A little girl at a magic school, she's a goofy troublemaker who can do anything.

"Is it inconvenient for you to tell me?"

Seeing that she remained silent for a long time, Xing Rui had some vague guesses in her mind.

Li Wenyin looked at Xing Rui with difficulty, unable to speak.

She really couldn't bring herself to speak.

Xing Qi's matter is a secret of the student council, but as Xing Qi's family member, shouldn't Xing Rui have the right to know?

In any case, this is mainly a matter for the student council, and Li Wenyin needs to communicate with the student council before she can give Xing Rui an accurate answer.

"Then..." Xing Rui thought for a moment, then changed the subject, "Is he doing well now?"

It's hard to say.

Xing Qi had committed numerous crimes and lost his human rights, making him a serious criminal. If it weren't for his magical beast blood granting him incredible regenerative abilities, how could Li Wenyin have seen the fully recovered Xing Qi, who had been called out for labor reform, in the student council hall?

It was fortunate that Xing Qi didn't care about the pain, had no emotions, and only cared about Xing Rui. No matter how severe the punishment in the underground prison was, he didn't care. During the day, he could still make paper-cut lamps with a blank face.

"You can't tell me this either..." Xing Rui murmured.

"It's hard to say," Li Wenyin replied seriously. "I need to go back and think about it."

"Okay, I'll wait for your reply."

Li Wenyin thought for a moment and asked, "Does Senior care about him a lot?"

"Hmm? Of course," Xing Rui smiled, "He's my younger brother."

-

After chatting for a while, Li Wenyin left. The two reached a preliminary agreement on a deal, agreeing to answer whether the deal could be completed when Li Wenyin came to see Xing Rui next time.

After Li Wenyin left, Xing Rui sat alone by the window of the empty classroom, cupping her face in her hands and looking out the window, gently stroking the black fox mask on the table.

She stared blankly at the sky outside the window, her usually carefree and bright eyes dimming slightly.

My younger brother...

-

Perhaps only that stubborn fool Xing Qi would believe that Xing Rui had been kept in the dark since childhood.

From the time she could remember, Xing Rui gradually realized that her treatment was completely different from Xing Qi's.

This is reflected in every aspect: she's not in family photos, Xing Qi always gets to choose snacks first, and her parents only bring Xing Qi to important social occasions.

As a child, Xing Rui didn't think much about it and assumed that her parents were biased or favored boys over girls, which could be explained away.

Xing Qi probably thinks so too.

The sensitive and stubborn little fool, at an age when he knew nothing, unconsciously learned to protect his older sister who was three months older than him.

At the time, Xing Qi was so young that she didn't even realize that she was still considered an "older sister" when she was only three months older.

He slacked off by pasting Xing Rui's photo onto the family portrait, and when it came to choosing snacks, he let Xing Rui choose first. When his parents didn't bring Xing Rui to social events, he would introduce his sister to everyone he met.

Xing Rui has a naturally carefree and easygoing personality. She thinks that even if her parents don't love her, it's good that her younger brother gives her more love.

It wasn't until Xing Rui was ten years old that she learned the truth.

-

About contract magic, about the identity of the foster sister, about their nominal sibling relationship but actual master-servant dynamic, and about her terminal illness.

When Xing Rui was ten years old, her parents told her the truth privately, away from Xing Qi.

As she accepted her fate, the mature-beyond-her-years Xing Rui was thinking to herself.

No wonder they didn't love her; it turns out she really wasn't their biological daughter. She had no right to blame them; objectively speaking, they should be considered Xing Rui's benefactors.

The parents you imagine are actually your fantasies of loving you in another way; it's really just a fantasy.

It wasn't a big deal; Xing Rui quickly came to terms with the truth and felt relieved.

Xing Rui's adoptive parents told her that Xing Qi was still young and very attached to her, so they asked her not to tell him the truth for the time being. Xing Rui agreed and helped them keep it from him.

After learning that she was an adopted daughter and a contracted servant, Xing Rui became much more optimistic. From this perspective, her adoptive parents had been really good to her, saving her life, providing her with food, clothing, and other necessities, and even allowing Xing Qi to get close to her.

It's just that there's no love, just that there's no treatment like Xing Qi's.

Xing Rui understands.

During that period, the younger brother suddenly became the master.

-

After waking from her childhood dream, Xing Rui calmly and composedly weighed the pros and cons, and began to deliberately try to please Xing Qi.

Xing Qi's adoptive parents were so busy that they could only see him a few times a year. It was Xing Rui who accompanied him as he grew up, played with him, and was always there for him, treating him well.

Xing Qi was young and naive, simply believing that her older sister loved her, unaware of Xing Rui's calculations and schemes behind the scenes.

Xing Rui thought this was a good thing; if she pleased him, she could suffer less in her life.

If Xing Qi could be more understanding of her, she too could live a fulfilling life.

She is shrewd and calculating, optimistic and carefree, yet always possesses a calculating calmness, weighing her future destiny before making the most suitable choice. This is Xing Rui.

It's good to live like this forever. At least she and Xing Qi have a good relationship. Xing Qi isn't the kind of person who would be condescending and order her around. She's lucky.

Until they were fourteen years old.

The contract magic has officially begun to take effect.

-

Nine out of ten.

The key to contract magic is that through the contract, nine-tenths of the magic is continuously transferred from the contract servant to the contract master at all times.

Nine-tenths of magic power, nine-tenths of physical strength, and...

Nine-tenths of a breath.

If we can yield and endure step by step, and do our best to accomplish everything, what if what is taken away also includes breathing?

Yes, we must give him even our breath.

The oxygen content of air is 21%, while the oxygen content of surface seawater is 2%-3%.

One-tenth of a breath is almost the same as the feeling of suffocation when drowning, but without the fatal suffocation.

Thanks to the contract magic, Xing Qi can even save the effort of breathing, feeling refreshed and full of energy, while Xing Rui has been undergoing a drowning-like suffocation process since she was fourteen years old.

Drowning in oxygen.

Taking someone out of breath is a thousand times harder than getting a drug addict to quit. It's a craving etched into the body's instincts, an uncontrollable madness. With each breath Xing Rui takes, only one-tenth actually enters her body.

It was so painful that she even considered suicide. If she had only been able to breathe like this from the beginning, it would have been alright, but she was fourteen years old when she was suddenly deprived of her ability to breathe.

Xing Rui's condition was naturally impossible to hide from the now-grown-up boy.

When Xiao Xingqi found her, she was stunned, looking at her sister who was curled up in the corner, painfully scratching at everything because she was not used to this way of breathing.

His worldview crumbled, and the heartache overwhelmed his reason. Trembling, he hugged her tightly and suddenly understood many things.

Xing Rui's consciousness was hazy. When she regained consciousness, she smelled the boy's fragrance. Xing Qi was holding her chin and continuously giving her breathing.

While breathing on her, she called out "sister" repeatedly in a muffled, tearful voice.

After that day, Xing Rui gave up on suicide, while Xing Qi turned to self-destruction.