His father's legacy

"Do you have his contact information?" Qin Manjiang asked.

The boy looked at Qin Manjiang, seemingly considering something, then nodded.

Qin Manjiang had only asked on a whim. He hadn't expected this strange boy to actually give him the doctor's contact information.

After entering a string of digits, Qin Manjiang looked at his phone screen. The number looked strange: not only was it twenty digits long, but there was no carrier logo, either.

Soon, the call connected.

The person on the other end answered.

"Hello." It was an unfamiliar man's voice, sounding no longer particularly young.

His voice echoed over the phone. He seemed to be somewhere like a basement.

Moreover, there was no trace of confusion in the man's greeting, as though he knew who was calling.

"You're Qin Manjiang, aren't you?" the man asked.

Sure enough, he had named Qin Manjiang outright.

"...Yes," Qin Manjiang answered. "Who are you?"

"Did you receive it? You should have called long ago."

It?

Qin Manjiang glanced down. Was he talking about this?

"You sent this?" In those few moments, Qin Manjiang had mentally checked everyone he had ever known. He was certain the voice on the phone belonged to no one he knew.

"Yes and no. I sent it, but I'm not the one who left it for you. It was your... your father," the man said.

Qin Manjiang frowned. He knew the father the man meant definitely wasn't Old Qin.

"You knew that man?"

"We were colleagues, and friends, more or less. You're his son. I know."

That was what the man said.

"Who is my biological father? What's his name?"

Qin Manjiang asked.

"Knowing now would do you no good," the doctor replied.

For the moment, Qin Manjiang couldn't figure out his intentions. "Why did you send this boy to me?"

"You can send him away. But watch out for your safety." The man seemed to be explaining patiently.

Qin Manjiang was puzzled. "Why?"

"His name is Lin. I sent him to protect you for a while, to settle the last little debt I owed your father," he said.

Qin Manjiang fell silent for a moment. "I don't need protection."

"Yes," he paused, "you didn't before. But now, possessing a treasure makes you a target."

His words made Qin Manjiang immediately look down at the package in his arms.

As though he knew Qin Manjiang was staring at the package, the doctor's voice came over the phone:

"Open it."

Qin Manjiang went inside, and Lin silently followed him into the room.

Qin Manjiang found a pair of scissors and opened the package.

After he peeled away layer after layer, a pure white metal case appeared before him.

The metal was cold all over, giving off an eerie chill. Yet that chill existed only on the case itself; through the air, he couldn't feel any cold at all.

Qin Manjiang couldn't even see a seam in the case, but as soon as his hand touched it, it opened on its own.

The first thing he saw was a letter.

There was no name on the envelope, but strangely, looking at it gave Qin Manjiang a sense of familiarity.

He opened the envelope and took out a sheet of white stationery. The paper felt cold to the touch, as though specially made.

There were a few lines written on it:

"Hello,

My son, unless absolutely necessary, I would rather not disturb you.

Your fate worries me. Before reading further, please make sure no one is around."

Qin Manjiang glanced to the side. The boy named Lin had been sitting on the sofa with his eyes closed ever since entering the room, never looking at him.

He continued reading:

"That Game will come for you."

That single sentence made Qin Manjiang's pupils contract.

That "father" he had never met actually knew what he was going through?

"Because I am a player, too."

The contents of the letter made Qin Manjiang's heart race.

"I don't believe this Game comes from a more advanced civilization, or from the cruel whims of gods and ghosts."

"Its creator must be a human being just like us."

"That person simply possesses knowledge unknown to us, and used some mysterious power to build this platform, making all the players serve him."

"I investigated in secret while playing the Game."

"Until... I discovered their secret. I... obtained it."

"Do not open it before you obtain a Permanent Item."

"I found that door, but I couldn't find the key."

"I leave the world beyond that door to you."

The letter ended there. It didn't read at all like a father's letter to his son in the future, but rather like a boss assigning tasks to an employee.

Qin Manjiang crumpled the letter into a ball and tossed it into the trash.

Perhaps hearing the sound, the doctor asked, "You read it?"

"Simply put, your father had a treasure someone wanted. He died because of it, too. You were entrusted to others and sent away, given a new name, and barely survived. Now that I've returned what your father entrusted to me, of course someone will come looking for trouble," the doctor said.

"Why didn't anyone come looking for trouble with you?"

"Huh? Because I never opened the case."

The doctor said it as though it were obvious.

"When you opened the case, it sent out a signal. Of course they'd notice. But don't worry too much. They can probably only tell that you're somewhere in Fu City."

Qin Manjiang fell silent for a moment, then said, "I'm not interested. I'll give it to Lin and have him return it to you. I have nothing to do with any of you."

Qin Manjiang's answer stunned the doctor. He seemed never to have imagined that Qin Manjiang would react this way.

"But that was your father's last request."

"My father's name was Qin Linghan."

"That thing is priceless!"

"..."

This time, Qin Manjiang couldn't even be bothered to reply.

He shut the case and tossed it to the strange boy, Lin.

"Take it back to that doctor of yours."

Lin caught the case with effortless ease and looked at Qin Manjiang in confusion.

"I'm not renting out the room anymore. Please leave."

Qin Manjiang placed a hand on Lin's shoulder, about to usher him out.

"Wait!" The doctor's voice finally grew anxious over the phone. "Don't dump this trouble on me. Your father left it for you!"

"I know you resent your parents for abandoning you, but they had no choice. If they hadn't sent you away, you would have died, too!"

Qin Manjiang remained unmoved.

"Don't you want revenge on the people who killed your biological parents?"

"And your adoptive parents, too!"

Qin Manjiang abruptly stopped. "What do you mean?"

Hearing Qin Manjiang's voice, the doctor relaxed somewhat and hurriedly said, "Exactly what I said. Your adoptive parents were ordinary people from Lower River Village. Aren't you curious why rumors of that place being a Ghost Story Village began after you were sent there?"

Of course Qin Manjiang wanted to know. Although he had recently learned online that Lower River Village was said to be a Ghost Story Village, he hadn't thought it had anything to do with him.

But now, hearing this unfamiliar doctor say it, he vaguely felt that it really might have something to do with him.

He was twenty this year and had been sent to Lower River Village twenty years ago. The village's unsolved mysteries and eerie ghost stories had also continued from twenty years ago to the present.

To claim there was no connection would be to deceive himself.

And... his sister, Qin Manyi, had told him he had to go to Sleep Mountain Psychiatric Hospital to find her on September 4, the anniversary of their father's death.

Qin Manjiang's thoughts had drifted far afield when he heard the doctor say, "What your father left you... who knows whether it's a blessing or a curse."

Qin Manjiang fell silent for a moment.

Sure enough, this doctor, like Xi Wutong, knew the inside story.

Qin Manjiang looked at the case, took it back from the puzzled Lin, and opened it.

Lying quietly inside was a phone, a... completely ordinary, unremarkable-looking phone.

When he picked it up, Qin Manjiang's gaze flickered.

There was something else underneath!

It was a small, finely crafted longevity lock pendant.

A little note was stuck to the pendant, made of the same cold material as the stationery.

There weren't many words. He could read them at a glance.

"My child, grow up well, and may your life be safe and smooth-Mom."

Qin Manjiang's face was expressionless. He had intended to crumple it into a ball like the letter, but quietly stayed his hand.

"Who were they?"

I wasn't feeling very well today and went to the hospital, so the update will be a little late. There'll be another chapter later; you can read it tomorrow.

(End of chapter)