14 Chapter 14 You Are the Son of the Flame Emperor

It was less than half an hour before the entrance door to my aunt's house opened. Windblown and dusty, my aunt walked in, her eyes frantically searching the living room. Her face relaxed only after she saw that both children were there.

"Mom——" Song Jia hurriedly dropped the remote control and opened her arms to hug Wang Qi.

"Mom, I missed you so much... Mom, let me tell you, today you almost lost your precious baby... If it weren't for Wang Lan, everyone in our bus would've died. Wang Lan was the knight who saved this princess, so I didn't argue with her today."

Wang Lan, sitting on the sofa, twitched the corners of her mouth slightly. During the bus ride, being called 'brother' felt so satisfying, and yet, it hadn't been two hours since they got home before she was directly named again. This woman, she shouldn't have been nice to her.

"Let Mom have a look, are you hurt anywhere? I was scared out of my wits when I got the call in Han City. No sooner had I gotten off the plane and called to find you at the military hospital than I hurried over, only to learn that both of you had gone home... It's good that you're fine, it's good that you're fine."

Wang Qi, who always appeared so strong, was indeed frightened. These two children were her only relatives in the world. If something had happened to them, she wouldn't have known what to do.

"You watch TV for a bit, I want to talk to your brother." Wang Qi hugged Song Jia tightly and kissed her twice before standing up and waving towards Wang Lan, "Lan Lan, come here for a second."

Wang Lan obediently walked over, following Wang Qi to the balcony, "Auntie!"

"When did you awaken?" Wang Qi looked intently into Wang Lan's eyes, "Awakening is such a big deal, how could you not tell me?"

"I just awakened yesterday."

"Yesterday? How did it happen? Tell me the details." Wang Qi's eyes suddenly brightened—apart from being Song Jia's mother and Wang Lan's aunt, she was also the CEO of Jiayi Biotechnology Company, and a top genetic biologist in Jade Country.

"It was when the final exam results were handed out yesterday—I scored four hundred sixty points, again the top scorer in the city. I got so excited, so overwhelmed, that I awakened."

If this were to get out, countless parents might take to whipping their children to death. Listen to this—do well on an exam and get so excited you awaken a Star Martial Warrior's talent? Sleep a dick, play a ball? Get up and study all night.

Then, countless hardworking students would crowdfund to sacrifice the 'scholastic god' to the heavens. Such a creature shouldn't be alive.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..." My aunt gave Wang Lan an appraising look from head to toe, "The Soul Resonance couldn't trigger your Star Martial Warrior talent, but a single exam does the trick? Now I'm wondering if there's a flaw in the Soul Resonance Technology, or if you have something special?"

My aunt's gaze was frightening, especially the action of licking the corner of her mouth with her tongue, which made Wang Lan feel like turning and running away. This was totally Orochimaru.

"Auntie... I think I should be normal..."

"Don't think, I need to think... My biological gene coding just encountered some problems..."

"Auntie, I suddenly remembered I have something to do at home, I'll take my leave now, goodbye!"

"Stop right there! You're staying here tonight!" my aunt commanded in an undeniable tone.

"Oh."

"Then I'll go play with Jiajia." Wang Lan smiled and turned to leave.

"Do well on an exam and get excited and awaken? Bullshitting ghosts? From first grade, when have you not done well? Every time it's either a perfect score or top of the class—are you still excited? You'd probably only get excited if you flunked it," Wang Qi said, arms folded, not caring if Wang Lan heard or not as she talked to herself.

Mrs. Feng had gone back to her hometown, and Wang Qi couldn't cook, but fortunately, there's something in this world called takeout. Wang Qi directly ordered more than a dozen dishes from a local restaurant to be delivered. She knew the appetite of a Star Martial Warrior who had just awakened.

When she was a child, her sister Wang Ling performed a feat in front of Wang Qi, devouring a pig in three bites. Wang Qi was so frightened that she didn't dare to sleep on the same bed with Wang Ling for half a month, fearing she would wake up in the middle of the night to see a pair of glowing green eyes, and then be eaten in three bites herself.

Thinking of her sister Wang Ling, Wang Qi's eyes darkened. What had seemed like normal life back then could now only be relived in memories.

After dinner, having taken a bath, Wang Lan went back to her room to look up the process for applying for a Star Martial Badge online. Each Star Martial Warrior had to apply for their own Star Martial Warrior ID, and the previous ID would be canceled and discarded.

"Lan Lan, come here a moment," Wang Qi, dressed in a cool silk nightgown, knocked on Wang Lan's door.

"Okay."

Wang Lan stood up, opened the door, and followed Wang Qi, who had also just showered, her hair still damp. Wang Qi, nearing forty, bore no signs of aging.

