A plane crossed the clear sky, leaving a long white trail behind it.
This flight path was the one that passed closest to the cage in the sky, so some people—especially foreigners—often chose this flight on purpose. What they cared about wasn’t the destination, but the chance to see the legendary six-winged angel on the way.
As the plane began to pass the cage, the passengers immediately got out of their seats, rushed to the other side, and stared out the window at the huge prison not far away.
No matter how many times they looked, all they could ever see was a giant cube and the light shining out from inside it.
This cage was far bigger than it looked from the ground. It was held up by six specially made pillars planted on several of the tallest peaks along the Yuewan Mountain Range at the far edge of Yunjin Prefecture. It stood higher than anything else in the world, and those peaks were covered in snow all year round, bitterly cold.
Special chains stretched out from those six pillars like giant snakes and wrapped around the cage. Lou Ting lived inside it.
On the ground below the cage was a research institute built by the Lou family at enormous cost. It regularly sent food and daily supplies up to the young master in the sky.
Snow-white wings trailed all the way to the floor. Bare white feet stepped slowly across the padded ground. He reached out, took a book from the newly delivered shelf, and sat down on a blue sofa. Lowering his head, he began to read. A long silver-white strand of hair fell across the page…
……
The Zhuang family estate.
It was almost lunchtime, but clearly no one in the Zhuang household had the mind to remember that guests should be fed.
Tao Ze pulled Mo Weiwei outside and sat down with him on the steps, then took out a lunchbox from his bag.
“Eat.”
It was eleven-thirty, their usual lunchtime.
Inside the lunchbox was a simple mix of meat and vegetables. It wasn’t as pretty as restaurant food, and one glance was enough to tell it was ordinary home cooking made by Tao Ze himself. Ever since he found out Mo Weiwei had a weak stomach, he had often cooked for him. Food from outside was more or less dirty.
By now, Mo Weiwei was used to Tao Ze feeding him on time three times a day. Some baby fat had even started appearing on his cheeks. If not for those frighteningly dark eyes and the strange maturity in them that didn’t fit his age, he would have looked like a very pretty little boy.
He was already hungry, so he took the chopsticks and started eating right away.
He liked Tao Ze’s cooking very much. There was a hard-to-explain charm to the taste.
Tao Ze took out the soup too. “Eat slowly. And don’t secretly throw away the green peppers. Finish all of it.”
Mo Weiwei had no choice but to eat the peppers with a disgusted look.
Tao Ze also ate a few bites of rice beside him, but in the end, he still couldn’t hold back from asking, “Tell me if my theory is right. Young Master Zhuang found someone to curse him on purpose, didn’t he? There are too many medical reports to count, a weak and malnourished body, and injuries on him that never fully disappeared from childhood onward.
“He was probably abused by someone in the family from a very young age, and the others in that house are all helping cover it up. That kind of pain must be why he wrote, ‘It hurts so much. If only I weren’t like this,’ on that page in the book.
“So when he learned that this kind of Atavist existed, he contacted them himself and asked for the curse, hoping to die and be replaced by a version of himself that was the opposite of the weak, helpless one he couldn’t stand—so that version could take revenge on the people who hurt him.”
In the twenty years Tao Ze had spent running around for his daughter, he had seen too many cases like this. There was no end to how cruel some parents could be.
When Mo Weiwei heard Tao Ze say something so stupid, he rolled his eyes. But there was no real impatience in them. “If it were that simple, the other detectives would have already figured it out. The Zhuang family wouldn’t be letting us search the house so freely.”
Ah. That was true.
“But you were right about one thing. The curse was definitely something he chose for himself. It happened before lunch yesterday. The maid said he went out for a walk before the meal. That was when he went out and got cursed.”
“I see.” Tao Ze nodded and kept eating. Then he suddenly froze. “Wait. Before lunch? Then isn’t it almost time?”
“The Zhuang family usually eats lunch at twelve.”
So there was only half an hour left?
Tao Ze panicked for a second, then quickly calmed down. It would be fine. With the boss and Mo Weiwei here, that boy wouldn’t die. Which only brought him back to the same question: why did Young Master Zhuang choose to curse himself? That was basically suicide. If Tao Ze’s guess was too dark, then what had happened to the boy? Was it something at school?
In an instant, grim words like “school bullying” and “teacher abuse” flashed through Tao Ze’s head again.
At that moment, Mo Weiwei said, “Nothing happened to him. He just wanted to use this to get his parents’ attention.”
Then he showed a grin full of bad intent. “Just wait until his mom beats his butt raw.”
But he was still confused inside. He could see Young Master Zhuang’s motive and what he had done, but he still couldn’t tell what secret Mr. and Mrs. Zhuang, the butler, and the maid were all hiding. He had turned over every dark possibility he could think of, but none of them fit.
