Main Story Ch. 1-03 - The Turning Point of Fate (命运的拐点) | Light and Night 光与夜之恋
Police: Name?
Cindy: I am Cindy, I lost my earrings, I have spent a whole week to make this pair of earrings! Please, you must help me to look for them!
This girl that is in such a panic that she's about to cry, is a designer named Cindy, is the eldest contestant among all of us. Half an hour ago, due to the reason where there are multiple contestants' accessories that went missing, Cindy suggested to lodge a police report, and she is the first to receive inquiry from the police.
Police: Earrings right? I've noted that down. Is there anyone else that have lost something?
Designer A: There's me, I've lost an emerald hair clip.
Designer B: My pearl ring is also missing.
You: I'm Y/N, my brooch is missing.
Police: We have understood the basic situation now, all of your items are lost in this room, and the incident did not take more than half an hour. My colleague has retrieved the surveillance recordings, and noticed that there were no suspicious person entering or leaving the room.
Cindy: How could this be...
Police: However, the surveillance camera has a blind spot, and things will not disappear out of nowhere. Hence, we hope all of you could recall any suspicious person.
You: Suspicious person...
An image of a person in a black mask, with a silver chain and skull necklace suddenly flashed into my mind.
You: I saw someone that I don't know walking out from the preparation room, I thought he's a model... but now that I think of it, models will not come into this room.
Police: What kind of person is this?
You: He's very tall, I am guessing he's around 1.85m, and he wasn't wearing any staff uniform.
Police: Kindly describe the person's appearance and outfit.
I nodded, trying your hardest to recall the scenario happened in a hurry.
You: That person wears a black mask, so I cannot see his features... However, I remember his clothing! He wore a black leather jacket on top, bottom with light grey jeans, and also paired with a pair of studded boots. He wore a long silver necklace with a skeleton pendant. There are also some silver chains around his waist. It's difficult to describe his aura, he looks very mysterious, but there are improvements that could be made on his pants design...
I continued to describe, but the police was stunned.
Police: Improvements to be made?
I noticed something, and the awkwardness made me fluster.
You: I am terribly sorry... I only roughly seen these.
Police: Alright, we will investigate according to this given direction. However, since there are many people here and the venue is also huge, it will be rather difficult to look for lost items that are too small in size. All of you should make mental preparations.
As soon as the police left, everyone fell into silence, the atmosphere of unrest falls onto our heads like a cumulonimbus.
Cindy squats as she loses hope, burying her head in her arms and stayed silent.
- Choice: Select either one, and your decision will to changes in the story.* -
*There is no right or wrong in your choice unless you wish to target a specific ending.
Light: Console her
Night: Solve your own problem
[Light Choice: Console her]
I walked towards her, lightly patting on her back.
You: I believe the police will help us to find the accessories, don't worry.
Cindy: You are all young and talented... And there's a backup plan if you fail, so there are no worries for you all, but I don't...
Her demure voice is shrouded with cries, I could only roughly understand her words by guessing. I've heard everyone talking abotu Cindy's past. She was once a white-collar employee, resigned from her job, borrowed a loan to study design overseas, you could almost say that she's fighting an uphill battle.
I do not know what to say to console her, because right now, whatever I say are merely beautiful words that have no value, so I can only pat on her back lightly.
Cindy: Why, of all times... It took me so long to arrive this place...
The sadness started spreading, that even my whole heart too, started to sink.
??: What are you crying for?
Nobody would've thought that the shout came from Wu Yue. Under everyone's surprised gaze, she stride to Cindy, dragged her up from the floor, looking a little angry in her expression.
Wu Yue: If you do not wish to make your past work in vain, then quickly shut your mouth and get back to work on it all over again. Nobody here has an easy path here. The people who would only dwell and pity themselves would never succeed.
That was the first time I've heard Wu Yue speaking off-stage. Her firm expression has shocked me.
You: There are three days left until the competition, let's redo from now.
Gao Cheng: I, I can help everyone to get materials. If there are anything else that you need, you can tell me too...
Designer A: I've been wanting to change my hairclip, I'll make sure to make it a hundred times better than before this time, you all should be careful!
More and more of the participants have came over, the depressive atmosphere have gradually disappeared. Cindy too, have stopped her tears, and rubbing her eyes vigorously.
Cindy: You are all correct, I can't give up now...
Although nobody knows how things will turn out three days later, although we are all each others' rivals, but at this very moment, we are all working hard towards one thing, so we are more like teammates.
