Zhao Kongcheng was stunned.
He never expected a seemingly ordinary high schooler to speak with such maturity, to have such a grounded sense of responsibility…
Only now did he realize how ridiculous it was, trying to stir up the usual adolescent fantasies about heroism and glory.
Lin Qiye was no ordinary kid.
Lin Qiye rose, walked straight to the door, and paused for a moment, hesitating.
"Thanks for telling me all this. I'll sign the confidentiality agreement."
With that, he stepped outside.
This time, Zhao Kongcheng just sat by the bed in silence. His body tensed as if to reach out and stop the boy, but after a moment, he slumped back down, powerless.
He understood what this teenager represented — and the mission to bring him in. But…
He just couldn't do it.
***
"Xiao Qi, you're finally home! Why aren't you wearing your school uniform today?"
"I got up in a rush this morning and forgot, Auntie."
"You silly boy… What if your teacher scolds you for not wearing it?"
"He said a couple of things, but it's fine."
Lin Qiye's aunt sighed, "Xiao Qi, you've just transferred to a new school, you don't want to make a bad impression. You have to be more careful."
"Got it, Auntie."
"How are things with your classmates? They didn't leave you out, did they?"
"No, we get along well. They actually walked me home, and I saw them off too."
"That's good — really good."
"I'm heading to my room now, Auntie."
"Alright, go to bed early."
Thunk—
Lin Qiye shut the bedroom door, flopped onto his bed, and stared up at the night sky outside the window with a long, weary sigh.
This world was so much more complicated than he'd ever imagined...
But really, none of that had much to do with him.
After resting for a bit, Lin Qiye sat up and had just started taking off his clothes when something hard slipped out of his pocket and hit the floor.
Clink-clank!
He looked down, picked up the object, and a puzzled look crossed his face.
It was a metal trinket, something like an insignia — about the size of a large coin, made of some unknown cool-to-the-touch material.
On the front of the emblem, two straight sabers crossed, their blades glowing with a faint icy-blue light, set against a background of star-dotted night sky. The craftsmanship was strikingly delicate.
Beneath the image, the words "Zhao Kongcheng" were neatly engraved.
"What's this…?" Lin Qiye narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
Lin Qiye remembered that when Zhao Kongcheng was dragging him toward the hotel, he'd felt the guy brush his pocket.
Did he drop it by accident?
Turning the insignia over in his hands, Lin Qiye flipped it to the back, where a few lines were inscribed in fine print:
"When darkness finally falls,
I'll stand before thousands souls,
With blade drawn against the abyss,
And blood shall stain the heavens!"
"Such bold words… Did Zhao Kongcheng write this himself? Or is it some Night Watcher motto?" Lin Qiye muttered. "He's always so goofy—it's hard to believe he'd come up with something like that…"
After fiddling with the insignia a while longer, he set it down on the desk, changed his clothes, and crawled into bed.
Tonight, he had something important to take care of.
He closed his eyes and let his mind sink into the Asylum of Gods within his consciousness.
In the courtyard there, Nyx was curled up in a rocking chair, clutching a heap of bottles and jars, murmuring something under her breath, with a faint trace of a smile on her lips from time to time.
If one ignored the cloudiness in her gaze and all the odd objects she was cradling, just looking at her poise and the graceful air she carried, this would have been a picture of pure beauty.
After a moment, Lin Qiye appeared, dressed in a white lab coat.
He'd borrowed the coat and a pair of non-prescription glasses from the dean's office, just to better get into character for his role as a psychiatrist.
At a glance, he really did look the part.
Lin Qiye walked over to the rocking chair and silently gazed into Nyx's muddled, vacant eyes, letting out a low sigh.
From everything he'd read in those mythological texts, Nyx truly was one of the oldest and most powerful deities from Greek mythology — her status and might both top-tier.
But compared to the other gods, she had one major trait…
She loved having children!
By Lin Qiye's count, Nyx had more than twenty children — among them household names like Thanatos the God of Death, Hypnos the God of Sleep, and the gods of space, fate, misfortune… and the list goes on.
Save for a rare few, most of Nyx's children turned out to be evil gods — born only to bring suffering to the mortal world, with more than a handful meeting tragic ends themselves.
From mere scraps of old myth, Lin Qiye couldn't piece together a much clearer picture of the Goddess of Night, but he suspected Nyx's current affliction might be tied to her offspring.
The psychiatrist at Sunshine Mental Hospital once spoke of a male patient who grew so obsessed with longing for his wife that he began imagining she was always by his side. Maybe, Lin Qiye reasoned, Nyx's illness was similar?
Did she miss her children so much that she started treating those bottles and jars as if they were her own?
But what exactly had happened to her children, to trigger such a strong reaction in Nyx? And as an ancient goddess, truly divine in nature — would she really be capable of emotions this intense? Or… perhaps she'd already lost her divine body and godhood before her illness set in?
Lin Qiye simply didn't know.
"Hypnos, don't worry. Your brother will be back soon, he's just off playing somewhere…
Thanatos has always been a troublemaker. When he comes home, I'll be sure to set him straight!"
Nyx stroked the vase in her hands, staring vacantly toward the horizon, a flicker of hope glinting in her eyes — before they grew cloudy again.
She paused, and her raspy voice trembled slightly:
"But… it's been three thousand years. Why hasn't he come home yet…?"
Watching this scene, Lin Qiye couldn't explain why, but a deep sadness welled up in his chest.
Who could have imagined that the Goddess of Night — once high above the world — would end up so helpless, so humbled?
She was the Goddess of Night, yes… but right now, more than anything, she was a mother waiting for her children to come home.
"To cure her, it's got to start at the source…" The doctor's advice echoed in Lin Qiye's mind. He bowed his head, deep in thought.
The source… Nyx's illness came from the loss of her children.
To truly help her, he'd have to start there — but her children were legendary Greek gods, each with a name of their own. There was no way he could hunt them all down and bring them to Nyx one by one, right?
Besides, he had no idea if the mist had brought any of them into this world — in fact, he didn't know where to begin looking.
And even if he somehow found them… would those evil gods really just do as they were asked and come along quietly?
As Lin Qiye frowned, searching for an answer, a sudden inspiration flashed through his mind!
Maybe… this could work?
Lin Qiye stood up, hesitation flickering in his gaze as he regarded Nyx for a long time. At last, he made up his mind and stepped forward.
With Nyx's vacant eyes staring at him, he walked right up to her…
Gently, he crouched down and wrapped his arms around her, whispering into her ear:
"Mother, I've come home."
In that instant, a brilliance burst into Nyx's eyes the likes of which Lin Qiye had never seen!
Her hands shook as she reached out, clinging tightly to him. After a long while, she managed to speak, her voice trembling:
"Welcome back, Thanatos… my child…"