Volume One Chapter One Two Worlds, Two Threads of Fate

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Azure Star, Island 9-22

Faster, just a little faster! As long as I make it into the safe zone, I’ll be all right!

Lin Youyu willed herself forward, running with all her might. Her right hand pressed hard against her left chest, as if she could slow her wildly beating heart by force.

Branches and leaves blurred past her as she sprinted through the forest. In no time at all, fresh scratches adorned her arms and face, but she couldn’t spare a thought for her wounds.

“Beeep—bee-beep—”
A sharp whistle pierced the woods.
They’re signaling each other! Have they spotted me?

Crash—
In her panic, Lin Youyu, hemmed in from all sides, tumbled down a slope.
Her stomach slammed straight into a tree trunk, sending a cascade of leaves fluttering down to cover her from head to toe.

The pain was excruciating!
Her stomach throbbed so badly she wanted to curl up on the spot, but she didn’t dare move.
She remained frozen in the position she’d landed, terrified that even the slightest movement would give her away beneath the pile of fallen leaves.

“Where’d she go?”
“Damn, she runs fast! After her!”

One, two, three, four, five, six… Lin Youyu silently counted the footsteps in her mind.
Sure enough, several minutes later, two more voices echoed outside.
“Did you find her?”
“Hell no. She can run, but she can’t hide forever.”

This patch of woods lay just outside the safe zone. Few people came here to gather supplies, but plenty passed through.
The ground was crisscrossed with footprints, impossible to tell which belonged to Lin Youyu and which were from passersby.
Unable to distinguish her trail, one of the pursuers simply pointed in a direction they hadn’t searched yet.
“Let’s go—this way!”
Rushed footsteps faded as the group chased off into the undergrowth.

Only as dusk began to fall did Lin Youyu dare to nudge aside a few leaves, peering out to check her surroundings.
Certain she was alone at last, she finally rose from her hiding place and hurried toward her stash.

Earlier, she’d barely had time to hide her things among the weeds before catching sight of her pursuers. She’d covered them as best she could, then fled.
Who knew whether her hard-earned belongings had been discovered or taken?
She’d spent months gathering those supplies—if they were gone, all her efforts would have been for nothing.

Back at her hiding spot, she unearthed the stash and checked it over carefully.
Everything was still there, untouched. Only then did Lin Youyu breathe a sigh of relief.

By the time she crept back into the safe zone, clutching her things, night had fallen.
She hesitated—should she head home to lay low, or try to sell her goods at a small shop first?
That was when she spotted, once again, the very group that had been chasing her through the forest earlier.

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They just wouldn’t give up!
…

Blue Star Garden City

After receiving yet another rejection notice, Lin Yuyu turned off her phone and lay back on her bed, staring blankly at the stark white ceiling of her rented room.
She wondered how she had ended up in such dire straits.

From one golden autumn to the next—a full 366 days.
She’d lost count of how many résumés she’d sent out, how many interviews she’d attended, and how many times she’d been rejected.
Other people got turned away for being too old or having long gaps in their employment history.
But her? She was rejected because everyone thought she was “bad luck.”

At her first job, the boss had run an illegal pyramid scheme and fled after being exposed.
At her second, the owner was caught for tax evasion and sent to jail.
Her third company finally seemed poised to go public, but the industry took a downturn and millions in project funds were never paid.
The business couldn’t recover, borrowed from Peter to pay Paul, and the debt snowballed to several hundred million before the company went bankrupt.
…
Her fourth prospective employer, out of habit, did a background check before hiring Lin Yuyu, and discovered that every company she’d worked for had gotten into serious trouble.
Word spread fast. In no time, everyone in the industry knew her reputation.

Lin Yuyu thought, what did any of that have to do with her? It was those companies that broke the law, not her.
But people around here were all a little superstitious—especially business owners.
They couldn’t openly cite superstition as a reason to reject her, so they nitpicked and found fault with everything.
It was enough to drive her mad.

Another sleepless night, tossing and turning until two or three in the morning. Lin Yuyu finally thought: This can’t go on!
She climbed out of bed, turned on her computer, and searched for guides on praying for luck.
She decided that the next morning, she’d visit a temple to pray, begging the gods and Buddhas above to show her a way forward.
Superstition or not, she’d follow local customs.

The next day,
Lin Yuyu woke before dawn.
After several transfers between subway and bus, she finally arrived at the “Temple by the Sea” recommended by the guide.
Word had it the place was incredibly effective, though it was indeed off the beaten path.

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So when Lin Yuyu found the temple nothing like the bustling, incense-laden sanctuary described online, she thought nothing of it—figured the glowing reviews were just marketing hype.
She’d worried she might not know what to do or whom to ask, but seeing a signboard at the entrance outlining the process for incense offerings set her mind at ease.
She even thought it was rather thoughtful of them.

Ignoring all the oddities, Lin Yuyu entered the temple alone.
Following the instructions step by step, she completed the incense ritual with proper reverence.
Then she knelt devoutly before the Buddha, shaking the bamboo divination sticks as she’d seen online, and introduced herself:
“I am Lin Yuyu, residing at XXXXX, ID number 35XXXXX. Recently, I have been plagued by worries about making a living—my household is nearly out of rice…”
She pleaded for the Buddha’s blessing, hoping to quickly find a stable job—not for wealth or riches, but simply for smooth days without want.
She begged the Buddha for guidance.

One bow, two bows, three bows.
As she rose, Lin Yuyu fretted inwardly:
Had she performed everything correctly?
If she’d made a mistake, would her prayer still be heard?

After exchanging her divination stick for a written fortune at the counter and bowing three more times before the Buddha, Lin Yuyu left the hall.
Yet as she neared the exit, she glanced back at the main hall, feeling a sudden, inexplicable unease.
She couldn’t tell exactly what she was worried about—perhaps it was just nerves from being in an unfamiliar place.
She wondered if she ought to try another temple or two, mulling it over as she walked toward the stone bridge leading out.

Lost in thought, she failed to notice the sudden commotion outside the temple.
It was packed with people, a jostling crowd—completely unlike the deserted scene she’d found on arrival.
She barely registered the change until, head down and scrolling through other guides on her phone, she felt a hard shove on her shoulder.

Thrown off balance, she stumbled and toppled over the stone railing of the bridge, which barely rose to her knees.
She plunged into the water below.
In the haze, she caught a glimpse of a man in a red vest and hat, shouting into a loudspeaker amidst shrill screams…