Chapter 674: Chapter 587: Fire of Awakening (1)

Somewhere in Skyline City.

A nervous man in a suit strides forward, clutching a briefcase, followed closely by a few RoboCop figures.

At that moment, the sound of an explosion comes from the distance, passers-by stop and look up, only to see thick smoke enveloping the area above the Grand International Hotel.

Cervantes’s live broadcast is interrupted, the screen shows the emergency situation of a full-scale war erupting, people are gradually evacuating, and amidst such chaos, the figure of a man walking in the opposite direction seems increasingly suspicious.

The RoboCops keep a close watch on the man in the suit, pushing through the crowd but, in the blink of an eye, he vanishes without a trace.

"Hey, did you see where he went?"

The RoboCops loudly question a few sleepy-looking homeless men in the alley.

The sleepy homeless men glance up at them with puzzled expressions.

"Damn, we’ve lost him."

As the RoboCops leave, beneath a yellowing newspaper, the man in the suit pulls aside a worn-out jacket, revealing part of his face, and through the gap he looks at a young thug:

"Take this, and put it on the car in front of Green Lake Villa number 402."

"What’s inside?" the young thug asks.

"No idea," the man in the suit shakes his head.

"I can’t do it, those guys are watching closely, I don’t want to die for something that came out of nowhere," the young thug says displeased.

"I told you, I don’t know either," the man in the suit says, increasing his tone.

"To prevent Hera from discovering where the real ’black box’ is, there are a total of one hundred and thirty-six such briefcases, no one knows what’s inside, maybe it’s the black box, maybe a plush toy."

"I’m warning you, don’t try to open it."

"As soon as the briefcase is forcibly opened from the outside, it will explode."

"We are part of the transport team, our job is to deliver these briefcases to specified locations and wait for the next comrade to take over."

"Tsk," the young thug clicks his tongue, "Got it, I’ll deliver it to the specified location."

"If I die."

"We’ll take care of your family for you."

"Like hell you will, if I die, just take care of all my guardians, don’t let them continue to interfere with my brother’s life, got it?"

"Here’s the deposit."

The man in the suit reaches into his coat, the screen shows 230000¥ awaiting transfer.

The young thug lights a cigarette, kicks the man’s hand away:

"Stuff like this, take it to your own grave."

With that, he takes the briefcase and vanishes into the darkness of the alleyway.

...

At the same time.

Green Lake Park number 402.

Inside a luxuriously decorated villa, a young girl sits anxiously on her bed, clutching her sheets, her eyes darting between the alarm clock and the window.

Qi keeps reassuring herself, it’s okay, it’s just a book she accidentally lost, her two guardians won’t find out.

She tries to get up to open the door, but the door handle shows a locked sign.

—"Miss Qi, you are prohibited from going out."

But everything before her seems to tell her that her parents, her guardians, likely already know something.

The book she lost was called "The Little Prince," which tells the story of a traveling Little Prince awakening to the world’s wonders during the Golden Era, where culture, art, science, politics, and economics all stood as shining milestones, the civilization unprecedentedly flourishing.

Compared to philosophical books, it’s more like a fairy tale, offering some consolation to her uneasy mind, but the red "travel prohibited" sign obliterates that recently found comfort.

Why was she prohibited from going out right after waking up?

Could it be related to the book she lost?

Did her parents already call the Tag Catcher to come and destroy her?

Fear cloaks the young girl’s heart, tears well up in her eyes, her lips tightly pressed together, her face blanches considerably.

The sound of a door opening comes from downstairs, her parents have returned.

": Little Qi, come down, I think we have some things we need to talk about."

A message from her parents arrives, and the "travel prohibited" sign changes to "travel allowed."

Qi swallows her sobs, following her memories, she taps the avatar of a person on the screen:

"I’m really scared... they’ve come back... can you come over for a bit?"

As soon as she sends the message, she regrets it, such things really shouldn’t involve anyone else.

But almost simultaneously with sending the message, a calm voice responds.

"Wait for me."

Qi is slightly surprised, but her heart finds some peace, and she swallows before heading downstairs.

She knows,

her parents once had a daughter too.

That daughter was destroyed for secretly reading related books.

Would she end up the same way?

With such anxious thoughts, Qi slowly descends the stairs. Before leaving, she changed into pajamas, pretending to have just woken up, yawning and rubbing her sleepy eyes.

"Dad, Mom? You’ve come back."

The desire to live lends her an unexpectedly convincing performance.

Qi encourages herself internally, deciding that no matter what her parents ask later, she’ll answer she doesn’t know.

"Little Qi, sit down."

Her parents sit at the table, their faces slightly heavy, as if they’re holding back some concern.

As soon as she sits down and meets their sharp gazes, Qi crumbles, silently lowering her head and clutching her clothes tightly.

A drop of cold sweat slowly slides down her forehead.

"Why suddenly think to have a conversation with me..."

Qi looks up and sees "The Little Prince" with its wrapped cover on the table, her heart skips a beat, the title painfully piercing her gaze.

"Can you explain why this book appeared in your room?" her mother looks at her, half of her face obscured in darkness.

A chill runs up her spine.

Qi gets up in a daze, her thoughts already washed blank.

Amongst spirits and gods, she says:

"Didn’t I tell you many times, don’t just come into my room like that!?"

"It’s always like this, every time, you think I don’t know you’ve been through my diary, I have to report everything I leave to do, why can’t you give me some freedom?"

"Why..."

"Why can’t you give me a little freedom?"

Qi feels utterly miserable, yelling towards the silent figures, shouting continuously, madly shouting words she hadn’t thought through, shouting things she doesn’t understand, maybe she’s just venting all the accumulated repression and grievances over the years.

"I know, you never really cared about me, and never treated me as your daughter, have the Tag Catchers come to destroy me yet?"

"They’re right outside the door, aren’t they?"

Qi sniffs, eyes red, suppressing a sob, bowing deeply:

"Alright, let them in then, thank you for raising me all these years."

After not receiving a response for a long time, Qi timidly looks up, only to find her parents sitting in their seats, looking at her with an astonished gaze, filled with complex emotions.

She can’t understand...

"Little Qi, what are you talking about?"