“The people from the Federal Bureau are here again.”
The window in the side courtyard was not fully closed, and the breeze made the curtains sway gently.
Jiang Nuan sat beside the window, her fingers still resting on the page of the book she had not finished turning. She heard the hushed discussion outside in the corridor.
“What is it this time?”
“I heard something went wrong with the Bai family’s freight convoy near the edge of the restricted zone. The Federation suspects there was something unregistered mixed in with the cargo.”
“Is the Second Young Master going again?”
“The family head specifically named him.”
Jiang Nuan raised her head and looked toward the main gate in the distance.
Several black investigation vehicles were parked outside the courtyard walls. Bai Siyuan walked out from the direction of the main residence, his face betraying nothing unusual.
He was simply walking very quickly.
So quickly that it was as if he did not want anyone to see that he had just taken on another troublesome assignment.
Bai Zhengze, the eldest son of the Bai family, was different.
On the terminal news, Bai Zhengze was standing beside Bai Suting as usual, negotiating a new supply route for the Bai family. Facing the cameras, he spoke with polished ease, as though his position as heir had long since been settled.
Whenever the staff mentioned him, their voices were filled with respect.
“The eldest young master accompanied the family head to a Federation banquet last night. I heard they secured another new route.”
“The Bai family will have to rely on the eldest young master from now on.”
“And the Second Young Master?”
“The Second Young Master… He is good at handling those troublesome matters, but when it comes to major affairs, I’m afraid he still falls a little short.”
No one in the Bai family ever said that Bai Siyuan was not good enough.
On the contrary, they constantly praised him for being clever and capable, for exceeding everyone’s expectations.
But after every compliment came another burden laid upon his shoulders—something more dangerous, more troublesome, and more unfit to be seen in the light of day.
Bai Zhengze lived in the sunlight.
Bai Siyuan, meanwhile, was pushed into every shadow no one else was willing to touch.
Yet the things delivered to the side courtyard grew more lavish by the day.
Newly made dresses, rare fruits and pastries, all kinds of books—they were sent into her room one after another.
The delicacy of those things seemed completely out of place in a post-apocalyptic world.
At first, Jiang Nuan truly believed that the Bai family simply had stricter rules than most.
At least they had not mistreated her or Bai Siyuan.
But it did not take long for her to understand.
Those benefits and privileges might never have been acts of kindness from the Bai family.
They were a way of placating Bai Siyuan, ensuring that he would continue doing the dirty work the family did not want seen.
As long as Jiang Nuan lived comfortably, he would not easily refuse Bai Suting’s arrangements.
The Bai family did not need to threaten him. They only had to let him see that Jiang Nuan had eaten well today and received something she liked the next.
Then he would willingly carry out those dangerous, secret dealings.
Yet when Bai Siyuan came to the side courtyard late at night, he still said nothing about it.
The two of them would squeeze together by the window.
She would tell him about the book she had just finished, and he would tell her about the amusing things that had happened during the day.
He told her how the Bai family’s chef had mistaken salt for sugar.
How someone had dozed off during a meeting and slammed his head against the table.
How the steward had chased a cat that stole a piece of meat halfway across the courtyard.
Jiang Nuan laughed at his stories.
Bai Siyuan would simply sit beside her and watch, the exhaustion in his eyes slowly fading away.
In those moments, it was as if they had returned to that drafty little room in the refugee district.
No matter how cold it was outside, as long as they huddled together, they could endure it.
But this was not the refugee district, and the Bai family was not a shelter from the wind and rain.
It was more like a cold, emotionless machine.
From the moment Bai Suting brought Bai Siyuan back, perhaps he had never intended to put on a show of fatherly love and filial devotion.
Bai Siyuan’s appearance would make Bai Zhengze feel threatened.
Only by feeling threatened would Bai Zhengze work even harder to prove that he was worthy of his position as heir.
And if Bai Siyuan managed to survive the open attacks and hidden schemes, the Bai family would gain another man capable of holding things together.
If he did not survive…
The Bai family would lose nothing.
Bai Suting only had to place his two sons on the same chessboard and watch them prove their worth in their own ways.
