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 something far more dangerous.

“Southern Sky…” he muttered.

The name tasted bitter.

The moment he spoke it aloud, fragments that had once felt disconnected slammed 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 reemergence 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 come 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 Mei, still kneeling nearby, watched him carefully, worry flickering across her face.

“They were watching me,” Lin Fang continued, his voice low. “Protecting me. Or controlling me. Maybe both.” He let out a humorless chuckle. “All this time, 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 Mei 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 arrangement made by the Li family.” His fingers curled slowly. “Now I’m not so sure.”

Lin Mei 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 time it wasn’t chaotic. It was focused. Calculating.

“There’s still something missing,” he said after a moment.

Lin Mei looked up. “What is it?”

“My birth mother,” he said slowly. “And… the twin sister Feng Xiu mentioned.”

Lin Mei’s expression stiffened immediately. 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 mention my biological mother studied with Dad,” he thought, “Same academy. Same 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 somewhere.”

Lin Mei studied his face for a long moment, which seemed 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 me, I’ll acknowledge that debt and will pay them back tenfold somehow. 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 Mei 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, something ambiguous. None of it mattered.

This was his jiejie.

His family.

“I still can’t believe you survived high school like that,” Lin Mei 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 outcome…”

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 Mei teased, squeezing his hand, “You still managed to woo one.”

“Oi,” Lin Fang protested. “That makes me sound like a bad guy.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You’re telling me 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 measured 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 Mei 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 me.”

She nodded, eyes drifting toward the ocean. “I changed guilds twice because of some stupid politics and spoiled young masters. Eventually, I stopped pretending guild loyalty meant family and became a lone mercenary, a freelancer who signed up for dungeon entries posted by small and mid-tier guilds.” She exhaled slowly. “Now I work with the government, as a Commando. Less freedom for sure, but atleast the pay was good and so were the benefits.”

“And the engagement? I see that you are wearing a ring…” Lin Fang asked, carefully.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep