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Some people's madness is revealed to everyone; some people's madness is buried under rationality.
Mo Feiqian thought his wife was crazy, and it was the former.
"Brother Qian, you're back." The bedroom door was gently pushed open, and Mo Feiqian, wearily hugged Mo Lian from behind as she sat in front of the dressing table. "It's so late, why aren't you resting yet?" He buried his face in Mo Lian's neck, greedily absorbing the fragrance.
Mo Lian's well-maintained long hair was lifted to the other side. She smiled as before, stretched out her hand, and stroked the almost half-white spiky short hair on her neck: "It's rare for you to come back, I want to wait for you to sleep together." Mo Feiqian took a deep breath and looked up at the two faces in the mirror.
Mo Lian still looked young and beautiful, but her face was already showing many lines of aging that could not be concealed. "Brother Qian, hold me to sleep, just like before." Mo Lian closed her eyes slightly, turned her face to the side, and exhaled a sweet breath, which gently sprinkled on Mo Feiqian's ear. His breathing became heavier.
"I'm going to take a shower." He fled in a dejected manner, and the bathroom door was slammed shut.
Mo Lian picked up a dense-toothed wooden comb and combed her long hair in front of the mirror, muttering, "Comb all the way to the end."
"Comb twice, until the white hair reaches the eyebrows."
"Comb your hair three times, and you'll have children and grandchildren all over the place."
After a long moment, the sound of running water in the bathroom stopped. When Mo Feiqian emerged, wrapped in a towel, Mo Lian was already leaning against the headboard, her nightgown draped over her legs. The lights in the room were dimmed, and the vast space was filled with warmth.
He walked barefoot around the end of the bed to the side where Mo Lian was lying, bent down and picked up her slender body.
"Brother Qian." Mo Lian's tenderness evoked a long-lost memory in Mo Feiqian. "I'm here," he replied calmly.
"You'll always be there for me, right?"
"I can."
Mo Lian's hand rested on the towel around her waist. Mo Feiqian lowered his head, one hand supporting her shoulders and the other stroking her hair. A hidden and surging affection flowed from his lips.
Mo Feiqian closed his eyes and buried his head in his wife's neck, licking her. He reached for the bedside drawer, but was caught by a soft hand mid-sentence. "I threw it away." Mo Lian opened her eyes and hazily looked at the outline of the lower half of the face of the person on her body. "You haven't been home for too long."
Mo Feiqian sighed softly and was about to stand when someone grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. "You said you'd always be by my side." That was the promise the twelve-year-old boy made to the ten-year-old Mo Lian. It was a promise of love, but also of family affection.
...
It was late at night when the atmosphere in the house calmed down. When Mo Feiqian finished washing up and lay down again, Mo Lian had already closed her eyes and was about to fall asleep in a daze.
"Go to sleep." She whispered and snuggled into her husband's arms. "Good night, Brother Qian."
Mo Feiqian kissed his wife's forehead lightly, "Good night." He didn't notice the tears sliding down her nose.
Mo Feiqian's wife was indeed crazy, but it was the latter.
On March 17, 173 in the new calendar, at 2:32 a.m., the main house of the Mo family, a family with supernatural powers that had been passed down for a hundred years in District 8, was burned down. In addition to the head of the family and his wife, there were also leaders of various side branches who came to attend the discussion meeting as usual.
A total of 36 people died, and the family that once dominated District 8 fell into decline. Even more coincidentally, on March 18th, the Global Management Association of Superpowers issued a mandatory order for a full review of all members, prohibiting any cross-district activities until the review was completed.
It was still dark when Shi Youchen jolted awake from his dream. He had never been used to heavy blankets in winter, and now his back was covered in sweat. The information Lu Zhiqi had revealed on the way back to base had already made him uneasy. Even when he tried to lie down to rest, he still had nightmares. So he simply turned on the lights and blasted some light music.
When the music stopped, he was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, recalling the doubts about Lu Quezhi's incident. The collapse of a corner of the bed startled him suddenly.
"You're awake, so I don't have to wake you up." 07 fell on the bed with his arms behind his head. The pair of light white pupils looking at him in the dim light was really scary. Shi Youchen woke up immediately.
The significance of 07's presence here at this moment was self-evident. "The Mo family's been burned down, and I need you to get something." He spoke without any emotion, leaving Shi Youchen stunned for a long time.
Shi Youchen didn't have time to think about how he had gotten in, how he had managed to escape detection, since this was his second time inside the association's base. The words "The Mo family burned down" had a far greater impact than what Lu Zhiqi had said that day.
"The Mo family?" The sweat on his back became even more profuse. "Lu Ming?" This was the first possibility that came to his mind after he got back his incomplete memories.
07 scoffed. "What do you think?" Shi Youchen realized the absurdity of his question. "He's not qualified to dominate District 8." The Mo family controls the economic lifelines of countless cities, social enterprises, and ordinary families. If Lu Ming could easily destroy them, he'd probably be the manager of the District 8 branch.
"Lu Ming has nothing to do with this matter. What I want you to get is the red coral bracelet that Madam Mo is wearing." 07 said, looking at the light and shadow moving on the ceiling.
Shi Youchen had expected his request to be even worse or even more absurd, and coupled with the shock of the news he had just received, he was still unable to react immediately: "Nanhong bracelet?"
07: "It should be in the ruins of the Mo family. That thing can't be burned, so we can always find it."
