When Bai Ye woke up in the straitjacket, she realized her skin was breathing.
This was no metaphor. The festering sores on her body were opening and closing like countless tiny mouths, greedily inhaling the disinfectant-scented air. The pus had dried, forming amber-colored crusts that cracked softly with every breath she took
The nurse, wearing triple layers of rubber gloves, recorded the data without meeting Bai Ye's eyes."37.6°C. Blood pressure normal."She deliberately avoided looking at Bai Ye's exposed arm—where the skin resembled burnt paper, curled and peeling away to reveal tender pink flesh beneath.
Bai Ye's gaze drifted to the mirror at the end of the bed.Nearly a month in the asylum had sharpened the contours of her face. Her cheekbones jutted out like two blades about to pierce through her skin.The worst of the rot on her right cheek had scabbed over with a waxy film, shimmering faintly in the morning light like mother-of-pearl.
"Take your medicine."The nurse shoved two white pills into her mouth, and water from the plastic cup splashed onto her cracked lips.
Bai Ye didn't swallow.She waited until the nurse turned away, then spat the tablets beneath the pillow—where seventeen identical pills were already arranged in the shape of a twisted pentagram.The meds dulled her mind.And right now, she needed clarity. Absolute clarity.
Outside the window, the shadows of the phoenix trees crawled across the floor like black spiders.Bai Ye counted the rhythm of their movement until the end of the morning rounds.When the last pair of footsteps faded down the corridor, she began to twist her body.
The straitjacket was soaked in her bodily fluids, emanating a stench that was part rotting flesh, part antiseptic.Like a snake shedding its skin, Bai Ye slowly wriggled her right arm free, savoring the sting as her new flesh scraped against the rough fabric.
Three weeks ago, she had discovered that her joints had become unnaturally flexible—able to fold into impossible angles.
"Ssskrr—"
A soft rip echoed through the room as her right arm slipped out of the jacket, like a pale eel slithering from its skin.Her freed fingers immediately reached for her face, fingernails scraping across the scabbed-over sores.
Pain shot up her spine like electricity.Her lips twitched uncontrollably.
It wasn't pain.It was pleasure.
She kept peeling the crust from her face, warm blood dripping from her chin and blooming into dark red flowers on her hospital gown.Beneath the dead skin, a translucent layer began to reveal itself, a bizarre web of bluish-purple veins pulsing underneath.
Bai Ye froze.Footsteps echoed softly in the hallway—light, too light to belong to an adult.The doorknob turned slowly.A young face peeked through the crack—it was the nine-year-old girl from the neighboring ward.
"Sis…" the girl clutched a one-eyed doll and stood timidly at the threshold."My ball rolled in here."
Bai Ye narrowed her eyes.She recognized that look—that delicate mix of curiosity and fear.It was the same look she'd once had, the first time she saw a wolf behind the bars at the zoo.
"Come in," Bai Ye rasped, her voice like sandpaper.Her left arm was still bound in the jacket, but her freed right hand hung over the side of the bed, dripping blood from her fingers.
The girl hesitated, then took a cautious step forward.Then another.
Her gaze landed on Bai Ye's peeling skin.Her pupils dilated.
"Are you shedding?" the girl asked, her tone oddly calm."Like a snake?"
Bai Ye's fingertips twitched.
As the girl approached, Bai Ye could smell the cheap strawberry shampoo in her hair.But beneath it—there it was—that unmistakable scent of young blood, warm and tinged with milk.
"Undo this," Bai Ye said, shaking her left arm.The straitjacket rustled like dry leaves.
The girl set her doll aside and fumbled with the buckles.There were dried watercolor stains beneath her nails, and a fresh scratch on her inner wrist.Bai Ye noticed how practiced she was at untying knots.
"You do this often?" Bai Ye asked.
"When my mom ties me up," the girl replied matter-of-factly."She says I'm possessed by a demon."
The final strap came loose.
Bai Ye sat up like a butterfly breaking free from its cocoon.The back of her hospital gown was soaked in pus and blood, sticking to her half-healed skin.As she moved, dried pieces of skin fluttered down from her neck like withered rose petals.
"You're not afraid of me?" Bai Ye asked, gripping the girl's wrist and feeling the frantic pulse beneath her fragile skin.
The girl tilted her face up and smiled—a smile far too knowing for her age."You're way prettier than my demon."
Bai Ye let go and burst into laughter.
The sound cracked in her throat like shattering glass.She stepped barefoot onto the cold tile floor, the chill seeping into her new, translucent skin.
The reflection in the mirror made her pause for a second—it barely resembled a human anymore, more like a wax figure caught mid-melt.
"Wanna see real magic?" Bai Ye asked, walking toward the window.July sunlight poured through her semi-transparent arm, casting a pale red shadow on the floor.
The girl's eyes sparkled with a sickly kind of wonder.
Bai Ye raised her right hand and dragged a fingernail across her left wrist.
No blood came out.Instead, wisps of black mist oozed from the wound, curling and writhing in the air like smoke from an ancient curse.
The girl gasped—not in fear, but in reverent awe.
"Devil…" she whispered, reaching toward the mist.It wrapped around her fingers like something alive, slithering up her arm.
Footsteps came pounding down the corridor.
Bai Ye swiftly withdrew the mist.The wound on her wrist zipped shut, sealing like a well-trained mouth.
The door slammed open.Two orderlies rushed in.
"Hong Yu! What are you doing here?"The female orderly scooped up the girl, her eyes darting to Bai Ye in alarm."Oh God—she's out of the straitjacket!"
The male orderly slammed the emergency button.The blaring alarm pierced the air, echoing through the entire ward.
Bai Ye stood motionless in the sunlight.It streamed through her more-transparent-by-the-second body, leaving blurry patches of light on the tiled floor.
"Sedate her!" the male orderly yelled, pulling a syringe from his belt.But he hesitated, staring in horror."Her skin… what the hell happened to her skin?"
Bai Ye took a step forward.
With that motion, a large patch of her right shoulder peeled away like wet parchment, exposing iridescent flesh with the luster of mother-of-pearl.No blood.Just a cloud of tiny black particles rising from the wound—like a swarm of disturbed fireflies.
"Stay back!" the female orderly cried, clutching Hong Yu as she stumbled back and knocked over the IV stand.
Bai Ye kept advancing.
On the third step, her left foot collapsed—her toes melting like wax, leaving behind a sticky trail.But she didn't fall.She floated.
Her body rose, hovering five centimeters off the ground, the loose pant legs of her hospital gown swinging like a hollow scarecrow's.
In the woman's arms, Hong Yu struggled, arms outstretched, trying to reach Bai Ye.Her eyes sparkled with something disturbingly familiar.
Bai Ye had seen it before—eight years old, staring at herself in the mirror.
A hunger for escape.A thirst for destruction.
"It won't hurt much longer," Bai Ye told her."That's what devils always say. Isn't it?"
More medical staff flooded the room.
Bai Ye could feel her body unraveling—each cell breaking loose, each molecule screaming for freedom.
"Heart rate 180! Blood oxygen dropping rapidly!"
The shouts became distant, like echoes in a tunnel.
Bai Ye was rising.Not just floating—ascending, like a wisp of smoke or a drop of ink dispersing into water.Her body stretched thin, shimmered, then broke into glimmering fragments.
Just before she dissolved completely, she looked one last time at the little girl in the nurse's arms.
Hong Yu was mouthing something.
No sound.
But Bai Ye read her lips clearly.
Take me with you.