Chapter 265: Taking a Sharp Turn, The Family Showdown (1)

After Xia Ningzhi left, White Jack's body burned to ashes in the Samadhi True Fire. Once he died, the flames didn't spread; they simply died out in silence.

The lighthouse was dead silent. A sea breeze blew through the observation room, leaving the space in complete disarray.

Meanwhile, in another corner of the world, inside the Xia-Ke family's old apartment building.

Ke Mingqing sat on the toilet in the bathroom, pulled a pair of pitch-black sunglasses from his Item Inventory, and put them on.

A red dot blinked on the map displayed right before his eyes. It was moving at such high speed that, at a rough estimate, a fighter jet wouldn't even be able to catch it.

That's right. The exact second he had used Nietzsche's "Eternal Recurrence" to forcibly pull Xia Ningzhi back inside the lighthouse, White Jack had pulled the Tracking Sunglasses from its Item Inventory and pressed the button on top.

Just like that, it immediately locked onto Xia Ningzhi's location.

[D Rank item Tracking Sunglasses has locked onto the location of the super-human species Red Lotus. For the next two hours, the map on the sunglasses will continuously report the target's location.]

Stunned, Ke Mingqing stared at the map on his sunglasses, watching the red dot racing wildly across the ocean.

"That's too fast. Is Third Sister usually this fast? Isn't this a bit too exaggerated..." he muttered. "It seems mythic vessels and Espers are similar in that regard—both have a chance to undergo an explosive power surge after major emotional stimulation."

After a long while, he took off the sunglasses and returned them to his Item Inventory.

He flushed the toilet, washed his hands, and walked out of the bathroom, absentmindedly sitting down at the kitchen dining table.

Picking up shrimp tempura and salt-grilled salmon with his chopsticks and moving them to his bowl, he thought, 'Here comes the problem. The map has two hours left. Is there anyone who can intercept Third Sister halfway?'

'No, even the old man couldn't stop Third Sister; the Wind and Fire Wheels are no joke. If Zeus mobilized from New York right now, could he catch up to her in two hours?'

'With the speed of the world's number one superhero, crossing a continent in two hours should be doable.'

'What am I thinking? Never mind whether Zeus could catch her—what if he catches up and just kills her straight away?'

'Mom?'

As his thoughts reached this point, Ke Mingqing slightly turned his head, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Xia Wenna's back as she hummed a song and washed the dishes.

'If it were Mom, she'd definitely have a way to catch up to Third Sister.'

'No, I can't go to Mom either. There's no way she'd risk exposing her identity to help. In that alien's eyes, family doesn't even exist.'

'Oh right, there's also my little sister!'

Ke Mingqing suddenly realized, raising his eyebrows with his chopsticks still in his mouth. 'My little sister is currently in her Half-Witch Form. If she uses that umbrella of hers, she should have a chance to catch up to Third Sister's Wind and Fire Wheels... Although it isn't stable enough, it's the only way to stop her.'

Just as he thought this, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from the stairs. He looked up and immediately saw Xia Zili slowly walking down from the top floor in her pajamas.

He locked eyes with Xia Zili, quickly put his chopsticks down on the table, and rapidly got up to walk over to her, grabbing her wrist without making a sound.

"Come with me," Ke Mingqing said in a low voice. "Mom can't hear about this."

Xia Zili didn't speak. She just shook off his hand, but he immediately grabbed it again, dragging her into the stairwell without a word. In the living room, Ke Mingwei, leaning against the wall and smoking a cigarette, noticed this and slightly furrowed his brows.

In the pitch-black stairwell, the brother and sister leaned against the wall and stopped.

"What are you doing?" Xia Zili asked after a brief silence.

"Can you help me find Third Sister? She's in danger right now." Ke Mingqing stared into her eyes. "White Jack told me her location. We only have two hours—actually, one hour and fifty-five minutes to be exact. You're the only one who can catch up to her Wind and Fire Wheels."

"White Jack again?" Xia Zili frowned.

"Yeah."

Xia Zili thought for a moment.

"Who exactly is he? Also, what happened to Third Sister? Did you just say... the Wind and Fire Wheels?"

Ke Mingqing was at a loss for words, instantly falling silent.

He only just realized he hadn't yet told Xia Zili that Third Sister was Red Lotus. He scratched his head, feeling a headache coming on. A wave of frustration washed over him as he thought, 'There's way too much to explain.'

But there wasn't much time left, and right now his mind was a tangled mess.

The next moment, just as he was about to speak, a voice suddenly came from outside the stairwell.

"What are you two talking about?"

Ke Mingqing and Xia Zili turned their heads simultaneously to see Ke Mingwei approaching. Their old father wore a very stern expression; it seemed he had overheard what they were just discussing.

"Nothing." Ke Mingqing shook his head. "Just chatting with her casually."

