Chapter 26: The Guest in the Bedroom, A Farewell Under the Moonlight

At 8:20 PM, Ke Mingqing snapped back to reality. He opened his eyes in his leather chair, a line of blood-red text instantly reflecting in his vision.

[System: Your "Theater Puppet" has died.]

So this is what it feels like to be burned alive? he thought. I'm starting to feel a little sympathy for ancient Western witches.

The bedroom was pitch black. Worried he wouldn't be able to keep up with his third sister's speed, Ke Mingqing hadn't bothered turning on the light, devoting his full attention to controlling the puppet's perspective instead.

Ke Mingqing retrieved the Tracking Sunglasses from his inventory, slipped them on, and took a look.

The red dot on the map representing Xia Ningzhi's position had stopped at a corner of Old Jingmai Port. There seemed to be a lighthouse there, one abandoned long ago.

Okay. If I head over to that lighthouse someday and steal her gear, will she feel like the sky is falling when she finishes her college entrance exams and goes back to check? Ke Mingqing took off the sunglasses and returned them to his inventory.

A moment later, a series of mission settlement panels reflected in his vision.

[Congratulations. You have successfully completed Main Mission 4 (Phase One): Use your secondary identity to contact the mythic vessel, "Red Lotus," and establish a connection.]

[Mission rewards obtained: 2000 Experience Points, 2000 Super Coins, 1 Attribute Point, and one chance to use the "Item Wheel".]

The experience reward went up again. Last time it was 1500 points, though the Super Coins stayed at 2000, Ke Mingqing thought. Now it's certain. Every time I complete a main mission, the rewards for the next one increase.

[System: Experience points have reached the upper limit. Your player level has increased by 1.]

[Current level: Lv.04 (1500/2000 Experience Points)]

[Phase Two of Main Mission 4 has been refreshed: Help the mythic vessel, "Red Lotus," survive the "Comet Fragment Escort Incident," or personally kill the mythic vessel, "Red Lotus," during the "Comet Fragment Escort Incident."]

The Comet Fragment Escort Incident? What's that? Whatever, I'll probably find out later.

Ke Mingqing was still deep in thought and just about to turn on the light when a cool breeze blew in through the window, hitting the side of his face.

In the moonlight, his expression shifted. He realized something truly eerie: he distinctly remembered leaving it closed, so why was his floor-to-ceiling window wide open?

Ke Mingqing's blood ran cold. The evening breeze made the hairs on his arms stand on end, every pore in his body opening in alarm.

That was it. While his eyes had been closed and his mind focused on controlling the puppet, someone had opened his bedroom window!

Was it Mom?

Oh no. Did she notice I didn't go downstairs to eat after using the bathroom, hide in the dark, and watch me this whole time?

Cold sweat beaded on Ke Mingqing's forehead.

He turned his head. A girl in a gothic dress sat in the quiet moonlight.

She leaned against the glass, covered in blood. Several tears in her dress exposed the skin of her shoulders and waist, her snow-white flesh stained crimson.

"Whoa, hey, you're..." Ke Mingqing froze. Sis, he thought, did that vampire beat you senseless? Were you in such a rush to get home that you climbed through the wrong window?

"Don't make a sound..."

Ember's head drooped as she spoke in a daze. She clutched her bleeding shoulder with one hand and raised her umbrella with the other, aiming the pitch-black tip right at his head.

Staring at the tip of the umbrella, Ke Mingqing gulped in feigned terror and threw his hands up in surrender.

"You're badly hurt. How can I help you?"

Ember remained silent.

Damn it, how did I stumble into the wrong room... She hung her head, her face pale with embarrassment. She had meant to return to her own room, but ended up in her older brother's instead. What do I do now... How could I be this stupid?

"Are you okay? You're still bleeding!" Ke Mingqing said.

The expression hidden beneath Ember's bangs was tense.

"Close your eyes," she whispered weakly.

"Okay..."

Ke Mingqing agreed out loud, but kept his eyes open a sliver, quietly watching Magical Girl Ember.

She took a card out of her dress pocket. Ke Mingqing knew what it was. They were Magic Cards. Magical girls stored their magic power inside them, using them in critical situations to achieve a surprise victory.

