Lin Fang wiped his face with the back of his hand, drawing in a slow, steady breath. The tears stopped, but the heat in his chest did not cool. Instead, it condensed, sharpening into sothing far more dangerous.
"Southern Sky…" he muttered.
The na tasted bitter.
The mont he spoke it aloud, fragnts that had once felt disconnected slamd together with cruel clarity.
The strange way Xuenyi had appeared at the docks that night. That muffled murmurs of the words he managed to hear that night, the words Northern Sky, Knight, Young Master, etc…
The way she carefully escorted him out of Peking City back during the Azazel reergence incident...
The way she had escorted him all the way from Huaxi and right to the entrance of the military base during the trials, and how she gave him the watch, promising him that she would co for his rescue...
The way she had intervened during the hunter examination without hesitation, bending rules that others wouldn't even dare look at sideways.
Even Fang Fang Pet Store. She gave him the entire building for too cheap a rent.
His jaw tightened.
"So that's how it was," he said quietly, more to himself than anyone else. "Northern Sky… Southern Sky… I thought it was a coincidence."
Nebula tilted her head slightly, sensing the shift in his emotions. Lin i, still kneeling nearby, watched him carefully, worry flickering across her face.
"They were watching ," Lin Fang continued, his voice low. "Protecting . Or controlling . Maybe both." He let out a humorless chuckle. "All this ti, I thought I was clawing my way up on my own efforts..."
But when he thought about why they didn't interfere in his life in his past life, Lin Fang couldn't help but wonder whether they didn't care because he was a plainfolk back then and had no use to the company. That revelation only made his blood boil in anger.
He then looked at his sister again, eyes sharp now, no longer clouded by tears. "Jiejie… do you think Southern Sky had anything to do with Li Chengfeng?"
Lin i blinked. "Your master?"
"And Li Xue, his niece," Lin Fang added. "They also vanished too neatly. One day they were there, the next… gone. Back then, I thought it was an arrangent made by the Li family." His fingers curled slowly. "Now I'm not so sure."
Lin i hesitated, then shook her head. "I don't know," she admitted honestly.
Lin Fang leaned back against the headboard, staring at the ceiling. His mind was racing, but this ti it wasn't chaotic. It was focused. Calculating.
"There's still sothing missing," he said after a mont.
Lin i looked up. "What is it?"
"My birth mother," he said slowly. "And… the twin sister Feng Xiu ntioned."
Lin i's expression stiffened imdiately. She shook her head without hesitation. "I know nothing about them either. Mother never spoke of another woman, and I've never heard anything about a twin. I was only aware that your birth parents were divorced, and the Southern Sky kept you with them."
Lin Fang frowned. Feng Xiu's words echoed in his mind with uncomfortable clarity.
Rachel Li.
"Feng Xiu did ntion my biological mother studied with Dad," he thought, "Sa academy. Sa batch. I'll have to talk to Feng Xiu. If not him, then the academy. Records don't lie. If Rachel Li existed, she left a trace sowhere."
Lin i studied his face for a long mont, which seed quite serious as he was filled with other thoughts. She then spoke softly. "Are you… angry?"
Lin Fang paused.
"Yes," he answered after a beat. "But not against you or mom."
He turned toward her, a faint, dangerous calm settling over his features. "If Southern Sky protected , I'll acknowledge that debt and will pay them back tenfold sohow. But they don't get to decide my future. At least, not anymore."
Nebula straightened slightly, crimson eyes glowing faintly, as if resonating with his resolve.
Lin i swallowed, then nodded. "If you decide to confront them… I'll stand with you."
Lin Fang looked at her and smiled.
*
A while later;
He was walking through the ship's corridor with his sister's hand in his, their steps naturally falling into rhythm. Lin Fang didn't care how it looked from the outside, for others. Couple, siblings, sothing ambiguous. None of it mattered.
This was his jiejie.
His family.
"I still can't believe you survived high school like that," Lin i said, laughing as she glanced sideways at him. "And now, co-living with two beauties? With your charms, it could certainly end with a bad outco..."
Lin Fang snorted. "Bad? Maybe. But then again, I had no choice either, Jiejie. I was broke and sold the house to clear off the debts."
"But in the end..." Lin i teased, squeezing his hand, "You still managed to woo one."
"Oi," Lin Fang protested. "That makes sound like a bad guy."
She raised an eyebrow. "You're telling you weren't?"
He opened his mouth, then closed it, finally letting out a helpless chuckle. "Okay, maybe a little."
Behind them, Nebula walked with her usual asured steps, posture straight, eyes scanning their surroundings with habitual vigilance.
To anyone else, she looked like an exceptionally tall and striking hired guard. To Lin Fang, her presence felt oddly reassuring, like an unspoken promise that nothing would reach him without warning.
As they moved from the inner corridor toward the sundeck, the air shifted. The faint scent of salt and sea breeze slipped in through the automatic doors, cool against Lin Fang's skin.
Lin i leaned against the railing once they reached the deck, her expression softening. "You know… my life wasn't exactly stable either."
Lin Fang turned toward her. "Tell ."
She nodded, eyes drifting toward the ocean. "I changed guilds twice because of so stupid politics and spoiled young masters. Eventually, I stopped pretending guild loyalty ant family and beca a lone rcenary, a freelancer who signed up for dungeon entries posted by small and mid-tier guilds." She exhaled slowly. "Now I work with the governnt, as a Commando. Less freedom for sure, but atleast the pay was good and so were the benefits."
"And the engagent? I see that you are wearing a ring..." Lin Fang asked, carefully.
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