Translated by: pokka

  Editor: Reckeva

  Time flew as one performance after another took the stage. Soon, it was the turn of someone that Bai Xiaofei could not ignore.

  “For this event, we invited a total of 10 mentors from The Phoenix Cry Pavilion, and only one of them chose to direct only one performance. Let us welcome our only silent play, A Thousand Images!”


  As Bai Xiaofei’s voice dropped, the lights also dimmed. A moment later, a simple bundle of white light radiated and a curled-up figure appeared.

  It was a little girl. One look at her and everyone instantly thought of a single word – Helpless!

  The next second, the little girl moved. Around her, shadow after shadow flashed. The little girl tried to catch them but failed every single time. In the end, she made herself a simple doll. As she gently held the doll’s hand, the shadows stilled. The little girl finally found someone who could hold her hand.

  The shadow also stayed on the stage, but the little girl disappeared.

  A moment later, another beam of light shone down, and the little girl had grown up. There was no more helplessness about her, only an icy bearing that was not in line with her age. This time, she was holding a sharp dagger which she then used to cut down the shadows one by one. One shadow after another fell at her feet until when she finally stopped, there were no more shadows, but a figure similar to her age kneeling before her.

  The girl turned around, two terrifying streaks of blood and tears slowly streaming down her face. As the shadow of this image stilled on the stage like the last one, the light also dimmed.

  In the third beam of light, the girl had matured. At the same time, everyone saw the real face of the performer.

  Xue Ying!

  She had a perfect body and a delicate face enough to make the hearts of most men flutter, but looking at her at this moment, no one could feel the slightest fluctuations.

  Because there was only absolute blankness on her face, reflecting perfectly the word ‘empty’!

  Looking at her own hands, Xue Ying then slowly picked up a broken mirror. Looking at the expressionless face in the mirror, she raised her hand and stroked it gently, yet this simple action touched the heartstrings of all who watched.

  However, what truly pained everyone the most was Xue Ying’s next move. After a difficult search, she found a blacksmith’s shop and killed all the shadows inside. Then, the expressionless Xue Ying opened the forge and crafted something, hammer by hammer.

  At the end of it, she slowly picked up the thing she had created – a smiling mask, and slowly put the mask on her face. Xue Ying finally had a smile on her face.

  The shadow was fixed for the third time.

  When the familiar light beam fell again, Xue Ying had turned into two, one was slaughtering shadows with an expressionless face, while one was chatting intimately with the people around her with a smile. However, after she parted with them and the scene flashed, those people all took off their masks.

  And the ones who the expressionless person was slaughtering were exactly this group of people wearing masks……

  When the shadow stilled again, the two Xue Ying’s stood side by side, and the sharp expressions on their faces ran a chill down everyone’s spine.

  Fear! Everyone felt a deep fear in their hearts from looking at Xue Ying at that moment!

  When the next light beam shone, Xue Ying was one individual again. She was still holding the mask in her hand, but it was now broken, and the chilling expression on her face had been replaced by a hint of loss, a loss that once again invoked a heartache in everyone.

  This time, she had turned from butcher to prey. Various shadows were attacking her. She constantly fought back, but new injuries kept appearing on her.

  Finally, Xue Ying fled to a sparsely populated fishing village, where everyone was busy for their own livelihood. A kind old lady handed her a kettle. Xue Ying smiled from the bottom of her heart, and this picture was fixed.

  At this point, the audience had been quiet for a long time, drowning in a sense of emptiness. They wanted to know what happened next. Just when they felt like they couldn’t wait any longer, the light beam finally lit up again.

  What hit their eyes startled them.

  The little fishing village had turned into ruins. Xue Ying’s hands were stained with blood as she slowly walked out of the village. No one knew who destroyed the village or whose blood was on her hands, the only thing they could see was that she had lost her expression once again.

  This was the only picture of this scene, fixed at Xue Ying’s figure leaving the village.

  A moment later, when the light beam was cast again, Xue Ying returned to the place where she had grown up, with a new mask on her face – a mask of terrifying fury! One again, shadow after shadow fell at her feet. Turning the last one into a corpse, Xue Ying sat blankly on the ground and slowly took off her mask, revealing a miserably crying face.

  For whom did those tears flow?

  No one could give an answer to this image that was fixed.

  After a short while, the next light beam illuminated Xue Ying walking aimlessly with a pained expression. She walked and walked a long time until to her surprise, she saw a familiar doll. Xue Ying instantly hastened her steps.

  Looking at the doll, two tears streamed down uncontrollably. Finally, Xue Ying took the doll’s hand and sat down slowly.

  Just when everyone thought the image would be fixed at this time, what occurred next stunned them again.

  The ‘doll’ slowly sat down under everyone’s gaze, one hand gently guiding Xue Ying’s head onto its shoulder, and this was the picture that stilled.

  At the very end, all the stilled images flashed one by one before gathering together little by little. When they disappeared in a new light beam, there Xue Ying was, bowing to everyone, drawing the curtains for A Thousand Images!

  The whole square fell into a long, unprecedented silence. However, after the silence was a long, long round of overwhelming applause…… No one cheered, no one commented, everyone only applauded.

  Because they also didn’t know how to respond to everything they had seen!

  At this moment, Xue Ying reached the highest level of silent plays – She was silent, the audience was also silent, but those unforgettable images had been deeply engraved in everyone’s mind.