"Hello," Chen Ling said in an unfamiliar tone. "Have we met somewhere before?"
Now that Chen Ling had completely changed his appearance, there was no reason to expose his identity in front of Xi Renjie. Left with no choice, he resorted to this clichéd but effective excuse.
Xi Renjie stared blankly at his face for a moment before suddenly bursting into laughter. His weather-beaten, dirt-streaked face revealed two rows of neat, white teeth.
"I've seen you! We searched for Aurora City together!"
Chen Ling froze. Looking at Xi Renjie’s exaggerated grin, he suddenly sensed something was off... But he still played along.
"When was that? Are you... alright?"
"Did you find Aurora City?" Xi Renjie countered.
"This is Aurora City."
"Oh..."
"What are you looking for?" Chen Ling asked.
"I'm looking for Aurora City... I'm almost there!"
"This is Aurora City," Chen Ling repeated. Watching Xi Renjie’s bizarre behavior, a realization suddenly struck him. "You..."
"I'm almost there... I will find it!!"
Clutching a bulging cloth bag to his chest, Xi Renjie stumbled to his feet and staggered onto the street. His hopeful eyes darted around with a longing Chen Ling had never seen before.
Xi Renjie’s pupils reflected the amber sunset and the kites still fluttering in the twilight. He kept grabbing at the air, as if trying to seize those kites.
"Aurora City has kites... I have kites too! Following the kites... I will reach Aurora City!!"
"I'm almost there..."
"I'm almost there!!"
He plunged a hand into his cloth bag, pulled out a handful of glittering gold coins, and hurled them into the sky!
The coins tumbled through the air like golden kites, soaring toward the clouds under the sunset before helplessly plummeting back to earth... The jingling echoed down the street, leaving passersby stunned.
Xi Renjie’s face was alight with excitement and madness. He scooped out handful after handful of coins, scattering them into the sky like a deranged fool.
"Look! These are the kites they gave me!! Following the kites... I will reach Aurora City!!!"
The pedestrians’ eyes bulged. They dropped everything and swarmed toward him, scrambling to snatch the coins littering the ground, their faces twisted with greed.
"Gold coins?! So many gold coins!!"
"Is this guy insane? Throwing away gold coins like this?"
"We’re rich! We’re rich!! This much money could feed my family for years!!"
"Don’t grab them! They’re mine! All mine!!"
"..."
Xi Renjie emptied the last of his coins, flinging them skyward in a dazzling golden rain, his laughter ringing through the street.
Countless citizens of Aurora City bent over behind him, picking up coins with glee, their eyes crinkled into crescents. No one spared a thought for where this madman had come from—even children crawled on the ground, collecting them one by one, knowing that just one coin could buy them ten, a hundred new kites.
Chen Ling stood frozen, watching the scene without moving... His eyes were filled with complexity.
"This guy’s interesting," Bai Ye remarked, raising an eyebrow. "He’s in Aurora City, yet he’s still searching for it?"
Chen Ling shook his head.
"No... He never arrived."
The ragged figure staggered away from the bowing crowd, his silhouette fading into the distance as the sun sank behind the western mountains.
Chen Ling knew that from this day onward, Enforcer Xi Renjie no longer existed in this world... Aurora City would simply gain another madman, forever chasing the aurora.
"...Let’s go."
Amid the chaotic clamor of the street, Chen Ling withdrew his gaze. Adjusting his half-rimmed glasses, he calmly turned east—the opposite direction of Xi Renjie’s path.
Ever since he had let Xi Renjie go outside the city walls, the man’s fate had ceased to concern him. Witnessing Xi Renjie’s end held no sway over him, for it would never be his ending.
The kites of Aurora City would always endure the winter. The sun that set in the west would inevitably rise again in the east.
---
Enforcer Headquarters.
Bright lights pierced the night as a steam car rolled down the dimly lit street, coming to a slow stop at the headquarters’ entrance.
Chu Shiduo, who had been waiting by the door, immediately stepped forward and opened the rear passenger door... Tan Xin stepped out, his black coat swaying faintly in the night breeze as he strode inside without pause.
"Teacher, you’re back so soon?" Chu Shiduo hurried after him. "How is Lord Aurora’s condition? Any improvement?"
Tan Xin didn’t answer. He walked silently toward his office, ignoring the salutes of every enforcer and judge he passed along the way.
Black leather gloves pushed open the office door. Tan Xin casually hung his coat on the rack in the corner. Sensing his teacher’s foul mood, Chu Shiduo stood quietly by the desk, waiting for him to speak first.
Finally, after switching on the desk lamp, Tan Xin spoke unhurriedly, "What’s the status of the Southwest Gate incident?"
"It’s been resolved." Chu Shiduo seemed to have anticipated the question, retrieving a file from his side and handing it over. "That Chen Ling was a member of the Twilight Society—[6 of Hearts]. After bringing everyone into the city, he self-immolated atop the train... Everyone witnessed him turn to ashes. His death has been confirmed.
However, after Chen Ling’s death, public opinion has shifted in his favor... Many citizens now argue that he shouldn’t be labeled a heretic. With certain parties fanning the flames, our enforcers’ reputation is being smeared..."
Tan Xin waved a hand. "I’ve said it before—public perception of us doesn’t matter... Especially now."
Chu Shiduo opened his mouth as if to argue, but ultimately stayed silent.
"But... this Chen Ling went through all that trouble to enter Aurora City just to burn himself alive?"
After a pause, Chu Shiduo added, "He... he said a few things before his death. One was his contempt for the enforcers’ lower-level management... The other was a ‘warning.’"
"What ‘warning’?"
"He said... ‘The frozen winds from the Frozen Sea have reached Aurora City. The fall of the seven districts is not the end of this story... Perhaps, it is only the beginning.’" Chu Shiduo repeated Chen Ling’s words verbatim.
Hearing this, Tan Xin narrowed his eyes. After a long silence, he chuckled softly.
"As expected of the Twilight Society... This Chen Ling was no ordinary man."
As he spoke, he picked up a slender black box from the desk. Rotating a dial on its side, glowing numerals lit up one after another—like some kind of digital clock.
Under Tan Xin’s adjustments, the numbers shifted until they settled on a final sequence, then began counting down automatically:
[93:03:39]
[93:03:38]
[93:03:37]
[93:03:36]...
"93 days, 3 hours, 36 seconds... Teacher, what does this mean?" Chu Shiduo asked, puzzled.
Tan Xin placed the box back on the desk. The flickering digits cast shifting shadows across his face... After a moment, he spoke slowly:
"This is the remaining lifespan of Aurora City."