Ke Mingqing had a hard time describing exactly what had happened over the past few minutes.
In short, he had been kidnapped. But neither White Jack nor Clock Maker had taken him—it was Red Lotus.
Half an hour ago, Ke Mingqing could never have imagined such a thing happening.
Now, he had been hauled off to Old Jingmai Port in the north. The area was remote and deserted, home only to a cold, black lighthouse.
Night had already fallen. Red Lotus landed in the observation room at the very top of the lighthouse, and the Wind and Fire Wheels ground to a halt.
Then, she turned to look outside, watching as coils of red silk reeled Ke Mingqing in through the window.
Currently playing the role of White Jack, Ke Mingqing raised his hollow eyes and looked around in resignation.
The space was unexpectedly clean and warm, and the breeze through the window carried the damp scent of the ocean.
Two candles sat on a desk. Behind it was a clean bed with a folded blue quilt, alongside a bookshelf lined with adorable cartoon picture books.
Ke Mingqing thought to himself as he turned his head, peering out through the observation room's open door to see a spiral staircase.
A moment later, Red Lotus manipulated the Huntian Ling, loosening her hold on Ke Mingqing slightly before slowly lowering him into the wooden chair across the table.
With a wave of her right hand, she instantly lit the candles on the table.
With a soft rustle, the dim room lit up. The sun had almost completely sunk into the sea. In that dark blue world, seagulls flew past, and the brightly lit lighthouse cast a faint glow outward, illuminating feathers drifting in the wind.
The candlelight illuminated Ke Mingqing's face. Using his Disguiser Talent, he still maintained the appearance of White Jack: a torn, scarred mouth and hollow, abyssal eyes.
Holding the Fire-Tipped Spear, Red Lotus leaned against the windowsill to catch the sea breeze, the hair at her temples swaying gently. After a while, she suddenly spoke.
"White Jack, it's not just your temperament that's different today. Even your tone of voice isn't as detestable as usual."
She paused, then teased,
"What's wrong? You can't act naturally when you have to take the stage yourself? It seems you really aren't as bad as I thought."
"I am an undisputed, unadulterated bad seed, Miss Red Lotus," Ke Mingqing said. He paused. "And honestly, I have a hundred ways to escape you."
"Then why aren't you leaving?" Red Lotus shot him a sidelong glance. "Why don't you just turn into a puff of smoke and drift away like you usually do?"
"It's not that I won't leave. I just don't have anything better to do right now, so I'm playing along... White Jack likes to play with others," Ke Mingqing said.
He was lying. In reality, after being bound by the Huntian Ling, Ke Mingqing realized he couldn't use the vast majority of his skills. Anything cast directly through his own body was blocked.
But the Gate of Truth still worked, as it relied on an external medium. He had already summoned a paper doll the moment Red Lotus appeared.
Right now, the little paper doll was crouching in Ke Mingqing's palm, hugging its knees and peering at the outside world through the gaps in his fingers.
If push came to shove, Ke Mingqing could use Plato's Allegory of the Cave to temporarily escape. Without the Huntian Ling holding him down, running away would be much easier.
Ke Mingqing was genuinely curious about what kind of scheme Third Sister was brewing. Since he was bored anyway, and he had a Theater Puppet covering for him at home, playing along a bit longer wouldn't cause any disasters.
Just then, a super-human species panel popped up before his eyes.
[Kuroki Hitomi: Are you okay? I saw the news. It said you were taken by Red Lotus.]
[Ke Mingqing: I'm fine.]
"Alright, alright, you're just choosing not to leave. Should I thank you for staying to keep me company, then?" Red Lotus asked.
"I'm just curious about what exactly you want from me, Miss Xia Ningzhi," Ke Mingqing countered. "If it's clues regarding that fire, didn't I already give them to you? Why go to such great lengths to tie me up?"
"To stop you from kidnapping my family or continuing to run amok out there, I had no choice but to lock you up first." Red Lotus sat down. "Got a problem with that?"
"What problem could I possibly have?"
Ke Mingqing let out a faint sigh. He looked up, staring straight into the deep crimson eyes behind her mask.
"Did you know? Back when I was a summer volunteer, I met an old grandpa here. He lived in this lighthouse," Red Lotus said. "After he passed away, I cleaned this place up and turned it into my own secret base."
She paused and suddenly sighed.
"When I was in ninth grade, I got into a fight with my dad and ran away from home. I slept in this lighthouse bedroom for a night, falling asleep all alone while listening to the sound of the sea. My dad didn't even come looking for me. His head was completely filled with police station business."
Ke Mingqing lowered his head, silently staring at his ghastly white fingers. "Please don't tell me things I already know, Miss Red Lotus."
"Oh? Do you really already know?"
Xia Ningzhi enunciated every syllable as she took off her metal mask, staring mockingly into his eyes.
"Are you truly that omniscient?"
Ke Mingqing felt a bit awkward looking at his older sister's face. He averted his gaze and said, "On the day you ran away from home, did you see a crow after you woke up in this lighthouse?"
Xia Ningzhi froze.
She thought for a moment before giving a gentle nod. "Now that you mention it, I think I did see a crow resting on the windowsill."
