Chapter 56: European Bird
July 12, 7:30 p.m. China time, Lijing International Airport T3 Terminal.
Gu Qiye slightly turned his face, gazing at the figure surrounded by the crowd.
He thought, “I figured Rainbow Wing would arrive in Lijing without anyone noticing—didn’t expect them to show up this openly… Maybe it’s a response to Ghost Bell’s provocation. Ghost Bell said he wanted a Rainbow Wing member to come catch him, so Fan Dongqing didn’t even bother hiding and just swaggered in.”
He’d heard people say Fan Dongqing had a very willful personality, did things his own way, and didn’t really care about anyone.
It was likely Fan Dongqing thought: if Ghost Bell hears my name and runs without looking back, then that so-called “super-criminal” is nothing but a joke. All his big talk on camera is laughable. A clown like that… isn’t even worth my time.
No wonder the Reality-altering Esper Association sent people to greet him. Gu Qiye realized how ridiculous his earlier guess had been.
From the beginning, the only Rainbow Wing member who could’ve shown up in Lijing was this one—Fan Dongqing was the only person in Rainbow Wing whose identity was publicly known. He was the only one in the organization who had the privilege to appear on camera in broad daylight.
“Rainbow Wing… why would someone from Rainbow Wing be here? Why now of all times?” Gu Zhuo’an’s trembling right hand gripped the glass cup, light flickering in his pupils.
He lowered his face, staring hopelessly as Fan Dongqing walked right past him—as if he were a broken dog with its spine snapped, offering up its neck for slaughter, utterly stripped of dignity.
If he just stood up from here… if he just walked over… if he could just speak with Fan Dongqing, then Gu Zhuo’an would have the chance to finally ask about that—ask who it really was that mistakenly killed his wife years ago in the Guyimai Neighborhood! But… even though this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was right in front of him, he couldn’t move a single step. His lower body felt glued to the chair: his two kids were right beside him, this was an airport… there were surveillance cameras everywhere, countless eyes watching.
If he lost control and charged forward in a moment of obsession, the consequences would surely spill over to his children.
Gu Zhuo’an may have been selfish, but not to that extent… precisely to avoid his actions hurting his three kids, he had left home for two years, hid his identity, and tried never to reveal who he really was in any of his crimes.
Ji Minghuan sat silently beside the father and son, sipping orange juice through a straw with a blank expression, alternating his gaze between his old man and big brother.
He thought, “Beautiful. Just beautiful.”
After fully enjoying their sequence of facial expressions, Ji Minghuan finally turned his attention to Fan Dongqing.
He thought this guy’s outfit looked a lot like the one Stephen Chow wore during the final showdown in Kung Fu—a full replica of that pure-white Tang suit. That moment in the movie when the Buddha’s Palm came crashing down from the sky had stuck with him ever since.
Back then, he’d secretly downloaded the movie files in the orphanage’s computer room and watched the whole thing with Kong Youling that same night.
Not long after, Fan Dongqing left the airport surrounded by admirers.
Silver Swallow and the other members of the Reality-altering Esper Association moved in to escort him like bodyguards. Ji Minghuan didn’t get the point—Fan Dongqing could probably slap them all into the ground in one shot. Maybe it was just for show—like in the movies, when the big bosses land and there’s always one or two underlings for decoration.
Gu Qiye turned his head to glance at Gu Zhuo’an, only to see his old man calmly eating, spooning congee into his mouth as if nothing had happened.
He didn’t know whether his father had moved on from what happened years ago. If possible, he hoped he had. As for what happened to their mother, Gu Qiye believed he alone could find out the truth.
An hour and a half later, the three of them walked to the boarding gate with their boarding passes, placing their suitcases on the security conveyor.
Ji Minghuan raised his arms and obediently went through the full-body scan while sneaking peeks at his brother’s and old man’s luggage out of the corner of his eye.
Unfortunately, he didn’t see what he’d hoped for—everything passed inspection smoothly. It seemed like neither of their suitcases contained anything suspicious, or at least nothing the security staff noticed.
Ji Minghuan hung his head and sighed, thinking that having connections abroad really paid off—no need to carry around the same combat suit. Especially for someone like Gu Qiye, a big shot like him would definitely get a fresh set from the Japanese Reality-altering Esper branch.
Soon after, the three boarded the plane and sat together.
The engines roared to life, and the plane slowly took off like a giant white bird soaring into the night.
Ji Minghuan sat in the window seat corner, resting his chin on his palm as he looked out the window.
The steady flow of traffic at the intersection below looked like a glowing river. Skyscrapers blazed with lights, and not far away, the “SA” logo atop the Reality-altering Esper Association building gleamed in the dark.
He yawned, then glanced sideways. Gu Qiye was still reading The Stranger.
To keep up with his Esper ability, Gu Qiye had to possess insane mental calculation speed—otherwise, one overload at high velocity could be fatal.
Yet the way he flipped through the pages was slow, like he was memorizing every word line by line.
Gu Zhuo’an was seated in front of them, so Ji Minghuan couldn’t see what he was doing. But in the window reflection, he could faintly make out that his old man was also staring out the window in a daze, just like him.
With a light jolt, Ji Minghuan’s eyelids slowly drifted shut.
His consciousness felt like a sailboat drifting across the East Sea, arriving at a hotel in Tokyo’s Minato Ward.
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Tokyo time, July 13, 12:00 a.m.
Since the creation of the “Xia Pingzhou” character, it had now been three days since he arrived in Tokyo. When he opened his eyes, a panel quietly floated in the dark.
【Player has stayed in the same city (Tokyo, Japan) for three days. City “Event Cards” are now unlocked.】
【Reminder: From time to time, a “Card Event” may appear somewhere in the city. Completing a Card Event will reward you with an “Event Card.”】
“Been lying around the hotel for two days now…”
Ji Minghuan, controlling Xia Pingzhou’s body, got out of bed and walked to the window.
Outside, Tokyo Tower glowed in the night with a warm white light. Neon signs of every color filled the skyline. The streets of Minato Ward were quiet at this hour, but between power lines, he spotted a lone seagull that had lost its way.
Probably flew in from Tokyo Bay.
Following the seagull’s fading figure, he looked up at the night sky and squinted slightly.
Far in the distance, a huge red exclamation mark was standing tall in the sky.
That was the direction of “Roppongi, Minato Ward.”
Ji Minghuan raised an eyebrow and thought, “A Card Event, huh? Should take around ten minutes to walk there. Guess I’ll go check it out.”