Ice skates forward, regardless of east or west.

1

"Clang—!"

The heavy metal support slammed onto the concrete floor with a deafening crash, shaking the years of accumulated dust in the abandoned factory.

Gu Xidong had just been "dragged" out of that shabby basement by Ling Wuwen, and before he could fully adjust to the faint morning light, the sight before him stung his eyes.

On the open space next to the ice rink, used for land training, three huge floor-to-ceiling mirrors now stand in front of the previously empty wall.

The mirrors were fixed in place by metal brackets, like three cold doors leading to another world.

The morning light slanted in through the broken glass windows of the factory, hitting the mirror precisely, and the reflected light spots were so dazzling that people couldn't open their eyes.

"What is this?" Gu Xidong's voice was like a rusty iron chain, hoarse and full of vigilance. He subconsciously took a step back, his body tensing up.

As an athlete who had spun in the spotlight for over two decades, he had an instinctive, deep-seated dependence on and fascination with "mirrors." But that was when he was at his peak.

Now, looking at those three empty mirrors, he felt only a fear of being stripped naked.

"Land rotation simulation training." Ling Wuwen walked to the mirror, stretched out her finger, and wiped away a speck of dust from the mirror's surface. Her finger traced a clear mark on the mirror, like a wound.

"Before going onto the ice, first regain your body's memory on land."

"I'm not doing it." Gu Xidong turned around, grabbed the ice skates on the ground, and said, "I want to go on the ice."

He would rather fall and bleed on the ice than stand in front of this mirror and look at his own lame, disheveled, and unsteady ugly reflection.

"Gu Xidong." Ling Wuwen's voice came from behind, as calm as a scalpel, "Your aerial posture was already distorted before you were injured. You dare not look in the mirror because subconsciously you are running away. Running away from the fact that you are no longer the perfect 'Black Swan'."

"Shut up!" Gu Xidong whirled around, his eyes piercing her like knives. "I said I won't do it!"

"This isn't a request, it's an order." Ling Wuwen bent down, picked up a pair of soft-soled land training shoes from beside the support frame, and tossed them at his feet. "Put these on. Stand in front of the mirror. Now."

The air seemed to freeze.

The two stood facing each other, neither willing to back down.

2

In the end, Gu Xidong still walked up to the mirror.

He wasn't wearing shoes; his bare feet trod on the cold, rough cement. With each step, the old injury in his left leg protested, forcing him to drag his leg along.

This made his already upright figure look incredibly comical.

When he finally stood in front of the mirror, he saw it.

The man in the mirror was deathly pale, with sunken eyes and hair as messy as a bird's nest. His left leg was bent slightly unnaturally, and his body's center of gravity instinctively shifted to the right.

That's not Gu Xidong.

That's not the world champion who gracefully spins on the ice and is worshipped by thousands.

That was just a... useless person.

A surge of heat rushed to my head.

"Get out of my way!" He suddenly roared like a wild beast, and swung his arm, punching the mirror in front of him!

"Splash—!"

Glass shards scattered like an explosion.

The distorted, broken reflection in the mirror instantly exploded into countless flying afterimages.

The sharp glass slashed his fist, and blood trickled down between his fingers, dripping onto the cement floor like blooming, eerie red flowers.

Gu Xidong, panting heavily, looked at the shards of glass scattered on the ground and at his bleeding fist, and a morbid sense of pleasure welled up inside him.

Destroy it.

Everything is ruined.

3

The anticipated storm did not materialize.

There was no scolding, no sarcasm, and not even that cold "punishment".

Ling Wuwen simply stood there quietly, looking at him and at the shards scattered all over the ground.

Then, she came over.

She walked up to Gu Xidong, ignoring his bleeding fist, grabbed his collar, and dragged him forcefully into the middle of the pile of broken glass.

"Sit down," she commanded.

Gu Xidong was pressed down on the shoulder by her, and involuntarily fell to the ground amidst the shards of glass. Sharp fragments pierced his thigh, bringing a sharp pain.

"Look." Ling Wuwen squatted down and pointed to the largest shard of glass on the ground.

Within the fragments, Gu Xidong's distorted face was reflected.

"Look closely," Ling Wuwen's voice was low, yet it struck his heart like a heavy hammer, "This is your true self. Not some noble black swan, but a vulture with broken wings."

She reached out and gently touched the shard with her dusty fingers.

"You hate yourself in the mirror, don't you? You feel ashamed of it."

"But have you ever considered," she suddenly looked up, her dark eyes fixed on him, "that Gu Xidong, dancing under the spotlight, basking in the mirror of perfection, is actually the biggest illusion?"

