Meeting

By the time Bai Yanliang woke up, it was already eight in the morning.

He didn't go out that morning. Instead, he stayed in the hotel and carefully sorted through his older brother's belongings.

Bai Yanren had been a private detective. Bai Yanliang thought back carefully and realized he actually knew very little about his brother. He only remembered that Yanren would often leave for several days at a time, but he always gave the landlady some money and asked her to look after Bai Yanliang. Though Bai Yanliang had never felt he needed looking after.

He went through the documents Yang Wanlong had kept, but couldn't find anything of value among them.

Most were contracts with clients: investigating infidelity, hiring people to search for missing relatives, collecting debts legally, and even finding lost cats and dogs. All in all, it was ordinary, routine private-detective work.

But... for all his normalcy, Bai Yanren had left behind a strange silver key among his belongings.

And that key could open the door to the Mist Gathering.

What was the Mist Gathering?

Though he had already been through one mission, Bai Yanliang still had no clue. He didn't even know what effect it would have on the real world if the Past World he returned to was real. If... it really could affect reality, the time paradoxes involved would be far too complicated.

But if it couldn't affect reality, then why had the Mist Gathering sent them to that strange time and place?

He didn't think it was just some unknowable being's idle joke.

If such a being really existed, humanity might not even be qualified to serve as its toys.

Bai Yanliang finished sorting through all of Yanren's documents, then quietly turned his gaze out the window.

In any case, he had already entered the Mist Gathering. According to Zhou Li, he wouldn't enter again until a month later.

As long as he could keep surviving, one day he would learn everything. And one day, he would uncover the truth about Yanren's death...

He would make whatever had killed Yanren pay the heaviest price, no matter what kind of being it was.

Putting those thoughts aside, Bai Yanliang took a shower, changed his clothes, and leisurely ate lunch before heading out to meet his date.

The hotel where he was staying was near Rongqiao Sky Street. After asking for directions along the way, he soon found the Log Coffee Shop.

It was lunchtime, and a few office workers from nearby were scattered around the Log Coffee Shop.

He spotted her at a table by the window.

She wore a fashionable, pure-white designer coat and an enormous pair of sunglasses that covered most of her face.

She seemed to be lost in thought, her head slightly turned toward the window. From where Bai Yanliang stood, he could clearly see her long hair pinned up high and her delicate yet cool profile.

Perhaps noticing his gaze, she soon turned back to look at him.

"Am I late?"

Bai Yanliang walked over and pulled out a chair. He politely declined the coffee the server recommended and asked for a glass of water instead.

"I got here early," Feng Xiuxue replied softly.

Her voice surprised Bai Yanliang. Seeing her in person, he had expected her voice to sound colder, but her tone was unexpectedly gentle.

"What did you want to see me about?"

Bai Yanliang didn't bother with small talk. After accepting the glass of water from the server, who looked faintly bemused, he asked the question plainly.

Feng Xiuxue suddenly sat up straight and looked at him quietly.

Her sunglasses hid her eyes, but Bai Yanliang could still sense the complicated emotions in her gaze.

After a long while, Feng Xiuxue took a photograph from her handbag and placed it in front of him.

"You should know this person, right?"

Bai Yanliang, whose composure had never wavered, tightened his grip on the glass. He looked at the photograph. It was old, its edges slightly faded, but it had clearly been well cared for.

It showed a man in a white casual outfit, grinning broadly. He looked very much like Bai Yanliang, though his manner was more easygoing and warm, mature and steady.

How could he not recognize him?

But he had never imagined he would see a photograph of Yanren in the hands of a celebrity known to the entire nation.

Still, something didn't add up.

Yanren had gotten into trouble ten years ago. Even if he had some connection to the Mist Gathering, that would have been ten years ago. But Feng Xiuxue was still in the Mist Gathering now. Had she spent ten years there?

"Where did you get this photograph?" Bai Yanliang finally asked after a long silence.

Feng Xiuxue had been watching him the whole time. She'd always thought few men could hide their true feelings from her, but she had to admit that Bai Yanliang had gotten the better of her.

She couldn't read a single emotion in his eyes. The only sign that he'd been unsettled was his right hand tightening around his glass when he first saw the photograph.

But that was enough.

"Bai Yanliang, Bai Yanren... You really are brothers," Feng Xiuxue said thoughtfully, seeming relieved.

"You still haven't answered my question." Bai Yanliang looked at her calmly.

Feng Xiuxue met his gaze and answered seriously, without putting on airs.

"Your older brother was my brother-in-law."

"Hmm?!"

For the first time, surprise appeared in Bai Yanliang's eyes. He stared at Feng Xiuxue as if he hadn't heard her, then asked again, "Yanren... was your brother-in-law? He was married?"

Feng Xiuxue took another photograph from her handbag and placed it beside the one of Bai Yanren.

It showed a beautiful young woman with an air of intelligence and grace. She looked quite like Feng Xiuxue, though their temperaments were completely different.

"This is my older sister, Feng Yiru. I use her name in the entertainment industry." Feng Xiuxue took a sip of her coffee. It was the bitterest kind of black coffee, with nothing added.

"Ten years ago, my sister suddenly disappeared. My family was frantic as they searched for her. During the search, they accidentally discovered that she was already married—and her husband was your older brother, Bai Yanren."

So he really did have a sister-in-law?

Bai Yanliang felt his thoughts slipping into disarray. It was rare for something like this to happen to him. After all, almost nothing could affect his emotions.

"Bai Yanliang, there's something wrong with your brother's death. There's something wrong with my sister's disappearance, too," Feng Xiuxue told him seriously, setting down her coffee.

In fact, she had noticed Bai Yanliang as soon as he entered the Mist Gathering. They looked so alike, and their names were so similar—there couldn't be that many coincidences in the world. But... if Bai Yanliang hadn't survived his first mission, there would have been no need to tell him any of this.

Fortunately, Bai Yanliang hadn't let Feng Xiuxue down. Or rather, his abilities had far exceeded her expectations.

He should be able to help her... find them.