June 18th, night, Huanjing, Wine Reflecting Coast, inside an old lighthouse at a corner of the coast.
Divine Communicator · Black Wukong stood on the observation deck, silently gazing at the distant horizon. After a long while, he slowly removed the mask covering his face, taking off his metallic silver-white coat.
Like a goldfish surfacing for air, Bai Qiuwu closed her eyes and gently took a breath. When she opened her eyes again, her pupils were still as bright as a turbid fire burning.
She removed the hood on her head, and her long hair tied behind cascaded down immediately.
Then, she raised her right hand and stroked over her eyes. Soon, the crimson in her pupils, like a tiny flame, flickered and extinguished, leaving only darkness.
Bai Qiuwu's eyes drooped, and it took a long while for the burning sensation in her eyes to ease slightly. She took a deep breath, lifted her face, and remained silent for a while outside the observation deck.
Under the moonlight, waves sparkled as they continuously lapped against the shore, breaking into white foam, rustling loudly.
"It really is her..."
In the empty exhibition room, she muttered softly.
The ability "Eyes of Golden Flame" brought by the divine path "Sun Wukong" allowed her to see through all "Illusion Techniques" and "illusions".
Perhaps the Eyes of Golden Flame couldn't penetrate to see who was behind a mask, but when she cast her gaze on someone who had altered their appearance through magic or deception, she could definitely see their true form.
Therefore, through these eyes, Bai Qiuwu saw the true face of Magic Girl Ash clearly.
It was an incredibly familiar face.
A face she had known since childhood, a face that had been in her memory for over a decade, a face that kept growing but still was affectionately familiar.
She knew what this face looked like as a child, had seen it cry, pout, but she had never seen it show her a cold expression before.
"Zi Ni, why is it you..."
With her shoulders hugged, Bai Qiuwu's gaze shifted as she murmured softly.
"Does anyone else in the family know her identity?"
She shook her head.
"No, it should be only me who knows."
"Should I tell mom and dad about this?"
"No, that would easily expose my own identity too, but letting her continue like this could easily lead to trouble."
Bai Qiuwu slightly tilted her head, her fingers brushing her jaw, continuously weighing in her mind.
The repeated calls of "sister" from Bai Zini still echoed in her ears, contrasting with the stern face of Magic Girl Ash, leaving Bai Qiuwu somewhat bewildered.
She couldn't understand why Bai Zini had become a magic girl so quietly, without anyone at home knowing.
The situation had arisen so suddenly that it caught her off guard.
In fact, Bai Qiuwu had already seen through with Eyes of Golden Flame that the so-called "Magic Girl Ash" was Bai Zini during their last encounter.
At that time, Bai Zini was fighting a criminal, and to keep her from being hurt, Bai Qiuwu had almost instinctively summoned the Somersault Cloud and forcefully dragged her away from the battlefield.
However, what she didn't expect was that Bai Zini would hold a grudge against her for a long time because of the instinctive action she made, even deliberately seeking her out this time.
In Bai Zini's eyes, this so-called "Black Wukong" simply seemed to be making trouble out of nothing. She was fighting well when suddenly she was whisked tens of thousands of miles away by a cloud, which would annoy anyone.
Now as Bai Qiuwu recalled, not treating her as Bai Zini, but as Magic Girl Ash, her ability was indeed more than sufficient to handle that criminal.
But seeing her for the first time, she inevitably viewed her as that vulnerable little girl and instinctively wanted to whisk her away from danger, hence the meddling...
If it had not been so, Bai Zini wouldn't have harbored resentment towards her, endlessly chasing after her."
"Never mind, I should head home first."
Bai Qiuwu gently shook her head, no longer speculating on Bai Zini's thoughts, but instead put on a sports jacket from the table and wore a baseball cap.
After waiting for a while at the bus stop on the coastal highway, she boarded the last bus, gazing out the window at the brightly lit city, everything seemed so elusive, like a mirage.
Soon, the bus stopped at its station on Old Jingmai Street.
As soon as she got off, she saw a familiar figure next to the station.
Ke Youqing, who hadn't returned home yet, was sitting on a public bench next to the supermarket, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, a pack of cigarettes and a lighter in his hand.
Seeing Bai Qiuwu, Ke Youqing did not speak, but just calmly sat there, squeezing his eyebrows at his daughter.
"Dad, have you been smoking here for an hour?" Bai Qiuwu asked him with a chuckle, her arms folded.
"No, after buying the cigarettes, I went for a walk."
As he spoke, Ke Youqing bowing his head near the lighter, clicked it and lit the cigarette hanging from his mouth, and asked with a muffled voice, "Did you have fun with your friends?"
"It was okay, just went shopping and then came back," Bai Qiuwu tilted her head and added, "pretty boring."
"Then we should head home, otherwise your mom is going to get mad."
"Yeah."
The two left the supermarket, took the elevator to the ninth floor of the duplex building.
As Ke Youqing unlocked the door, looking through the foyer, he could see the children all gathered around the large TV in the living room watching a movie.