Li Jing, Gu Yima District. In front of a three-story residential building.
Half of the sun had already dipped below the horizon, the last trace of red and gold in the sky slowly fading away.
As night approached, summer cicadas still sang tirelessly in the trees. Under the shade, Ji Minghuan stood motionless, his face devoid of any expression.
He was enveloped in the heat, staring blankly at the door of the house ahead. A drop of sweat ran down his pale cheek, along his jawline, and onto the collar of his school uniform.
It was too hot; he had shed his school jacket on the way home, resting it on his wrist.
Pulling at his damp collar, he sighed in relief.
At first, he didn't quite understand why, in this wretched weather, Gu Wenyu insisted on wearing a school jacket to school, afraid that others wouldn't look at him or would think he had caught a cold.
Now he understood that Gu Wenyu wore the jacket for ease of using his superpower, hiding the restraint belt in the long sleeves so it wouldn't easily be noticed—like during gym class when vigorous activity might accidentally reveal the restraint belt; then, wearing a jacket could still offer cover and recovery, whereas in short sleeves, it would be exposed in an instant.
Standing outside the door, he looked down at his phone.
The current time was July 9, 2020, at 17:30 in the afternoon. He locked the screen and lifted his eyes from the phone screen, looking once more at the brown-red door in front of him.
The evening breeze blew in from above the city, lightly lifting his bangs and bringing a touch of the night's coolness.
"Home... what a foreign word," Ji Minghuan thought.
The reason he stood there at the doorstep, instead of being inside enjoying a fan, was to carefully contemplate how to play his role well in front of Gu Wenyu's family.
As an orphan abandoned by his parents from a young age, Ji Minghuan had no experience interacting with family.
In that welfare institute, his companions growing up were similarly parentless children, negligent teachers with perpetual scowls waiting for class to end, annoying nurses, and a moody old director.
Thus, he could only start from Gu Wenyu's memories, understanding each family member's personality and behavior logic, remembering how Gu Wenyu interacted with each of them, and slowly figuring out how to naturally interact with these "family members" who shouldn't have existed, without them noticing anything amiss.
Ji Minghuan dropped his hands to feel his pants, remembering the keys were in his jacket pocket.
As he fumbled with the school jacket he held, he went over Gu Wenyu's "background memory" in his mind again.
Gu Wenyu's family relationships could be described as complex.
The family initially consisted of father "Gu Zhuo Case," mother "Su Ying," elder brother "Gu Qiye," younger sister "Su Zimai," and the one caught in the middle, "Gu Wenyu," making five.
At first, it was a very standard happy family — loving father, filial children, and a mother who was not only gentle and smart but also attentive to each child's emotions. Gu Wenyu and his siblings were very dependent on her.
All of this changed five years ago.
On June 15, 2015, his mother got caught in an accident. The official statement was that a member of the United Nations' elite superpower organization, "Rainbow Wings," while on a mission, accidentally harmed residents of the Gu Yima District during a struggle with a formidable enemy.
Their mother, Su Ying, was one of the ordinary people inadvertently harmed by a "Rainbow Wings" member. More accurately, she wasn't just injured...
She was killed, leaving not even remnants behind.
In fact, such situations weren't rare; similar incidents occurred often in today's world. Superpower users accidentally injuring ordinary people is akin to humans trampling an ant during a scuffle.
Who could have the energy to notice an ant underfoot while fully engaged in a fight with another person?
Afterwards, the father repeatedly petitioned the government, but the status of "Rainbow Wings" was very high. It is acknowledged worldwide as the strongest superpower organization, formed by top superpower users strictly selected from member countries, directly serving high-level figures in the United Nations.
According to rumors, each generation of "Rainbow Wings" is composed of exactly 12 members, all information about them strictly confidential to the public. Disclosure is strictly prohibited unless unavoidable and unconcealable, especially regarding the details of their special abilities - revealing those would give enemies an opportunity to counteract.
For this reason, no matter how many times the father petitioned the government, he could never find out which superpower user had mistakenly killed the mother in that incident... no matter how hysterically he vented his anger, nor how he organized united protests with families of other victims who were also inadvertently harmed at the time.