Ke Mingqing shrugged and asked another question.
"Let me ask you something else. Had you already become Red Lotus back then?"
"Not yet." Xia Ningzhi shook her head. Her expression suddenly changed. "Wait, do you mean..."
"That's right. On the day you ran away in ninth grade, your father actually did come looking for you," Ke Mingqing said. "The crow you saw when you woke up was the proof."
Xia Ningzhi fell abruptly silent. She backed away step by step, her expression shifting rapidly.
"Have you seriously not figured it out yet?" Ke Mingqing looked up, locking eyes with her. "Why does your father always disappear so suddenly? Why is there always a crow or two perched on the utility poles near your home, when none of the other houses in the neighborhood have that issue?"
At that moment, realization finally dawned on Xia Ningzhi.
The sea breeze blew past. The spark of fire in her eyes flickered like a candle about to go out.
A moment later, she raised her dark eyes and spoke in a daze.
"He's... Rain Crow?"
"Who else?" Ke Mingqing was expressionless. "Oh, and as a matter of fact, I already warned you about this a month ago, but you didn't seem to take it to heart."
"Impossible!" Xia Ningzhi cut him off.
Furrowing her brows, she muttered to herself, "My old man is just a muggle police uncle who likes to smoke and slack off at work! He only plays a disappearing act because he likes being alone!"
"Even though his coworkers complain that he never does anything and always vanishes during active cases, everyone actually really respects him..."
But as she spoke, her words slowed. Her tightly knit brows gradually relaxed, her gaze turned hollow, and the disbelief on her face only grew.
"Besides, if he really was Rain Crow, there's no way he could have hidden it from us for all these years. He couldn't possibly..."
As more memories rushed into her mind, they only seemed to confirm the thought in her head. By the end, she couldn't utter a single word, though her lips still parted in a slight quiver.
"How could this be...? Why? How could... the old man be Rain Crow?"
Ke Mingqing sighed. "Stop exercising your family's traditional spirit of self-deception. If he isn't Rain Crow, then how do you explain tailing Ke Mingwei a month ago, only to lose track of him?"
He tilted his head. "Could an ordinary person really shake you off like that?"
"My dad... really is Rain Crow?" Xia Ningzhi finally murmured after a long pause.
"Yes."
Rain Crow.
Rain Crow...
Rain Crow?
Xia Ningzhi's mind was a complete mess. She felt the image of that gloomy, eerie man, much like a crow, gradually merge with the figure of Ke Mingwei. Their deep gazes were exactly the same.
A moment later, however, Xia Ningzhi seemed to think of something amusing. The gloom on her face vanished in an instant. Her cheeks puffed out as she slapped the table and burst out laughing.
"So wait, wait! That day when he bought his own fan T-shirts and brought them home, making A'Qing and Big Brother wear them?! Holy crap, I never knew Dad had a side like that!"
Ke Mingqing felt a drop of sweat run down his face.
She truly was Third Sister, he thought. One second ago, she had been wallowing in gloom, acting as if her worldview had sustained a shock on par with the national football team winning the World Cup. The very next second, she had cheerfully accepted the truth and was happily mocking Crow Man's embarrassing moments.
"Oh, I don't constantly monitor your family affairs, Miss Red Lotus," Ke Mingqing said in a stilted, dubbed tone. "But I can tell you for a fact that our terrifying Crow Man is just an incredibly repressed show-off."
Xia Ningzhi was still laughing, tears welling in her eyes. Clutching her stomach, she hammered the table so hard the candle flames flickered wildly. It took her a long time to finally take a deep breath and force herself to look serious.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. But if my old man really is Rain Crow, that's just too funny! He actually took us to the Hero Company to check out his own portrait... Are you kidding me?"
After a while, she shook her head and gave a thumbs up.
"If superheroes had a competition for who was the most secretly ridiculous, I would absolutely bring the whole family to cast our votes for the old man."
Ke Mingqing sniffled. The sea was very cold after nightfall, and he let out a sneeze.
"So, did A'Qing inherit his ability from the old man?" Xia Ningzhi mused with a tilted head, looking up at Ke Mingqing. "I was just wondering why he'd awakened an ability."
Ke Mingqing's face twitched slightly.
He said, "I must clarify one point. Ke Mingqing is an adopted son. How could he possibly inherit your old man's genetics? Miss Red Lotus, your most pressing priority should be a trip to the hospital to check your intellect."
"Oh, is it a crime to get mixed up?" Xia Ningzhi huffed. "A'Qing has been with our family for so many years, who still sees him as an adopted son? An illegitimate child is more like it!"
Ke Mingqing tilted his head back, taking a deep breath and resting the back of his head against the chair. Third Sister truly was something else, he thought. Getting into an argument with her brought zero benefits; it would only make him so mad he'd suffer internal injuries.
"So, my dad actually knows about A'Qing's identity?"
"No, he still doesn't know."
"Oh, right. If he knew, how could he possibly let A'Qing get dragged into his feud with Clock Maker!"
Xia Ningzhi nodded repeatedly, looking as if a massive weight had just been lifted off her chest.
