I Share the Same Face with a Monster - Chapter 9

Chapter 25

The studio door suddenly locked.

The crew acted as if they hadn’t heard a thing.

Chen Guan rose to his feet.

“Xu Zhiyi, it can’t have a name.”

“Why not?”

“A Face-Stealing Monster doesn’t have a name.”

His voice turned ice-cold.

“They merely hold on to the faces actors have cast aside.”

A chill crawled through my stomach.

“What do you mean, hold on to them?”

Chen Guan looked toward the makeup stills on the wall.

“In this industry, there are always people who don’t want their own faces.”

“Too beautiful, too glamorous, too plain, too young, too old.”

“They throw away a little bit of expression in exchange for one perfect appearance.”

“It’s only fair.”

I asked, “And in the end?”

Chen Guan didn’t answer.

From inside the mirror, Zhou Yan spoke.

“In the end, they become photographs.”

All the makeup stills on the wall shifted at once.

I saw the actress in one of the photos begin to bleed from her eyes.

Chapter 26

Chen Guan looked at Zhou Yan.

“You talk too much.”

He took a thin silver knife from his pocket.

The blade looked like a makeup spatula.

Zhou Yan took a step back.

It was the first time I had ever seen him afraid.

Chen Guan said, “I raised you for seven years.”

“You grew out of Xu Zhiyi’s disgust. You should be helping her fulfill her worth.”

I froze.

Seven years.

I had debuted seven years ago.

Zhou Yan hadn’t appeared only recently.

He had been there since the first time I hated this face.

He had been in the mirror all along, watching me get photographed, judged, and defined by the grip on my chin.

Chen Guan walked toward the mirror.

“You shouldn’t have a name.”

“And you shouldn’t want her, either.”

Zhou Yan’s face was nothing but blankness.

But I could feel it.

He was looking at me.

That gaze was cold.

And utterly wretched.

Chapter 27

I picked up the fill light on the table and smashed it at Chen Guan.

He dodged, and the silver knife sliced open my arm.

Blood streamed down.

Inside the mirror, Zhou Yan suddenly went berserk.

Every touch-up mirror cracked at the same time.

The makeup stills on the wall let out shrieks.

Chen Guan cursed. “Useless trash.”

He pressed the silver knife against the main mirror.

Zhou Yan’s body looked as if it had been nailed in place.

I rushed over and grabbed Chen Guan’s arm from behind.

He twisted back and seized me by the throat.

“Xu Zhiyi, do you really think it loves you?”

“What it loves is your face.”

I couldn’t breathe.

Chen Guan went on, “You’re all the same.”

“You say you hate being looked at.”

“But the second no one looks at you anymore, you’re terrified you’ll be nothing at all.”

His words struck too precisely.

So precisely my vision went black.

I was afraid.

Afraid that once I lost this face, I would be nothing at all.

And afraid that what Zhou Yan wanted, from beginning to end, was only my face.