Chapter 226: A Deadly Family Situation, the Witch's Embrace

Ke Mingqing stared at the black helmet cradled in his father's arms, momentarily speechless.

"You're back, Dad," he finally said. "Was America fun?"

Ke Mingwei stood silently at the door. After a moment, still cradling the high-tech, pitch-black metal helmet, he looked up and slowly fixed his gaze on Ke Mingqing's face.

Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow, feigning surprise. "Isn't that a Brain Imaging Helmet, Dad?"

"Yes. How do you know about it?" Ke Mingwei asked suddenly.

"Those magical girls showed it to me. Don't let my looks fool you, I'm actually very popular among magical girls. I've got great connections," Ke Mingqing said. "Where did you get that thing?"

"A gift from the Roundtable."

"Oh, wow. The Roundtable is so generous. You go to a meeting and they give you a helmet. Great perks." Ke Mingqing rattled off nonsense to mask his nervousness.

"A'Qing, so you've worn this helmet before?" Ke Mingwei asked.

He had only learned this at the Roundtable meeting: some players had already found ways to bypass the preliminary detection devices, making the Brain Imaging Helmet the only viable option at this stage for rooting out players.

If he wanted to ensure there were absolutely no players in the house, the best method was to test every single family member with the Brain Imaging Helmet.

It was like the ultimate pesticide.

"Of course I have," Ke Mingqing said, stepping toward the entryway. "But things were pretty urgent back then, so I'm not exactly sure how it went..."

"Then try putting it on again for your dad."

Ke Mingwei slipped off his leather shoes and followed him into the living room.

"Why?" Cold sweat seeped from Ke Mingqing's forehead as he forced a casual tone. "Damn, Dad, don't tell me you suspect I'm a player? Is our father-son bond really that fragile?"

Ke Mingwei fell silent for a moment. Looking at his son's back, he said, "I just need someone to help me test if this helmet works. I haven't tried it out yet."

"I can do that, but hold on. I need to use the bathroom first. My stomach hurts."

Ke Mingqing spoke absentmindedly, then suddenly let out a low groan, clutching his stomach as he hurried toward the living room bathroom.

He stared at the bathroom's glass door. He figured that as long as he summoned the Theater Puppet inside and swapped places with it, he could fool the Brain Imaging Helmet's detection.

It was almost too easy. He had developed a reliance on this method; Ke Mingqing had survived many previous brain-imaging crises using this exact trick.

He was a master at it by now. He had even queued up an audio file on his phone, planning to play diarrhea sound effects in the bathroom to enhance the realism.

But it wasn't until he stepped up to the door that Ke Mingqing realized someone was already inside.

He froze. No matter how hard he twisted the knob, the door wouldn't open. He hurriedly clutched his stomach and knocked, thinking to himself that while they might just have a natural urge, his was a matter of life and death! Could they please just vacate the bathroom already!

"Who's in there? You've been hogging the toilet forever, are you a bathroom ghost?" Ke Mingqing shouted.

After a long moment, Xia Wenna's voice drifted leisurely out from the bathroom, plunging Ke Mingqing into utter despair:

"Mom is reading the newspaper on the toilet."

Damn it, what kind of American family drama did this old-dad habit of reading the newspaper on the toilet come from? Mom, you're an alien, can you please stop picking up all these weird quirks! Ke Mingqing was dumbfounded.

"Then I'll go use the upstairs bathroom!" he declared, turning around to slip away.

However, right at that moment, a rustling of wings echoed. Immediately after, a flock of crows formed a dark curtain, blocking the way to the stairs.

Ke Mingqing froze. What was his dad going crazy over? It was just a trip to the bathroom, was all this really necessary? So his second sister's suspicious nature was inherited from him? These bathroom assassins were really too much!

"Good grief, the superhero Rain Crow is stopping people from going to the toilet," he muttered, turning his head to meet his father's gaze. "Are you going to let me use the bathroom or not?"

"What exactly are you running from, A'Qing?"

Ke Mingwei stared deeply into his eyes. Dark lines creased his forehead as he asked the question, almost word by word.

Ke Mingqing's Adam's apple bobbed. He looked up, staring blankly into those profound eyes. The gloom on Ke Mingwei's face deepened, his expression looking as if he had just found the Clock Maker's Pocket Watch hidden in their family display cabinet.

