Chapter 432 - 376: Unfathomable: Rainstorm, Protection, Manor

"What took you so long to call back?"

The moment the call connected, Jin Xueli's voice was so loud and angry it felt like a gust of wind blew from the phone's receiver. "Do you have any idea I almost died today because of the Kai Family? Wait, no—that was yesterday!"

'I don't remember us being this close,' Tian Xi thought.

But that didn't seem to stop Jin Xueli from acting overly familiar with him. She said whatever came to her mind, however she wanted, without a care for pleasantries or how aggressive her tone might be. It wasn't as if they were close; it was more like Tian Xi owed her money.

"I haven't had time to look at my phone," he explained. "I just saw your… seventeen missed calls and twenty-four messages."

With Chaisi still unconscious, all of the Kai Family's affairs, large and small, had suddenly fallen onto Tian Xi's unprepared shoulders.

His mind was completely consumed by the Family Faction's business. He was so busy day in and day out that he barely had time for a sip of water. When he suddenly saw the staggering number of red notifications on his phone, he thought a disaster had struck. For an instant, his heart stopped; he even wondered if he would make it until an ambulance could arrive.

He let out a long sigh of relief when he saw the calls and messages were all from Jin Xueli.

'Whatever bad thing happened, at least it wasn't to one of the Kai Family Hunters.'

"Yes," Jin Xueli said over the phone, self-awareness clearly not being one of her strong suits, "I was already being restrained."

Tian Xi held his tongue.

He changed the subject. "What happened? Why are you looking for me?"

The question was all it took. Jin Xueli instantly erupted like a bottle of Coke after a Mentos is dropped in.

In a single moment, an endless torrent of grievances, complaints, and indignation erupted from the phone. It was hard to believe a single person—a living human being with just one mouth and one tongue—could spit out so many words at once. If Tian Xi wasn't sure he was still among the living, he might have mistaken the person on the other end for a resident.

'No, even residents would be put to shame. Brother Chaisi must have had it so rough.'

"Wait, I get it, I get it! Say no more." Tian Xi, who wasn't skilled at handling overly energetic and extroverted women, tried his best to soothe her. "You're being hunted by the Knight Family, you're in danger, and you want the Kai Family to protect you. Is that it?"

"Of course!" Jin Xueli shot back. "Who do you think I risked my neck for?"

'Wasn't it for your own shares?'

Tian Xi was a level-headed and rational person, so naturally, he didn't say that out loud.

"Is it urgent? Do I have to be the one to go?"

He glanced at the time. It was almost midnight on the 4th.

Normally, this was no time to be calling someone. But Illusion Hunters rarely cared about such conventions. The constant cycle of entering and exiting the Nests had worn away many of the worldly tethers that bound them, leaving only faint, fragmented shadows of old constraints.

Tian Xi was unwilling to leave the mansion unless it was absolutely necessary—even though other Hunters were standing guard over the unconscious Chaisi.

"I'm about to die, and you're asking if it's urgent? You're a pretty important figure in the Kai Family, so it's safer if you come get me." Jin Xueli didn't bother hiding her motives. "If you send some nobody, they'll just die with me for nothing. The Knight Family would have to think twice about killing you… right?"

"…Oh, thank you," Tian Xi said.

'Since we have to protect her anyway, I might as well bring her directly to the Kai Family's estate. That would placate her and keep her from stirring up more trouble. Things are chaotic enough as it is; every little bit of stability helps.'

When he proposed this, Jin Xueli said, "Hold on," and then muttered something to the people beside her.

There were two women with her. One had a low, cool voice that sounded vaguely familiar, but Tian Xi couldn't place it. "Going to the Kai Family's place is a good idea," the voice said. "It's their main base, so you'll be safe."

"Besides," said another female voice, still thick with sleep, "with this storm, staying by the pier feels a little risky."

'…They just revealed her hiding spot that easily. She'd definitely be safer at the Kai Family estate.'

"Okay, it's settled," Jin Xueli finally said. "By all rights, you should be the one to come get me, don't you think?"

'Is that right?'

"Can't your friends bring you over?" Tian Xi asked.

On the other end of the line, the familiar-sounding voice next to Jin Xueli let out a laugh. "Me, personally deliver someone to the Kai Family's doorstep?" the voice said, her words muffled. "Absolutely not."

'…So they have a grudge against us?'

"You come get me," Jin Xueli said, giving Tian Xi no time to think. "I'm not traveling alone."

'A perfectly capable Illusion Hunter who can come and go from Nests without a scratch is suddenly unwilling to travel alone across Blackmoor City to get to our mansion.' Tian Xi sighed and arranged a time and place with her.

The Kai Family Mansion was located far in the suburbs of Blackmoor City, in the Upper State District. In this storm, the drive from the mansion to Central Bay Pier would take at least two or three hours. By the time he picked her up and returned, the entire night would be gone.

Realizing he would be gone for the entire night, Tian Xi sent Chaisi a message explaining where he was headed. He omitted the specifics of Jin Xueli's trouble, however. 'Brother Chaisi isn't likely to wake up before I get back, and there's no point in trying to explain a situation I don't fully understand myself.'