The final response, after all, was nothing more than a cold lawyer's letter and a string of formal, flawless official replies.
Not long after, the matter was gradually suppressed, and one by one, the people around chose to compromise and withdrew from the protest, leaving the father standing alone on the street.
The only solace was that at least in the end, the father managed to get hundreds of thousands in compensation.
But after the mother's funeral, the father fell into a slump, unable even to care for his three children at home.
Later, because of the younger sister, Su Zimai, running away from home, the eldest brother, Gu Qiye, had a big argument with the father at home. Their relationship completely broke down, and both unwilling to see the other, acted like two strangers forced to cohabit.
Now the father works out of town all year round, and his only link to the family seems to be the monthly living expenses he sends back and a few token greetings on the phone.
For Gu Wenyu and his sister Su Zimai, it was actually their eldest brother, who had always cared for them meticulously, who felt more like a "father" to them.
And the real father had long since become nothing more than a name, turning into a money-making machine that couldn't be seen or touched but would send money back every month.
It's been two years since the father last came home.
The eldest brother, Gu Qiye, was admitted to a university, enrolling in a prestigious one in Li Jing.
This university is not far from the Gu Yima District, and it only takes half an hour by subway from the station next to the university to get home. So he could easily take care of his younger siblings, who were in high school, without compromising his studies.
Ji Minghuan yawned and looked up at the sky in a daze: "Thinking about it this way, it's quite alright: since Gu Wenyu's father is not usually around, he only has to deal with his brother and sister, just reduce interactions with the two of them, and nothing odd will be noticed."
"By the way," he seemed to have thought of something, "I remember the character background in the created file mentioned—'Every family member of Gu Wenyu is hiding an unknown secret.'"
"But as far as I know, in Gu Wenyu's memories of these past years, except for his mother who is dead and unverifiable, the remaining three family members, whether it's his father, brother, or sister, have all regarded themselves as ordinary people without revealing any flaws. So in the end, is this whole family actually some kind of secret agents?"
After thinking for a while, he finally found a hard, long object in his coat pocket, pulled out the silver-plated key, and inserted it into the lock on the doorknob.
The next second, just as he was about to twist it, there was a "click," and the door opened from the inside.
Ji Minghuan raised his eyebrows, retrieved the key from the keyhole, and through the open door crack, he saw a clear face.
The person who opened the door for him was Gu Qiye, who was also Gu Wenyu's brother.
He had a tall build, with shoulder-length black hair, well-defined features, a high nose bridge, and a smile at the corner of his mouth that lay between confidence and frivolity. He has never lacked admirers from a young age, though Ji Minghuan found him somewhat annoying.
At this moment, Gu Qiye wore a silver cross necklace around his neck and a plain black T-shirt, paired with jeans. He was casually wearing a pair of ordinary indoor slippers.
"I've been waiting for you for a long time," Gu Qiye said with a smile.
He leaned against the door frame, tossed a bottle of iced cola to his brother casually.
"Thanks, bro." Ji Minghuan didn't blink, swiftly caught the cola, and unscrewed the cap while thanking him.
With a "fizz" sound, a burst of cold air escaped from the can, and he moved his face closer to cool himself off.
Gu Qiye crossed one arm over his chest, while using his phone with the other hand, glanced at the incoming message, and asked casually: "Why did you come back so late? Didn't you say that tomorrow was the start of your summer vacation, so school let out early?"
Ji Minghuan took a sip of the cola, wiped the sweat concentrating on his chin with the back of his hand, and explained helplessly:
"Couldn't help it, our homeroom teacher talks too much. Students from other classes had already left school, but he was still nonstop at the podium."
As he spoke, he glanced up at Gu Qiye, just as a long strip text panel popped up in front of him.
[Main Quest 1: Investigate what your 'brother'—Gu Qiye—is hiding.]
[Quest Reward: 1 Split Point (collect a certain number of Split Points to create a new game character in the Real World), 1 Skill Point (for development in the Character Skill Tree), 1 Attribute Point (to enhance one attribute in the character panel)]