"I—I'm running from crapping my pants."

"No. You must undergo the Brain Imaging Helmet examination right now. I will watch you from the side. It won't take long."

"I told you my stomach hurts, it's not like I'm refusing the test!" Ke Mingqing said, aghast. "Dad, are you suffering from jet lag after coming back from America, is that why you can't understand Chinese?"

"You are already a mature Esper. Learning to control your own body is a necessary path," Ke Mingwei said, leaving no room for negotiation.

"Damn, so a mature Esper should just hold in a belly full of crap, or try to magically refine it?" Ke Mingqing was dumbfounded. "Dad, you've really lost your mind."

"Sit down."

As Ke Mingwei's unquestionable words fell, the flock of crows began to caw hoarsely, the black curtain blocking the stairwell growing restless.

Father and son looked at each other quietly, the living room momentarily engulfed in silence.

"Oh my, where did these stinky crows in our house come from? A'Qing, are you out there? See if any crows flew into the living room and chase them out." Xia Wenna's voice suddenly drifted from the bathroom, breaking the silence.

Ke Mingqing remained silent for a moment, simply staring into Ke Mingwei's eyes. "If the helmet test shows no problems, will you apologize to me, Dad?"

"Then it would be my fault, and I will definitely apologize to you."

"Fine. You've scared the stomachache right out of me."

Ke Mingqing loosened his grip on his stomach. He shuffled over to the sofa and slowly sat down.

Although he appeared calm on the surface, he was already scheming a way to survive.

He planned to create a Theater Puppet right in the living room, have the puppet wear the Mirror Clothing, and then use Phantom Shift to secretly swap places with it.

But where in the living room could he hide a Theater Puppet? Behind the potted plants? Inside the refrigerator? No, there wasn't nearly enough space in the fridge.

The back of Ke Mingqing's hand was already slick with cold sweat. Listening to the footsteps coming from behind the sofa, the hairs on his arms stood on end.

Is this going to blow up in my face? he thought. It's still not too late to just run. I can use those skills from the Gate of Truth to try and escape the Old Jingmai District. Although shaking off Rain Crow's pursuit is hard, it's not entirely impossible.

Right at that moment, the phone in his pocket suddenly rang.

A soft chime rang out through the dead-silent living room. At that moment, Ke Mingwei was standing behind the sofa, quietly operating the Brain Imaging Helmet's display screen.

Ke Mingqing reached out, pulled his phone from his school uniform pocket, and glanced at the received message.

[Chali Jiushi: Brother, do you need help? Little Grey is right here!]

Amid the silence, the message on the screen caused the boy's dim eyes to light up slightly.

A turning point had appeared. This was the only spider's thread he could grasp in his desperate situation.

Little Grey is actually around? What perfect timing... Ke Mingqing thought. Maybe she can help. After all, she managed to flawlessly hide Kiyono Sakura's body right under everyone's noses.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Ke Mingwei behind him. His father was currently focused on fiddling with the Brain Imaging Helmet, and the flock of crows that had been occupying the stairwell had already receded.

One by one, they lightly hopped out the windowsill, returning to the tops of the telegraph poles along the street. Soon, the living room was empty again, without even a single crow feather left behind.

Seizing the moment, Ke Mingqing quickly typed a message on his phone and sent it.

[Ke Mingqing: Great progress, you even know how to use punctuation marks now. Where are you?]

[Chali Jiushi: I'm right next to the house! Brother, I'm almost home!]

[Ke Mingqing: Good. Little Grey, how do you plan to help me?]

[Chali Jiushi: I can do it like a magic trick and swap Brother's head with some random person's head. That way, Brother won't be a player anymore!]

[Chali Jiushi: Of course, I'll definitely put the heads properly back! I won't make Brother mad this time. I didn't know Brother was so angry about Sakura.]

Ke Mingqing was taken aback. It was too late to ask why Little Grey knew about his identity as a player. Perhaps nothing was a secret to this witch.

He could only pray that Little Grey wouldn't tell Xia Zili about it. Though, so far, the two of them likely hadn't had any substantial communication.

What Ke Mingqing worried about was whether the witch persona and Xia Zili's persona would share their existing memories once they fused.

Regardless, now wasn't the time to dwell on that. Taking advantage of the fact that his dad was still adjusting the Brain Imaging Helmet's settings, he quickly typed out a reply to the witch's message.

