Chapter 42: Secret
"So... what exactly is going on right now? Since Dad and my brother are both coming to Tokyo, don't tell me they're going to bump into our brigade's auction heist and decide to butt in?"
Watching Gu Qiye's back as she walked away, Ji Minghuan rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
He thought, "I'm seriously worried my No. 2 character will get insta-killed by my big brother. And there's no way he's going to pay me any Split Points so I can build a new character." He sighed and shook off the thought. "Better to focus on the orphanage. Finding clues about the Research Facility is more important right now."
He walked out of the room, casually pulled the door shut, then stepped onto the rooftop on the second floor and approached the railing to look out toward the orphanage in the distance.
Ji Minghuan leaned on the railing, staring blankly at the library basked in sunlight.
A morning breeze laced with summer heat blew past, and he recalled the past.
At age four, Ji Minghuan was abandoned by his parents and sent to this orphanage. Over the years, he became intimately familiar with every building and corner of the place—especially the library he could see from here.
He had always loved spending time in that library, reading everything he could get his hands on—from astronomy and geography to humanities, history, and even philosophers like Nietzsche and Camus. He’d even read quite a bit on psychology and religion. Of course, most of the books were just filler. He didn’t expect much quality from a filler library like this—he just made do with whatever was there.
To say Ji Minghuan loved the library would be an understatement.
The orphanage had a very unusual rule: a couple of specific teachers were assigned to teach the kids living there. They’d test each child’s intelligence level, and those who scored well would earn the right to attend school. Kids deemed below standard would stay in the orphanage, receiving symbolic education stuck at the level of those IQ tests.
Maybe it was because he spent all his time in the library, but Ji Minghuan outperformed all the other kids—scoring perfect marks in every subject, way beyond the requirement to be sent to school. Yet, he resisted. He refused to leave the orphanage to go to school.
The teachers and the headmaster tried to persuade him many times, but he wouldn’t give in. Eventually, he even threatened self-harm.
After repeated defiance, the headmaster snorted and said, “You might as well just rot in here and be a useless bum for the rest of your life.” Ji Minghuan just tilted his head, kept reading his books, and didn’t take the words to heart.
Only Kong Youling knew why Ji Minghuan refused to go to school—because he loved that library.
Whenever he was lonely or sad, he’d hide out in that quiet place, sitting alone in a corner, surrounded by walls of books—that brought him more comfort than anything else.
When the other kids were playing on the lawn, he sat by the shelves reading.
When the others were napping in their dorms, he sat by the shelves reading.
Later on, a computer room was added to the library, and Ji Minghuan’s love for it deepened even more. He’d either be lost in video games or buried in books every day. He never bothered to attend any of the orphanage’s classes—those were just for show, meant to fool outsiders and keep the headmaster’s respectable image intact.
Kong Youling would often come keep him company.
As the sun slanted low in the sky, dusk’s golden light streamed through the library’s skylight. The two kids sat by the last row of bookshelves—she sketched beside him, and he kept his head down, reading. Sometimes they’d go ages without speaking. As the sun dipped below the horizon, the library stayed silent, and it felt like they were sharing the whole world through drawings and books.
But ironically, it was in this beloved library that Ji Minghuan found the most unfamiliar corner of the entire orphanage:
—the always-locked basement.
The iron door to the basement had several layers of locks. One time, Ji Minghuan walked down the stairs and tried to push it in the dark. The headmaster, who was instructing cleaners in the library at the time, immediately turned pale, rushed over, scolded him harshly, and punished him with three days of confinement in the attic at the top of the library.
Later, the headmaster claimed it was a wartime shelter built during some past conflict, hadn’t been opened in ages, and was likely filthy inside—so they weren’t allowed in to avoid catching a respiratory illness.
Ji Minghuan raised an eyebrow and thought, "Is it possible... the Research Facility is behind that iron door? And my real body was never moved—it’s been locked in the basement of the orphanage all along."
At that moment, a strange light appeared in the sky. He looked up sharply and saw a giant red exclamation mark standing upright in the air.
"A Card Event?"
He followed the direction of the exclamation mark and saw the orphanage library in the cityscape. Which meant—inside that library, a special "Game Event" was waiting to be explored.
Ji Minghuan had always been curious what was behind that iron door. And now, it even had a “Event Card” icon hovering over it.
"At this point... there's no reason not to go. Might as well check out what’s hidden in that basement."
With that thought, Ji Minghuan left the rooftop, hurried back to his room, used the Binding Restraints to fish his tailcoat out from under the wardrobe, put on his mask, pressed the button by his ear to lock it in place, and activated the voice changer.
The Binding Restraints flowed out like a tide from his skin, gradually wrapping around his entire body.
When using “Binding Restraint Camouflage” to go invisible, Ji Minghuan had to wrap his eyes too. Otherwise, to others, it would look like a pair of creepy eyes floating in midair—like a ninja in stealth gear—not true invisibility.
But since “Binding Restraint Sensory” could fully replace his vision and even enhance it, covering his eyes caused no issues.
So while traveling, even though no one could see him, Ji Minghuan basically looked like a “mummy.” Creepy as hell.
Using the Binding Restraints, he slid open the balcony window, leapt off the AC unit base, and melded into the bright sunlight—moving through the skyscrapers like a shadow of the sun.
In moments, Ji Minghuan had crossed half the city and climbed over the orphanage fence.
He stood quietly on the fence, staring at the same run-down buildings. Vines crawled up the yellowing walls, stretching toward the old-fashioned library.
In the morning, the library was locked up tight. No kids ever went in.
Ji Minghuan redirected his weight into the Binding Restraints, dragging what looked like a curtain of black rain, and leapt onto the eaves of the library attic. Steadying himself, he crept toward the skylight and dropped silently inside.
The creaky floorboards groaned under his weight. He turned his head and froze—there was a girl sleeping in the attic. Probably got into trouble and was punished by the headmaster to spend the night here—just like Ji Minghuan had in the past.
Hearing the noise, the girl opened her eyes, looked around, but saw nothing—just piles of books. She shut her eyes again, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
Ji Minghuan looked down at her, then casually used the Binding Restraints to tuck a blanket over her before turning toward the attic exit.
Just then, a system panel popped up in front of him.
[You have triggered Card Event No. 1 in Lijing, China—Explore the "basement" of the orphanage library.]