A middle-aged male detective asked Mo Weiwei curiously, “Are you two father and son?”
Mo Weiwei froze, but for some reason didn’t deny it. By the time Tao Ze came out of the restroom, Mo Weiwei’s face had turned red for no reason, his eyes wandering guiltily.
Just then, with a scream from Mrs. Zhuang, the whole place erupted into chaos.
The two Young Master Zhuangs had started turning transparent. It was the sign that the countdown was almost over. Just as Mo Weiwei had said, the curse must have happened around noon.
At the same time, the Tribunal Division caught the Atavist who cast the curse.
“Let me go! Let me go!” It was a little girl around the same age as Young Master Zhuang, somewhere around thirteen or fourteen.
Only then did both copies of Young Master Zhuang’s face change. In two voices at once, they cried out, “Don’t arrest her! I’m the one who asked her to curse me! It has nothing to do with her!”
The whole room exploded.
“Why? Why would you do this?” Mrs. Zhuang asked in disbelief and pain.
“I wanted to become the kind of child you actually like. I’m weak and sickly and not smart at all. I didn’t inherit any of the good genes from you and Dad. I carry your blood, but I still turned out like some kind of broken thing. I disappointed you. If I die, then you can finally have a child who is the opposite of me, a child you’ll like.”
For generations, the Zhuang family had been full of smart and accomplished people. Every one of them graduated from top universities and found success in every kind of field. But when it came to Young Master Zhuang, his body was weak, he got hurt easily, his grades were terrible, and his social skills were poor. He was scared of people and spent more than half of every school term on leave.
Young Master Zhuang vaguely remembered that, when he was younger, his parents spent a lot of time with him and played with him often. But as he grew older and his clumsy side started to show, they grew busier and busier. They were away from home more and more, and the time they spent with him became less and less. Every year, they called the family doctor over again and again to check his body and even his brain.
They had to be disappointed that a child like him had been born to them. They must have hoped the doctors could fix him.
“Once I die, you’ll finally be happy.”
“What are you talking about?” Mrs. Zhuang’s tears broke loose at once. “Your father and I never disliked you. We never thought you disappointed us!”
“Huanhuan, it’s true that Mom and Dad haven’t spent enough time with you, and that’s why we can’t tell which one is the real you now. But you need to believe us. There was a reason for it…” Mr. Zhuang was also struggling to hide his pain.
At that moment, the butler finally seemed unable to hold back any longer. “Sir, Madam, at a time like this, you shouldn’t hide it anymore.”
“There is a terminal illness called Glass Body Syndrome. People who have it are physically fragile. Even the smallest bump causes large bruises. And during ordinary examinations, nothing unusual can be found. It only begins to worsen around the age of twenty, and by then there is no cure. When you were seven, sir and madam discovered that you had this illness. That’s why they have been running around all these years. They have been trying to save you,” the butler said with red eyes.
“I know about that illness,” Tao Ze said in surprise. “But how could you know he had it?”
In this world, a fragile body that bruised easily wasn’t especially rare. Not everyone with that condition had Glass Body Syndrome.
At that point, the maid spoke up. “Because the young master isn’t actually sir and madam’s biological child.”
The two boys both turned toward her. The little girl in cuffs stared in shock too.
“That day, the snow was very heavy. Sir and madam found the young master abandoned outside in the snow and carried him home. They said he was a gift from heaven and adopted him. When he was seven, his birth mother came to them and told them the truth. His father had died from Glass Body Syndrome, and this child would most likely inherit it too.
“In sir and madam’s hearts, the young master has always been their real son. Because the young master cared so much about the fact that he wasn’t as intelligent as the other members of the Zhuang family, sir and madam asked us to hide the truth. They were afraid that if he found out, he wouldn’t be able to accept it.”
It was a tragedy born from misunderstanding. The boy thought his parents didn’t love him because he wasn’t good enough, so he wanted to use this curse to give them another child—one who was everything he wasn’t. Meanwhile, his parents had grown more distant because they were running everywhere trying to save his life, which was also why they couldn’t tell which of the two boys was their real child now.
No one expected the truth to be this, and the whole room let out a collective sigh.
“There isn’t much time left. Are you going to gamble, or are you going to let them die?” said the Tribunal Division officer. Once this kind of curse was placed, the caster had no way to take it back. It could only be broken if someone identified the real one.
Tao Ze was sweating now from worry. Luckily, at that moment, a message from Jing Pei came through.
【Let Mo Weiwei give them the answer.】
Tao Ze’s spirit lifted at once. He hurriedly pushed Mo Weiwei toward Mr. and Mrs. Zhuang. “He already knows which one is real!”
