.

Then he cleared his throat.

“Yu Mingyue, your soul has been selected for an important mission.”

“Why?”

“Because you are suitable.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

“It is the official answer.”

“What is the unofficial answer?”

The system became silent.

Suspicious.

Yu Mingyue narrowed her eyes.

“You made a mistake, didn’t you?”

“No.”

“You did.”

“I am an elite system.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t make mistakes.”

“I have never made a mistake.”

“You flew into my forehead.”

“That was a minor landing deviation.”

“That sounds like a mistake.”

“It was not.”

“It was.”

A faint red color gradually spread across the system’s cheeks.

Before he could continue arguing, a large golden book appeared between them.

Its pages opened by themselves.

Words rose from the paper and floated in the air.

Yu Mingyue’s smile slowly disappeared.

At the top of the page was her name.

Yu Mingyue.

Beneath it were three short lines.

Supporting character.

Short-lived white moonlight.

Deceased at eighteen.

Yu Mingyue stared at the words.

“What is this?”

System Number 1123’s expression became serious.

“This is the narrative record of your world.”

“My world?”

System Number 1123 nodded.

“The records classify the place where you lived as a small world governed by a predetermined narrative.”

Yu Mingyue slowly looked at him.

“I lived inside a novel?”

“According to the records... yes.”

For several seconds, she said nothing.

Then she laughed.

The sound came out sharper than she intended.

“So my entire life was a story?”

System Number 1123 hesitated.

“That is what the narrative record says.”

Yu Mingyue's gaze returned to the golden pages.

“My illness?”

“Recorded as part of the setting.”

“My parents' deaths?”

“Also part of the recorded setting.”

Her fingers slowly tightened.

“My death?”

This time, the little system paused for even longer.

“According to the narrative record...”

His voice became quieter.

“...you were always supposed to die at eighteen.”

Yu Mingyue stared at him.

For some reason...

The words according to the narrative record made something faintly uncomfortable stir inside her.

But the feeling disappeared before she could understand it.

Yu Mingyue lowered her gaze to the golden book again.

The pages turned.

Three familiar names appeared.

Lu Yanxi.

Gu Mingzhe.

Xie Chengyi.

The people she had called her brothers for as long as she could remember.

Not biological brothers.

Not adopted brothers.

But the three boys who had grown up beside her.

After her parents died, the Lu, Gu, and Xie families had raised her together.

She remained Yu Mingyue.

But she had never been alone.

Lu Yanxi had carried her whenever she became too tired to walk.

Gu Mingzhe had memorized every medicine she took.

Xie Chengyi had dismantled machines beside her hospital bed simply because she liked watching him rebuild them.

And Gu Mengmeng….

Gu Mengmeng had been the best friend who filled every quiet room with noise.

The golden book listed the three men as—

Male Lead One.

Male Lead Two.

Male Lead Three.

Yu Mingyue blinked.

“Three male leads?”

“Yes.”

“For one female lead?”

“Yes.”

“That seems excessive.”

System Number 1123 coughed.

“It is a popular narrative arrangement.”

The pages continued turning.

According to the narrative record...

The female lead was named Li Yue.

She was supposed to enter their lives after Yu Mingyue's death.

Because she resembled Yu Mingyue in certain ways, the three male leads were supposed to gradually notice her.

Yu Mingyue's death would become the wound connecting them.

Her memory would become an obstacle.

Her existence would become a shadow used to deepen their feelings.

Eventually...

Li Yue was supposed to heal them.

The three men were supposed to fall in love with her.

And the story...

Was supposed to end happily.

Yu Mingyue remained silent for a long time.

Then she slowly lifted her head.

“So let me understand.”

The system’s wings stiffened.

“I was born with congenital heart disease.”

“Yes.”

“I spent much of my life in hospitals.”

“Yes.”

“My parents died when I was five.”

“Yes.”

“I died at eighteen.”

“Yes.”

“And all of that happened so three men could eventually fall in love with another woman?”

System Number 1123 opened his mouth.

“When you say it that way…”

“Is there another way to say it?”

He wisely became silent.

Yu Mingyue looked back at the golden page.

She had believed her life was short because she was unfortunate.

She had believed her parents’ deaths were an accident.

She had believed her weak heart was simply something she had been born to endure.

But according to the book before her...

Every loss had been arranged.

Her illness.

Her parents' deaths.

Her own death.

All of it had supposedly existed only to shape someone else's story.

Yu Mingyue’s hands slowly curled into fists.

She had died beautifully enough to become someone else’s white moonlight.

And apparently, that was all her life had ever been meant to accomplish.

The golden letters hovered before her eyes.

Supporting character.

Short-lived white moonlight.

Deceased at eighteen.

Yu Mingyue stared at them for a long time.

Then she laughed.

“So…”

Her voice was soft.

Far too soft.

“My entire life was written for someone else’s happy ending.”