A deep, thunderous rumble echoed across the night sky.Looking up in the direction of the sound, a silver-white "iron bird" was slowly descending, its landing gear extending like the claws of a giant beast. It sliced through the air in the dark before dawn, inching steadily toward the runway of Ling Guang City Airport.
The summer night sky was like a mottled celestial curtain, draping over a city not yet awake. Ling Guang City shimmered with lights, a mirrored galaxy cast upon the earth. Amid the silhouettes of towering skyscrapers, the glass facade of the Jinmao Center reflected a dazzling glow. There, where urban brilliance met the sky, it seemed the Milky Way had descended, scattering stardust upon this land of neon and steel.
Amid the interlacing of starlight and city lights, the plane gently touched down. As the cabin doors opened, the first light of dawn quietly peeled back a corner of the night.
People poured out of the arrival gate like a weaving stream, but one figure stood out in his stillness.
He wore a white short-sleeved shirt and black trousers, pulling a deep gray suitcase behind him. His long hair—an interwoven mix of black and pale green—fell softly against his cheeks. His skin was so pale it bordered on sickly, and beneath his eyes, a faint bluish hue spoke of exhaustion from a long journey.
But it wasn't just physical fatigue.It was something deeper—an ache that seeped from the soul itself.
He stopped near the exit, lifting his head slightly, eyes scanning the crowd.
It seemed he was waiting for someone—or perhaps just expecting someone without realizing it himself.
Yet that fleeting glimmer in his gaze,barely kindled,was quickly snuffed out by reality.
He let out a soft sigh and was just about to turn away when a burst of upbeat rock music chimed from his pocket.
He let out a soft sigh and was just about to turn away when a burst of upbeat rock music chimed from his pocket.
"Selene!"
The moment he answered, a familiar and urgent female voice burst through the receiver.
"You finally landed! I tried calling you so many times but couldn't get through. Are you in Lin Guang City now? I saw your flight was supposed to land around four—I've been awake since then!"
"Just got here," he replied, rubbing his brow.
"What's going on? Calling me this early... is something wrong?"
A faint frown tugged at his brow, a subtle sign of irritation—perhaps from being pulled into what might be work matters the second he stepped off the plane.
His voice was that of a gentle young man—soft, even-toned, and calm.
"Our entire project team got laid off," Rachel Chen's voice dropped a notch.
"HR already settled everyone's compensation. You're the only one left."
Selene Lin came to a halt, silent for a few seconds.
"Before I left for France, didn't Director Qin say he was still discussing a new planning proposal with the newly appointed CEO?"
"How is it that I've only been back a few days and I'm already out of a job?"
"You know how short-tempered he is. A few days after you left, he got into a fight with the new guy and just quit on the spot. Our project went down with him."
He let out a faint chuckle—one entirely devoid of humor.
"Of course. Not a single good thing waiting for me."
"And… your family? How did that go?"
"Don't even start," he said, a bitter smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
"My mom's been showing me pictures of potential blind dates every day, and my dad gave me a lecture on reproductive responsibility—said stuff like 'the continuity of human civilization depends on us.' I swear, I felt like jumping off the balcony just listening to it."
"I seriously don't get it,"
"Two 'Lao Bao(die-hard East Asian conservatives)', and they had to immigrate to France, of all places—open, liberal France."
The exhaustion in his eyes deepened. Even his voice carried a worn-out resistance.
The painful memories of those few days surged up again, unbidden.
That week, he had planned to have a proper conversation with his family—
but the right moment never came.
Every time his mother opened her mouth, it was always,
"Is there a girl you like?"
Followed inevitably by her pulling out a photo from her phone album, eyes gleaming with hope.
"This is so-and-so's daughter, she's also in Lin Guang City. Why don't you two meet up? You're young, maybe something will develop."
His father was even more… abstract.
He had a knack for saying things that defied all human reasoning:
"Are you planning to stay single for the rest of your life?"
"Are you not going to fulfill your duty in continuing human civilization?"
"Not having children is a betrayal of humanity."
Every time his father spoke like that, Selene could feel all the blood in his body rush to his head.
It felt like his skull might just explode in the next second.
He had originally planned to stay for two weeks,but ended up cutting the trip short after just one.
He truly felt that the gulf between him and his parents was far wider than the distance between Paris and Lin Guang City.
"Selene, Selene Lin—are you still listening?"
"Yeah. I spaced out for a second."
Snapping back to the present, he glanced at the time.
"It's seven-thirty now. I can head straight to the office—I should get there around ten."
"I'll treat you to lunch," Rachel said.
"And I'll fill you in on the compensation most of us got, so they don't screw you over."
