Pillar of Yita

It wasn’t until a long, long time later that he finally understood; it wasn’t that his parents wouldn’t come back, but rather that they could never return.

By that time, he had already learned not to cry easily and had learned how to become a man.

He nodded slightly.

Tang Sheng said, ”But actually, you may not know this. Shortly after your parents boarded the plane, we set off from Hangzhou to your hometown to find you. We arrived that night, and it was only the next morning at ten o’clock that we received the news that the flight your parents were on had an accident on the Kyrgyzstan border.”

He said word by word, ”The reason we departed so early was because your parents entrusted you to us before they boarded the plane. I later realized they might have already had a premonition of danger.”

This sentence struck Fang Hong like a bolt of lightning, leaving him standing there like a wooden figure.

”Little Hong,” Tang Sheng continued, ”this was also the last request your parents made to us: in addition to entrusting you to us, they asked us not to let you follow the same path as them, no matter what. They knew I was once an Invoker, so they likely wouldn’t oppose you going to that world. And precisely because of this request, your aunt and I have always been so persistent...”

He sighed, ”We didn’t expect things to turn out this way, but since everything has already happened, we can’t keep hiding it from you.”

”Uncle,” Fang Hong asked in a somewhat subdued voice, ”what exactly happened to my parents? What was that plane crash all about?”

Tang Sheng gently shook his head, ”We have always been in the dark about this. Your parents didn’t tell us much. I left Eteliria far earlier than your father, so I don’t know what happened to them. Over these years, we’ve been carefully protecting you, fearing that someone might come to take you away.”

”...Fortunately, what we feared did not happen. Over the years, you’ve been living safely, until now, when such a major event has occurred.”

Fang Hong was silent, thinking perhaps those people had already found him. He couldn’t help but think of the ID named Rekehtopa. Suddenly, he felt an urgent desire to find out what really happened back then.

At the very least, he wanted to understand those people’s intentions regarding him and why they wanted to send him to this world.

However, he did not speak, worried that his uncle and aunt would worry excessively. Plus, this was part of his confidentiality agreement with the military. After thinking for a moment, he only asked, ”Uncle, can you tell me about my parents?”

”Of course,” Tang Sheng replied, ”but I actually didn’t know your mother. I left Eteliria before your father met her. I can only tell you about the adventures your father and I had before I left. But first, I need to tell you about that notebook.”

”That notebook?”

Fang Hong realized he was referring to the notebook in the Grand Princess’s possession.

He didn’t quite understand why he suddenly brought this up and couldn’t help but ask, ”Uncle, is there something special about that notebook?”

”I didn’t recall this matter at the time, Little Hong,” Tang Sheng replied, ”that notebook wasn’t always in the old house; I put it there, not expecting you to see it. That notebook was actually a memento your father brought me from Eteliria, copied from an ancient artifact. I didn’t expect it to become his relic left for me—”

His tone paused slightly, ”When you mentioned it, I finally remembered this. Looking back, that object as your father’s relic actually would have been more appropriate for you.”

Fang Hong was dumbfounded.

He never expected that the notebook was something left by his father—copied from some ancient artifact. Could his dad have seen the Abyssal Sea Stone Tablet? An absurd feeling rose within him, but upon careful thought, it shouldn’t be the case. Even if he had seen the Abyssal Sea Stone Tablet, he wouldn’t have copied a notebook identical to the one in the Grand Princess’s possession.

Or could it be that both notebooks actually originate from the same, older document, equivalent to a handwritten copy of a certain unique book, therefore making them so identical?

...