Chapter 21: Conflict, Family, Fakes

It was an ordinary summer afternoon. The coastal highway was empty, with only a few sparse figures in sight.

A bright yellow bus trundled down the highway with a couple of honks. The ocean breeze swept past the coastal railing, gently fluttering the hair and clothes of the young boy and girl standing there.

"Since when?" Xia Zili asked after a moment of silence.

Ke Mingqing didn't speak. He rested his arms on the railing and turned his head to gaze at the distant horizon.

"Just a few days ago. Didn't we take down that Ant-Man on the school bus together?" he said after a moment of thought. "I realized back then that I definitely couldn't have done it without her." He scratched his cheek, looking a bit sheepish. "It just so happens she has feelings for me, so we naturally got together."

Xia Zili lowered her head. Her eyes wavered slightly, revealing her exhaustion. The sea breeze gently brushed her cheeks, carrying the scent of salt and rust.

She thought for a long time. Finally, she opened her mouth and said dryly, "Didn't Dad tell us that it's best not to date at our age?"

"Are you living in the last century?" Ke Mingqing stopped gazing at the horizon and turned his head to look at her, his eyes full of exasperation. "Do you have to be so old-fashioned?"

"Yes, I'm living in the last century," Xia Zili looked away and said in a low voice. "I'm going to tell on you. As soon as we get back, I'm going to tell Mom and Dad. Are you happy now?"

"Do you really have to be so spiteful?" Ke Mingqing asked in annoyance.

"This is just how I am. Is it your first day knowing me?" Xia Zili said without looking up. "We are family, but you've never tried to understand me. Whenever I feel terrible, I'm always alone. Sometimes I'm really tired and I don't know who to turn to just to say a single word..." As she spoke, she suddenly lowered her eyes. "Before, you took my phone and sent all that nonsense. Did you think I'd be happy seeing it? Even if I were happy, what's the point? You'll just toss me aside right after anyway. It would be better to just leave me alone from the start..."

She rarely spoke at such length, not even pausing for a single breath. It was as if she had kept these words hidden in her heart for a very long time, and all those suppressed emotions were now pouring out like a flood.

But Ke Mingqing simply froze in place. Xia Zili's reaction was clearly completely outside of his expectations.

He leaned against the railing, turning his head to quietly watch her. The young girl's face was bathed in a faint halo of light. A second later, the coastal sunlight suddenly dimmed, enveloping the railing and the figures leaning against it in a layer of dark blue.

Seagulls flew across the sky. In this silent world, only the sound of the crashing waves could be heard.

Ke Mingqing thought, "Is it because she's been a Magical Girl for too long, and there's no one at home who knows her identity to offer her any comforting words, so she's under too much pressure? And I just happened to care about her so much these past few days, causing her to develop a sense of dependency on me? But normally, do family members have such a strong desire for control? I really don't get it."

A deathly silence shrouded the coastal highway. After a while, a bus drove past with a blaring horn, breaking the quiet between the two of them.

Seeing that he was unwilling to say anything, Xia Zili only let out a soft sigh.

Then, she turned around and slowly walked away without looking back. She didn't enter the villa, but instead walked straight down along the edge of the coastal highway.

The daylight faded. Her shadow and the shadow of the railing were cast upon the asphalt, stretched incredibly long by the fading light as she moved further and further away from Ke Mingqing.

"Is having a family really such a baffling thing?" Ke Mingqing tilted his head, watching Xia Zili's figure disappear at the end of the highway, unable to help but ask the question aloud.

He had been an orphan in his past life, and the original owner of this body was only adopted by the Xia Ke family at the age of nine. The time spent with these family members was a mere seven years. Even clumsily fumbling through these memories, Ke Mingqing didn't quite understand how to truly get along with a family.

Even with two lifetimes' worth of memories, it didn't mean he had double the worldly experience. He was still just walking his path alone.

A moment later, Ke Mingqing carried his backpack into the villa. As soon as he entered the main hall, An Youlu, who was busy cleaning, walked over and asked in a low voice, "Where is she?"

"She's in a bad mood, so she went back first," Ke Mingqing shrugged.

An Youlu froze for a moment. Then, she lowered her eyes to the mop on the floor and muttered to herself with a gloomy expression, "As expected, a little girl like me who grew up eating garbage and mud only deserves to be stood up. It's fine, I'm already used to it... This world always holds deep malice toward the poor."

After saying that, she picked up the mop, lifted the bucket, and turned to head toward the second floor of the villa.

Ke Mingqing ignored the eccentric mixed-race girl and sat down directly on the living room sofa.

Heimu Tong's family was usually not in Li Jing, so he unabashedly rested the back of his head against the sofa, staring at the resplendent chandelier above.

Heimu Tong soon came downstairs. Ke Mingqing took a sketchbook out of his backpack and flipped to a page displaying the combat suit design he had spent the entire night drawing.

"I've even thought of the codename. It's 'Blue Pigeon'." Saying this, Ke Mingqing handed the sketchbook to her.

She asked curiously, "Do you really like Superheroes that much?"

"Please, if it weren't for the main quest rewards, who would want to be a Superhero?" Ke Mingqing shook his head. "Isn't it embarrassing to wander around outside in tights all day?"

"Won't you be hunted down by other players like this?" Heimu Tong thought for a moment. "They can't see your player tag. What if they mistake you for a Superhuman Species?"

"I don't think any player can beat me right now," Ke Mingqing said nonchalantly. "Later in the game, I'll lay my cards on the table and tell them I was just doing a main quest. They wouldn't keep chasing me just to hack me to death, would they? We're all on the same side; we can talk it out."

Heimu Tong pondered for a moment. She took the sketchbook and lowered her eyes to look at the drawing.

She nodded. "I will use my family's connections to help you forge a combat suit, but I can't guarantee that this won't be leaked."

"It's fine. I'll most likely make this Superhero identity public in the future anyway. Being exposed early won't affect anything," Ke Mingqing said dismissively.

He added in his mind, "Or rather, I'm dying to be exposed so my dad and my sister can come protect me. Maybe I'll even have a Magical Girl flying right on my tail, keeping an eye on me."

"Mhm, I understand," Heimu Tong nodded.

"Then I'll head home?"

Heimu Tong looked up from the sketchbook at him. "Aren't you going to stay a little longer?"

"I just had a fight with my sister." Ke Mingqing zipped up his backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and stood up from the sofa. "Even though I'm just a fake family member, I still have to keep up appearances."

"So it's easier to use them, right?" Heimu Tong asked without looking up, as if making an excuse to save face for him.

Ke Mingqing was taken aback. "Yeah, right. I have to foster a good relationship with them first, so it's easier to use them later."

"I understand you. You can go ahead then," Heimu Tong said, closing the sketchbook in her hands.

Ke Mingqing looked up at her, nodded, and then walked out of the villa without looking back.