The sun was high. The suburban street was, on the surface, back to normal.
Except for the massive, tiger-shaped, oily black scorch mark on the asphalt in the middle of the road, all that was left after the BSA "recovery team" had incinerated the Level 5 corpse. And the shredded, abandoned, wreck of Mr. Wei's sedan, which was still being loaded onto a flatbed.
Lin Hao pulled his nondescript, mortal, black sedan to the curb in front of his house. The front window was gone, replaced by a large, ugly sheet of plywood.
He was here as "Lin Hao, the Heroic Son." He had waited a full, agonizing day for the "shock" to wear off before visiting. He was clean, wearing a campus sweatshirt, and he had a bag of groceries (and his hidden, spiritual gifts) in the passenger seat.
He got out of the car, and before he was halfway up the lawn, the front door was ripped open.
"A-Hao!"
His mother, Jia Li, flew out of the house. She wasn't fussing this time. She was hysterical. She grabbed him in a grip that was surprisingly strong, her whole body shaking, her face pale.
"You're here! You're safe! Oh, A-Hao, you... you just... you just missed it!"
"Missed what, Mom?" Lin Hao asked, playing the part of the confused, caring son.
"The... the monster!" she wailed, pulling him inside.
The living room was a wreck. His father was on the phone, yelling at an insurance agent. His sister, Lin Meng, was sitting on the couch, her knees drawn to her chest, just staring at the plywood-covered window.
"Mom, what happened? I heard about the zoo, but I..."
"It was here, A-Hao!" his mother cried. "It was on our lawn! Your father... he... he had his golf club..."
"Jia Li, I had it under control," his father, Lin Wen, barked into the phone. "No, I don't care what a 'Reiki-Beast' deductible is! You're going to pay for the window!" He slammed the phone down, his face ashen.
He looked at Lin Hao, and the man's "mortal" bravado crumbled. "Son. It... it was a demon. A demon from hell."
Lin Hao let his own face go pale. He feigned shock, his eyes wide. "The tiger? Here? Are you... are you all okay? What happened?"
"We..." his father started, his voice trembling. "We were... gone. It was at the window. It was going to..."
"And he came!" his mother cut in, her eyes lighting up with a terrified, religious, awestruck fanaticism. "A-Hao, a man... a hero... he just... he just appeared! On the lawn! In a mask! A gray mask!"
"A mask?" Lin Hao asked, his voice a perfect, stunned, "WTF?" "Mom, what are you talking about? A BSA agent?"
"No!" she said, grabbing his arm. "Not BSA! He was... he was a guardian! An immortal! The beast... it pounced, A-Hao... and he... he just..."
She couldn't say it. She just made a small flick motion with her finger.
"...he popped it," his father finished, his voice a dead, hollow, disbelieving monotone. "He just... flicked it. And it... it died. It just died."
Lin Hao stared at them. He "stumbled" back, leaning against the wall, a perfect picture of a Level 2 "brute" hearing about a power that was beyond him.
"Flicked... it?" he stammered. "A Level 5... that... that Prodigy Li Wei couldn't even scratch... he just... no. That's... that's impossible..."
"It's true!" his mother insisted. "We saw it! The whole neighborhood saw it!"
Lin Hao was silent, "processing" this world-changing, "terrifying" news.
His sister, Lin Meng, hadn't moved. She was still on the couch, just watching him, her eyes... different. Not scared. Calculating.
His mother, seeing him "pale" and "in shock," went into full mom-mode. "Oh, my poor boy. This is too much. You, with your dogs, us with this... I'll... I'll make soup. We need soup."
She bustled off to the kitchen. His father, his "man of the house" duty over, let out a long, shaky breath and sat down heavily in his armchair, his head in his hands.
The moment they were alone, Lin Meng moved.
She was off the couch in a blur, her [Level 1: Iron Skin] body faster than a mortal's. She grabbed Lin Hao's arm, her grip like a small, steel vice.
