Sister Xiaoyu hurried to the mental hospital, chatting on her phone as she ran, arriving at the ward where Xiaoyu and Lao He were staying. The moment she stepped inside, she froze, startled by the sight of two figures whose heads were bandaged like mummies.

Looking around, she saw two unfamiliar people sitting in the room besides Xiaoshu. So, Xiaoshu rose and introduced Li Taiming and Li Bingyu to Sister Xiaoyu one by one. However, truthfully, this introduction was nothing more than a mere formality. She paid no mind to the two strangers, letting their names go in one ear and out the other; after Xiaoshu introduced them, she completely forgot their names. Later, whenever she needed to ask them for help, she would blush and call them "Sir" or "Miss."

Turning back to the situation, seeing Xiaoyu and Lao He in such a state, Sister Xiaoyu looked inexplicably at Xiaoshu, hoping for an explanation. But Xiaoshu, who was already half-skeptical of the story Li Taiming had just told, merely shook her head lightly and said, "We'll discuss this topic once these two have recovered. The current situation is that Xiaoyu transplanted his eyes to my nephew Xing'er, and Lao He gave his eyes to Xiaoyu. Once Xing'er and Xiaoyu recover, they might see the light of day again, but Lao He will have permanently bid farewell to this vibrant world."

"Ah!" Sister Xiaoyu exclaimed in surprise. Realizing that two strangers were present, she knew she had to measure her words and couldn't probe too deeply. Suppressing the torrent of questions bubbling up inside her, and seeing that Xiaoyu hadn't woken up, she sat by Lao He’s bed and began chatting with him about trivial, everyday matters, holding his hand. Lao He, who had been worried about being abandoned by his beloved, felt her presence beside him, the usual intimacy undiminished, which brought him great comfort, making him sigh that true affection still existed in the world.

Watching this devoted couple, Bingyu felt a complex mix of emotions swirling within her. And Xiaoshu, remembering the days she and Yingzi spent growing up together, also became saddened. She quietly slipped out of the ward, letting the cool breeze blowing down the corridor dissipate the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.

When she returned, Li Taiming and Li Bingyu were gone, leaving only Sister Xiaoyu diligently washing her brother's body. Seeing her brother-in-arms lying peacefully in the hospital bed, that moment of sorrow vanished like the wind. He offered his sister a slight smile. "It was inconvenient to explain everything with them present. Actually, this story is quite long; I wonder if you have the patience to hear it through."

Hearing this, Sister Xiaoyu put down the towel she was holding, sat by Lao He’s bedside, and patted his shoulder. "Do you feel that Xiaoshu has grown up a lot?"

"Not grown up, matured!" Lao He said, grinning widely even though he couldn't see. "He's finally learned to observe the timing, knowing what to say to whom and when. Back when he brought you, poisoned by the Gu, to the mental hospital to threaten Xiaoyu, I thought the kid was too reckless, unable to distinguish friend from foe. But now, he’s finally seen the light."

This praise made Xiaoshu slightly shy. She sat gently by Xiaoyu’s bed and slowly recounted the truth of the two children being kidnapped by the Golden-Haired Great Ape, and the story of Xing'er's parentage, bit by bit, to the two of them. At the end, she added the feud she and Xiaoyu had with the spiders in the Sea of the Dead, how they had narrowly escaped death several times during the human-spider war, and how they were finally cornered by thousands of spiders, leading Xiaoyu to voluntarily surrender to save Xing'er and Ah Li, only to be gnawed into dust without a trace. He was revived using the life-and-death contract from Peach Blossom Pool water, but only if he killed ninety-nine people within three days to gain an immortal body. And Xing'er’s eyes had been burned by venom sprayed by the spiders.

As for the nightmare of eye-gouging plaguing Xiangcheng, the originator was Xing'er’s father, Li Xiaohao, who desperately sought a suitable pair of eyes to transplant into Xing'er. The intended scapegoat was 9457, pulled from prison, but later, out of guilt for harming Hua Gu, Xiaoyu offered his own eyes for the transplant, intending to quietly leave this world.

The story stopped abruptly here. Xiaoshu paused, as if recalling something, and gazed at Lao He in the bed with a strange look. However, Lao He was unaware that Xiaoshu was watching him; he simply assumed the story was finished and Xiaoshu needed a moment to catch her breath.