Chapter 1 Prequel Heaven Is on the Left and Hell Is on the Right

December 25, 2073

Another year of Christmas has arrived in this remote town.

It's a pity that God is not kind to us.

Perhaps it is due to climate warming caused by human beings' wanton destruction of nature. The heavy snowfall that we have been looking forward to for a whole year has finally turned into a muddy storm.

The supposed lively festival atmosphere was completely shattered by the heavy rain.

Naturally, the promise that his parents made to him to "go to the city to celebrate" came to nothing.

Xida Kasdeyi pouted, looking at the billions of water droplets falling outside the window, dazed.

"Xida! Silly child, stop staring out the window. You just took a shower, be careful of catching a cold! Come and eat, the food will be cold later..."

"Oh~ Here we go..." Xi Da responded dully, touched the wet hair hanging by her ears, and shuffled to the old dining table.

She looked at the dining table, and as expected, it was a traditional French meal.

It was more than twenty years ago that the Castei family moved to the new United States, but they still stubbornly adhere to the traditions of their hometown.

Xi thought, curled his lips slightly, and swallowed the fake foie gras made of synthetic meat whole.

"Xida, eat slowly..." The father blamed his daughter helplessly.

He had no choice but to hold her carefully in his hands, fearing that something unexpected might happen to his good daughter.

"Dad, Mom, today is also my eighteenth birthday!" Xi Ta wrinkled her nose and said rather cautiously.

"I know, I just want two big gifts..." The mother reached out and ruffled her daughter's messy beautiful silver hair, and said angrily.

"Then can I take it apart and take a look now?" Xi Da opened her violet moist eyes and said expectantly.

Next to the dining table, a rough Christmas tree stood silently, as if silently guarding this small family.

Xi Ta patted the old guy gently, bent down, and picked up the two largest packages from the ground.

She turned around, smiled at her parents who were watching her tenderly, and then happily opened the gifts in her hands.

"Dad! Mom! I love you so much!" The moment she saw the gift in the box, Xi Da jumped up with joy, her silver hair fluttering and dancing in the air, celebrating this happy moment with her owner.

According to the old tradition, the red box comes from dad and the blue box comes from mom.

Xi Da fell from the ground, took a breath, and carefully looked at the gifts in the box with the help of the warm light above her head.

In the red box, a finely crafted knife sleeps quietly, silently waiting for the moment to be awakened.

In the blue box, an out-of-print record by Samurai Band is placed in the center. Time seems to have left no trace on this record from more than fifty years ago.

"Are you happy..." The mother came over, hugged her little daughter tightly, who was so excited that she lost her voice, and returned to the dining table with her slender body in her arms.

"Eat it while it's hot and go back to your room later. There's plenty of time for you to enjoy it." Dad also persuaded with a smile.

"Yeah!" Xi Ta nodded, took one last look at the precious red and blue gift box, buried his head in his rice bowl, and started eating with big mouthfuls.

Xi Da's parents looked at each other helplessly and did not stop their daughter's unladylike behavior.

"I've finished eating!"

In just a few minutes, Xi Da couldn't wait to finish the meal.

"Okay, okay, I won't disturb you, a busy person..." Mom joked, which made Xi Da laugh repeatedly in embarrassment.

Xi Ta re-covered the gift box and held it in her arms lovingly. After thinking about it, she jumped up to her parents who were eating and pecked each of them on the cheek.

"Ah! Little rascal! There's still oil on her mouth!" Dad pretended to be annoyed and said, getting up and pretending to spank her.

Xi Da smiled evilly, hugged the gift, and ran back to the room in a hurry.

"Good night, Mom and Dad!"

After she shouted towards the door, she got into her small bedroom.

Xi Ta took a look at the precious gifts in her arms and decided to hide them under her most secluded bed as her most cherished treasure, waiting for her energetic self to slowly play with them tomorrow morning.

"Good night!" Xi Da happily shouted to the dark night outside the window, and then got into the warm bed.

But what answered her was not the crisp sound of countless raindrops falling, but the roar of an explosion blooming in the dark night.

◎

The memory is recalled.

Xi Ta was lying on the cold mud, awakened by the cool raindrops and the biting cold wind.

what happened?

She struggled to get up, but was unable to do so.

The limbs seemed to be in constant motion, each with their own thoughts.

Xi Da could only try his best to open his eyes and try to figure out what happened.

The sound of blazing flames penetrated into the ear holes through the screams of raindrops falling.

She turned her head with difficulty and found that a familiar house was turning into ashes bit by bit.

The debris scattered on the ground was pure black in color, like the color of death.

"No!"

Xi Da opened his mouth to shout, but his throat was hoarse and no sound came out.

Consciousness gradually became blurred.

In the haze, she vaguely saw a few sneaky figures walking out of the burning ruins, muttering thick and unclear words.

It was as if there were a group of evil spirits gathering together, humbly humming the name of Satan.

"Night City?"

Xi Da muttered along with the whispers of those devils.

Consciousness is getting hazy.

"This can't go on like this..." She shouted in her heart, using the tips of her teeth to pierce the delicate skin hard.

Drops of blood flowed into her stomach, and a little bit of pain arose. She stubbornly maintained her final consciousness.

It wasn't until those "crows" that brought death left that Xi Da got up with the last bit of strength squeezed out of her bone marrow.

The once cozy cabin has fallen into ruin.

Only ashes remained of the old, dilapidated tree that looked like a guardian angel.

My parents also disappeared without a trace, and their lives and deaths are unknown.

She knelt and searched among the ruins, and finally found two boxes of dilapidated gifts on the site of her room.

Records soaked in water are useless.

Only the silent sharp knife was left to accompany her who had nothing.

Holding the knife in his hand, Xi Da gritted his teeth and looked up at the night sky shrouded in clouds and mist.

Tonight, there are no stars or bright moon, only endless wind and rain, connecting the earth and the sky.

In 2073, December 25th is both my birthday and Christmas day.

Shida Kasdei lost everything.

The teeth seemed to be biting into pieces, the meridians, blood vessels, muscles, and bones all over the body were twisted and condensed together, and a raging fire was ignited in the heart.

A blood-stained cry came from his throat.

She fell to her knees trembling.

The liquid, which could not be distinguished from rain or tears, fell to the ground drop by drop, shattering into pieces.