Chapter 4: Heaven’s Descent

July 4th, 9:49 PM.

After wrapping up her evening study session and saying goodbye to Xu Xianyue, Ye Jingqiu trudged homeward in a listless daze.

In the end, she hadn’t managed to stuff all three pounds of the crayfish she’d secretly bought into her belly. Worse yet, under Teacher Xiao Xu’s watchful eye, she’d been forced to study for a full two hours.

Math worksheets without a single multiple-choice question had tormented her the entire evening.

Sigh.

Ye Jingqiu gazed tearfully at the sky, sorrow swelling in her chest. Why couldn’t she just be a little crayfish, swimming blissfully through oceans of cumin and five-spice, far from the endless onslaught of functions and geometry problems?

If that wasn’t possible, mala flavor would do—dial back the spice, amp up the numbing, they could haggle!

“Beep—”

The elevator arrived with a soft chime as the doors slid open, gentle jazz music drifting out to welcome every resident.

Ye Jingqiu paused mid-step, then broke into a wide grin.

“Good evening, Grandma!”

Someone was already inside: a sprightly old woman with snow-white hair, smiling warmly at her.

Having lived here a while, Ye Jingqiu was somewhat familiar with her upstairs neighbor, who loved taking evening strolls.

She was a retired renowned physician from one of the top hospitals, her skills legendary—snagging an appointment a couple of years ago had been tougher than the Gaokao.

She hadn’t fully retired, though; she still seemed to be lending her expertise somewhere.

The last time Ye Jingqiu had twisted her ankle in a scrap with an exotic beast, she’d recovered so quickly thanks to this grandma’s tips. Otherwise, she’d have been stuck spraying Yunnan Baiyao aerosol and toughing it out with gritted teeth.

He Shizhi was what you’d call a stylish old lady, hale and hearty past seventy, her posture ramrod straight, outpacing Ye Jingqiu on walks.

Spotting her young neighbor, she beamed. “Evening, Xiao Ye. You’re home late today—what’s the story?”

“Final exams wrapped up today. I stuck around to cram a bit with a classmate. No early wake-up for school tomorrow.”

The elder and the youth fell into easy chatter. A dozen seconds later, the elevator dinged to a stop. Ye Jingqiu courteously bid He Shizhi farewell, then bolted homeward with her backpack, a cold sweat beading on her brow.

Any later, and Grandma He would’ve grilled her on her exam scores!

He Shizhi smiled softly and waved the girl off.

Truth be told, she’d always been a little curious about this child.

At her age, one ought to stop meddling—like Xiao Ming’s grandpa, who’d lived to a hundred without fuss. But Xiao Qiu…

She really was a bit peculiar.

This was a certain enclave in Shanghai’s middle ring: solid square footage prices, nothing cheap. The previous owner of the flat downstairs had been a designer of some renown. She’d planned to make it her private retreat, but then life threw a curveball.

She’d reconciled with her ex-girlfriend and, all blissed out, decided to settle in Beijing with her partner, who hated the southern humidity.

Morning reconciliation; afternoon listing of the brand-new house.

Not a single night lived in.

He Shizhi, upon hearing: ?

Friend, isn’t that a tad impulsive?

Beijing’s so bone-dry!

In any case, He Shizhi hadn’t figured on new folks moving in downstairs anytime soon.

The designer’s asking price was a full ten percent above neighborhood average—a lion’s maw, eye-catching style be damned. No quick sale in sight.

But then, that very evening, someone dropped full cash.

And days later, in came a high school sophomore.

Xiao Qiu claimed her parents had died young in an accident, leaving her to live alone.

But Xiao Qiu—no other family at all?

He Shizhi reined in her thoughts, shook her head, and stepped out of the elevator toward home.

If only she didn’t turn in so early each night; she would have seen her downstairs neighbor’s place lit up like high noon every evening.

Ye Jingqiu had just slipped inside and flicked on the lights.

Bright as day, no hyperbole. Living room to study to balcony to dressing room, every space and hallway aglow with no fewer than five major fixtures: tiered ceiling clusters, pendant drops swaying quietly, tautly mounted LED strips…

The sheer density jarred against the home’s sleek futuristic vibe.

Ignore the girl sprawled bonelessly on the sofa, bag discarded, and a visitor might swear they’d stumbled into IKEA’s lighting showroom.

This prime piece of real estate was indeed home to Ye Jingqiu, your run-of-the-mill high schooler. Yet she herself was the villain who’d demolished its stylish interior.

Simple reason: she was deathly afraid of the dark. Terrified, petrified.