After the call ended, he opened WeChat and quickly scrolled through the pile of unread messages.
But the one notification he was really hoping for—the one profile picture he longed to see—never appeared.
His anticipation fell silent once again.
He quietly replied to his mother's message—"Arrived safely."
Then slipped his phone back into his pocket,and wheeled his suitcase toward the taxi stand.
Outside the car window, the scenery blurred past in a rush.Morning light was slowly seeping into the contours of the city.
Leaning back in the rear seat, Selene Lin let his thoughts drift—and, little by little, fragments from years ago began to resurface.
It had been a morning just like this—quiet, early, and alone.
Back then, too, he had been waiting for something—a message, a sign—and just like today, his hopes had ended in silence.
A shadow from memory stirred—someone who, ten years ago,had once moved his heart, if only for a fleeting moment.
He could no longer recall her face,not even the sound of her voice.
But he remembered the waiting—how it was held up by a fragile hope, only to collapse slowly into silence.
Back then, the only person who showed even a trace of reluctance to see him go
was his literature teacher—a tall, slender man.
Everything else he had once cared about had turned out nothing like he imagined.
He had left this city with disappointment in his heart.
Ten years had passed, and he thought—coming back—things would be different.
He thought he would walk forward here, hand in hand with someone he loved.
But reality has a way of turning the gentlest hopes into the sharpest betrayals.
In the years he'd been away,he had loved her—and him.
Those women he once believed he would spend a lifetime with,
one by one,each drifted away.
Every feeling he had given—without exception—had been betrayed.His love had been broken, pieced back together, and broken again,over and over.
Each time, he gave his heart with hope.
Each time, it ended in quiet disappointment.
He still remembered what his last girlfriend had said to him:
"I don't want to be in a relationship with a guy who sees himself as a girl—and I definitely don't want to end up with another girl."
After that, he no longer wanted anything beyond friendship with any woman.
He even came to believe that he was someone destined to be untouched by love—
until he met Dorian Xu in university—the one who would change the course of his life.
They had shared a beautiful time together on campus.He chose to stay for graduate school,while Dorian returned to China.Still, they kept their long-distance relationship alive.
He had promised he would come back to Lin Guang City after graduation.And he had kept that promise.
But Dorian Xu—he had changed.
Quietly.
Subtly.
He had grown distant, blurred,impossible to grasp.
He leaned back against the seat, eyes slightly reddened.
"Dorian Xu... what am I supposed to do?"
"Is this the place? We've arrived."
The driver's voice pulled him back to the present.
He paid the fare and pulled his suitcase out.Just then, his phone rang again.
"I'm at the front of the office—have you arrived?"
"I just got out of the car. Give me a second."
As he reached into the trunk for his luggage,a short-haired girl in a loose T-shirt and jeans approached at a brisk pace.Though dressed casually,there was a touch of sharp, professional energy in her stride—a blend of ease and capability.
"Selene Lin?"He nodded.
"Wow, you look so good without makeup!"She laughed teasingly.
"You look way more soft and pure than usual! I'm so used to your Jirai Kei makeup—seeing you like this, you totally look like a college girl."
"Don't make fun of me," Selene said with a half-smile, half-sigh.
"I'm serious! You look just like the second female lead in that drama I watched last year—From the Stars."
The girl standing before him was none other than his closest colleague over the past two years—Rachel Chen, his direct supervisor during his time at Crimson Crest.
She was one of the very few who had shown him genuine kindness,and truly understood him.
Selene Lin was usually dressed in full-on Jirai Kei or Gothic Lolita style—a vision of striking beauty from any angle.
But in a city like Lin Guang City, rooted in East Asian traditions,his identity as a boy beneath all that elegance was still far too ahead of its time.
Though he never tried to hide who he was,most people either kept their distance or whispered behind his back.
Rachel Chen was the only one who had always embraced him with warmth, sincerity, and without judgment.
"Stop teasing me," he said with a laugh, gently brushing away her hand as she reached for his suitcase.
"Come on, I'm taking you to this new restaurant I found—it's so good!" She casually linked arms with him, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Oh right, isn't your boyfriend a senior exec at StellarFrame? Now that you're out of a job, maybe he can set you up with something over there?"
Selene didn't respond.
He merely forced a faint smile.
"He's so weird, honestly," Rachel muttered.
"Anyone would be lucky to have a girlfriend like you…"
He lowered his gaze, lashes casting a soft shadow over his eyes.
Sunlight filtered through the building's metal facade,spilling gently over the two of them.
Lin Guang City, in the quiet light of morning,was slowly waking between brightness and silence.