Chapter 135: A Letter to My Brother

"Do you have anything else you want to ask?"

Zebra asked, looking at Yan Jing.

He was genuinely perplexed. He had been standing right next to the Sleepland mayor when that burst of weird energy struck him down as punishment, so he knew exactly how terrifying that power was.

Yet to his surprise, after saying so much just now, absolutely nothing had happened to him.

Mr. San had warned that any outsider asking about these things would face retribution. Could it be that Yan Jing... wasn't an outsider?

"I also want to know, where is Mr. San's residence?"

Yan Jing asked.

Thanks to Zebra's explanation, he had already sorted out most of the timeline.

But if possible, he still wanted to see the place where this "brother" he had never met used to live.

"Mr. San's former residence is on the roof of our haunted house. But now... I'm afraid you won't be able to get in even if you try."

Zebra replied, "It isn't because Mr. San issued a strict order, but because that door has a peculiar keyhole. Without the Key, no one can open it."

"Alright, thank you."

Yan Jing nodded.

He then led Tiger toward the haunted house.

Before leaving, he asked the bewildered Zebra one final question:

"Mr. Zebra, that birdcage Mr. San carried—did he still have it right before he disappeared?"

This question stumped Zebra for a while. He thought it over for several minutes before finally frowning and saying:

"No, I don't think he did."

"Now that you mention it, I do recall something."

"In the beginning, Mr. San had a cage. Inside was a bird, and the bird held a wooden twig in its beak."

"Later on, the twig vanished for some unknown reason. Then, the bird disappeared. Everyone in the Amusement Park was whispering that any day now, Mr. San would probably throw the cage away too. And sure enough, right before he left, the cage was actually gone from his hands."

"Thanks."

Yan Jing nodded.

Before long, he and Tiger successfully made it to the top floor of the haunted house.

The staff generally recognized Yan Jing, so their path was completely unobstructed.

Finally, the two arrived in front of a black door.

"Wait down on the floor below, Mr. Tiger. Don't let anyone come up."

Yan Jing said.

"Okay, okay!"

Tiger nodded vigorously and went down to the stairwell on the lower floor.

He had no idea what Yan Jing was going to do, but he knew listening to him was the right move.

After Tiger left, Yan Jing looked at the door before him.

It looked like an ordinary wooden door, painted entirely black. It had no patterns, no peephole, and no decorations of any kind.

The only strange thing about it was the lack of a doorknob.

He reached out and tried pushing it.

A surge of weird energy seeped from the doorframe, forming a barrier that repelled his hand.

Just as Zebra had said, this was not a door that anyone at the Second Tier or below could open. Even someone at the Third Tier might struggle with it.

The only possibility was the small hole in the center of the door.

It was a diamond-shaped opening.

It looked like something could be inserted into it.

Yan Jing stared at the shape of the hole and pondered for a moment. Finally, a white Dice materialized in his palm.

With a shift of his will, the white Dice slowly sank into the opening.

"Click—"

A crisp sound echoed as the two fit together perfectly, leaving not a single gap.

In an instant, streams of white, silk-like energy flowed from the Dice, intertwining with the dark weird energy. Ultimately, the weird energy barrier slowly melted away like ice under a blazing sun.

Yan Jing retracted the Dice, reached out again, and gave a gentle push.

The door swung open effortlessly.

Behind the door was an extremely cramped room.

It looked to be no more than seven or eight square meters. A Restroom, a bed, a desk, and a chair packed the space full.

The wall behind the desk was plastered with photographs.

Yan Jing glanced over them. The subject of the vast majority of the photos was a small figure draped in a Black Robe.

Having seen the Cameraman's memories, he naturally recognized that this was what the Cameraman looked like as a child.

The photos meticulously documented every little change over the years, from when the Cameraman was five or six years old up until his teenage years.

The corresponding age was written in the top right corner of every single picture.

And in the few photos placed dead center, standing beside the Cameraman was an elegant-looking figure, similarly draped in a Black Robe, holding a birdcage in hand.

Yan Jing walked up to the desk.

Resting on the surface was a notebook.

He opened the first page, which read:

"To my little brother, Yi Ji. Open personally."

Yan Jing gently turned to the next page:

"Ah Ji."

"If you ever have the chance to read this notebook, and I happen to not be by your side, it means that your Third Brother has likely failed in his duty and hasn't taken good care of you."

"Our people are natural masters of memory, but because the brain is not yet fully developed before the age of five, events from that time cannot be recorded."

"But as luck would have it, you unlucky kid had just turned five when I brought you to this remote backwater."

"So, you probably don't remember things back at the Family."

"Actually, it's for the best that you don't know about the Family's affairs, but your Third Brother should still tell you the ins and outs of what happened."

"At the time, you had just turned five. Hearing that I was going to see a friend, you clamored to tag along. The outside world was turbulent back then. The two organizations, the Order Keepers and New Life, were clashing fiercely. Mom and Dad didn't approve of us going out."

"It was my fault. I figured the journey wasn't too far, and even if we really did run into them, if they didn't give us face, they would at least have to give Mom and Dad some face."

"No matter what, it shouldn't have led to any problems."

"But I was wrong. Those bastards from New Life were true lunatics. They moved in for the kill."

"What's more, someone blocked our path back home."

"Left with no choice, I could only flee in the opposite direction. But the Eerie Capital is not like the other major Domains. There are simply too many Unstable Domains scattered across it. In a moment of carelessness, I tumbled into an Unstable Domain with you in tow."

"And we arrived here."

"Time passes so quickly. When we first got here, you were a little over five, and I was twenty-one. As I write this letter, your Third Brother is already thirty-eight."

"At first, arriving in this small-to-medium Domain, I was lost. I worried this might be one of those legendary places teeming with high-tier figures. But fortunately, because it was an abandoned land, the overall Tier level here was very low."

"I also quickly found out that this place was actually the predecessor of New Sin City."

"When I went out to meet my friend this time, I didn't bring anything with me—just a birdcage and the amulet Mom and Dad gave me."

"Thankfully, inside the amulet was the Pathway Seed Mom and Dad left behind."

"So, I found this blank piece of Domain and planted the Pathway Seed."

"I asked you at the time what you liked, and you said you liked Amusement Parks."

"So, this place became the Amusement Park."

"The ridiculous part is, you probably haven't even seen what this Amusement Park looks like."

"It's Third Brother's fault. Third Brother failed you."

"Back then, when the two of us had only been in this Domain for a few months, I was at the Second Tier level, still a bit away from reaching the Third Tier."

"If we had been back with the Family, it would have taken roughly a year or so to hit the Third Tier."

"But in this Domain, it took me six grueling years."

"And it was for this exact reason that, six years later, I chose to continue executing that bullshit plan of theirs."

"I'm getting off track."

"When I first came here, I spent several months building this Amusement Park. The leaders of the other Domains all came knocking one by one to pay their respects."

"I checked their power levels. Every single one of them was very low, and because they cultivated in this abandoned land, their foundations were all riddled with flaws."