Putting the bad mood aside, everyone have returned to their operation table, racing against time to continue producing.
[Night Choice: Night: Solve your own problem]
Although I really wanted to console Cindy, but in my heart I understood that any words of comfort are in vain. Rather than dwelling in emotions of sadness, it'd be better to think about what to do next. The surrounding contestants have already returned to their senses from this temporal episode, and started to get busy with their own tasks in hand. Competitions are this cruel, everyone needs to stay focused, seize every second and rush to the final goal.
You: Since the chances of looking for it is tiny, let's remake one. But here are only three days left, what if I couldn't make it...
I subconsciously looked out the window, and Sariel's large poster fell into my eyes again.
You: There's no time to hesitate anymore. If it were for Sariel, he wouldn't be wasting time on unknown results.
The confusion in my heart is now washed away, and I bury myself into crafting again. The rays of sunset shines through the glass window onto my body, it feels rather warm.
Until I started to stretch, the clock on the wall has already went past 8pm.
You: The dress is almost fixed, the new design for the brooch is also out, it's all going well~
Gao Cheng: Is your design inspired by the stars? It's so beautiful...
Gao Cheng's looks fell onto my design draft for quite a while, and it's as if he suddenly realized something, he raised his head, shaking his hands while being flustered.
Gao Cheng: So- Sorry... I am not looking at your design on purpose, I just happened to walk past and was attracted to it.
You: It's alright, since you're here how about helping me to have a look?
Gao Cheng: Is the brooch resembling the brightest star?
You: Yes, it represents the Polaris.
Gao Cheng: Actually, Polaris is not that bright. It has a magnitude* of 2, which means the gemstone that represents it could be darker.
Gao Cheng uncharacteristically speaks a lot about the starry skies, that you can feel his expertise in the topic when he is this energetic.
Gao Cheng: Uh, I like astronomy more, so I understand a little, please don't be angry...
You: Why would I? I needed to thank you for this!
In the past I've always looked for starry night images online for references, but Gao Cheng's words have reminded me. Although the starry nights captured on camera are beautiful, but it lacked the feeling of reality. There is nothing more direct and accurate than seeing it with your own eyes.
You: Let's have a look at the rooftop.
As soon as I pushed the door connecting to the rooftop, the evening breeze caresses my face, the wide night sky shows itself in front of my eyes, with a little tint of redness on their boarders. Underneath the night skies are the nightscapes of the city.
Placing both of my hands on the rails, I raised my head and took a deep breath. Suddenly, my phone kept buzzing, it's the messages from An An popping out on the screen.
An An: I've gotten the guest seat list for the finals! You wouldn't have imagined how extravagant the VIP list is! Even Osborn will be coming, their club is going to work with Warson!
You: ...Osborn?
An An: Do you remember Osborn? The one I showed you in the picture, the one that won four consecutive R1 racing championships, my favorite racer!
I wasn't able to recall in detail, but suddenly, a light sound entered my ears. It's a familiar, metal clanging sound. But there weren't anyone here when I came up.
Shocked, I looked towards the direction of the sound's source. In a corner where the moonlight did not shine on, there is a silhouette of somebody standing there quietly. As if the figure noticed my gaze, the figure started to take a step out of the shadows.
I can now clearly see his profile. That is a tall, well built man, intimidating despite the distance between us. He draped the black leather jacket over his shoulders, and the moonlight reflects from the silvery white skeleton necklace.
You: It's the person from the corridor just now!
While I have yet to return my to senses, I was stunned to find a red earring within his fingers.
It's Cindy's earrings! He IS the thief!
The clouds has covered the moonlight, as the rooftop turns dark, my heart couldn't stop beating. Did I accidentally discovered something that I shouldn't have? Am I going to be killed?
As soon as my thoughts arrived there, I turn and immediately ran towards the door behind me without hesitation.
However, right at the moment where I wanted to open the door to escape, a hand with distinct joints pressed onto the knob before I could manage to do so.
??: Where are you running to?
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T/N: Apparent magnitude (m) is a measure of the brightness of a star or other astronomical object observed from Earth. An object's apparent magnitude depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance from Earth, and any extinction of the object's light caused by interstellar dust along the line of sight to the observer. The zero point of Pogson's scale was originally defined by assigning Polaris a magnitude of exactly 2, though later it is changed (Now +1.98).
