Cangnan City, a certain high-rise.
Creak—
The door swung slowly open as Zhao Kongcheng shuffled in, clearly out of sorts and sighing every few steps.
"What's up, Lao[1] Zhao?"
Five people seated inside looked up in surprise at his dreary entrance.
"Were you hurt last night?"
"Judging by that face, it's more likely you got dumped…"
"Damn, Lao Zhao — don't tell me your wife's leaving you?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
The five of them tossed out guesses, one after another. After a while, the usually silent Zhao Kongcheng finally let out a wistful sigh.
"Do I really… have zero charm?"
"…"
All five rolled their eyes in unison, pretending not to have heard him. Each went back to their own business — one sharpening his blade, another polishing a gun, someone scrolling on their phone, another already asleep…
"No, seriously, I'm asking you all!" Zhao Kongcheng said urgently.
When nobody responded for a while, Hong Ying, who was busy cleaning her gun, sighed. "Kongcheng-ge[2], did something happen to you?"
"You could say that," Zhao Kongcheng paused, then added, "Last night, I ran into the owner of that golden Forbidden Ruin."
Everyone's head snapped up at that, hands frozen mid-task, eyes suddenly gleaming with excitement.
"The one suspected to be the agent of the Seraph?"
"Yeah."
"Is he powerful? Who is he really?"
"You're overthinking it," Zhao Kongcheng shook his head, "he's just a regular high school kid. That 'Klein'-level power burst was probably just leftover energy from the Seraph — at the moment, he's only a rookie who's just stepped into the 'Cup' realm."
Hearing that, a look of disappointment flickered in the others' eyes.
"We thought some strong person at 'Klein' level had shown up in Cangnan…"
"Well, it makes sense. If that extremely dangerous deity really chose an agent — and that agent had already reached 'Klein' level — there's no way those higher-ups wouldn't know about it."
The man sitting on the sofa narrowed his eyes. "Regardless, the Seraph has chosen an agent and granted him a Divine Ruin. That's big news — we have to report it to headquarters immediately."
"By the way, Lao Zhao, since you actually ran into him — where is he now? You didn't bring him in?"
"He ran off…" Zhao Kongcheng answered with a sigh. "He told me he needed to grab his schoolbag, and while I wasn't looking, he was gone."
"…" Everyone was speechless.
Just as everyone was gearing up to roast Zhao Kongcheng, the door swung open again.
A man wearing a dark red cloak strode in, dried blood still streaked across his face, his footsteps heavy as if weighed down by lead.
The moment they saw him, everyone — including Zhao Kongcheng — rose to their feet.
"Captain!"
"Captain, are you alright?"
The captain waved his hand, slipped off his bloodstained cloak, and took a seat on the small bench by the door, exhaustion etched deep between his brows.
"I'm fine, but… The Ghost Face King escaped."
Everyone's expression turned grim at once.
The captain went on, "Last night, I chased Ghost Face King all the way to the outskirts north of the city. We fought hard — it was seriously wounded, but then it risked damaging its very essence to force its way to survival."
"So you're saying the Ghost Face King might already be out of Cangnan?" someone asked.
"Not necessarily," the man on the sofa suddenly spoke up.
Everyone turned to look at him, and the captain raised his brows slightly. "Go ahead, Xiangnan."
Wu Xiangnan stood up slowly, pulled a map of the area around Cangnan out from under the sofa, and spread it across the floor.
"Cangnan is pretty remote, and the nearest city is still dozens of kilometers away. Last night, Captain fought the Ghost Face King in the northern outskirts — aside from Cangnan, there's nothing else nearby for a long stretch." Wu Xiangnan circled the area on the map.
"So what?" Hong Ying asked, clearly confused.
At that moment, the captain's eyes began to shine. "The Ghost Face King was badly injured — there's no way it can cover such a long distance until it recovers his strength."
Wu Xiangnan picked up the thread, "And for the Ghost Face King to regain strength, it has to feed on humans. So that means…"
"It's bound to come back to Cangnan?"