*
The Bai family was simply too large.
Bai Siyuan was indeed clever, and he worked harder than anyone else, but what he lacked was not merely time.
The experience, connections, and resources Bai Zhengze had possessed since birth were things Bai Siyuan had to obtain bit by bit through his own efforts.
Over the past year or so, his life had not become any easier merely because he was capable.
On the contrary.
The better he performed, the more the Bai family was willing to hand him difficult, troublesome matters they did not want to bring into the light.
Those people praised him for being clever and capable, but the moment they turned away, they could still erase all his efforts with a careless remark about his poor origins.
Bai Siyuan always said that things would get better after a little more time.
But how long was “a little more time”?
Three years?
Five years?
Or would they have to wait until the Bai family had drained him of everything?
Jiang Nuan watched Bai Siyuan grow thinner by the day, and a thought began to form in her heart.
She could not let her brother shoulder everything alone anymore.
She remembered the blood draws she underwent regularly in the Beacon Squad’s laboratory.
She remembered those people discussing the energy inside her body while staring at their screens.
They had said that a powerful purifying force was hidden within her.
They simply did not know how to awaken it fully.
That power might still be dormant, but it truly existed inside her.
She could even actively guide her ability, making her blood a vessel for that power.
She did not even know whether this path would succeed—or whether it would take her life first.
But at that moment, she thought of only one thing.
If her power could help her brother, she was willing to try.
And so, that day, Jiang Nuan made her decision.
She was going to meet Bai Suting.
*
[Time of death: midnight tonight.]
Qinian read that line of glaring crimson once more.
He let out a mocking laugh. “Playing tricks.”
When his voice faded, there was no response from anywhere around him.
Of course there would be no response. The two from earlier had already been burned to ash by him.
But he suddenly noticed that the streetlamp at the end of the corridor had gone out at some point. Half the campus had already sunk into darkness.
He instinctively turned aside to check the road beyond the path.
The “students” he had occasionally seen just moments ago had all vanished. The entire campus was deserted.
Qinian’s brows drew together. His first reaction was to leave.
But another thought surfaced without warning.
—It was time to return to the dormitory.
Qinian subconsciously raised his head and looked toward the dark, silent dormitory building not far away.
He stared at it for several seconds, and an eerie feeling rose within him.
Behind those lightless windows, it was as if countless pairs of eyes were watching him, waiting for him to return.
Qinian’s first reaction was rejection.
…Return to the dormitory? He had not really come here to be a freshman.
The moment that thought arose, another thought—more natural and more familiar—forced its way into his mind.
Curfew was approaching. His roommates were waiting for him.
The smile on Qinian’s face slowly froze. He lowered his head and looked at the student identification document in his hand. Flames suddenly surged from his palm, intending to burn the paper to ash.
But the flames had barely emerged before they went out.
Because that thought once again seized control of his consciousness.
He had to return to the dormitory.
Fuck.
Qinian’s eyes widened, and a layer of cold sweat instantly broke out across his back.
This was not his thought.
And yet, memories that did not belong to him kept surfacing in his mind.
What floor was the dormitory on?
What was the room number?
Would his roommate already be getting impatient waiting for him?
Every question was so absurdly irritating, yet they felt as though they had always been his own memories, becoming a part of who he was.
Qinian gritted his teeth and raised a hand to touch his terminal. He had to notify his brother and Nuannuan immediately.
But the moment his fingers brushed the terminal’s screen, the motion froze.
The terminal was right within reach, yet his fingers refused to descend.
An inexplicable resistance rose from his wrist and crept all the way up his forearm to his shoulder.
This wasn’t the right thing to do. He had to return to the dormitory first.
He lowered both hands and took a step forward with his right foot.
Cold sweat broke out across Qinian’s forehead. He instinctively tried to stop, but his body naturally followed the stronger thought in his mind and began walking toward the dormitory building.
He cursed furiously in his head: I’m not going back to any damn dormitory!
But the roar did nothing to halt his steps. His body continued to obediently follow that thought.
All Qinian could do was remain conscious as he watched himself walk, one step at a time, into the darkness of the dormitory building.