[Ke Mingqing: Fine. Let's do it.]

The moment he sent the message, Ke Mingqing caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. He suddenly noticed an eerie figure standing in the corner of the courtyard.

The stick-figure-like girl's mouth was drawn back, a smile spreading across her pale face.

[Chali Jiushi: There's a price for helping Brother, you know! Little Grey doesn't work for free.]

After sending this message, the stick-figure girl suddenly puffed out her cheeks.

Ke Mingqing didn't have time to care about all that. Even if the reward the witch wanted was for him to drive superhumans to extinction, he would accept it.

[Ke Mingqing: I know. Brother promises you.]

[Chali Jiushi: Mmhmm, it's a deal.]

"Are you done yet? Dad, why is it taking so long? If you dawdle any longer, I really am going to crap on the sofa," Ke Mingqing urged while hitting send.

[Ke Mingqing: Watch me.]

"It's ready."

As Ke Mingwei said this, he looked up, glancing one last time at the display screen on the back of the helmet.

He then walked up to the sofa, lifted the Brain Imaging Helmet, and slowly placed it over Ke Mingqing's head.

Ke Mingqing took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes. His face was gradually obscured by the helmet's shadow, and his vision went completely black.

He saw a stretch of darkness, and within that darkness, a white-haired girl was lying on her stomach in bed, reading a book by the glow of a small nightlight.

Is this... Giovanni's perspective?

At that moment, Ke Mingqing suddenly felt his head grow heavy. He zoned out for a split second, followed immediately by an overwhelming wave of dizziness.

Time quietly slipped away. He didn't know how long it had been when suddenly, a soft, low call jolted his consciousness awake:

"Brother?"

He opened his eyes. He stared blankly for a second before his pupils violently contracted. What met his eyes was a familiar bedroom.

Ke Mingqing was stunned for a long moment. He slowly lifted his head, only then realizing that he was resting on the lap of a girl in a school uniform. A pair of warm arms was hugging him tightly.

After a moment, he looked up and saw a pale face.

The stick-figure girl had her head lowered, quietly staring at his face.

"Where is this?" Ke Mingqing asked softly.

"The second floor. In Brother's bedroom," the witch said.

"Why am I in my bedroom?"

"Brother fainted in the living room, so Dad carried Brother to the bedroom," the witch explained.

Ke Mingqing was silent for a moment. "Then did I pass the Brain Imaging Helmet test?"

The witch nodded. "Mmhmm. I swapped Brother's head right then." As she spoke, she suddenly raised a finger to her lips, making a shushing gesture:

"Shh—"

Ke Mingqing didn't understand what she meant, but he obediently closed his mouth.

Not long after, accompanied by a soft knock on the door, Ke Mingwei's voice filtered in from outside the room:

"A'Qing, are you awake?"

After a brief pause, he added, "If you're awake, let me know." With that, Ke Mingwei's footsteps gradually faded away.

The bedroom was completely silent. The witch's fingers gently brushed across Ke Mingqing's face. He didn't speak for a long while, only asking his question when the light beneath the door returned.

"Thanks. So, what reward do you want?"

The witch shook her head. "Little Grey helped Brother... do things. Why would I need a reward?"

"No," Ke Mingqing said.

"Then," the witch said, tilting her head in thought before lowering her gaze to meet Ke Mingqing's eyes. "Brother, hug me."

Ke Mingqing sat up from her lap. He reached out his arms and decisively wrapped them around her shoulders, pulling her into a hug, his eyes completely devoid of expression.

Over time, he had grown accustomed to interacting with this witch. She was just a child, and within the nature of every child lay immense destructive power—an innocent cruelty.

Just like coaxing a child, he had to cleverly sidestep any traps that might trigger Little Grey's destructive power. Only then could he safely use her without incident.

"Is this good?" Ke Mingqing asked after a moment.

But the bedroom remained completely quiet. No answer came.

Ke Mingqing was momentarily taken aback. Then, from over her shoulder, he shifted his gaze slightly to look at her face.

In that moment, the girl with her hair tied in a high ponytail suddenly opened her eyes.

Xia Zili was also slightly dazed for a moment. Then, she slowly lifted her head, looking at Ke Mingqing, who was holding her in his arms.

In the darkness, the brother and sister locked eyes.