Chapter 6: My Lord

Next day Yi Ke went out with the rabbit in tow. Bai Yanci in her backpack—zip open a crack for air.
Bai Yanci was speechless, kept shifting.
Yi Ke was innocent too: “School bans pets. You can’t hold human form—bear with it.”
“Who’s the pet?”
“I’m the pet, I’m the pet!” Yi Ke grinning, sliding to her knees so fast Bai Yanci had no comeback.
Only a sigh. Behave in the bag.
At lunch break Yi Ke went to the abandoned teaching building.
Rumors everywhere—student suicide, hauntings.
Whatever the story, it had become Qiming’s breeding ground.
From the bag Bai Yanci puzzled: “Class is over. Why here instead of home?”
“Stay in the bag. Don’t make noise.”
“Don’t go forward.” Bai Yanci poked her head out. “There’s a barrier.”
Yi Ke stopped at once. Without the warning she’d almost missed the hidden energy ripple.
Expertly laid—ordinary ability users couldn’t see it. Someone strong had set this.
Cross it and you entered another space disguised as an abandoned building.
Qiming’s caution lived up to the name.
While she thought, Bai Yanci landed, human again, waved lightly—barrier opened a soft gap wide enough for two.
“You got power back?”
“A little.” Cool glance. “So much talk. Coming in or not?”
“In in in!”
She pushed the door careful. Dim inside—eyes adjusting before she could see.
Down the stairs—basement matched Jiang Ci’s tip. Labs in rows.
How long had Qiming hidden here? She’d never heard a whisper.
Footsteps outside—she yanked Bai Yanci behind a cabinet. Two men in lab coats hurried past—bracelet tools and test tubes in hand.
“My Lord ordered defective subjects destroyed immediately—can’t fall into SI hands.”
“SI? Those wastes—what’s to fear? We’ve played them in circles.” The other sneered. “My Lord’s overkill—destroy rejects and forge death certificates—more trouble.”
“Our level only follows orders. Don’t guess My Lord’s mind.”
Her eyes went ice. Defective… that’s what they called Jiang Ci.
The whole building—besides her and Bai Yanci—only these two flames.
She was stronger than both. Two on one—easy.
“What are you doing?” Bai Yanci caught her shift at once.
“Clean sweep.”
No more hiding. She flipped the lab table in front of her.
---
“Who’s there!”
“SI Team Leader Yi Ke.” One foot on an overturned chair, voice echoing in the empty lab. “If the title’s not loud enough, call me ancestral grandmother.”
Qiming guarded against SI—these two must know her name.
The man who’d been sneering went pale, stumbled back: “H-how did you get in! There’s a barrier outside!”
“I go where I want. Need to report to you?” Step by step. Ability out—pinned him in place.
This one was ordinary—not an ability user. Qiming took anyone. At the bureau gate this attitude wouldn’t get past SI’s door.
The other reacted faster—grabbed a dagger from the bench, eyes fierce, faint ability aura—ready to die fighting.
---
This one was a real ability user. Too weak. She didn’t care.
Ability flash—behind him in a blink—dagger snatched, reversed to his throat.
He shook too. Cold laugh in his ear: “Sorry—you two need to come with me.”
Noise from behind the cabinet—rabbit Bai Yanci hopped out, absurd bounce onto the lab bench, curious at the scene.
Yi Ke gave her a look—immortal sister jumped down and hid somewhere discreet.
Station people arrived fast—two suspects to SI.
“If you didn’t hide, they’d have taken you as a specimen too. I’d have to explain you’re my rabbit.”
Yi Ke put the rabbit back in the bag. Immortal sister unconcerned, curious instead: “So this is your job? Doesn’t look interesting.”
“Sister, whose job is interesting?” She couldn’t help laughing. “If it were fun everyone would fight to clock in.”
“So you always catch people this rough?”
Laughing again: “What else? Pamper them into the station?”
Bai Yanci silent a long while. No words.
Immortal sister was introverted—often doubting rabbit life. Yi Ke didn’t mind.
About to leave—the barrier Bai Yanci had opened was slowly closing.
She didn’t stop. Light ability wave—the tear shattered the seal completely.
Then Bai Yanci spoke after long silence—sudden: “Everything in this world has its ordained path. What you do is forcefully interfering with others’ fate.”
Pause. Eyes clear as water—yet something else mixed in, hard to name.
Like a stone in a still lake—ripples spreading.
She looked at Yi Ke again—voice rare with heat: “If saving one person indirectly hurts many more—would you still save? Or is the justice you believe in now… a lie from the start?”
Yi Ke froze. Didn’t understand why Bai Yanci suddenly flared.
In her memory Bai Yanci was always light—distant, calm toward mortal joy and grief.
This crossed a line. Not Bai Yanci’s style.
“Upright before heaven, clear before earth, blameless toward people, at peace in my heart.” Deep breath under the trees, steady gaze back: “Sister—that’s the justice I chase. I’ll fight for it all my life.”