He wanted to make the trip as quickly as possible, but he never expected the weather to be this bad. The night was drenched in a torrential downpour, the darkness churning in the fierce wind. His headlights, the streetlights—no light seemed capable of piercing the dense, heavy gloom ahead.

Every so often, Tian Xi had to force himself to take a few deep breaths, just to be sure there was still air in the world and that he hadn't sunk to the bottom of the sea.

With visibility this poor, he couldn't find the building Jin Xueli had described. Instead, he nearly lost control of the car and slid into a tree. After several close calls, he glanced at the time. It was almost 4:30 a.m., and his patience was wearing thin.

It sounded like Jin Xueli had fallen asleep while waiting for him; her voice was thick and slurred when she answered the phone.

"Come out and find me," Tian Xi said, giving her the name of the street he was on. "Look at this weather. There's no way the Knight Family can be precise enough to grab you on a short walk. You can barely see your own hand in front of your face. It doesn't get any safer than this."

He expected Jin Xueli to protest, but to his surprise, she hesitated for only a moment before quickly agreeing. It seemed she was just as eager to leave.

"My friends left once they knew you were almost here," she said. "I don't want to stay here alone either."

'Who exactly are her friends, and what's their beef with the Kai Family? I'll have to find out later…' Tian Xi mused, waiting for Jin Xueli in the driver's seat with his hazard lights blinking.

***

Jin Xueli knocked on the car window.

Tian Xi, apparently lost in thought, hadn't seen her approach through the storm and was startled by the sudden sound.

She couldn't hear what he said over the rain and through the glass, but she saw him point to the passenger seat. A moment later, there was a soft click as the door unlocked.

The walk was only a few dozen yards, but she was already soaked from the waist down.

The thick raincoat Morando and her companion had left for her only reached mid-thigh, and water was streaming from her pants. The wind was so strong it kept blowing her hood back, and the heavy raindrops felt like a thousand slaps to her face.

Without bothering with pleasantries, she plopped down into the seat, soaking it instantly. "You got here fast! What's up with this weather? I heard it's been pouring for days?"

"Heard?" Tian Xi started the car. "Were you in a Nest for the past few days?"

"No, sleeping."

Spotting a charging cable in his car, Jin Xueli quickly pulled out her phone and plugged it in. The hideout Morando had arranged was a small warehouse with a broken power outlet, so her phone's battery had been dangerously low. "I heard the rain only stopped this morning," she said. "And what do you know, the Knight Family didn't waste a second finding me."

'Although being hunted by the Knight Family still filled her with anxiety, the sight of Tian Xi put her at ease. The Knight Family can pick on me because I'm all alone, but can they do the same to the Kai Family?'

'This world, where the strong prey on the weak, never really changes.'

Jin Xueli had a million things to say and a million questions to ask. What really happened to Chaisi? Was he actually dead? Where did the Kai Family bury their dead? Could she get a spot in that expensive cemetery she saw last time?

She was well aware that her thoughts tended to be scattered and jumpy, making it hard for others to follow as she suddenly changed subjects. Aside from managing to squeeze in, "Brother Chaisi is fine, he's just sleeping," Tian Xi could barely get a word in edgewise.

"And can you believe it? At this hour, in this weather, right by the pier, there was someone else on the street. He walked in my direction for a little while—I had my hand on my gun—but then he turned into an alley. I wonder if he was a guard for one of the warehouses. Man, normal people have it rough."

'Considering her current net worth,' Jin Xueli thought, 'she wasn't really an ordinary person anymore, but she was willing to show a little solidarity with the common folk.'

'Even though he works for Chaisi, Tian Xi is completely different. He's so good-natured he's almost a pushover. He agreed with everything I said whenever he could get a word in. The Kai Family really has all kinds, huh.'

She was usually a good judge of character, and since she had a good impression of Tian Xi, she decided to press her advantage. "Tomorrow night… if Chaisi still isn't awake, could you come with me back to Blackmoor City? I have something I need to do—something your Brother Chaisi has been waiting on."

Her next action point from the Illusion Report instructed her to wait for further orders tomorrow night, December 5th, at 11:30 p.m., at the intersection of 102nd Street and Shelter Harbor Avenue. Jin Xueli wasn't just uninterested in this business of "ruling the Nest"—she was openly scornful of it. If Chaisi were awake, she'd have him go in her place.

'He could have any information on the target Illusion. As long as the pay was right, she couldn't care less about the nonsense written in the *Illusion Report*.'

'The only strange thing was why the Nest had chosen her, someone completely uninterested in its "ruling game"…'

'Could it just be because she happened to have the "radio"?'

"No problem," Tian Xi replied, slowing the car down in the wind and rain. "We're here."

Jin Xueli gazed out the window and gasped.

'Everyone calls it the "Kai Family Mansion,"' she thought, 'but this isn't a mansion. This is a massive estate.'

A vast, dark complex of buildings and a tall tower behind the main hall loomed in the depths of the black storm, looking down on them as they approached. Only a row of spotlights on the lawn faintly illuminated the sheets of rain that seemed to be tearing the world apart.