Liu Su was just a weak girl. A student of literature, she was emotional by nature, clinging to the past and unable to face reality. Her tears rolled down like pearls, hitting the ground one by one, leaving dark marks.
"…" Ming Wu hadn't expected her to suddenly cry, and even more, that it was his words that had triggered it. He had absolutely no idea how to handle this. He had never once made a girl cry before, and this was his first time. In his heart, he had always believed that men who made women cry were scumbags. He never imagined he would end up in that position himself. "Don't cry."
But an order couldn't stop tears. Instead, his words only made Liu Su sob harder.
'What am I supposed to do now?' Ming Wu was completely helpless.
Liu Su hadn't cried the entire time she'd been locked up in the cave alone. She had been holding everything in, but the pressure had piled up. Now that the dam had broken, she couldn't stop until it was all released.
She grabbed Ming Wu's sleeve and used it as a handkerchief, soaking a large patch of fabric in moments. He didn't pull it back. He didn't even know why he didn't. Normally, he hated crying girls more than anything. Maybe this time it was guilt.
Meanwhile, deeper in the cave, Liu A'dou moved swiftly. His memory was sharp. Once he walked through a path, he remembered it perfectly, so finding his way out was only a matter of time. The black smoke clearly knew this, too, which was why it had abandoned Ming Wu and returned to block him.
"Hmm?" A wall had appeared in front of him where none had been before. He trusted his memory completely. With a faint smile, he stepped closer, raised his fist, and drove it straight into the center of the wall.
Boom! With one punch, the wall burst apart into black smoke. A false wall, just as he suspected. "Your disguise is too clumsy. Not natural at all. Show your true form already!"
But the smoke tried to flee. No chance. Liu A'dou had already been wandering this maze long enough. "You're not going anywhere!" He spread the Force around the smoke, wrapping it tight and compressing it.
The black smoke could pass through walls and solid objects, but the Force wasn't material—it was a field. When the smoke slammed against it, it let out a wailing cry.
"A child?!" Liu A'dou froze. The smoke gathered together, condensed, and finally took the shape of a little boy, about five or six years old. "That hurts!"
The boy's hair was tied into two little spikes pointing straight up. He wore a loose jacket and embroidered cloth shoes. He actually looked quite cute, but now he was clutching his forehead with tearful, angry eyes glaring at Liu A'dou.
"Kid, did you take away a big sister?" Liu A'dou asked.
"So what if I did? You're a bad guy!" the child snapped. "Let me down, right now!"
"Where is she? Is she alright?" Liu A'dou's voice turned serious. He was worried for Liu Su's safety.
"Why should I tell you? You're the bad guy! Put me down! Do you even know who I am?"
"You're a monster?"
"You're the monster! Using sorcery like that—you're definitely the monster! Let me go!" The child thrashed inside the Force's grip.
"Cut the nonsense. Take me to Liu Su and Ming Wu. Once we find them, I'll let you go. Otherwise, I'll lock you inside here forever, and you'll never get out." Liu A'dou's tone was stern, pressing down hard on the child.
"Waahhh~~!" The boy burst into loud sobs, his crying echoing through the cave like a shrill, ear-piercing wail.
"Quiet down. What's your name? Where are your parents? Stop crying or I'll seal your mouth shut." Liu A'dou threatened.
It worked instantly. The child snapped his mouth closed.
"What's your name?"
"You let me down first, then I'll tell you." The little boy was still sharp enough to bargain back.
But Liu A'dou had plenty of experience bullying little brats. He gave a sly laugh and said with a sinister tone, "You think that if you don't tell me, I won't know? I can use the Soul-Draining Technique. Once I take a stroll through your mind, I'll know your name, who your parents are, and where the people you kidnapped are being kept. Only problem is, you'll probably turn into an idiot. Then I'll toss you into a pigsty and let you eat slop with the pigs."
His acting was so convincing that he really did seem like some kind of demon lord. The kid broke down again, tears flowing as he bawled. After one more round of threats from Liu A'dou, the child gave in and spilled everything.
"My name is Li Cong, style name Liangchen. My dad is Li Jong, my mom is Biyue. The people I took are up above."
Hearing the names Li Jong and Biyue, Liu A'dou felt a strange sense of familiarity. He didn't realize that Li Jong was actually the first Green Lantern of Earth in the DC era. Of course, the very first Green Lantern ever created was an American, but within DC's storyline, the first Green Lantern from Earth was this Dragon Emperor Li Jong. Still, even for an otaku like Liu A'dou, this was such an obscure detail that he'd never paid attention to it.
Li Jong was the central figure in the earlier legend of the Dragon Emperor Temple, while Biyue was the heroine of that story.
When Liu A'dou found the hidden mechanism and opened the stone gate, Liu Su had already stopped crying. Her eyes were still swollen, and she sat in silence opposite Ming Wu. Liu A'dou had no idea what had passed between them, but the atmosphere was thick with awkwardness.
"Teacher Lin?" At the sight of this ordinary middle-aged man's face, Liu Su felt like she was seeing family again.
Once he confirmed both of them were safe, Liu A'dou finally exhaled in relief. Then he turned back to Li Cong. "So why did you kidnap these two?"
Li Cong, now set down, turned his big head to the side and said, "I didn't kidnap them. I was protecting them. Otherwise, they wouldn't survive past tomorrow night."
"Who wants to kill me?" Ming Wu's eyes narrowed. He knew whoever it was had also been behind his brother's death.
"Because he needs to drain energy," the brat explained. "The hearts of young people are the best way to nourish his power. You're all his targets."
"Who is it? Tell me exactly who it is!" Ming Wu pressed urgently.
But Li Cong's face twisted with hesitation. Clearly, this had something to do with him too. No matter how hard Ming Wu pushed, he refused to answer.
"I'd guess it's his father," Liu A'dou cut in suddenly, his words like a thunderclap.
Li Cong's eyes went wide with shock. He hadn't said a thing—how did Liu A'dou know? "How did you figure that out?"
Liu A'dou had pieced it together. He pointed at the lines carved into the wall and asked, "First, you tell me what this is."
"A long time ago, someone came here. I was kind enough to take him in, but when he left, he carved those words into the wall. I remember his name was Li Bai. My dad really liked it, so he left it there. Now, tell me how you knew about my father."
"...?" Liu A'dou's eyes twitched. Wasn't that the Green Lantern Oath? How did it become Li Bai's poetry? What he didn't know was that more than 1,400 years ago, when Li Jong first joined the Green Lantern Corps, there was no oath. But Li Bai left behind those lines, and Li Jong carried them off-world to the Corps. From then on, the Green Lanterns had an oath, translated into countless galactic tongues.
Even without that piece of history, Liu A'dou knew for sure a Green Lantern had been here. With the clues about killing to harvest energy, plus the earlier warning from the Force, he guessed the culprit had to be the infamous Black Lantern Corps. And if the story patterns held true, the one doing the killing was none other than Li Cong's father.
Could it be that the very first Green Lantern of Earth had really joined the Black Lantern Corps?