That night she couldn’t sleep again.
After her passionate speech at noon, Bai Yanci went completely quiet.
Maybe breaking the barrier had drained her few recovered powers—she rested after returning.
SI hadn’t sent useful news in a while. Vague unease—but she trusted bureau procedure.
Aside from letting the blue-clad woman take the suspect once, no slip.
Her SI work was really only spiritual-flame cases—needed when flame had to be touched. She was too responsible—kept piling on more.
Honestly she didn’t love work that much. Just used to it.
Years ago, while still at Wangshu Orphanage, a senior from the Ability Bureau came in person and offered to take her in.
“Child—you’re Yi Ke, yes?” The woman was approachable, voice gentle. “Poor thing. Come with me. You have talent. I’ll pay for school.”
That woman was Mu Wenxin—deputy director at the bureau, specialized in ability research.
Mu Wenxin never stinted on teaching—brought her into aftermath work on flame cases, trained her into a qualified officer step by step.
When she’d grown, posted her to the police as parachuted leader.
Then, as Mu Wenxin hoped, she tested into Jintian University.
Looking back—after meeting Mu Wenxin, life had gone suspiciously smooth.
From limited memory she’d lived the life Mu Wenxin wanted. After sending her to SI, contact almost cut off one-sided.
Before ability awakening—before Wangshu Orphanage—memory was gone.
After leaving Mu Wenxin she’d never found a thread of those missing years.
Needle in the sea. No trace.
Immortal sister disliked the cardboard nest and the cold living room—became a rabbit again, camped in the bedroom, curled beside her.
She looked at Bai Yanci—questions deeper.
Everyone’s spiritual flame was a unique mark—reflecting state and even mood.
Yet she couldn’t see Bai Yanci’s flame.
Were immortals different… flameless?
A thought flashed. She rose quiet, afraid to wake Bai Yanci, crept to the study, pulled a dusty old book from the top shelf.
Mu Wenxin had given it before she left.
Bureau seniors had insisted she master this book.
At first she’d read two pages a day—too obscure—shoved it on the highest shelf and forgot.
She turned to the spiritual-flame section. Clear record: those of surpassing power could hide their flame from sight.
Next page: all things have spirit—all bear flame.
So Bai Yanci wasn’t without flame—she hid it on purpose.
Why hide from a human?
Leaning on the shelf she remembered first night—Bai Yanci badly hurt, true form, collapsed at her door.
Had Bai Yanci already known she was an ability user—the kind who could see flames?
Or Bai Yanci guarded against everyone—habitually concealed flame traces.
She preferred the second.
Bai Yanci was cautious, powers gone—even facing a strange human she wouldn’t drop guard. Maybe she didn’t trust Yi Ke—Yi Ke couldn’t explain why either.
Somehow she still wanted to trust her, lean on her. Beside her—strangely steady.
Next morning Yi Ke handed Bai Yanci a phone with a SIM. “For you.”
All common apps installed.
Bai Yanci learned fast—would use it the moment she held it.
“This is your human singing brick?” Brow knit. “Redundant. When my power returns, distant voice is enough.”
“You can send voice from afar—I can’t!”
Bai Yanci belatedly took the phone, fiddled, looked up: “Work? Early out, early back.”
“Not coming with me today?”
“Mm. Not today.” Bai Yanci waved the phone. “I’ll message if something comes up.”
No rabbit in the backpack—the commute felt dull.
At interrogation Jiang Ran reported: “Leader, one confessed.”
These two weren’t Qiming core—only handled experiments tied to Jintian University.
My Lord—they only knew a woman, strength unfathomable, red robes. Researchers their level never saw her.
The red-robed woman gave them reagent—inject into subjects, fit them with rechargeable ability tools, fake the miracle of gaining powers.
So many subjects—they’d only had two rejects.
The abducted suspect. Jiang Ci.
Threads linked. She asked: “What’s in the reagent?”
Jiang Ran shook her head. “We checked every known database—no match. Qiming brewed it themselves.”
Voice low: “Qiming has tech to directly affect spiritual flame.”
Mu Wenxin had researched abilities for years at the bureau—never found a way for an ordinary ability user to steer someone else’s flame.
A underground org had done it. The My Lord they spoke of was no small threat.
She went to see Jiang Ci in holding.
Jiang Ci had stabilized mostly. Yi Ke touched her flame—carefully tried to peel the murky parts.
The instant her power resonated with the flame—the view tilted—she was dragged into a memory scene.
She knew this place at once: Wangshu Orphanage.
Burned into bone—never forgotten.
Jiang Ci wasn’t homeless—her record was clean. Why tie to an orphanage?
A thought flashed. Phone out—pinned chat open.
【Sister, need to ask you something.】
No reply—she took that as permission.
【Sister—you must know about spiritual flame, right?】