She paused, then shook her head again. "No, wait, isn't that even worse?! The old man actually used an innocent child he didn't know as bait to draw out Clock Maker?"
Ke Mingqing nodded. "Yes. Rain Crow is just a terribly, terribly awful person. I, White Jack, can testify to that."
"Anyone can talk bad about my old man, except you!" Xia Ningzhi suddenly snapped.
"Why?" Ke Mingqing asked. "Does White Jack not have human rights?"
"It's just not allowed."
"Alright then. I have a piece of good news for you."
"What good news?"
"I sent a message to one of your family members, telling him to meet me here." Ke Mingqing yawned, smacking his lips and speaking offhandedly. "I suggest you leave immediately. Otherwise, if they find out that you've been keeping in touch with me, and that you're even playing shady bondage games in a place like this, do you know what the outcome will be?"
Xia Ningzhi froze, then asked suspiciously, "Which family member?"
"Either your dad, your little sister, or your little brother." Ke Mingqing quickly listed them out; after all, those were the only three identities Xia Ningzhi knew of.
Xia Ningzhi thought about it and said seriously, "You didn't tell my dad, did you?"
Ke Mingqing nodded. "Yes, Miss Red Lotus... Imagine this: Ke Mingwei once came here looking for you when you ran away in ninth grade. If he were to walk over right now and discover that this lighthouse is actually Red Lotus's secret base, what kind of expression do you think he'd make?"
He paused. "Plus, if he figures out that you're a mythic vessel, your plan to elope with your little sister goes right down the drain."
Xia Ningzhi stared blankly for a second, then frowned.
"I haven't even confirmed that he's Rain Crow yet... Don't try to scare me. I'm not going to just let you go, so give up."
Ke Mingqing sighed. Idiots truly had their own idiotic stubbornness, he thought.
"Fine. The person I actually called over is Mr. Blue Pigeon," he corrected himself.
"Why would you call my little brother?" Xia Ningzhi asked, puzzled.
"Doesn't that work out perfectly? Your little brother's room is empty now. You can take this chance to fly back and see what exactly is on his bookshelf," Ke Mingqing said with a shrug. "That way, you won't have to keep acting so paranoid every day, wearing yourself out from the inside."
Xia Ningzhi lowered her eyes and remained silent for a moment. Her gaze flickered. Even when she found out Ke Mingwei was Rain Crow, she had never shown an expression like this.
"White Jack... Can't you just tell me straight?" She looked up and asked softly, "Did I kill my little brother's parents or not?"
"There are some things you have to face yourself in order to grow up."
Ke Mingqing turned his head, staring blankly at the boundless sea. "Don't force your troubles onto me."
Xia Ningzhi lowered her eyes.
A heavy quietness fell over the lighthouse. She remained silent for a long time before speaking.
"Actually, I ask myself too: 'Xia Ningzhi, Xia Ningzhi, are you an idiot? Why care so much? Maybe your little brother already forgot. He doesn't even care who started that fire and burned his dear mom and dad to death...'"
She spoke softly, turning her head away as a bitter smile formed on her lips. "But I really am just that stupid. Sometimes, it's just so hard to step out of the past... And besides, I don't have a future anymore."
With her last word, she undid the Huntian Ling binding Ke Mingqing.
"For telling me my old man's secret, I'll let you go."
Xia Ningzhi opened her mouth, then suddenly let out a low chuckle.
"I actually just wanted to escape for a bit and find someone to pour my heart out to. That's why I tied you up and brought you here to chat with me. Sorry about that, White Jack."
Ke Mingqing looked down at the red silk draped across the floor. He stayed silent for a moment before speaking.
"It's true that you might not have a past worth praising, and your future might be nothing but a blank slate, but at least you still have the present... If you keep agonizing over things you can't see, you'll end up losing the seconds and minutes you can actually grasp. If I were you, I would take this chance to bid them a proper farewell."
He spoke very softly, as if he didn't know whether he was talking to himself or to the red-eyed girl sitting across the table.
Xia Ningzhi stared blankly for a moment, as if she couldn't believe such words had come from the mouth of this weirdo.
By the time she looked up a moment later, Ke Mingqing had already leaped from the windowsill.
The ghastly white figure plummeted from the very top of the lighthouse into the sea, dispersing into a sweeping fog.
Ke Mingqing's true body couldn't transform into lingering smoke, of course, but he had used the E-grade skill, Mist of Loss, to lightly obscure Third Sister's vision.
Xia Ningzhi stared blankly out the window until the purple mist covering the sea finally faded. Only then did she pat her cheeks, her lips curling into a slight smile as she sent him a message on her phone.
[Red Lotus: Since when did I know a smartass like you could say something so conscientious? But thank you... I've thought it through.]
...
...
Meanwhile, in another corner of the world.
Ke Mingwei walked into the apartment building, his police jacket draped over his shoulders and a gloomy expression on his face.
Walking through the dimly lit entrance hall, he unlocked his phone and suddenly saw a text from an anonymous user.
[Anonymous User: Commander Lin Yin is the real mole. He was brainwashed by Clock Maker —Your good friend, White Jack.]