The feathered people stepped back, silently forming a circle, as though waiting for something.
Chu Yao knelt on the feathered ground, her face ashen, with traces of blood still lingering at the corners of her mouth. The feathered arrow had vanished from her spine, but it had left an unhealable scar. Feathers were still slowly and steadily growing from that wound.
A-Tuo approached her, his hands still trembling, but he couldn't help but ask the question, "You... really don't know what this place is?"
Chu Yao did not answer immediately.
She merely lowered her head and looked at her palm, where a short, dark, gleaming feather had appeared without him noticing.
"When I was little, I dreamt of this place," she said softly, as if speaking in her sleep. "At that time, I was in the hospital, because... I told a lie that caused someone to get into a car accident. In the dream, I was also like this, pulled in by feathers, layer by layer, being peeled away."
A-Tuo froze.
"What happened after that?"
"Afterward, I woke up and forgot everything," she suddenly smiled, but the smile was sorrowful. "But it never forgot me."
The feathered ground trembled suddenly.
Something was wriggling beneath the surface.
Two massive feathered hands stretched out from the Feather Abyss, covering their heads. The feathered people simultaneously knelt down, murmuring:
"The interrogation begins."
Chu Yao was seized by the feathered hands, and her entire body was dragged into the air. She struggled, but feathers began to grow violently from within her, as if a curse within her blood was awakening some memory in her.
"Tell me your first lie, Chu Yao."
The voice was cold, heavy, and overwhelmingly familiar.
It was the voice of her father.
Her pupils dilated in an instant: "...Dad?"
A-Tuo could only watch helplessly as Chu Yao was lifted high, the feathers piercing her skin, a silent judgment being passed upon her. For the first time, genuine fear appeared on her face.
The feathered people began to sing, their voices haunting, like an incantation repeated over and over:
"Liars give birth to feathers. The honest fall."
"Soul without truth, one must pluck their own feathers."
A-Tuo instinctively covered his back.
He could feel it—something was itching there too.
The Feathered Nation was terrifyingly silent, with only Chu Yao's screams echoing in the air. A-Tuo tried to break free, he wanted to help her, but he wasn't sure—was she really the one who needed help?
Finally, Chu Yao was lowered down.
She collapsed onto the feathered ground, covered in blood, feathers piercing her shoulder blades, growing outward like fangs. But her face, there were no tears, only a gradual calmness.
"...Is it over?" A-Tuo whispered.
She slowly raised her head, and her expression carried a strange familiarity, a kind of cold composure.
"I remember now," she said.
A-Tuo's body tensed: "Remember what?"
Chu Yao struggled to sit up, the feathers on her body gleaming with black and gold light in the dimness. She looked at the feathered people, her eyes no longer filled with fear but with—command.
"This is my third time in the Feathered Nation."
The feathered ground shook.
The feathered people lowered their heads, as if listening to a "master" speak.
A-Tuo's face turned pale: "What do you mean... third time? That feather, it wasn't me who picked it up... it was you..."
Chu Yao turned to look at him, her tone indifferent: "I didn't do it on purpose. This place chooses—the next liar."
There was something hidden in her eyes.
It wasn't malice, but it wasn't kindness either.
"I've been chosen three times, but this time... I want to survive."
The feathered people began to murmur, their voices like black feathers brushing against bones:
"If a feathered person wishes to return to the human world, a new feather must bear the sin."
Chu Yao looked at A-Tuo's back, where a second feather had already begun to grow.
She smiled.
"Sorry, A-Tuo," she whispered.
"This time... it's your turn to bear the penalty of feathering."
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