Gu Xidong was jolted, as if struck by lightning.

"What is a 'Black Swan'?" Ling Wuwen's voice carried a strange, magical quality. "It's elegance, it's nobility, it's flawlessness. But that's not you. That's just what they want you to be. That's the most magnificent shackle they've put on you."

"Now, the shackles are broken." She pointed to the shards of glass on the ground. "You see your true self. Broken, in pain, pathetic, even... ugly."

But that's the truth.

"Only by acknowledging that you are a vulture can you learn to rise from the ruins. If you are still living in the dream of a swan, you will always be a cripple."

Ling Wuwen's words cruelly ripped away Gu Xidong's last shred of self-respect.

But he couldn't refute it.

Because every word she uttered was like a brand, etched into his heart.

4

The factory was deathly silent.

The only sounds were Gu Xidong's heavy breathing and the "drip-drip" of blood falling to the ground.

He looked down at his bleeding fist and at the distorted face on the ground.

He recalled the overwhelming barrage of criticism that followed the "black swan event." People called him arrogant, unworthy of his position, and a joke.

At that time, he was angry, he argued, and he felt like a wronged swan.

But now, Ling Wuwen tells him, you're a joke. You're just a vulture.

Strangely, he was... not so angry anymore.

An unprecedented sense of exhaustion overwhelmed him.

He slowly, very slowly raised his hand, not to hit Lin Wuwen, but to reach for a shard of glass on the ground.

He picked up the piece of glass, looked at it, and then placed it at his feet.

Then he picked up another piece.

His movements were slow and clumsy, and blood flowed down his arm, staining the glass red.

Ling Wuwen just squatted down beside him, quietly watching him, neither stopping him nor helping him.

She just watched.

Gu Xidong picked up the shards one by one. His fingers were cut by the sharp edges, but he seemed not to feel the pain.

He pieced the fragments together according to their shapes.

Gradually, the distorted figure in the mirror began to become whole.

Although it was covered with spiderweb-like cracks, and although the shadow it cast was shattered, it... was pieced back together.

As he inserted the last piece, he looked up at the mirror.

In the mirror, the man was still pale, disheveled, and his hands were covered in blood.

But the madness and anger in his eyes disappeared.

Instead, there was a deathly stillness.

He looked at himself in the mirror, then at Ling Wuwen squatting beside him.

He suddenly realized that the woman's face was also reflected in the cracked mirror.

Her face was covered in dust, and her eyes no longer held that cold madness, but rather a kind of... unfathomable weariness.

At that moment, Gu Xidong suddenly realized that she was just like him.

They are all just fragments in this mirror.

5

Get up.

Ling Wuwen stood up, dusted off his hands, and spoke in his usual calm tone, but it seemed to have lost some of its coldness and gained a bit more... hoarseness.

"Go and treat your wound. Training will begin in ten minutes."

She turned to leave.

"Wait a minute," Gu Xidong called out to her.

Ling Wuwen stopped walking without turning around, but his shoulders tensed slightly.

Gu Xidong stared at her stiff back, opened his mouth, wanting to ask her who she was, why she knew those secrets, and why she looked even more pained than he was.

But in the end, he only asked one question: "Have you...broken a mirror before?"

The air froze instantly.

Ling Wuwen's back suddenly stiffened.

She did not answer.

But the fist she had been clenching tightly at her side trembled violently the moment she heard the question.

Immediately afterwards, Gu Xidong saw a drop of water fall from her chin without warning, hitting the cement ground at her feet and spreading out a small dark water stain.

Those were... tears?

Gu Xidong couldn't believe his eyes.

This woman, as cold and hard as steel, as crazy as a madwoman, she... cried?

She still didn't turn around, but her shoulders began to tremble slightly uncontrollably.

Something happened that terrified Gu Xidong even more than seeing her cry.

He heard a sound.

From her stiff back, a suppressed, broken voice seemed to come from the depths of her soul.

That was... a sob.

Like a wounded beast, licking its most fatal wound in the dead of night.

Gu Xidong sat frozen amidst the shards of glass, staring at the trembling, suppressed sobs in the morning light, his mind blank.

He thought he was the prey and she was the hunter.

He thought she was tormenting him, and he was enduring her.

But at that moment, looking at that trembling figure, he suddenly realized.

She wasn't hunting him.

She was killing the monster inside her by torturing him.

And that monster seemed to have some kind of... intricate connection with him.

Ling Wuwen cried.

The woman named Ling Wuwen cried.

This realization made Gu Xidong feel more panicked than any brutal training.