The King of Black Fog

The European flight attendant said with a smile to everyone, "Please forget everything the attendants have told you after entering the station. Thank you for your cooperation."

She bowed with a smile.

Everyone was stunned for a moment and then came back to their senses.

"Damn! Punished again!" someone cursed, apparently not for the first time.

"Miss Attendant, what punishment have we received?" Master Huang asked anxiously.

"Sorry, no comment. This is classified information," replied the European flight attendant with a smile.

"Miss Attendant, can we buy the information with money?"

"Sorry, no comment. This is classified information."

"Miss Attendant, we haven't skimped on the money. Is this about raising the difficulty of the mission?"

"Sorry, no comment. This is classified information."

"Miss Attendant, I protest! My clothes were stolen, and I demand compensation from these people!" the monk shouted, revealing a tattoo on his body.

"Sorry, we don't offer that service."

"Then what about my clothes? How can I get them back if I can't lay a hand on them?"

"I will report this issue with the game. Please wait for a response."

Seeing the dignified and elegant European attendant, Li Qianxia couldn't help but curiously ask Xiao Yue, "Why aren't you as serious as she is?"

Xiao Yue curled her lip, sarcastically flashing a cold smile, "When no events occur, she still files remarks for her skills. You call that serious?"

Skills remarks?

"Sister," Li Qianxia leaned in, "Who wrote that poking the butt with Ground Sparrow's skill hurts more? How much more painful can it be compared to 'torture'?"

The European flight attendant turned, smiling, "Sorry, no comment. This is classified information. Also, please forget what Xiao Yue just said. Thank you for your cooperation."

She bowed, and Li Qianxia was dumbfounded, then puzzled—why had she come here?

The European flight attendant looked towards Li Changzhou and Yang Qinglan.

"Please be assured!" Li Changzhou guaranteed solemnly, careful not to look at her posterior.

The European flight attendant smiled, retracting her gaze, then grabbed Xiao Yue by the ear and dragged her away.

"Ow ow ow! I can't lick my own ear!"

"I'll cut it off for you."

"What good is licking it if it's cut off! My saliva isn't glue!"

Li Changzhou and the others watched the attendant leave, glanced at players still arguing and demanding the return of their items, then headed back to their booth.

"A blessing in disguise," Yang Qinglan chuckled softly as they sat down.

The scenery outside the window turned into a forest, with snow-capped mountains in the distance.

Li Qianxia sighed, "Ah, my world tour."

"By the way," she recalled something, "Qing Lan, next time you handle the strategy, bargaining is not your thing. This isn't a boutique where you can negotiate prices."

"Then you should blame your brother," Yang Qinglan noted, knowing she referred to the earlier discussion with Xiao Yue about favors.

"My brother?" Li Qianxia looked puzzledly towards Li Changzhou.

Li Changzhou was contemplating the tricks Master Huang and his group had up their sleeves.

Yang Qinglan sipped her tea, "With men like Master Huang around, your brother dominates the conversation. When Xiao Yue comes over, he keeps quiet. You were pretending to be in a good mood, so if I don't talk, who will?"

"Who's not in a good mood? I'm always in a good mood." Li Qianxia's right hand moved towards scratching the corner of her left eye but midway switched to grabbing a cup to pour herself some water.

Water clattered against the bottom of the glass, noisy.

"Wait a minute!" Li Qianxia set down her cup, "You and my brother... when did you develop this tacit understanding?"

"When?" Yang Qinglan asked Li Changzhou, her clear gaze fixed on him.

"Actually," Li Changzhou picked up a complimentary cigar, pretending to bite it at the corner of his mouth, "There are many kinds of intelligence: linguistic, logical, spatial, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and so on. Miss Yang's not being good at bargaining doesn't mean anything."

"I get it," Li Qianxia nodded, "Brother, your irrelevance certainly shows you have a problem with linguistic intelligence."

Li Changzhou removed the cigar, his face exuding a 'are you picking a fight?' expression as he stared at his sister.

Yang Qinglan chuckled softly, lifting her cup.

Li Changzhou slowly retracted his gaze from his sister and also lifted his cup, gesturing to clink cups with Yang Qinglan.

The two clinked cups, resembling two mob bosses making a deal, with Li Qianxia as the talkative underling.

"Miss Yang," Li Changzhou set down his cup, still dangling the cigar, "I think we work well together. No need to change, don't you think?"

