A great fire swept through the Orphanage.
There was only one Survivor.
......
The Fourth District Inspectorate, Interrogation Room.
The Inspector impatiently rapped his knuckles on the table.
“Name?”
“Jiang Qi.”
Jiang Qi lowered his head. His black hair just barely concealed his brows and eyes, revealing only the corners of his mouth, turned upward.
He was smiling.
“What exactly are you smiling about?”
The Inspector’s voice was edged with irritation.
Jiang Qi’s voice was faint.
“I’m smiling because... I’m sick.”
The Inspector’s gaze shifted from his face to the file in his hand.
The photo in the file showed a young man with clear, bright eyes, utterly unlike the person before him, whose whole being seemed steeped in sorrow.
Name: Jiang Qi.
Age: eighteen.
Medical record: Suffers from pathological laughter epilepsy, with symptoms including uncontrollable bouts of laughter.
Note: Severe problems with vision in the Left Eye.
Every word in the file made the Inspector’s brow furrow a little deeper.
He closed the file. The sound rang out sharply in the silent Interrogation Room.
“What was your relationship to the body outside?”
The moment Jiang Qi recalled the charred face so close to his own when he woke, pain lanced through his heart, making it hard to breathe.
“He was the Orphanage Director.”
He raised his head. Tears welled in his eyes, blurring his vision completely.
“Grandpa Director... He raised me.”
As soon as the words left his mouth—
“Ha... Hahahahaha!”
The laughter came without warning.
Jiang Qi covered his mouth with his hand, but tears kept sliding from the corners of his eyes.
Crying and laughing at once, he looked like a complete madman.
“Damn it!”
The Inspector muttered a curse.
“Of all the times for a tragedy like this to happen, it had to be the day before the Ascension Ritual.”
He beckoned toward the door, and a young female officer walked in.
“Take him to the Lounge and give him a chance to settle down. We’ll continue later.”
The female officer said nothing as she reached out to help Jiang Qi to his feet.
After helping him to the Lounge, the female officer gave him a brief instruction and left.
Jiang Qi was left alone.
Only after that wild urge to laugh finally ebbed did Jiang Qi begin to sort through his jumbled thoughts.
The Orphanage was gone.
Grandpa Director’s body was now lying in the Inspectorate lobby.
And when he woke up, he had been lying beside the body.
The only Survivor.
The only suspect.
Just then, the Holographic Screen in the room suddenly lit up, displaying a strangely shaped Tower.
Beneath the Tower, a line of cold text began to flicker.
—Countdown to the Ascension Ritual: 1 hour 00 minutes.
The words “Ascension Ritual” seemed to trigger something.
In Jiang Qi’s mind, fragments of Teacher’s voice rang out in fits and starts.
“...once you turn eighteen... you must stay focused during teleportation.”
“...otherwise, if teleportation goes awry, your destination will be unpredictable...”
“...the most terrifying cases of deviation are the Three Great Forbidden Zones. No one has ever returned alive...”
Fragments of memory struck at his nerves.
A wisp of faint Azure Mist quietly appeared in Jiang Qi’s Left Eye’s field of vision.
“Knock! Knock-knock!”
A sudden knock sounded at the door.
The Azure Mist in his Left Eye instantly faded, and Teacher’s voice in his memory abruptly fell silent.
“Come in.”
Jiang Qi rubbed his temples.
The door opened, and the Inspector looked down at Jiang Qi.
“Jiang Qi, feeling better? I have a few more questions for you.”
“Of course, Inspector.”
The Holographic Screen stood between them—Countdown to the Ascension Ritual: 0 hours 50 minutes.
“My name is Wang Huan. You can call me Inspector Wang.”
Wang Huan’s voice was deep and firm. Five Red Cloud Emblems adorned the collar of his trench coat.
He was exceptionally tall; even sitting across from Jiang Qi, he was half a head taller.
The female officer who had accompanied them silently took a seat behind Jiang Qi.
“As the sole Survivor in this case, you must answer the following questions truthfully.”
He paused, slightly softening his stern tone before adding,
“I’m the Second-in-Command of the Fourth District. There’s nothing you can’t say here.”
Jiang Qi nodded.