Ye Jingqiu yawned hugely, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows at the glittering city nightscape, lost in a daze.

The Exotic Beast Dream from half a year back had whisked away her memories too, leaving her even now unable to conjure any sense of “father” or “mother’s” home. She could only patchwork the truth from hearsay:

Parents killed outright in a sudden car crash, leaving her this property in haste.

Ye Jingqiu: ?

The “sudden” was superfluous, really.

She harbored 120% skepticism toward this hackneyed melodrama. Memory wipe or no, parental love should’ve left some emotional scar tissue.

And most tellingly…

Ye Jingqiu’s gaze drifted; she scooped up a yellowed scrap of paper and a bank card from beside her.

“190905, Ye Zhixia.”

Handwriting all crooked, but legible enough—the writer just wasn’t much of a scribe.

190905: the PIN. She’d tested the card at a bank ATM once; the screen’s cascade of digits had left her slack-jawed.

Screenshot fodder to shove under her homeroom teacher’s nose, proving her tall tales weren’t fibs.

Picture the teacher bellowing at Qiuqiu for sponging off others at her tender age, only for her to murmur back: sorry, I am the sponge.

But that note’s footnote bore scrutiny: Ye Zhixia, Ye Jingqiu.

Had to be her big sister, nine times out of ten.

No contact details, though.

She sighed, wondering if her rotten grades back then had driven Sis right out of the house.

Jokes aside, from the bank card and note alone, “Ye Zhixia” had been good to her at the very least. But for her to leave without a single clue felt too strange.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that this mysterious sister of hers was deeply connected to her bizarre abilities.

Truth be told, every time Ye Jingqiu approached her door, she harbored a secret hope. She dreamed that one day she would step inside and find a woman lounging on the sofa—a woman who bore a striking five-tenths resemblance to her. The woman would glance up with the barest flicker of an eyelid, utterly unflappable, and say, “Xiao Qiu, why are you home so late?”

Then Ye Jingqiu could fling herself forward in a bold hug, tears brimming in her eyes as she wailed, “Sister, the truth is I lost my memory! I waited for you for centuries under Leifeng Pagoda!”

She longed for Ye Zhixia to return soon, so the list of people she could embrace without restraint wouldn’t be limited to just Teacher Xiao Xu.

Ye Jingqiu closed her eyes, whispering one final wish as drowsiness overtook her.

Each time she slew an exotic beast, fragments of memory would surface. Perhaps one day, when the dream reached its cutoff point, her full memories would return.

Sleep crept over her inexorably. She ignored the light dancing across her eyelids. Her breathing steadied, and she rolled over on the living room sofa—bright as daylight—and drifted off peacefully.

Moonlight shifted outside the window, but the city’s nightlife was only just beginning. Streets blazed with kaleidoscopic neon, clamoring for attention, while the office towers in the new district glowed steadily, packed tight as ever.

This was a world forged from concrete and glass. Oceans, mountains, great rivers… all had been walled off beyond the horizon by some unknowable force.

The grandfather clock’s minute hand had ticked through seven full circuits. The living room lamps hummed on in silence, casting their piercing halos. Curled into a ball on the sofa, Ye Jingqiu’s brows furrowed faintly.

The familiar dream descended once more.

She plummeted into an endless void, powerless, her mind a blank slate. All she could do was force her eyes wide open—

Sea, tidal flats, gusting winds, throngs of people packed shore to shore.

A miniature Afanc clambered onto land and flicked a scarlet snake tongue at her.

The time was…

The dream cut off.

Ye Jingqiu bolted upright, blinded by a searing beam of sunlight.

She stared out the window in a daze. Dawn had broken; the layered clouds had parted.