"There are so many weird skills that attendants have. Unknowingly, maybe we've also forgotten something," Yang Qinglan mused.

"Qing Lan, my brother asked you a question," Li Qianxia enjoyed the drama.

"Perhaps we should write down important things on paper and put the paper into the Honey Jar world," she suggested.

"Lan Lan?" Li Qianxia leaned in close.

Yang Qinglan leaned back, distancing herself from the encroaching face, "You're worse than your brother, not just in linguistic but also in logical intelligence."

"What do you mean? Oh! I get it, you're saying, if you didn't refuse, you agreed? You won't allow my brother to talk to women anymore? Claiming sovereignty over him?"

The sentence had a cadence that was slow at times, word by word, and at other times fast, like a machine gun.

"I didn't say that," Yang Qinglan denied, looking out the window.

Li Qianxia kicked Li Changzhou under the table, signaling him to seize the opportunity and press the attack.

Li Changzhou slightly straightened up, removing the cigar that served as a prop.

"I testify," he said, "she indeed didn't say it."

"..."

Li Qianxia slapped herself on the face.

From Yang Qinglan's profile, it was evident that she was also smiling.

"Hmm?" Li Changzhou looked puzzled.

"Forget it, forget it!" Li Qianxia dropped her hand, slapped her thigh, "There really are different kinds of intelligence among people."

Li Changzhou knew he had definitely said something wrong, but where? Was it wrong to defend Yang Qinglan?

He pondered it again while he clamped the cigar back between his lips.

The train rumbled as if it were laughing out loud.

The three of them reviewed the rulebook about the instance again; there wasn't much to it, summed up in one sentence—do not reveal any future events to anyone from the past.

Chatting idly, a song suddenly played on the broadcast.

(Buses, subways, ships, airplanes, just like us, are destined to wander.)

(One day, though we do not know when, we will become our true selves.)

...

(They know nothing, believing the world remains unchanged, operating as usual.)

(It's not the case, not the case.)

(The world is changing in places they are unaware of, irrevocably.)

◇

In 1928, with the Li Clan, Zhao Clan, and Song Clan as the main warlords, a multitude of military factions stood.

In early summer, the Zhao Clan and Song Clan went to war.

In July, Commander Li Xinghua of the Li warlords, persuaded by the Zhao Clan and his eldest son Li Bichang, sent troops to join them against Song.

By the end of July, Li Xinghua and his eldest son, Li Bichang, were assassinated in their special train to Ming City.

In August, the second son of the Li Clan took power; not avenging his father, he held his forces back.

In October, the second son of the Li Clan sent troops, defeating the Zhao Clan and Song Clan, becoming the most powerful warlord in Xia Country at the time.

◇

Li Changzhou opened his eyes.

"Second Master, we have arrived at the Liu Mansion."

The old Buick car's headlights illuminated a few lines of ghostly text.

[Time: Spring, 1928]

[Location: Song City]

[Background: Powerful warlords, martial arts schools committing offenses with martial arts, demons clinging to life, four beauties captivating the gaze]

[Character: Li Changzhou, the second son of Li]

[White card tasks: 1: Li Xinghua and Li Bichang going to war against Song; 2: The deaths of Li Xinghua and Li Bichang; 3: Li Changzhou assuming power]

[Black card tasks: 1: Li Xinghua and Li Bichang forgo going to war; 2: Li Xinghua and Li Bichang survive; 3: Li Changzhou loses inheritance rights]

Li Changzhou got out of the car.

"Second Master." Liu De handed him a ceremonial cane.

Li Changzhou took it, holding the cane in his left hand and pocketing his right, looking at the brilliantly lit Western-style garden buildings in front of him.

Liu Mansion, a ball, Li Changzhou, the second son of Li, returning from years of study abroad, his first meeting with his fiancée, Lin Yin.

"My Qing Lan, where are you?" Li Changzhou sighed, stepping forward.

The grand white marble steps, lion statues, fountains, and the dark lawn under the night sky.

The phonograph crackled noisily, women in cheongsams covered their mouths and laughed, draping scarves over their wrists; people in exquisite Western dresses addressed each other as "Miss So-and-so."

The scene gradually brightened from gray to vibrant, and the crackling phonograph finally sang out loud.

"The willows are charming, the orioles are tender, spring once again reports its presence to the mortal world."

"Cherish this youthful age, do not let time pass in vain."

Seeing him, the doorkeeper caught sight of him and excitedly shouted into the house:

"Second Master Li is here—"