"I heard you say you wanted to have Xiao Li chase after someone," Ke Mingwei said in a deep voice, crossing his arms. "But Xiao Li can't leave here right now."

"Why not?"

"Xi Ziyue is keeping an eye on the magic flow in this block. If Xiao Li leaves, the Magical Girl Three Giants will immediately determine that a witch is trying to escape. It's obvious what would happen after that. I don't recommend making enemies of them at a time like this."

Ke Mingqing froze, only just realizing this incredibly simple problem.

Indeed, forcing Xia Zili to go out at this juncture would only cause bigger trouble. Forget about his missing second and third sisters—forming a grudge with the Magical Girl Three Giants would just add another massive headache to the family's plate. The situation would devolve into utter chaos.

"I was too anxious. How could I forget something so simple?" Ke Mingqing took a deep breath.

Xia Zili kept her head lowered, her pitch-black bangs covering her eyes. It was a long while before she raised her hollow gaze.

"Did you hear that?" she said in a low voice. "Go find her yourself. Third Sister is so easy to coax. Don't ask a witch to help you." With that, she turned and walked out of the stairwell.

"So, what's the situation?" Ke Mingwei asked, shifting his gaze away from Xia Zili's retreating back.

Ke Mingqing let out a deep sigh. He leaned dejectedly against the wall, clutching his pants as he fell deep into thought.

'Although the old man's speed is faster than most A Ranks, he's far too slow compared to the Wind and Fire Wheels.'

'His strong suit is real-time calculation and predicting the future; getting him to bring Third Sister back is practically impossible.'

'There's no way Xi Ziyue would listen to me and leave Leijing to help me find someone.'

'Then who else could it be?'

'Who can help me intercept Third Sister?'

Right then, a sudden sound of flowing water rang out.

Ke Mingqing blanked for a moment. It was the WeChat notification sound he had just changed to, so he pulled his phone out of his pocket and took a look.

[Ke Linye: I found out that the last signal emitted from A'zhi's phone was at Old Jingmai Port. Do you want to go check it out with me?]

Looking at this message, Ke Mingqing immediately fell silent.

He hadn't expected Xia Ningzhi to simply leave her communication devices in the lighthouse. It seemed she was dead set on not letting anyone else find her.

[Ke Mingqing: Coming.]

After sending the message, Ke Mingqing looked up at Ke Mingwei. "Old man, I have some things to take care of. Just look after my little sister for now."

With that said, he turned, walked out of the stairwell, and headed toward the entryway.

Ke Mingwei originally wanted to chase after him, but he was stopped by Xia Wenna's sharp, cold glare. It seemed his punishment period wasn't over yet.

Ke Mingqing knew there was likely no way to intercept Third Sister anymore; Xia Ningzhi had completely entered China's uninhabited regions. So, after putting on his sneakers and heading out the door, he hailed a taxi on the street.

On the taxi ride to Old Jingmai, he took a glance at the forum.

Sure enough, with the announcement of the Red Name Player Jin Chengwu achieving the first S Rank kill spreading among the player base, the forum had now completely blown up.

[A forum post by the player with the ID Fanquan regarding Red Name Player Jin Chengwu's first S Rank kill: Does anyone who stayed in Leijing during the Terminus Night incident have any clues? Or if there are any internal members of the Magical Girl Company, do you know who killed the Witch of Despair at that time? I suspect the Red Name Player might have disguised himself as a super-human species, which is why the players who went to Leijing during the month-long siege failed to discover him.]

[Qing Meng (Current IP: Japan): Oh, fuck. I know who this Jin Chengwu is.]

[Pianzhi (Current IP: Japan): Who is it? Who is it?]

[Orange Peel (Current IP: Japan): Stop keeping the other players in suspense. We didn't actually see anything.]

[The Family's Black Cat (Current IP: Japan): I think it's better not to talk nonsense without evidence. After all, none of us saw the situation up in Terminus Night.]

[The Family's Black Cat (Current IP: Japan): Even taking a huge step back, if we really did see Jin Chengwu, then he definitely saw us too. He managed to kill an S Rank super-human species; why wouldn't he be able to finish us off?]

[Fanquan (Current IP: United States): Going by that logic, isn't the possibility of you guys cooperating with this Red Name Player even higher?]

Ke Mingqing silently glanced at the name The Family's Black Cat and closed the forum.

"So stupid. Honestly, it doesn't matter even if you do expose my identity," he said softly, keeping his head down. "But since it hasn't been exposed yet, I'll be able to join the Roundtable with the old man, and my future plans will be a lot simpler."

Not long after, at Old Jingmai Port.

A flock of snow-white seagulls flew over the ocean, scattering pristine white feathers toward the wooden cabins at the port, their wings rustling in the sunlight. At this moment, the two brothers, Ke Mingqing and Ke Linye, were standing by the sea.