Magic Cards were divided into several types; this one was for healing.

Ember crushed the card. A warm halo of light immediately spilled from her fingertips, enveloping her body.

The light looked like snow-white fireflies fluttering out of the darkness and settling into her wounds.

Hideous gashes healed visibly before his eyes, and even her pale cheeks gradually regained their color.

A moment later, the wounds on her body vanished entirely, the magic power moving on to repair the tears in her dress.

Ember stood up. She was about to leave through the floor-to-ceiling window when she stopped in the moonlight.

After a moment of hesitation, she whispered, "You can open your eyes now."

Ke Mingqing opened his eyes and met the gothic-dressed girl's gaze.

"What is your name?" she asked.

"Ke Mingqing."

Ember looked at him, then glanced at the fan T-shirt hanging in the corner of the room. She said coldly,

"Ke Mingqing, in the future... could you stop wearing that?"

"Why? I'm your number one fan," Ke Mingqing said, playing dumb.

Ember frowned. "I don't like these things. If you're really my fan, respect my wishes, alright?"

"Oh, got it."

Ember fell silent for a moment before turning her cool face to the side.

"I'm standing right here," she said softly. "You can look at me all you want, but don't wear that embarrassing thing."

Sis, you really have no shame, do you? Ke Mingqing thought. Outwardly, he gave her a thumbs-up and spouted some nonsense:

"You really do look a hundred times better in person than in your photos. Much, much good!"

Ember froze.

She kept her face turned away, looking like she was trying to hold back a laugh. Are you Japanese, bro? she thought. Where did you pull a "much, much good" from? Anyone else would cringe to death at you.

After a long while, she said without looking back:

"Thank you."

With that, her figure vanished from the windowsill, melting into the moonlight.

Ke Mingqing blinked to confirm she was actually gone, then clutched his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. "That scared the absolute hell out of me. As expected of my own flesh and blood—Sis, you've got the exact same potential to be a ghost as Mom does."

Sighing, he finally noticed the prompt box that had been floating in front of him.

[You currently have one freely assignable attribute point. Would you like to use it now?]

If I can boost speed, I boost speed first. I'm so weak right now. Only by matching others in speed can I avoid getting one-shot. Following this logic, Ke Mingqing reached out and pressed the plus sign next to the "Agility" attribute.

A red-and-black prompt box popped up in his vision.

[Congratulations. Your Agility attribute has officially been upgraded from Rank E++ to D Rank.]

[Player "Ke Mingqing" currently has the following attributes: Strength: E+; Agility: D; Spirit: E]

After allocating the attribute, another prompt box popped up.

[You currently have one chance to use the "Item Wheel." Would you like to use it now?]

I'll wash my face first. I just got burned to ashes; pulling right now isn't very lucky.

Ke Mingqing closed all the prompt boxes in his vision. The world instantly became quiet and clear, like removing every mod in Minecraft and returning to vanilla.

But at that moment, a sorrowful voice called out from the hallway:

"Mingqing, didn't you say you were coming down to eat after using the bathroom? Why did you lock yourself in your room? Is Mom's cooking really that bad?"

Ke Mingqing jumped. Only then did he remember what he was supposed to be doing.

"I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm so dead." He scrambled out of the leather chair, practically tumbling to the floor, slipped on his indoor slippers, and ripped the door open.

By the time he opened it, Xia Wenna had already turned to head downstairs, leaving him with a gloomy, crestfallen view of her back. It made Ke Mingqing mentally scream about caring for lonely empty-nest aliens.

He clicked his tongue, figuring he'd explain it to her once he got downstairs. He would just say his girlfriend called, which was why he locked himself in his room to chat instead of eating.

Pausing at the top of the stairs, he glanced at the door to Xia Zili's bedroom next door.

The hallway was dead silent.

The door was shut tight, not a single sound coming from within.

Sis must have gone back to her room by now, he thought. How is she going to explain walking out the front door on the first floor, only to suddenly appear in her bedroom on the second floor? Do I need to cover for her?

Ke Mingqing shook his head and headed downstairs to eat.