Mo Weiwei looked dazed, as if he was still stunned by this kind of family love that he couldn’t understand. A beat later, he came back to himself. A strange burst of malice rose inside him, and he pointed at one of them with a blank face. “He’s the real Young Master Zhuang.”
Only the identification of someone deeply connected by blood and emotion would count, so the answer still had to be passed to the real parents, and then they had to make the final call.
Mr. and Mrs. Zhuang were both shocked. “R-really? Are you sure?”
“Really.”
Of course it wasn’t really true. He was pointing to the wrong one on purpose. At that moment, even he wasn’t sure whether he was doing it just to embarrass Jing Pei, or out of something else.
There wasn’t much time left. Since they couldn’t tell on their own, they had no choice but to trust someone else—even if that someone was just a child.
Just as Mr. and Mrs. Zhuang were about to make the call, Mrs. Zhuang’s phone suddenly rang.
The caller ID showed Madam Ouyang from Hujing Prefecture.
She paused in shock. She hadn’t expected that this woman, whom she had only met a few times and who was now caught in the middle of a husband-murder scandal, would call her. But she still answered.
“I heard about the trouble on your side. I want to recommend someone to you. If not for that person, I would already be dead.”
Then Mrs. Zhuang quickly sent Jing Pei an email and bought information.
【Choose the one the boy didn’t choose.】
That was the reply she got.
Should she believe a child, or believe an information broker? Because Madam Ouyang was the one who introduced the connection, Mrs. Zhuang chose the information broker at the last moment.
“You are my child.” Mrs. Zhuang pointed at the one Mo Weiwei had not chosen.
That Young Master Zhuang burst into tears and threw himself into his mother’s arms.
Mo Weiwei froze, then turned and stormed off in anger.
Tao Ze knew at once that he had deliberately picked the wrong one again, and he immediately went after him in anger.
“How could you do that? Do you know that you could’ve killed Young Master Zhuang?”
“That’s what he wanted in the first place. I was just helping him get what he wanted,” Mo Weiwei snapped. “She always does this. She obviously already knows the answer, so why does she still make me run around? She’s doing it on purpose, just to mess with me!”
“If you keep doing this, one day the boss will—”
“One day what?” He looked like a little fighting rooster. What could she really do?
Tao Ze was cut off by a phone call. The moment he saw the caller ID was Jing Pei, he hurriedly answered. As always, she spoke in that gentle voice: “Mo Weiwei’s trial period is over. He failed. Take him back.”
Tao Ze froze and immediately wanted to speak up for Mo Weiwei, but Jing Pei cut him off first.
“I’ve already decided. If he keeps dragging us down like this, he’ll only cause our deaths and his own. Sending him back is the best choice.”
Click. The call ended.
Tao Ze thought over Jing Pei’s words. During all this time together, he had grown attached to Mo Weiwei. Looking after him had started to feel like looking after the daughter he had lost. But the boss was right. She was trying to do something huge, and he had already sworn loyalty to her and promised to help her. With the way Mo Weiwei was now, he really wasn’t fit to stay with them.
Mo Weiwei had stomped ahead in anger. A fire was burning inside him. Why did seeing the Zhuang family’s love make him this angry?
He truly couldn’t understand that kind of family love, because he had grown up in a twisted home, with parents who had never loved him at all. That was also why he couldn’t fully read the Zhuang family. Deep down, he had been sure the secret they were hiding had to be dirty and rotten, even though the love in their eyes and on their faces had been real the whole time.
But faintly, if he thought more carefully, it was as if he could understand that kind of feeling after all—because during this time, he had maybe started to experience something a little like it.
He suddenly noticed Tao Ze wasn’t following him and turned around. “Why did you stop? It’s time for a nap.”
That had become another habit Tao Ze forced on him—thirty minutes of sleep after lunch. He had already thrown Jing Pei completely out of his mind and assumed that, just like before, there would be no punishment. He thought he could keep pushing and pushing until one day he tripped her up for real.
Tao Ze was silent for two seconds, then walked up to him. “No nap today. Go back to the hotel and pack up. If you leave early enough, you can still make it home for dinner.”
Mo Weiwei stopped walking. His round, dark eyes stared at Tao Ze. “What did you say?”
Tao Ze said, “The boss fired you.”
……
Jing Pei ended the call with Tao Ze, and the corner of her mouth lifted a little. Stubborn little wolf cubs always needed a process before they could be tamed. Now the time had come.
In the book he belonged to, Mo Weiwei wasn’t the main character. He was a major villain. He grew up locked in a cage by his parents. But without anyone quite noticing, the parents who depended on him to survive became the ones trapped inside the cage, being fed by him instead. When he was nineteen, his parents couldn’t endure life in that cage anymore and killed themselves. Only then did he leave home and step into society.