Ke Mingqing raised his eyes to gaze at the pitch-black lighthouse in the distance, while Ke Linye leaned over the port's railing, silently staring up at the crystal-clear azure sky.

The two hadn't been out of the lighthouse's observation room for long, but all they had found inside was a single cell phone belonging to Xia Ningzhi. The SIM card had been destroyed, and the phone's data had been wiped clean. Xia Ningzhi hadn't left a single clue.

Aside from that, the observation room only held a bed burned down to its frame and a few photos stuck to the wall. Having been scorched by the Samadhi True Fire, those blackened scraps of paper could hardly even be called photos anymore.

The crashing of the tide against the port rustled constantly. The expressions on the two brothers' faces were a bit complicated.

After a while, Ke Linye suddenly spoke. "On your way here, White Jack sent me a message."

"What did it say?" Ke Mingqing asked casually.

"It said Ah Xue is also a mythic vessel. And you know how mythic vessels are—once they evolve to a certain level, they lose control," Ke Linye said slowly.

Ke Mingqing remained silent for a moment. "So?"

Ke Linye took a deep breath, lightly tapping his fingers against the railing. "The only way for a mythic vessel to maintain its sanity is to devour another mythic vessel. Furthermore, it must be a mythic vessel that has evolved to its final stage and summoned its 'manifestation'."

"'Manifestation'?" Ke Mingqing asked, though he already knew the answer. "Like the Fire Giant Surtr that intercepted the nuclear bomb in Leijing City Center on the day the Clock Maker arrived?"

"Exactly." Ke Linye nodded. "White Jack said that mythic vessel is Ah Xue." Saying this, he pinched his chin with his hand. "Actually, I was wondering about that at the time too... why it was such a coincidence. When the nuke fell, Ah Xue happened to be in the City Center, and that mythic vessel was also in the City Center. Yet, as an Enforcer, Ah Xue didn't take action against it."

"Holy fuck. Second Sister is actually a mythic vessel." Ke Mingqing couldn't even be bothered to pretend to look surprised.

Ke Linye fell silent for a moment. "We don't have much time. Regardless of whether White Jack is telling the truth or not, there's one thing we have to do, and that's finding Ah Xue."

"I thought you were going to say we should find Third Sister first... After all, White Jack said Second Sister's goal is to let Third Sister devour her. In that case, as long as we find Third Sister, we can just sit back and wait for her to come to us."

Ke Mingqing was gently guiding him. He also didn't know if there was some strange individual within his older brother's network who could bring Xia Ningzhi back.

Unfortunately, Ke Linye sighed and said, "White Jack sent a text saying it could track A'zhi for two hours, but to be honest, once A'zhi steps onto the Wind and Fire Wheels, I have no idea who can catch up to her."

He suddenly froze for a second, his eyes lighting up. "Wait, maybe Xi Ziyue can? She has the Space-Time Train; she could intercept A'zhi halfway."

Ke Mingqing shook his head decisively.

"No, there is absolutely no way Xi Ziyue would leave Leijing at a time like this."

"Why not?" Ke Linye looked up, staring at him in confusion.

Ke Mingqing looked at him like he was looking at an idiot. "What a stupid question. Bro, has your memory gotten this bad?"

The two brothers stared at each other silently as the ocean waves rustled.

"What are you referring to?" Ke Linye tilted his head after a moment.

"Damn, did you already forget that your own little sister almost destroyed half of Leijing a few days ago after Witchification?" Ke Mingqing was astounded.

"Oh, right..." Ke Linye realized. "Xi Ziyue has to stay in Leijing to keep an eye on Xiao Li. And right now, it's not just Xi Ziyue—the other two of the Three Giants couldn't possibly leave the City Center rashly. If Xiao Li ends up Becoming a Witch again, they'll have to take full responsibility."

"Right, exactly. So, can you think of anyone else who can catch up to Third Sister?" Ke Mingqing bumped his head against the railing, his eyes lowered as he looked at the ocean.

Ke Linye thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. "No one."

He paused. "Right now, we can only gather intelligence for the time being. Since we can't catch A'zhi, maybe we can start with Ah Xue. As long as we can talk some sense into Ah Xue and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid, that will be enough."

Ke Mingqing took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "Alright. To tell the truth, we'll have to rely on the old man's connections to figure out Second Sister's situation. After all, among the people we know, only a Roundtable Hero has the clearance to contact the Control Bureau."

"Right. If it's the old man, finding out the current status of a certain S Rank Enforcer shouldn't be too hard." Ke Linye turned around, resting both his arms on the railing, and let out a soft sigh.

Ke Mingqing turned his head, staring at his face. "So in short, we go lay our cards on the table with the old man first, and make both yours and Second Sister's identities clear?"

"Yeah."

Ke Linye gave a hum of agreement. He remained silent for a moment before suddenly pulling a pitch-black owl mask out of his trench coat pocket. "After dragging it out for so long... it's about time I made these things clear to him."