STG 18
Chapter 18: Welcome Back
Zhao Kongcheng was stunned.
He truly hadn’t expected this seemingly ordinary high school student in front of him to say such things, to possess such mature thoughts…
Only now did he realize how laughable his earlier attempts had been—trying to rouse the typical teenage mix of rebelliousness and hot-blooded passion in the boy.
Lin Qiye was no ordinary high school student.
Lin Qiye stood up and walked straight to the door, hesitating for a moment before stopping.
“Thank you for telling me all this. I’ll sign the confidentiality agreement.”
With that, he pushed the door open and left.
This time, Zhao Kongcheng simply sat silently on the edge of the bed, his body tensing slightly as if he wanted to reach out and stop him. But after a brief pause, he slumped back weakly.
He knew what this young man represented. He knew it was his mission to bring him back. But…
He couldn’t do it.
……
“Xiao Qi, you’re finally back! Why aren’t you wearing your school uniform today?”
“Auntie, I was in a hurry this morning and forgot.”
“You silly child… Didn’t the teacher scold you for not wearing it?”
“They just said a few words. It’s fine.”
“Ah, Xiao Qi, you just transferred to this new school. You can’t afford to make a bad impression on the teachers. You have to be more careful.”
“I know, Auntie.”
“How are things with your classmates? They’re not excluding you, are they?”
“No, we get along fine. They even walked me home, and I walked them part of the way too.”
“That’s good, that’s good.”
“I’m going to my room, Auntie.”
“Mm, get some rest early.”
Thud—!
Lin Qiye closed the door behind him, lay back on his bed, and stared at the night sky outside the window with a long sigh.
This world was far more complicated than he’d imagined…
But then again, it didn’t have much to do with him.
After resting for a while, Lin Qiye sat up and began taking off his clothes when something hard fell out of his pocket.
Clatter!
Lin Qiye looked down, picked it up, and frowned in confusion.
It was a metal ornament, like an emblem, slightly larger than a one-yuan coin. He couldn’t tell what material it was made of, but it felt cool to the touch.
On the front of the emblem, two straight blades crossed each other, their edges glowing faintly blue. The background was a starry night sky, exquisitely crafted!
Beneath the design were three small characters: Zhao Kongcheng.
“This is…” Lin Qiye’s eyes narrowed slightly.
He recalled that when Zhao Kongcheng had dragged him toward the hotel earlier, the man had briefly touched his pocket.
Had he dropped it by accident?
Lin Qiye turned the emblem over. On the back, a few lines of small characters were engraved:
“If the eternal night shall fall,
I will stand before countless souls,
Blade raised toward the abyss,
Blood staining the heavens!”
“What bold words… Did Zhao Kongcheng write this himself? Or is it some kind of oath for the Night Watch?” Lin Qiye murmured. “He seemed so dull—hardly the type to come up with something like this…”
After fiddling with it for a while, Lin Qiye set it on the desk, changed into his pajamas, and climbed into bed.
Tonight, he had something important to do.
He closed his eyes and submerged his consciousness into the mental asylum of the gods.
Inside the asylum’s small courtyard, Nyx sat in a rocking chair, cradling an assortment of bottles and jars, murmuring to herself. Every now and then, a faint smile touched her lips.
If not for the dullness in her eyes and the strange objects in her arms, the noble aura she exuded would have made this a breathtaking scene.
Before long, Lin Qiye—now dressed in a white lab coat—walked over slowly.
To better play the role of a psychiatrist, Lin Qiye had specifically searched the director’s office for a lab coat and even clipped a pair of plain glasses to his collar.
At a glance, he certainly looked the part.
Lin Qiye stopped beside the rocking chair, silently observing Nyx’s cloudy, vacant eyes before sighing softly.
From the mythological texts he’d read, Nyx was indeed one of the most ancient and powerful deities in Greek mythology, her status and strength unparalleled.
But compared to other gods, she had one defining trait…
She loved having children!
According to Lin Qiye’s research, Nyx had at least twenty children, including the infamous Thanatos (God of Death), Hypnos (God of Sleep), Aether (God of the Upper Sky), the Moirai (Fates), and Moros (God of Doom), among many others…
With the exception of a very few, most of Nyx’s offspring were malevolent gods who wreaked havoc upon the world. Many of them met tragic ends.
From the fragmented myths, Lin Qiye couldn’t glean much more about the Goddess of Night, but he suspected her current condition might be tied to her children.
The doctor at Sunshine Mental Hospital had mentioned a male patient who, missing his wife too deeply, began hallucinating her presence. Could Nyx’s illness be similar?
Had her longing for her children driven her to see them in these bottles and jars?
But what could have happened to her children to provoke such a severe reaction?
And as an ancient deity with divine nature, could she truly experience emotions this intensely? Or… had her divine body and godhood been stripped away before her mind fractured?
Lin Qiye had no answers.
“Hypnos, don’t be impatient. Your brother will be back soon… He’s just playing a little longer…
“Thanatos has always been a troublemaker. When he returns, I’ll have to teach him a lesson!”
Nyx stroked the vase in her hands, staring blankly into the distance. A glimmer of hope flickered in her eyes before fading back into dullness.
Her voice trembled slightly, hoarse and broken:
“But…
“It’s been three thousand years…
“Why hasn’t he come back yet…?”
Watching this, Lin Qiye felt an inexplicable pang in his chest.
Who could have imagined that the once lofty Goddess of Night would now appear so helpless… so pitiful?
She was a deity—but also a mother, waiting for her children to return.
“To cure her, I must address the root cause…” The doctor’s words echoed in Lin Qiye’s mind as he lowered his head in thought.
The root… Nyx’s illness stemmed from the loss of her children.
To heal her, he had to start with them. But her children were all renowned Greek gods—how could he possibly gather them all and bring them before Nyx?
Lin Qiye didn’t even know if they’d been brought into this world by the fog, let alone where to find so many deities.
And even if he did, would those malevolent gods willingly follow him back?
Frowning, Lin Qiye wrestled with the problem—until a flash of inspiration struck.
Maybe… this could work?
Lin Qiye stood up, hesitating for a long moment before finally stepping forward.
Under Nyx’s vacant gaze, he slowly approached her…
Then knelt down,
Reached out,
And wrapped his arms around her.
Leaning close, he whispered in her ear:
“Mother… I’m back.”
At that moment, a light unlike anything before ignited in Nyx’s eyes!
Trembling, she raised her arms and clutched Lin Qiye tightly. After a long silence, she finally spoke in a voice thick with emotion:
“Welcome back…
“My child…
“Thanatos.”
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