"I thought I had heard wrong."
"Maybe Zhu Shi didn’t actually call out ’Dad,’ just let out the syllable ’ba’ without any meaning. Why she would make such a silly noise at this moment was to be set aside for now; it surely made more sense than her calling out ’Dad’ to the Weirdo Maker. That was what I had first thought."
"But what happened next was completely at odds with my thoughts. Zhu Shi walked quickly over to us and then bent down to cradle the head of the Weirdo Maker with both hands. The poor man was beyond recognition, with only his face intact and, fortunately, a serene expression rather than a fierce one. However, from the perspective of a bereaved family member, such small consolation could be more irritating than comforting."
"Zhu Shi stared blankly at the head, her expression shifting from disbelief born of an inability to comprehend the situation to disbelief that came with understanding."
Mazao and I exchanged glances, at a loss for what to do. In the end, it was I who broke the silence.
"The Weirdo Maker is your father?" I ventured, bracing myself.
"...Yes," Zhu Shi replied with difficulty. "There’s no mistake, this face... it’s my father, Ying Lingyun."
Ying Lingyun? Your father’s surname should be ’Zhu,’ right? It took me a moment to remember that Zhu Shi and Changan’s father had married into the family.
And I was sure I’d heard the name ’Ying Lingyun’ not long ago. That’s right, the Shadow Swapping Monster had mentioned it: in Saltwater City, a politician of humble origins who soared to success in his career after marrying into the local, reclusive Zhu family. I had originally intended to inquire further but had been distracted by the Shadow Swapping Monster’s perverse interests and had inadvertently put it to the back of my mind.
Actually, a long time ago, when I was associating with Changan, I had also heard of ’Ying Lingyun.’ But since he was unrelated to me, I hadn’t paid much attention. To me at the time, he was just a feckless, irresponsible father figure in Changan’s "backstory."
Anyway, I had, rather too carelessly, killed someone’s father. No, it wasn’t really by accident; I had killed him twenty or thirty times before, and just now, I had been earnestly intent on obliterating his consciousness network along with his physical being. To claim it was an accident would be absurd. In any case, I felt perhaps I should start with an apology.
"Um... sorry?" I said.
"There’s no need for you to apologize to me. Plus, I just provided intelligence support for you. I’m partly responsible," Zhu Shi shook her head, then said blankly, "So that’s it, he was the Weirdo Maker... He had been out of touch for all these years, but it turns out he wasn’t involved in secret projects for the official forces, but had instead joined the Human Bureau in secret..."
It was also possible the Human Bureau was a clandestine organization controlled by the official forces—I remembered the suspicion mentioned in the documents Lu Youxun had given us. Now, the real identity of the Weirdo Maker seemed to confirm this.
As a politician and an official, Ying Lingyun was undoubtedly a part of the official forces. And since he also held office as a senior decision maker in the Human Bureau, it was hard not to suspect a connection between the two.
Moreover, this also explained why the Weirdo Maker needed to keep his true identity hidden. If his true face beneath the mask were to be exposed to the eyes of Luo Mountain, everyone would question the Human Bureau’s backing. Indeed, even without exposure, individuals like Lu Youxun from Luo Mountain were already deeply skeptical.
Together with Luo Mountain’s past suspicion that the official forces might possess the divine seal, it seemed to also relate to the supposed Divine Seal Fragment that the Weirdo Maker had. Perhaps the official forces really had controlled the complete divine seal in the past, but due to some accident, the divine seal broke, the Fan Tian Incident occurred, and the power that split the mundane society and the abnormal world disappeared. The fragments of the divine seal remained in the possession of the official forces...
So why would such an important object appear in the basement of the fifteenth-floor room and then be picked up by me?
Where did the official forces acquire such Doomsday Era technology to transform humans into monsters?
Perhaps suspecting a connection between the official forces and the Human Bureau is still premature. Ying Lingyun might be a traitor to the official forces, and the Human Bureau could indeed be an evil organization at odds with both the official forces and Luo Mountain.
One thing was now clear: Lu Youxun was indeed not in collusion with the Weirdo Maker.
The initial suspicion of Lu Youxun mainly stemmed from the Weirdo Maker’s knowledge about Zhu Shi. But since the Weirdo Maker’s real identity was Ying Lingyun, everything made sense. After all, Ying Lingyun was the husband who had married into the Zhu family and Zhu Shi’s father, so it was natural for him to know his daughter’s abilities and the Yama Sword she possessed.
Alright, having sorted out my thoughts to this point, I was pretty much over the shock of "the Weirdo Maker is Zhu Shi’s father."
Zhu Shi also seemed to barely surface from the surging emotional waves and murmured to herself, "Why would he join a vile organization like the Human Bureau? Could it be that he actually hated the demon hunters... hated our Zhu family?"
She was a person who loathed evil, and even if her father were to commit unspeakable acts, she would never descend to his level and may even express utter condemnation. That being said, as a daughter who had taken part in the act of killing her father, it was inevitable that she would be distraught.
I could hardly imagine what she was feeling at that moment.
"Do you want me to help you investigate?" Mazao seemed to be searching for the right words, "Although it might take a few days or even longer, I should be able to uncover some information."
"...Ask for your help later," Zhu Shi sighed. "As for tonight, let me take his head back. I need to make a report to Grandfather, and this will serve as evidence."
Mazao didn’t offer to follow Zhu Shi home but turned to look at me first.
As Zhu Shi’s "patricidal enemy," I now felt uncertain about how to speak with her. Accidentally killing a close female friend’s father and being seen at the crime scene—how could I tactfully mollify her emotions and recreate a friendly and harmonious conversational atmosphere?—Would I get any good advice if I posted this as a topic title on an online forum? I couldn’t help but let my thoughts wander.
Afterward, I suggested we disband for the time being.
We briefly coordinated our plans for the next day before returning to our respective thoughts and homes.