Chapter 263: Xia Ningzhi, the Truth Behind the Fire

Five minutes ago, on the second floor of the old Xia-Ke family house.

Xia Ningzhi was walking absentmindedly up the stairs when, a second later, she suddenly hunched over like a secret agent and pressed her head against the banister.

'What is A'Qing doing? Sneaking around like that... did Xiao Li wake up?'

She wondered, squinting and tilting her head as she curiously observed the figure standing still in the hallway. A moment later, Ke Mingqing took a deep breath, turned the doorknob, and stepped into Xia Zili's room.

Only after the wooden door closed from view did Xia Ningzhi quietly climb the rest of the way to the second floor.

With a lingering sense of guilt, she clasped her hands behind her back and turned her head toward Ke Mingqing's bedroom.

The door was open. A ray of sunlight spilled in from the bedroom's floor-to-ceiling windows, piercing through the cracks of the world to illuminate her eyes and drag her shadow long and far across the floor.

Lowering her head, she clutched her chest. She could feel her heart pounding, as if ten thousand tiny people were tap-dancing across its surface.

Ever since White Jack told her that clues to the "Anhe District fire" were in Ke Mingqing's bedroom, she had lost count of how many times she had frozen in this exact spot.

Every time she tried to talk herself into entering, she would eventually find an excuse to run away. Over time, her younger brother's bedroom had become akin to a demon-suppressing pagoda imprisoning some peerless monster.

But this time was different. Xia Ningzhi had made up her mind.

'If I run away again, I'll use the Samadhi True Fire to burn White Jack's ass hair clean off and give him a free beauty treatment!' she thought.

Mimicking Ke Mingqing from a few seconds prior, she stood in place and took a deep breath. Then, opening her eyes, she swaggered into his room, striding with great purpose and overwhelming bravado.

Then her demeanor instantly shifted. She hunched over, tucked her head in, and carefully closed the door behind her.

"I'm just going into my brother's room. Why does it feel so taboo? This is bad, really bad..."

She bared her teeth, then remembered to crack the door open a sliver. She squeezed her head through the gap and stealthily scanned the hallway. Only after making sure there were no witnesses did she shut the door again.

"Okay, totally safe! I'll just grab the stuff, then go check on Xiao Li..." Xia Ningzhi muttered softly, gently patting her chest to calm down.

She could faintly hear voices coming from the next room, so she murmured, "It's so quiet, there shouldn't be any problems next door... Xiao Li will be healthy, Xiao Li will live to a hundred, and if she doesn't have enough years, we'll just fill the gap with eldest brother's lifespan..."

A moment later, the girl with the bun gathered her courage. She walked over to the bookshelf, lowered her eyes, and flipped through the books one by one.

Ke Mingqing's bookshelf was mostly filled with comic books and a few film and television magazines. He had also bought many issues of Zhiyin Manke and God Comics, though the latter had not released a new issue in a long time.

Suddenly, Xia Ningzhi spotted a box in the corner of the second shelf. It was hidden behind two thick books in a blind spot; she never would have noticed it if she had not been looking closely.

"This should be it, right?"

Xia Ningzhi hesitated for a moment before reaching out and taking the box down from the shelf.

She stared at the rusty iron box, her head buzzing as if seared by a branding iron. Her ears flushed red, and hot sweat slowly trickled down her forehead.

Xia Ningzhi patted her cheeks to pump herself up and whispered, "It's fine, it's fine... It must be a false alarm. Eldest brother said A'Qing knows I'm Red Lotus. If the fire that killed his parents was really caused by me, how could A'Qing still treat me so well?"

That was right. If she had not learned that from her eldest brother, she probably never would have found the courage to take this step in her entire life.

She refused to believe that A'Qing would still treat her normally after learning she was the murderer who killed his biological parents. Therefore, she was absolutely certain the culprit named in the file would not be her.

Even so, she would not be satisfied until she saw it with her own eyes. When she was little, Ke Mingwei had said her curiosity was like a cat's—she would never rest until she popped the balloon.

Before long, Xia Ningzhi opened the lid. Inside the box, she found a slightly yellowed file. Stuck to its cover was a label that read: "Anhe District Fire Incident Data."

She froze for a moment. Taking the file out of the box, she sat on the bed and began to flip through it. The first few pages only recorded the location and scale of the fire, as well as the approximate number of victims.

A short while later, she turned to a blurry photograph.

The background of the photo was a sea of flames. Crowds fled down a long street, and a child had fallen to the ground, reaching out a hand and wailing. Then, Xia Ningzhi suddenly noticed a naked girl suspended in midair. She was stepping on a pair of wheels that flickered with fire, her face and body largely obscured by the shifting flames.