"If you can't even meet this request, then..." His pupils rolled upwards, and he glanced at Shi Youchen from afar, and that was all he said.
His tone was light, but no one who heard it would think he was joking. Shi Youchen was no exception, so he got out of bed and walked to the floor-standing clothes rack. The fingertips that reached into the inner pocket of his coat to take something out were even colder than the bracelet itself.
The bracelet that reflected the word "Lian" was thrown onto the bed and landed next to the lying 07. "Is this it?" Shi Youchen lowered his eyes and looked at him. Now that this person had spoken, it must be impossible to get the things back.
07 He grabbed the tray and looked at it for a long time before looking up, asking with his eyes, "Why are you here?" Shi Youchen turned his eyes away and looked at his shadow reflected in the middle of the camel-colored curtain and said, "We met by chance. She wanted to ask for something, so she gave it to me." He remembered that before leaving the Mo family that day, Mo Lian picked up the bracelet on the edge of the tea tray, fiddled with it for a few times, and then handed it to him, saying, "You keep it for me. If you don't want it, wait for Lily to come back and give it to her."
The person who was sitting opposite him and drinking tea two days ago was now told that both he and his home were gone, and he was even told this in the middle of the night by his so-called "enemy". There is nothing more ridiculous than this.
"That's all, just continue..." 07 put away the bracelet and looked at him jokingly, "Think about your life." The figure in the black robe disappeared in a blink of an eye, and the music in the house continued to play, and it was finally no longer so eerily quiet.
Shi Youchen knew full well that from that evening, by the lake, he could no longer rest easy under the protection of the association. He was no different from Lu Quezhi back then; both were "betrayers." They also had one thing in common: they both foresaw, or rather, prepared for, death.
"How about writing a suicide note?" A sudden thought popped into his mind.
The Mo family issued two announcements at 6:00 AM on the 17th. The first, from the association's headquarters information center, briefly and clearly explained the outcome of the incident; the second, from the District 8 branch's information center, detailed the potential consequences, known intelligence, and established facts.
"After reviewing available data, the burning lasted for over half an hour. During this time, the Association received no warnings regarding any abnormal physical signs from individuals with special abilities, nor did they receive any requests for assistance. Furthermore, the incident was clearly limited in scope, not affecting nearby public areas or private property. This basically means the fire was the work of the Maintenance Bureau or a fugitive."
"Because all living and non-living matter within the area, including specific metals like gold and silver, was completely consumed, it is inferred that the fire was not a common source, indicating a high probability of a supernatural event. The association has currently collected some natural materials for further investigation."
“…”
Shi Youchen read the association document with the seal several times without missing a word. From the time he woke up in the middle of the night to the sudden appearance of 07 and then the man left, he remained awake in a daze for several hours.
After waiting for these two announcements, a stinging pain and dizziness hit him simultaneously. After a few seconds of buzzing in his head, his body was forced to sleep. Therefore, he did not receive the calls from Morrill, Li Ming, and Lan from District 9.
City A, Lu family basement.
Lu Zhiqi knelt on the thorn mat, his knees almost numb, and a pool of crimson blood splattered on the mat. The thorns were medicated, maximizing the body's sensitivity and, naturally, the pain.
His face was pale, but he held on tightly and did not faint. The crow pattern on the wall behind him became brighter.
The door to the basement opened, and Lu Ming walked up to him with a stack of papers and said, "You know why you're being punished today." Lu Zhiqi's voice was lingering. He was very weak now, but he didn't dare to disobey his father's words: "It's... I failed to complete your task."
Lu Ming spread out the papers one by one and placed them in front of his kneeling son. As he did so, he said, "First, I asked you to recruit new members, but you didn't do it."
"Second, I asked you to find someone, and what you brought back was a death report."
"Three, I asked you to keep an eye on what's going on over there, but instead you caused such a big scene."
Lu Zhiqi took a breath and whispered, "Yes...Father." Lu Ming deliberately printed out something clearly and neatly and placed it in front of him, reminding him of his poor performance and incompetence word by word.
"You disappoint me so much." Lu Ming's leather shoes stepped heavily on the paper, and on the photo of Youchen. "If it was Yun Gui, he would definitely be able to do it to my satisfaction."
Ying Yungui, Ying Yungui, and Ying Yungui again. It had been like this since childhood, and it had always been like this. Even after that old immortal Lu Cheng had been buried for so many years, his father still only had eyes for Ying Yungui.
Before passing out, the last thing Lu Zhiqi saw was the obsessed eyes of his father, whom he revered as a god, looking behind him.
Lu Ming didn't know how much time had passed when he realized that his son had lost consciousness. He was silent for a while, then pressed the indicator bell. The housekeeper who had been waiting outside came in with a blindfold on, groping along the smell of blood, helped Lu Zhiqi up from the ground, carried him on his back, and then walked up the stairs step by step according to his memory and out of the basement.
This kind of thing happens every year, and every time it is him, the old butler, who is responsible for treating the young master's injuries. But for some reason, the young master has been punished much more often in the past two years.
Lu Ming watched the two men go up, crush the papers with his feet and twist them violently until they were soaked with Lu Zhiqi's blood on the ground and torn into pieces. Then he straightened the hem of his shirt and cuffs and calmly left the basement.
"We're old friends, so I still have to go collect Lao Mo's body."
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