A sunny day.

~~~

July 11th, 9:21 a.m., Chongming Island

Chongming Island was an alluvial landmass, formed over eons. It wasn’t until the first year of the Shenlong era under Emperor Zhongzong of Tang that it coalesced into two small sandbars thirty kilometers apart. Over time, it expanded into its current vast expanse of nearly 1,200 square kilometers.

Summer vacation was in full swing now, and the island—famed for its migratory birds and wetlands—drew crowds like a magnet. Tourists surged to and fro; shielding herself from all those prying eyes was harder than storming the heavens.

The 【Hide】 command worked well enough, but this foe seemed only half as formidable as the one at Waigaoqiao. Just how much mileage could she get out of her ability—which waxed strong against the mighty and waned against the weak—remained a total unknown.

Eh, whatever. Drawing from her four prior clashes with exotic beasts, “those people” always had her back in the end.

Both sides seemed to share an unspoken pact: keep the exotic beasts hidden from the mundane world.

Fewer tourists lingered in Ye Jingqiu’s spot. She sprawled lazily on a bench, soaking up the sun with a chocolate Pocky dangling from her lips, mumbling through a voice call to Xu Xianyue, a hundred kilometers away.

“You’ve been holed up on Chongming Island for seven whole days now, Qiuqiu. Maybe I should refund your tutoring fees first,” Teacher Xiao Xu said warmly over the line. “Hotel prices have shot up lately, from what I hear. You got enough cash left?”

Ye Jingqiu lived by the creed of thrift where it counted and splurging where it mattered. Her closet was barren save for her school uniform; she rotated the same handful of outfits, embodying diligent frugality to the core.

Even knowing Ye Jingqiu didn’t seem strapped for cash, Xu Xianyue couldn’t help worrying.

“No, no, no!” Ye Jingqiu nearly choked on the words, hastily crunching and swallowing the half-eaten Pocky stick. “Rest assured, Teacher Xiao Xu—I’ll study my butt off this summer!”

All thanks to that unreliable dream, which hadn’t even pinned down a clear time. She’d already toughed out a full week on the island.

Good thing mosquitoes never bothered her, or she’d have returned a swollen mess.

Xu Xianyue sighed helplessly. “As long as you remember to study. Weather reports say temps are climbing every day. Stay cool out there… Did you pack any Huoxiang Zhengqi Water this time?”

Ye Jingqiu eyed her backpack—just two bottles of mineral water and her room key—and lied through her teeth. “Yup, got it packed!”

“You’re definitely fibbing,” Teacher Xiao Xu chuckled, then sighed again. “Still out there solo? You could’ve invited some friends along.”

She lingered on the word “friends,” lacing it with a wistful undercurrent hard to pin down.

Normally, Ye Jingqiu would have caught that fleeting shift in tone. But just then, a wave crashed onshore. A strange premonition stirred in her chest. She glued her eyes to the shoreline, nerves taut as a wire, blind to such “minor details.”

Even so, Teacher Xiao Xu’s remark softened her voice. Cheerfully, she replied, “Friends are about quality, not quantity. Soon as I wrap things up here, I’ll head straight back for lessons with you.”

At that very moment.

An iron-gray tail flashed along the coast. Footsteps approached from afar.

Distance: 21 meters—

“What sort of business keeps you pinned down for a week?” Xu Xianyue asked, curiosity restored. “Something you have to handle alone?”

Ye Jingqiu steadied her breath and eased her nerves while chatting. Sitting cross-legged, she griped, “Yeah, yeah, just me out here. I could sure use a sidekick—preferably a tough one.”

Another wave crashed.

Distance: 13 meters—

Xu Xianyue laughed. “Sounds like you’re shopping for a. hired. thug.”

Her heart pounded faster. Ye Jingqiu licked her lips; she’d locked on target. “Nah! These are totally reasonable demands!”

The exotic beast burrowed its path of vengeance. A razor-sharp blade edge gleamed coldly.

Distance: 2 meters—

“Why not someone who aces homework, takes tests for you?”

“Not a bad idea! Good at math for the problems, and maybe even snag a…”

In that instant, as the words left her mouth, Ye Jingqiu sprang to her feet. Molten gold flared in her eyes!

In the next instant, an Afanc as long as an adult’s outstretched arms erupted from the mudflats at blinding speed. It leaped into the air, blasting out jets of ultra-high-pressure water as its gaping maw charged straight for Ye Jingqiu.

But someone moved even faster.

The moment an iron-curtain barrier slammed down, a figure streaked past.

Shi Zui’s left knee smashed viciously into the Afanc’s dark gray spine, her right hand driving the tactical dual-blade knife like lightning into its back!

Unimaginable force twisted the knife handle as the razor-sharp dual edges tore through the exotic beast’s thick hide.

A spray of blood mist exploded into the air, but a ghastly crimson—paler yet more brilliant than blood itself—flashed in Shi Zui’s eyes. From her palm erupted a roaring blaze of flames reaching three hundred degrees, surging straight into the Afanc’s spinal marrow!

A heart-wrenching scream tore through the soaring inferno, but the expressionless woman turned a deaf ear.

Ye Jingqiu, who had witnessed the entire scene, stood frozen in dumbfounded shock.

After a long moment, she watched the cold-eyed woman pull the blade free and walk up to her.

“Pleased to meet you,” the woman said calmly, extending her left hand. “Shi Zui.”