Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Can I Add You On WeChat?

Dias Black, second son of the current head of the Black family.

The Black family—descendants of an old general who had actively fought during the Level 5 Great Extinction event. In essence, their family was similar to Gloria’s Lasvedo family.

The difference was, the Lasvedo family had recently begun expanding into the industries of other families. Gloria’s father had started out as a high-ranking superpowered police officer, though he’d resigned from the force years ago against the family’s wishes.

Her mother, on the other hand, ran various high-earning companies in fields like commercial design, gaming, and real estate. For some reason, she’d recently set her sights on schools as well.

Calling it a marriage alliance wasn’t quite right—after all, the couple had genuinely dated when they were younger. Whether it was true love or not, who could say—but now they lived separately.

The Blacks were a different case. The entire family was steeped in the tradition of ability users in law enforcement, producing generation after generation of accomplished superpowered police officers.

Superpowers could be hereditary. And it was their family’s rare combination of high awakening rates and stable, non-destructive abilities that formed the true foundation of their long-standing status.

In normal society, people feared ability users—but at the same time, everyone wanted to awaken a powerful and controllable ability. Who wouldn’t want to be a revered superhero?

In contrast to ordinary families, these so-called “heroic lineages” didn’t worry about their kids developing powers—they worried that their children wouldn’t awaken any.

Of course, awakening a strong and stable power didn’t automatically catapult someone to fame or earn them medals, wealth, or the family estate.

That was wishful thinking.

They raised heroes among the ability users in the police force, not some idolized mascot to be worshipped for simply having powers.

That’s why their training was relentless—borderline cruel. As long as they didn’t die, they were pushed to the brink.

Dias, at just fourteen years old, was one such unlucky child.

Since he could remember, he’d been dumped in Fanzui City with only a nanny for company. He saw his parents once per quarter. Since birth, he had carried the burden of their expectations—because his older brother hadn’t awakened an ability.

Even his engagement had been arranged behind his back…

Dias had a noble dream, to become a useless bum. Someone who did nothing but eat, drink, and play all day, made no contributions to society, and still had money to burn.

But he didn’t dare say it out loud. If he did, his retired grandfather might cross mountains and rivers with a ten-meter-long wooden staff to break his legs.

Having one’s future laid out so neatly could be considered a blessing. His neighbor, a freshly graduated college student, had no clue what to do with his life—working a dead-end job, drifting aimlessly, praying for the apocalypse.

But still—couldn’t they at least give him the freedom to love? Why did he have to marry some girl he’d never even met? Especially when he already had someone he liked.

Well—“liked” might be putting it strongly. More accurately, it was love at first sight.

During that ill-fated charity gala his conniving father had forced him to attend, she had emerged from the crowd—modestly dressed, exuding the fresh purity of early adolescence, so irresistibly cute.

At least in his eyes, those women who’d drenched themselves in expensive clothes and cosmetics couldn’t hold a candle to her.

Dias had never seen a girl like that before. He even considered plagiarizing some cringey lines from a romance novel to describe her.

But let’s be honest—love at first sight is just another way of saying: I’m smitten with her looks.

Unfortunately, his budding teenage feelings were quickly crushed. Egged on by his equally foolish friends, he’d gone up to ask for her contact info, only to be humiliatingly rejected.

He should’ve looked up a romantic pickup line on the spot! Asking for her WeChat so abruptly—of course she’d think he was a creep… Damn it.

He thought it would remain just a mortifying little memory—something he’d cringe over at 2 a.m., while his friends teased him endlessly.

But ever since then, every girl his age reminded him of her, and none could compare.

After a night of mental torment, the confused young boy finally decided to speak to Aunt Raven about it.

And then he saw her—here.

Even with a different hair color, even with different eyes—he recognized her. Unless she had an identical twin, there was no way anyone else could look so similar—not just in appearance, but in aura.

Black hair (A long, straight wig), black eyes, a pale yellow sundress, white blouse, and a light blue overcoat—her fashion sense was still impeccable.

She sat quietly on a chair, head bowed as she brought a teacup to her lips. She gently blew aside the floating tea leaves before taking a sip.

Every move she made was so adorable…

When she noticed a stranger, she instantly darted to her mother’s side and hid her face, nearly tripping over a chair in the process.

The action was abrupt, but again—so cute.

Dias felt deeply defeated. He had always considered himself to have a kind face. Big sisters used to ask him for his WeChat all the time.

At that moment, Mi Xiaoliu wasn’t wearing her glasses, but she still had her colored contacts in, so she didn’t see the chair in her way.

She still remembered not to let strangers see her face too easily.

“Sorry, he’s a friend’s child,” Raven apologized to Heli, then handed the Newton’s cradle to Mi Xiaoliu, signaling that they could go home—as if she’d completely forgotten her earlier plan to just try on a girl’s outfit here.

The clothes were from when her daughter was younger—she’d kept them, but Yiwen had long outgrown the size.

Heli had no objections and began walking out with Mi Xiaoliu, who was still dressed in girls’ clothing. Mi Xiaoliu, unable to see clearly, tightly clung to Heli’s coat, looking like a timid child afraid of strangers.

“W-Wait a second,” Dias called out, rushing forward.

It might seem a little desperate, but people always lose perspective when facing something—or someone—they love.

This time, he’d learned his lesson. He didn’t charge in with a direct confession. Instead, he took the roundabout approach, like that suave older guy from the charity gala, and tried to befriend the girl’s guardian first.

He turned to Heli. “Auntie, could I add you on WeChat?”

Heli: “…”

Suddenly, Heli felt a surge of confidence. Gloria called her “old auntie” every day, and the teachers at school treated her like a single mom. She’d nearly forgotten that she was still a 33-year-old single beauty—with plenty of charm to spare.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” Dias hurried to clarify. “I meant to ask for your WeChat, but actually I wanted to talk to your daughter…”

Heli: “…”

“Bang!”

A heavy door slam echoed behind them.

Raven looked at the boy with a complicated expression. “You’re lucky she didn’t kill you.”

—

At the Police Station.

Wearing her white coat, Yiwen arrogantly propped her legs up on the desk. If you didn’t know better, you’d think she was the chief.

Fresh out of the hospital, she’d come straight here, ignoring everything else.

First, she wanted to investigate who had attacked her and who had taken the “corpse” of that girl.

She was also waiting—hoping someone would report their daughter missing.

Second, she wanted to meet that card-playing suspect. She didn’t believe that guy didn’t know anything about the Night Demon.

“If you’ve got the day off, can you just go home? Fall in love, binge a show,” Officer Chen said irritably, knocking on the table. “The poisoning case isn’t under your jurisdiction. I’ve handed it over to someone else.”

“Then take me to interrogate the card guy again.”

She had joined the ability users’ police force just to investigate her father’s whereabouts. And yet, the moment they hit a key clue, they blocked her from access.

“That’s not part of your assignment. You’ve already read the interrogation record. No matter how unsatisfied you are, the results won’t change… And stop threatening me with my kid—I just spent last night using an Ultraman costume to protect his childhood dreams,” Officer Chen said with a deadpan face.

Yiwen matched his expression and sent a short video to her friend Xiao Xiao Chen—a clip where a bizarre green fish-headed monster knocked down Ultraman Tiga.

Officer Chen ground his teeth in frustration.

Finally, he sighed. “Some things… aren’t what you want to see.”

“At the very least, I deserve to know whether my father is alive or dead,” Yiwen muttered, eyes downcast, her heart sinking.

Officer Chen lowered his eyes. “We suspect someone has hypnotized the card player and erased his memories—to prevent telepathic reading. We’ve already called someone in to break the block. You can observe.”