"Exactly."
Zhao Kongcheng frowned. "But Cangnan's huge. We have no idea where it'll show up."
"The sewers," Wu Xiangnan adjusted his glasses and used a red pen to trace a winding line on the map. "Ghost Faces often love hiding in sewers. Last time, the Ghost Face King escaped through them too. There's only one sewer connecting the northern outskirts, so he's most likely to reappear somewhere along this route."
"Send people to search this sewer immediately. This time, we can't let him get away!" The captain's eyes flashed with cold resolve as he gave the order.
"Yes sir!"
"Oh, one more thing." Wu Xiangnan turned to Zhao Kongcheng. "You must bring back the Seraph's agent. His potential is enormous — we absolutely cannot let the Ancient Gods Church get their hands on him! In some ways, this is an even higher priority than tracking down the Ghost Face King!"
Zhao Kongcheng immediately straightened up. "Leave it to me — I'll personally make sure to catch that kid!"
"But didn't he run off? How are you going to find him?" Hong Ying muttered under her breath.
"He was wearing No. 6 High's uniform. I'll stake out the school gate today — bet I catch him there!"
A confident grin spread across Zhao Kongcheng's face.
***
"Hey, why aren't you going to school today?" Yang Jin asked curiously, noticing Lin Qiye was neither in uniform nor carrying his backpack.
"Got something to deal with today — I'll skip for now." Lin Qiye replied, slipping on his shoes and opening the door. "Is Auntie still asleep?"
"She just got back about an hour ago."
"Alright. Make sure you head out for school soon — don't follow my example."
"Okay."
Lin Qiye closed the door behind him and, in silence, slipped the black ribbon from his eyes and stowed it in his pocket.
His eyesight had returned, but he hadn't told Auntie or Yang Jin just yet. For one thing, Auntie had worked a late shift last night, so they hadn't even seen each other.
The second reason was that Lin Qiye had only just regained his vision and couldn't fully control the power in his eyes yet. Sometimes, that golden glow would unexpectedly spring up from deep inside — while it wasn't very obvious, if Auntie or Yang Jin noticed, they'd insist he get his eyes checked again, which would just waste money.
He wanted to wait until he could control his vision completely before making the announcement.
But now that he was outside, there was no need to keep wearing the black silk ribbon over his eyes—doing so would only attract attention.
Lin Qiye pulled out the sunglasses Yang Jin had bought for him and slipped them on, striding purposefully toward the bus stop.
After more than an hour rattling along the road, Lin Qiye finally reached his destination.
— Sunshine Mental Hospital.
The last time Lin Qiye had set foot here was ten years ago.
A lot had changed in those ten years — both for him and for the hospital itself.
All the old walls had been refurbished, and the front gates were now twice as wide as before. Two modern high-rises had replaced the old three-story building, and even the words "Sunshine Mental Hospital" had become gilded, cast in golden embossing.
Standing at the entrance, Lin Qiye found it impossible to connect this sleek, modern hospital with the humble little building in his memories.
Perhaps the only thing unchanged was the elderly gatekeeper.
But even he was now much more hunched over, his hair now almost completely white.
The old man seemed to spot Lin Qiye, squinting as he raised his right hand to point in Lin Qiye's direction…
Just as Lin Qiye thought the old man might remember him and was about to say hello, the elderly gatekeeper suddenly shouted:
"Hey, you silly kid! You're blocking the cars behind you!"
[1] In Chinese, the character 老 (lǎo) is commonly used as a prefix when addressing friends, not necessarily to indicate age but to convey familiarity, closeness, or respect. When added to a surname, such as 老王 (Lǎo Wáng) or 老李 (Lǎo Lǐ), it signifies a friendly and informal relationship, often implying a sense of camaraderie or equal social status.
[2] Adding the suffix -哥 (gē) after someone's name in Chinese is a way to respectfully address an older male, either a blood brother or an older male peer, signifying respect and seniority.