At that moment, Xia Ningzhi's clear pupils slightly contracted, reflecting the firelit wheels in the photo.

The bedroom fell completely silent.

Time seemed to freeze. For a long time, she could not tear her gaze away from the photograph, her eyes glued firmly to those blurry wheels.

Without a doubt, she was the person in this world most familiar with those wheels. Because of that, she naturally understood—on that day ten years ago, who could the girl stepping on the Wind and Fire Wheels in the sky possibly be?

As her thoughts reached this point, Xia Ningzhi crumpled the pages of the file. Like a kite with a snapped string, she stumbled two steps backward.

A moment later, she subconsciously tilted her head and forced a stiff smile. "This has to be a trick by White Jack," she muttered to herself. "Right, it must be White Jack's trick... Otherwise, why wouldn't A'Qing come to confront me after learning I'm Red Lotus?"

"A'Qing can be so mean. When we were little, if I stole a popsicle from him, he'd scold me for half the day. If I really killed his... parents..." As she spoke, Xia Ningzhi's legs suddenly gave out. By the time she snapped back to her senses, she was already kneeling on the floor, her vacant gaze still fixed on the crumpled photograph. In the darkness, a trace of red flickered dimly in her pupils.

"Why is it me..."

She hugged her chest tightly, as if trying to snap her own ribs. Her body trembled faintly like she was having a stroke, and her face was hidden behind her drooping bangs. "Why did it have to be me... Does A'Qing already know? If he's known for a long time, why didn't he tell me? Is it just because I'm his older sister that he's been forcing himself to endure it without blaming me? Why... A'Qing..."

She gritted her teeth.

A streak of liquid fell through the air and dripped onto the floor.

Xia Ningzhi remained perfectly still, silently staring at the wet patch on the floorboards.

After sitting in a daze for a long time, she finally wiped the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand. "Yeah, I'll go ask A'Qing. Maybe this is just a prank by White Jack?"

Wiping her tears, she murmured, "Alright, didn't my university professor just tell me? Women destined for good lives don't eat themselves up inside; good women should just go crazy..."

The girl with the bun forced a faint smile, but the corners of her mouth kept pulling downward uncontrollably. No matter how much she rubbed her cheeks, her tears continued to fall.

They streaked down her face and pooled at her jaw into bead-sized drops, splashing onto the floor with a pitter-patter.

Xia Ningzhi's face twitched slightly. A second later, wiping her chin with the back of her hand and clutching the file close, she pressed her forehead to the ground and began to weep silently.

She did not know how much time had passed when she suddenly heard a door open in the hallway. Startled, she quickly pulled herself together.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly climbed off the floor with the file in her arms. She wiped the tears clean from her face, turned the doorknob, and stepped briskly into the corridor, inching toward the top of the stairs step by step.

'Don't look at me.'

'Don't notice me.'

'Please... don't look at me.'

"Third Sister?" Ke Mingqing suddenly turned his head, staring unblinkingly at her face.

Xia Ningzhi froze in place, dumbstruck.

A moment later, she turned her head to quietly look at her younger brother's face with slightly red eyes, her gaze evasive. With both hands hiding the file behind her back, she retreated step by step.

'An excuse.'

'I need to think of an excuse.'

'An excuse.'

'An excuse.'

"A'Qing... my stomach doesn't feel too good. Whatever it is, we can talk about it later," Xia Ningzhi said, squeezing a stiff smile onto her face. "Bye... bye!"

Ke Mingqing was momentarily stunned. Before he could even open his mouth, Xia Ningzhi had already bolted for the stairs. Grabbing the handrail, she fled downward, her footsteps thudding heavily against the steps.

He leaned against the handrail and shouted, "Third Sister, are you alright?!"

'An excuse.'

'Think fast.'

'An excuse.'

"I'm fine, I'm fine! It's just that time of the month for girls! You boys stop worrying blindly, it's embarrassing!" After speaking, Xia Ningzhi reached the bottom of the stairs and hurried across the living room, fighting back her tears.

"A'zhi, it's almost time to eat." Ke Mingwei turned his head from the kitchen and cast a glance at her back.

'An excuse.'

'An excuse.'

'An excuse.'

"Got it, Dad, I'm going to the supermarket to buy something first..." Xia Ningzhi walked into the dim entryway, covering her cheek with her hand. Her voice carried a hoarse, tearful sob.

The girl with the bun moved through the shadows. She had barely slipped her foot halfway into one sandal before she twisted her ankle. In the end, she simply grabbed the other sandal in her hand and dashed out into the sunlight beyond the door without looking back.

