Chapter 30: The Guest

“No way to leave the Mist Tornado then…” Lily shook her head, her thoughts tangled and confused. She needed time, and she needed to discuss this with her companions.

“So, Shiqin, how did you arrive in Dunlun City, and enter this ‘Tornado’?” Lily borrowed Shiqin’s description of the Mist Tornado and asked the most crucial question. If there was a way in, then surely there must be a way out!

Shiqin wore a puzzled expression, her brows knitting as she countered, “Hmm? Has your orphanage not received any ‘Guests’?”

“‘Guests’? What does that mean?” Lily was completely lost.

Shiqin, sitting on the bed, suddenly fell silent. The abrupt quiet left Hugh and Aiden exchanging awkward glances. The conversation was entirely in Xiaguo language, and they hadn’t understood a word, their anxiety rising.

Lily regained her composure, turned, and shook her head at them, then asked, “Miss Liu Shiqin, may I trouble you to explain what you mean by ‘Guests’?”

Liu Shiqin gazed carefully at Lily, sitting beside the bed. Finally, she nodded gently and sighed. She hadn’t expected to have to begin explaining from such basic concepts to an elder sister who had already awakened extraordinary abilities.

“Could you get me some paper?” Shiqin requested.

Lily agreed and fetched several sheets of white paper from a nearby drawer, placing them on Shiqin’s clipboard.

After securing the papers and gathering her thoughts, Shiqin began, “We all know that ten years ago, the ‘2.4 Mist’ suddenly appeared over Jingzhou and, with astonishing speed, spread across the globe. We also know that, under its cover, humanity lost all control over the sky.”

Lily nodded—these details were mentioned in the book “A Detailed Study of the 2.4 Mist.”

Shiqin pressed out the nib of her pen and continued, “Alongside the ‘2.4 Mist’ appeared the phenomenon I mentioned, named Sisyphus—the Mist Tornado.”

As she spoke, she wrote the word “Sisyphus” on the paper, the handwriting slender and graceful.

However, Lily frowned; she hadn’t seen this description in the orphanage’s “Detailed Study of the 2.4 Mist.” Yet, she did not interrupt, waiting for Shiqin to go on.

“The next part, you might need to ask your companions to leave. They haven’t become ‘Extraordinary’ yet, and if they become involved too soon, it could do them harm.” Shiqin glanced at the foreign faces at the door, then winked at Lily.

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Lily, Aiden, Hugh, and Dunn returned to the third-floor common room, where only Camille remained. The others were either busy with orphanage duties or felt waiting was pointless and decided to hear the account later.

“Miss Shiqin seems to need rest. She looks like she arrived in Dunlun City by accident. I think we should give her some time to process things.” Switching back to English, Lily felt a strange delight in her native tongue.

No sooner had she sat down than Lily began to explain.

Hugh’s focus was elsewhere; she asked, “Lily, how come you suddenly know Xiaguo language?”

Camille, who’d been waiting in the common area, was startled by the question. Was she hearing things? Lily could speak Xiaguo? One of the world’s most notoriously difficult languages?

After a moment, Camille relaxed—after all, it was Lily. Nothing was strange anymore. Dunn, who’d stealthily eavesdropped at the door earlier, had much the same thought.

Lily touched her cheek, embarrassed, and explained, “Rather than saying I can speak Xiaguo, it’s more like I’ve been given a translator. I don’t really know how to describe it… Maybe to you, it sounds like Xiaguo, but to me, I’m still speaking English—or at least, it feels like English to me.”

“Is it because of… the coin…?” Aiden could only think of that.

“I think so too,” Lily nodded, gently brushing her chest and placing the coin in her palm.

“What’s special about that coin?” Hugh asked, reaching for it. Lily didn’t stop her; she was curious whether anything would change when someone else held it—would Hugh suddenly “speak” Xiaguo?

But in the next moment, everyone fell silent. Camille clenched her fists.

Hugh’s fingers passed straight through the coin, poking Lily’s palm.

“I’m beginning to understand what magic means… ha… ha…” Hugh’s voice grew softer, and she finally sank back into her seat, at a loss.

If listening to Lily describe her expedition to find John had only given Hugh a vague or half-believing idea of the so-called occult, today’s events forced her to face the truth—this world had truly changed.

“Tell us what you talked about with that girl,” Dunn prompted, changing the subject.

“Alright, there’s a lot to cover, so I’ll focus on the key points. Her name is Shiqin Liu, probably from Xiaguo. I didn’t get to ask exactly where, since there was so much else to take in. I think she knows a lot more, but for certain reasons, she hasn’t told me everything.”

After a brief pause, Lily continued, “She calls the ‘Wall’ Sisyphus. For its meaning, Camille, you’ll have to ask Dunn. We’re still unclear, but the ‘Wall’ isn’t quite the cage we imagined—it’s actually a tornado made of mist.”

“She mentioned some abilities and said the Xiaguo government is working to standardize and name various powers worldwide.”

Lily unfolded the papers she’d been holding and laid them out across the table.

Hugh glanced at them and immediately felt overwhelmed—everything was written in Xiaguo script.

Lily saw the group’s confused expressions and gently slapped her forehead. She’d forgotten that only she could “speak Xiaguo.” Leaving a quick “wait a moment,” she dashed to the spiral staircase, hurried back to her room, and brought down the dictionary Aiden had given her the night before.

With Aiden’s help, she patiently began translating the text.

Midnight — Night watchman/clapper

Guest — Lily couldn’t find a suitable translation.

Falsehood — Error (BUG)

Spectator — Visitor

Unfettered — Joyful (though Lily felt this might not be quite right)

Celestial Lord — Lily couldn’t find a suitable translation; the dictionary only gave terms related to Xiaguo religion.