White Tower

Li Wei wasn't particularly surprised by what she said.

Although he had only spent a short time with the man named Feng Yanyi, he could tell even more clearly than Feng Zi could.

The man was obviously not very happy or relieved to see Feng Zi find him.

"So where do we go next?"

Li Wei didn't mind leaving. The important thing was having somewhere to go.

At his question, Feng Zi turned and looked through the dusty glass toward the faint glow, barely visible in the far distance.

Confusion showed in her blue eyes.

Clearly, when she had led Li Wei out of that experimental facility, she hadn't considered what she would do if Feng Yanyi refused to help her.

"To get the Light Stone back, we have to find a way into the White Tower. But the tower is in the very center of this city, and normally only council members and major factory owners can enter. I heard they might relax the restrictions during the Festival of Radiance, but even then, only residents of the Radiance District will be allowed in."

Feng Zi clutched the hem of her clothes.

"Uncle Feng may be stuck here in the Border Market, but he still has some connections in the Council. I was going to ask him to help us sneak into the White Tower during the Festival of Radiance a month from now. If we can get inside, there's still hope."

"I can't blame him. Everyone in the Border Market depends on him. If the Council finds out about this, it'll drag everyone here into trouble."

She tried to comfort Li Wei. Clearly, even after Feng Yanyi had refused to help, she hadn't come to resent him.

If she didn't resent him, Li Wei certainly wasn't going to say anything.

He glanced at the player information screen, at the bare-bones quest to help Feng Zi. As things stood, they really did seem to have no leads.

There was an obvious, tangible divide in status between the people in this city. The Afterglow District, where the laborers lived, was a slum in every sense of the word, and they had no right or permission to enter the Radiance District, where conditions and quality of life were much better.

And that was nothing compared to Feng Zi and Li Wei, who were wanted. They'd had to go to considerable trouble just to board the labor train, and had ended up getting abducted into a black coal mine.

Just as Li Wei was fretting over the quest seeming to have reached a dead end, one of the terms Feng Zi had used suddenly struck him as familiar. He remembered something.

He turned to Feng Zi with a strange look.

"What's the name of the tower where the Light Stone is kept?"

Feng Zi looked a little puzzled by his reaction, but answered anyway.

"The White Tower. It was already there before Dad brought the Light Stone to this city. Before the city was renamed Sun City, it was named after that tower."

Li Wei frowned and rubbed his smooth chin, muttering to himself.

"What are the odds? Or was this deliberately arranged as part of the quest?"

Feng Zi didn't understand what he meant. She only blinked as Li Wei muttered to himself, then turned and headed in the direction he had come from, searching for something.

It didn't take him long to find the address card he had tossed away like a flying disc in the corner.

[Afterglow District, Labor District 2, No. 18, Twilight Church]

Looking at the address, Li Wei shook his head.

He was the sort of person who instinctively doubted everything and questioned every problem. And this really was a little too much of a coincidence, so he was more inclined to think it had been deliberately written into the story. After all, the game wouldn't give players a quest they couldn't possibly complete.

Beside him, Feng Zi rose onto her tiptoes, curiously peering at the card in Li Wei's hand. She wasn't very tall, and when he held it up near his face, she couldn't see a thing.

Only when Li Wei handed her the address did Feng Zi get a proper look at what it said.

She said in surprise,

"The Twilight Church? Did a priest want you to join the Twilight Church?"

"He didn't just want me to join the Twilight Church. He also said I looked good and wanted me to audition for the Choir. If I got in, I'd have a chance to enter the White Tower with The Bishop during the Festival of Radiance a month from now and meet all the big shots."

Hearing this, Feng Zi's eyes widened. Once she had processed what he said, delight spread across her face.

"That's right! When I first arrived in Sun City, I heard the council members' wives and daughters talking about it at a tea party! Every year during the Festival of Radiance, The Bishop of the Twilight Church's Sun District organizes the Choir to enter the White Tower and raise donations and funds for the people of the Afterglow District!"

"I thought the Choir members were all selected from the Radiance District. I can't believe The Bishop is so compassionate and open-minded that he picks suitable people from among the laborers!"

She was visibly excited, the few coins in her pocket jingling as she moved.

Li Wei casually slipped the address card back into his pocket. He wasn't as optimistic as Feng Zi. For one thing, they were wanted now. Would they even have a chance of getting selected for the Choir?

Simply getting back from the Border Market to the Afterglow District was a problem.

He still had the fake identity card, but news of the Coal Mine Field incident must have spread by now. Tian'en Company and the police would certainly have figured out the false identity he had used to board the labor train.

If they went back using the same identity, they would almost certainly walk straight into a trap.

Feng Zi had clearly thought of this too. Her excitement quickly faded.

Just as the two of them were crouching side by side against the wall, trying to think of a way forward, Master Thirteen came looking for them, his expression grave.

"Sir says you need to leave at once. The police came to the Border Market last night and have been waiting at the nearby factories ever since. They've just gotten word and are closing in!"

At this, Feng Zi instinctively grabbed Li Wei's arm. Li Wei merely blinked, thinking it over. After a few seconds, he asked,

"The police can't come running, can they?"

Master Thirteen didn't understand the sudden question at first.

"Of course they're coming in police cars. You need to go. Staying here will only bring trouble for you and Sir!"

He tried to reassure them, as if worried the two of them might refuse to leave.

Li Wei stood up, brushed off the floral shirt he had stolen, and picked up the black case of money and the short sword Feng Yanyi had given him. He no longer seemed worried about how they would get out of there.

"Don't worry. We'll leave, of course. We won't drag you into this."

Feng Zi's expression turned cold, but she stood up with Li Wei without saying a word.

Feng Yanyi might be looking after and protecting the people of the Border Market now, but most of them had once been condemned to work themselves to death in factories. Her father had always led them in fighting for their rights and a better standing.

In the end, her father had died, and what he had fought for had been taken away. Yet these people, afraid of being implicated, were forcing the two of them out.

She respected their choice, but she still couldn't accept it.