Then, as if burnt away by the blazing light, her figure disappeared at the corner of the street.

Twenty minutes later, in the living room at home.

Ke Mingqing sat silently on the sofa, staring unblinkingly at the chat interface on his phone screen.

[Ke Mingqing: Sis, did you take something from the bookshelf in my room?]

This message had been frozen on the screen for a long time, but Xia Ningzhi was taking forever to reply. At this moment, Ke Mingqing felt as anxious as a little virgin whose love letter had accidentally been picked up by his crush.

"Time to eat."

Ke Mingwei spoke as he took off his apron and casually tossed it onto the sofa. He sat down next to Ke Mingqing. "Try your old man's cooking. It's been years since I've made a meal."

Ke Mingqing didn't say a word.

"What happened?" Ke Mingwei asked casually, fishing a cigarette case out of his pocket.

"You can go call Xia Zili down to eat," Ke Mingqing said absentmindedly.

Ke Mingwei paused and turned to stare at him, unconsciously snapping the cigarette he had just pulled from the case. "Xiao Li woke up?"

"Yeah."

Ke Mingqing nodded. "But she isn't in a very good mood. Hopefully you can talk some sense into her. Good luck."

Without hesitation, Ke Mingwei rose from the sofa and headed for the second floor.

Just then, a sudden Ding! rang out. Ke Mingqing's eyes lit up as a message suddenly triggered a Pop-up on the WeChat interface.

[Xia Ningzhi: What stuff? Your big sister is going to be staying at school for the next few days, so I can't come home. If you need anything, you can message me first, though I might not reply.]

[Xia Ningzhi: That's all!]

[Ke Mingqing: Where are you? That file might not be true, and I don't even care that much about the cause of my biological parents' deaths anyway. White Jack forced that file on me. You know what kind of person White Jack is, right? You can't trust anything he says. If you believe it, you'll be falling right into his trap. Come home first. Whatever it is, we can talk it out face-to-face.]

After Ke Mingqing sent the message, he suddenly realized something was wrong and froze slightly in place.

'Wait,' he thought. 'If my memories from my past life are fake, doesn't that mean... my biological parents really were burned to death by Third Sister?'

After a moment of silence, he cast his eyes down at the phone screen. Xia Ningzhi never replied to his message again, no matter how many more messages he added to the dead-silent interface.

The living room was completely silent. The TV was still playing the documentary History of the Superhero Roundtable Council: How No. 1 Zeus Became the Head of the Roundtable Heroes. On the screen, a blond man wearing a red-and-blue cape and a blazing white combat suit stood with his hands on his hips, laughing loudly and flashing a mouthful of bright white teeth. His voice was so grating that Ke Mingqing wanted to smash the television to pieces.

A moment later, Ke Mingqing looked up from his phone, only for a bright red notification box to suddenly Pop-up before his eyes.

[Main Quest 2 has updated to the next stage: Prevent the Divine Decree vessel "Red Lotus" from devouring the Divine Decree vessel "Fire Giant Surtr," and guide them, shifting their target to the four Divine Decree vessels of the Superhero Roundtable Council, thereby using them to destroy the Roundtable.]

"Now I understand."

Ke Mingqing was stunned. It took him a moment to recover his senses, and he murmured, "So Second Sister's plan was real. Why would this System quest appear in this worldline? No... this quest existed in the previous worldline too, but was it already too late by the time my future self triggered it?"

He rubbed his forehead and took a deep breath. "Damn... from the looks of it, what that witch said is much more credible now."

Just as he was thinking, his phone rang. Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow and quickly picked it up to take a look.

[Ke Linye: Is Xiao Li awake?]

"Fuck, why is it a message from this guy?" Ke Mingqing sighed. He leaned the back of his head against the sofa, though his hands swiftly typed on the screen to send a reply.

[Ke Mingqing: Perfect timing, bro. Emergency! Third Sister suddenly ran out of the house just now. Do you have any way to find her?]

[Ke Linye: What happened with A'zhi now?]

[Ke Linye: I just had Zorro investigate Ah Xue's whereabouts. Can't you just call her phone yourself?]

[Ke Mingqing: White Jack said he had something to contact you about, meet him at the cafe. He also said you need to put in some effort, bro, otherwise it won't just be Second Sister—Third Sister is going to disappear too.]

With the message sent, Ke Mingqing took a deep breath and closed his eyes on the sofa.

At the same time, in an empty alleyway not far away, a stark white doll slowly appeared.

Before the doll could even open its deep, hollow eyes, the top hat on its head suddenly began to spin at high speed, lifting its body into the sky like the rotor blades of a helicopter.