"Brother," she whispered, her voice low, intense, and vibrating with a nervous, electric energy.
"Meng-meng, what is it? Your hand hurts," he said, faking a wince.
"Shut up," she hissed, pulling him toward the hallway, away from their father. "I'm serious. I... I saw him. The masked man."
"We all saw him, Meng. Mom won't shut up about..."
"No!" she cut him off. "You're not listening! I saw him up close! I was at the blinds! He was... he was standing right there. And after... after he 'popped' it... he turned."
Her eyes were locked on his, wide and unblinking. "He turned, and he looked right at me. Right at the window."
"He... he probably just..."
"And he nodded," she finished, her voice a breathless whisper. "Brother... he nodded at me. He... I... I think he knows us. Or... or maybe," her eyes narrowed, "maybe he knows... you?"
Lin Hao looked at his sister. His brilliant, talented, [Level 3: Inferior Root] sister. She had put it together. She was smart.
This was the moment. He couldn't lie. He couldn't tell the truth.
He had to tell a new truth.
He looked back at his father, who was just staring at his (useless) golf club. He looked at his mother in the kitchen.
He put his finger to his lips. He grabbed his sister's arm and pulled her. "My car. Now. We're getting something from my bag."
He dragged her outside, past their father's confused "Where are you...", and into the "privacy" of his new, black sedan.
He locked the doors. He turned to her.
"Lin Meng," he said, his voice dropping, the "bumbling hero" act gone, replaced by a cold, deadly, family seriousness. "You're right. He wasn't BSA. And he... he does know us."
"I knew it!" she gasped. "Is he a friend? Is he from your 'Hero Class'?"
"No," Lin Hao said. He had to do this perfectly. "He's... he's like me. But stronger. Way stronger."
He leaned in. This was the "confession."
"Meng, my 'Awakening'... it wasn't just 'luck'. I didn't just get 'strong.' I... I found something. The night of the 'Pulse.' In the old library."
"Found... found what?" she whispered, her eyes wide.
"A book. An old, old book. It's... it's a Gongfa."
Her breath hitched. She was a kid of the new world. She knew that word. "A... a Gongfa? Like... like Chen Long? A real one?"
"A real one," Lin Hao lied, his face a mask of truth. "It's how I got strong. It's why I'm not just a 'brute.' And that masked man... I think... I think he's the same. He's another person who found a secret. He didn't nod at me, Meng. He nodded at you."
"Me?"
"He sensed it," Lin Hao said, tapping her forehead. "He sensed your talent. The same talent I have. He was telling me... 'Train her. She's one of us.'"
It was a masterful, perfect lie. It tied the Masked Expert (him), to her (his sister), through himself (his cover identity), all while protecting his real secret.
Lin Meng's mind was blown. She wasn't just a girl who broke a wall. She was chosen. By a god.
"So..." she whispered, her whole body trembling with excitement. "So, will you...?"
Lin Hao reached into the duffel bag at his feet. He didn't pull out the "Yoga" book. That was his copy. He pulled out the second "Yoga Basics" manual he had bought and upgraded.
And he pulled out the small, velvet box containing the twelve, pearl-white, glowing "Ginseng" pills.
He placed them in her hands.
Lin Meng gasped. The smell from the pillbox was divine. The book... the "Clear Water Chant"... it was thrumming in her hand, her [Level 3] talent singing in response to it.
"Lin Meng," Lin Hao said, his voice a low, hard, final command. "This is our secret. Not Mom's. Not Dad's. Especially not the BSA's. They are hunting for people like us, for these books. You tell no one. You practice in secret. This," he tapped the book, "is how you really get strong. This is how you learn to control the power you have."
He then tapped the pillbox. "And these... are for emergencies. If you are ever in danger... you take one. Understand?"
His sister, her eyes shining, not with fear, but with a new, fierce, purpose, looked from the gifts, to him.
She didn't just nod. She bowed, just as Fatty had. A deep, serious, "martial arts movie" bow.
"I understand, Brother."