Wang Huan took out a recorder with a pitted, uneven surface and set it on the table.
“What were you doing when the Fire broke out?”
“I was writing a novel... mostly short sentences and things like that to practice. I want to be a Novelist.”
“What time, exactly?”
Jiang Qi tried hard to remember.
“I can’t remember, but it was at least after ten at night. I only start once the children have gone to bed.”
“Before the fire, was there anyone or anything unusual at the Orphanage?”
“No.”
Wang Huan leaned forward slightly as he continued taking notes on the Holographic Screen.
“How did you realize there was a fire? Tell me what happened when it started.”
“I’d only written the first sentence when I felt a wave of heat coming from outside the window.”
As Jiang Qi recalled it, his body tensed involuntarily.
“It was the middle of the night, after all. I—I must have frozen for a moment. By the time I got to my feet, the flames were already right in front of me.”
“So the fire spread much faster and burned much more fiercely than you expected?”
“Yes.”
Jiang Qi nodded.
Wang Huan turned off the screen, and the room dimmed for a moment.
He stared intently at Jiang Qi.
“Then how did you survive?”
The air suddenly turned icy.
Jiang Qi’s bewildered expression was reflected in Wang Huan’s dark red pupils.
Jiang Qi leaned back slightly, closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Countless chaotic images flashed through his mind.
The great fire, the heat, the pain, the darkness.
“I don’t know.”
He opened his eyes and looked wearily at the Inspector.
“I only remember being swallowed by a wave of heat, then feeling a moment of pain before losing consciousness.”
“When I opened my eyes again, I was already here.”
“Were you the Arsonist!?”
Wang Huan suddenly struck, his voice exploding beside Jiang Qi’s ear without warning!
Jiang Qi jerked his head up.
“No! How could I be??”
The female officer behind Jiang Qi wore a blank expression.
Her face was pale. At some point, her right eye had turned gray, and she gave a slight shake of her head.
The sharpness in Wang Huan’s eyes slowly receded.
He stood up, his tone no longer aggressive.
“I understand, Jiang Qi. The Ascension Ritual is about to begin. That’s the most important thing for you right now.”
“But the investigation won’t stop. Until the case is solved, you remain the prime suspect.”
“After completing the Ascension Ritual, you won’t be allowed to leave the Fourth District for the time being.”
His large, warm hand patted Jiang Qi on the shoulder.
“Go get yourself ready. You don’t have much time.”
Jiang Qi nodded silently and walked out of the room.
Wang Huan lit a cigar and took a slow, deep drag. Without turning around, he asked,
“Was he telling the truth?”
“The truth.”
A cold female voice replied.
......
—Countdown to the Ascension Ritual: 0 hours 40 minutes.
After crossing the Inspectorate lobby, Jiang Qi stopped in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Outside, the Dark Night was ink-black, and rain poured in sheets.
The television on the wall was broadcasting breaking news.
“At 10:20 tonight, a mysterious Fire broke out at the Fourth District Orphanage. The Orphanage Director, Zhang Shouyi, has been confirmed dead...”
Jiang Qi glanced at the current time in the upper-right corner.
23:20.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Jiang Qi didn’t turn around. He spoke softly.
“Inspector Wang, what color was the fire at the scene?”
“Orange-red.”
Wang Huan walked over beside him, puzzled by the question.
“What’s wrong?”
“Orange-red...”
Jiang Qi repeated the three words as if savoring a joke.
“Ha... Hahahahaha!!”
His laughter burst out of control again, more frenzied than before!
Liar!
You’re all liars!
Azure Mist churned in Jiang Qi’s Left Eye’s field of vision, and the world before him was instantly covered by another scene—
It wasn’t orange-red at all!
It was black, devouring all light!
The Black Inferno spread through the pouring rain!
His final memory was of his body being enveloped by a cold Azure Mist.
The fragments of memory were broken and disjointed, striking at Jiang Qi’s mind in fits and starts.
He couldn’t help covering the left side of his face with his hand.
He slowly turned and walked, step by step, to Zhang Shouyi’s charred body.
He dropped to one knee.
“Flames as black as night...”
Jiang Qi carved a blood oath into his heart, word by word.
“I will find you.”
“And then I’ll kill you.”