With three superpowers at his fingertips, he could dominate the 1970s.

Jiang Zhiyu changed into her night clothes and put the jade pendant into her inner pocket.

"Seventeen, let's go."

[Received. Location locked, outside the Yin-Yang Lodge in the deep mountains. Expected 4 teleportations. No one is in the mountains at night, the best time to act.]

After four teleportations, Jiang Zhiyu stood at the edge of a dense forest deep in the mountains.

The night wind, carrying the cold, astringent scent of pine resin and stone moss, filled my nostrils. It was pitch black all around, with only a few pale rays of moonlight filtering through the gaps in the treetops overhead. In the distance, a few lights could be faintly seen on the mountainside, likely the main hall of the Yin-Yang Retreat.

It's very late.

She slowly spread her spiritual power, like an invisible net covering the entire mountaintop.

Most of the people had already fallen asleep, with only a few faint sounds remaining, from the night watchmen moving about in the main hall and the surrounding area.

"We don't need to stop time here, do we?" she asked in her mind. "It's just saving one person."

【unnecessary.】

Seventeen's tone was very confident.

[The dungeon is located in a remote area with very few guards; the host's mental strength is sufficient to avoid it. Furthermore, if you wish to question Xu Yunzi, time will be frozen, making communication impossible.]

"OK."

The spiritual power continued to probe deeper—passing through the main hall, through the corridor, through the stone steps of the back mountain, until it reached the dark underground space deep within the mountain.

found it.

dungeon.

But Jiang Zhiyu frowned slightly.

There was more than one person inside.

Why are there other people in the dungeon so late?

She instructed Seventeen to teleport to a corner of the dungeon passage—a spot close to the stone wall where she could hear what was happening inside without being detected.

In a flash, the person had landed.

The stone walls were icy cold, sticking to my back and sending a shiver down my spine. The air in the dungeon was damp and cold, filled with the smells of mold and rust, mixed with a deeper, indistinct stench of either medicine or rotten wood.

Then she heard—

"Xu Yunzi, how long are you going to pretend to be dead?"

It was a woman's voice, sharp and trembling, like a string stretched to its limit.

"I've brought our son and grandson! Are you just going to watch them die? Do you know how serious this is? If you don't intervene, they'll use your son's and grandson's lives to force you to act!"

Jiang Zhiyu leaned against the stone wall, breathing as softly as possible.

"I couldn't stop them, you know?" Haruko's voice became hoarse. "They were born into an awkward situation, are you not even going to give them this one chance to live?"

The dungeon was silent for a few seconds.

Then came a very soft sigh.

Jiang Zhiyu heard it. The sigh seemed to rise from a very deep and distant place, carrying an indescribable weariness.

Xu Yunzi raised his head.

He didn't look at Haruko, nor at Kouichi; his gaze passed over them, landing somewhere behind them. It was as if he was looking at something, yet also as if he wasn't looking at anything at all.

Then he sighed.

This action stunned both Haruko Kurokawa and Koichi Kurokawa.

He finally moved.

Haruko Kurokawa practically lunged forward, oblivious to her knees hitting the damp stone ground. She gripped Xu Yunzi's arm, her fingertips digging into his tattered sleeve, her voice urgent and fragmented:

"You still care about them, don't you? You still care about their lives, don't you? After all, they are your bloodline! Although I imprisoned you and forced you back then, the fact is what it is! And I gave birth to this child alone, you know? In this huge Yin-Yang Bureau, I only feel that Heng'er and I are alive; everyone else is like a walking corpse! Can you understand this kind of loneliness?"

Her tears fell in large drops as she sobbed and shook the gaunt man in front of her, like shaking a piece of rotten wood.

"You don't want them to die, do you? You don't, do you?"

Xu Yunzi's body swayed slightly as she shook him, and the iron chains made a soft clattering sound.

Then he fell silent again.

It was like a light that flickered and then went out.

Koichi Kurokawa stood behind his mother, his heart, which had just warmed up, cooled down again.

He knew it wouldn't be that easy.

Thirty years have passed. If this man still had a heart, he wouldn't be like this now.

But the mother still refused to believe it and tried again and again, year after year, crashing into that ice wall like a moth to a flame.

He had long since given up hope, and he didn't know where his mother got the courage.

Haruko Kurokawa let go of his hand, turned around, and grabbed Shota.

The three-year-old child stumbled slightly from being pulled, but didn't cry. Instead, he stared curiously at the dirty and thin old man in front of him with his bright black eyes.

"Look! This is Shota!"

Haruko pushed Shota in front of Xu Yunzi, her voice almost pleading.

"Look at his eyes, aren't they very distinctive? Like yours? Don't you see how intelligent he is? Although his surname is Kurokawa, he is still your grandson, Master Xuyun, isn't he?"

Her hands were trembling, and her voice was trembling, but every word seemed to be spoken with her last breath:

"Just teach him, okay? Or you can not teach him, just tell me, who is it that's connected to the Fukuda family and can harm both of our clans? Just tell me, and you can save their lives!"

The dungeon suddenly fell silent.

It was so quiet that only the occasional faint sound of iron chains hitting the stone wall and the echo of water droplets falling in the distance could be heard.

Xu Yunzi slowly raised his head.

This time, he didn't look anywhere else.

He carefully examined each of the three people in front of him—from Haruko to Koichi to Shota. His gaze lingered on each person's face for a few seconds, as if trying to memorize them.

Then he softly uttered four words:

"It's too late."

Haruko Kurokawa's pupils suddenly contracted.

"What do you mean?"

Her voice became shrill?

"What do you mean? What did you calculate? Tell me! Tell me—!"

She screamed in despair, her voice echoing against the dungeon walls, piercing and mournful.

But after saying those four words, the man lowered his head again.

Haruko Kurokawa was still shouting. Koichi Kurokawa stepped forward and supported his mother's almost limp body. Shota was frightened by the adults' emotions and finally burst into tears.

Chaos reigned in the dungeon.

Only Jiang Zhiyu, who was hiding behind the corner of the stone wall, understood the meaning of those four words.

That's too late.

Is it because she's already here?

It's right outside.

Or is it because he knows some other reason?

Jiang Zhiyu leaned against the cold stone wall, going over everything she had just heard in her mind.

Thirty years of imprisonment. Coercion. Blood ties. Obsession. Loneliness.

How should I put it?

It's really hard to say what she's talking about.