In his eyes, the world held no secrets. It was dirty, ugly, and worthless. He wanted to see the world burn to the ground, and wanted to be burned into the ashes with it. That was why he became a terrifying enemy who repeatedly forced the protagonist into brutal defeats. Quite a few readers said that, if they were the protagonist, they would rather just kill themselves than keep facing an opponent like that.
Jing Pei had always loved breaking expectations in her writing. She was known for plots that readers could never predict. Reading her stories felt like opening blind boxes—you never knew what each next chapter would bring, only that it would definitely throw your emotions up and down. People either loved her to death or got furious enough to die. She was a master at playing with emotion.
Mo Weiwei would be very useful to her. And even if he weren’t, she still couldn’t leave him to grow up inside that cage. Because by the time he reached the future written in her outline, he would very likely want that future to come true. He might even help her enemies make sure it happened.
What a hassle. Better to catch him while he was still young and raise him by her side.
The car stopped in the city center. The driver, who had claimed he had stomach trouble and needed the toilet, finally ran back, covered in sweat. “Sorry, Young Master. I kept you waiting. Where are we going?”
“To school,” she said.
The driver’s expression froze. “Didn’t you say you weren’t going to school?”
“After thinking about it carefully, these are all small matters. There’s no real reason to take leave,” Jing Pei said with a smile.
…Small matters? Are you serious?!
Yet once the driver brought Jing Pei to the Twelve Zodiac Academy, she truly got out and went to class as if nothing big was about to happen and there was no urgent danger at all.
That only made the driver sweat more, because he couldn’t tell at all what Jing Pei was planning.
……
Qiu Fa crouched on a big rock beside the pool below the waterfall outside the little Bubble, watching the fish swimming in the water. His pupils shifted along with the fish.
But right now his stomach was full, and he had no interest in the tiny fish in the water. Not long ago, Jing Pei had someone send food up—a 150-kilogram bluefin tuna.
The big cat had eaten his favorite food and eaten well, so naturally he looked down on those fish in the pool. Right now, he was only hesitating over whether to go into the water.
Inside the little Bubble, Wen Yuxian’s injuries had caused a high fever, and Zhang Simiao was taking care of him.
Then a panicked voice sounded from outside the bamboo grove, getting closer and closer.
“Director! Director, this is bad! There’s been a riot today at Cuihu Blue Prison. The Brain Eater has disappeared, and his tracker bracelet has been removed. The warden suspects he’s trying to escape. They can’t find him inside the prison and have sent an emergency request for help!”
The Brain Eater is a vicious, atavist criminal who takes the form of a chameleon. His favorite method of attack is to insert his long, slender tongue into his victims’ nostrils while they are still alive, stirring their brains into a pulp before pulling them out bit by bit to devour.
Because of his Atavist trait, he was very good at fooling human eyes. It took a very long time before anyone could find where he was hiding. In the end, Qiu Fa had to catch him personally and throw him into the Atavist prison, where he was waiting for execution. No one expected him to suddenly vanish from prison today.
If that Atavist death-row inmate really escaped, no one knew how many more people would die.
Qiu Fa obviously couldn’t protect one Zhang Simiao at the cost of abandoning the lives of countless innocent people.
Qiu Fa turned toward his subordinate.
The subordinate held out the phone, already connected. The anxious voice of the prison warden came through. “Brother Qiu Fa, come help us! We still can’t tell whether he escaped or if he’s still inside the prison. If he’s still in there and we still can’t find him, then this is dangerous!”
If some kind of hidden space existed and they couldn’t detect it, then today it was the Brain Eater who vanished, but tomorrow it could be an even worse Atavist criminal. No one knew what kind of disaster that would cause.
“Got it.” Qiu Fa agreed at once, then told his subordinate to leave. After that, he turned and sent out a message.
……
The weather had cleared up today, but for Xiao Cheng, it felt even worse than yesterday. The sky full of dark clouds seemed to be collapsing, with thunder and lightning ready to strike him dead.
He wore a custom-made suit, but his crushed posture made him look as if something terrible had just happened to him. He was still handsome and imposing, but the expression on his face looked so close to collapse that he seemed almost pitiful.
He stared at the pregnancy test in front of him. Why… why were there two lines?
What was even more terrifying was that this pregnancy test had been handed to him by his own wife—after he’d spent the past two days nauseated and vomiting, unable to stand the smell of the sperm-nourishing soup. Shouldn’t she have bought him medicine? Shouldn’t she have taken him to see a doctor? Why on earth did she give him this thing???
After being pushed into the bathroom and forced to take the test, two lines actually appeared?
And Mei Yanlan was even clapping her hands, a seductive smile on her face, the red mole at the corner of her eye glistening: “Congratulations, honey. You’re pregnant. Are you happy?”