Su Lie

It was a thread-bound notebook with silver-white wings embossed on its dark brown leather cover. Antique-style bronze corner guards bore intricate patterns like flowing water.

Tianyang gently opened the cover. In the lower-left corner of the title page was the signature "Su Lie." Clearly, this was the diary's owner.

Although he wanted to read its contents right away, Tianyang put it away in the carrying bag the Storage Bank had given him.

After he left, a man who looked like a manager, sporting a drooping mustache, hurried back to his office. He took a slim communications tablet from a drawer.

The manager entered a message:

Dear sir, the item you have been monitoring was collected just moments ago.

The person who collected it is named Tianyang. He is an Ascender.

I apologize, but any further information is beyond my clearance.

He finished composing the message and sent it.

After leaving the Storage Bank, Tianyang did not immediately return to the Lower City. He found a park nearby-yes, a park. In this luxury facility, which the Lower City lacked, the boy sat on an outdoor bench beneath a tree and read the notebook.

Sunlight filtered through the dense canopy overhead, falling on the diary's elegant yet forceful handwriting. Tianyang read carefully, word by word.

"...October 7. Today marks one hundred days since Nanfei and I met. War Lord above, although I'm not one of your followers, I still have to thank you for letting me meet this girl in your church. I think I ought to record these wonderful days so that when we grow old, we can take this out and savor them.

"Perhaps Nanfei will laugh at me then. After all, I don't look like someone who keeps a diary. Well, who cares? Haha."

After reading just the first entry, Tianyang noticed his hands trembling slightly. This Su Lie actually knew his mother, Nanfei, and from the sound of it, the two seemed to have been dating.

Could Su Lie be...

The boy eagerly read on.

"...October 23. Just got back from a mission. I'm exhausted. If it weren't for preserving our right to establish a clan, I wouldn't go into the Inverse Realm even if you beat me to death. It's always pitch-black there, with so many disgusting, hideous things. How could it compare to the sunlit fortress? Of course, the most important reason is that my favorite girl is here. Nanfei, I'm back!"

"...October 24. Just had a fight with the old man. Come to think of it, how many years has it been since I last argued with him like that? He's so stubborn. He actually wants me to go on a blind date with the Ren Family's daughter. Is he kidding? A spoiled young lady who does nothing but dress herself up, has no substance, and isn't even particularly pretty-I really don't know what he sees in her. Oh, I know. It must be the ten thousand contribution points the Ren Family promised to transfer to us every year."

"...November 7. Poor Nanfei fell ill today. Still, she has a different sort of charm when she's sick. Hmm, I can't tell her that, though, or she'll think I'm a lecher. Am I? Of course not!"

For the most part, these entries covered little incidents during Su Lie's relationship with his mother. They included Su Lie's father opposing the relationship and arranging a marriage, Su Lie running away from home, and his father finally having to compromise.

Judging by the diary, this Su Lie was clearly an Upper Citizen of the fortress. Only Upper Citizens who had made outstanding contributions were allowed to have surnames.

Unfortunately, Su Lie had revealed very little about his family in the diary. Tianyang did not even know what work he had done in the fortress.

Still, judging by the repeatedly mentioned missions, Su Lie must have served in one of three units: the Nightwalkers, Storm, or the Gathering Team.

Reading further, he learned that Su Lie's father had died in mid-May of the following year. By early August, Tianyang's mother was pregnant. Su Lie sounded excited and delighted in his diary, and had even been secretly planning to marry her.

"...August 27. Another mission today. This one looks like it'll take a while. Just my luck. I'd been thinking I could hold the wedding with Nanfei early next month. Nothing for it now. I'll have to get that kid Jing Nan to make the arrangements in secret, then marry Nanfei when I get back from this mission. She'll be overjoyed. Definitely!"

"...August 28. I've decided. The little fellow in Nanfei's belly will be called Tianyang! May he have a heart as vast as the sky and a future as bright as the sun! Ha, this dad has a bit of literary talent after all, just a tiny bit less than that rascal Jing Nan. Hmm, I'll mention it to Jing Nan later and get his opinion on the name."

That was the last diary entry.

Not because nothing had been written afterward, but because the later pages had been torn out!

Looking at the ragged edges, Tianyang's mind filled with questions.

Why had the diary been torn apart here? What had happened afterward that left Mother raising me alone in the Lower City?

Judging by that final entry, Su Lie really was his father. But why had he never appeared in all these years?

Had Su Lie tired of his old love and abandoned Tianyang and his mother for someone new? Or was there another reason?

Tianyang closed the diary and shut his eyes.

At least two people knew the truth.

One, of course, was his mother, Nanfei. The other was Jing Nan, who had been mentioned in the diary.

Mother has never been willing to talk about Father. Even if I ask, she probably won't tell me. And what if she starts asking questions? If she finds out I took that Storage Bank slip without her permission...

The boy shook his head hard. "Looks like my only option is to get answers from this Jing Nan!"

But Skyhold had around a hundred thousand permanent residents. Who knew where someone named Jing Nan lived, or whether he was even still alive?

Suddenly remembering the Household Registration Office employee from that morning, Tianyang slapped his thigh. "That's right! I can ask him for help. The Household Registration Office should be able to look up residents' records."

The boy immediately sprang to his feet, ran out of the park, and jumped onto his electromagnetic motorcycle. He switched on the navigation and headed straight for the Household Registration Office.

At three that afternoon, Tianyang rode along the passage leading back to the Lower City.

The Household Registration Office had agreed to help, but even with an Ascender like Tianyang making the request, they could not simply disclose residents' information.

So Tianyang filled out an application, which the Household Registration Office would submit to the Fortress Information Management Office for review. Only after approval could they search the relevant records.

All told, it would be at least a week before he heard anything.

Tianyang could only head home with the diary tucked away. He hoped to hide it before his mother got off work.

Back at the shack, he had barely parked his motorcycle when he spotted a figure outside. He started, thinking his mother had come home early.

Instead, it was a man wearing the Nightwalkers' long black uniform coat.

Tianyang immediately grew excited. Could he have a mission?