Beautiful and at the same time mature and charming. With memories and a soul from two lifetimes, Wang Lan naturally knew how to appreciate it. But appreciation was just that, and the only curiosity was why the aunt hadn't found another boyfriend over the years.

The two of them went out to the balcony, leaning out to look at the distant city lights, both silent. Wang Qi in this pose was especially attractive, and Wang Lan had no choice but to turn away and look into the distance.

"How long has sister been gone?" Wang Qi suddenly asked softly.

"Seven years and eight months," Wang Lan replied without a second's hesitation.

"Nearly eight years, huh... Back then, you were only this tall..." The aunt made a height gesture and smiled, "You're more thoughtful than adults, such a big thing and you didn't even fuss. If I hadn't heard you crying at night back then, I would think you had no heart or soul."

"I wanted to cry too, but my mom said crying is a sign of weakness, and she didn't want to raise a loser at home."

"Sister might still be alive," Wang Qi suddenly turned and looked at Wang Lan.

What surprised her, however, was that there was no unusual expression on Wang Lan's face, only a smile that Wang Qi read as 'I knew it!'

"You knew all along?" Wang Qi asked in a low voice.

"Auntie, I am, after all, a man who is called a 'scholarly god' by a hundred thousand elementary students. Please, don't doubt my intelligence, okay? If my mother really died during a mission, why did you insist on telling me about my mother's life or death only after I graduated from junior high school?

"Before the graduation of junior high, there is a Soul Resonance ceremony, so the answer you give me must have two possibilities. As for which one you tell me, it will depend on whether I can awaken the Star Martial Warrior talent or not.

"Since you told me that my mother sacrificed herself during a mission, the other possibility is that she is still alive, right?"

"What a smart child," Wang Qi sighed leisurely. "However, I'm also not sure if your mother is still alive. She's just disappeared, been missing for nearly eight years. Everything about your mother is highly classified—even I can't inquire or ask about it, so... her whereabouts are up to you to investigate.

"Once you become a Star Martial Warrior, you'll have the chance to access these secrets. All I know is that your mother had an incredibly important mission back then, and then she never returned."

"Okay, I will," Wang Lan nodded and said.

"Do you understand your mother well?" Wang Qi suddenly smiled and asked.

"What do you mean? She's my mom, how could I possibly not understand her?"

"You know she's a Star Martial Warrior, but do you know what level of Star Martial Warrior she was?"

"That..." Wang Lan shook his head, honestly clueless. His mother was very strict with her belongings and never allowed Wang Lan to snoop through them. She never brought any work-related items home, including her Star Martial badge, work identification, or even her uniform and combat suit.

Every time Wang Ling came home, she dressed like a city career woman, spending at least two hundred days a year away on missions. The only thing he knew was that his mother was quite fierce and had a very strong personality.

"Among the Star Martial Warriors of Jade Country, the most top-notch ones have titles. And among these titled warriors, the 'Five Elders' and 'Five Emperors' are the most famous and the pillars of Jade Country's international status.

"You should know about the Five Elders, they are five individuals with immense prestige among Star Martial Warriors, and their influence can change the entire Star Martial Art structure of Jade Country.

"The Five Emperors are the five people with the highest combat ability in Jade Country. They are the Eastern Azure Emperor, the Southern Flame Emperor, the Western White Emperor, the Northern Nether Emperor, and the Central Mysterious Emperor. Your mother, my sister Wang Ling, held the title of the Southern Flame Emperor."

Wang Lan's eyes violently contracted, and for the first time, a look of astonishment appeared on his calm face.

The person with the top fighting power in Jade Country... the very top... person...

This was something Wang Lan couldn't bring himself to believe, no matter what. Before Wang Ling disappeared, she was only thirty, and even though the peak age for Star Martial Warriors was indeed between thirty and forty, Wang Lan still found it unbelievable that his mother was among the strongest Star Martial Warriors in Jade Country.

A woman, a common woman.

Without a family, resources, connections, or inborn talent of the bloodline, how did she achieve such heights at that age?

It was simply impossible in Wang Lan's mind!

Two lifetimes of experience told him that now was not just after a period of war, with many blank areas where one could rise arbitrarily. The social structure was tightly knit, the concentration of wealth and resources high, the noble did not come from the cold, the lowly did not father nobility.

A genius from the common folk could rise, could climb high—Wang Lan believed that. But it was nearly impossible for a genius from the common folk to climb to the very pinnacle so quickly through sheer effort alone.

You're a genius, but aren't others as well?

You work hard, but don't those Star Martial families work hard too?

The gap in talent among top geniuses is limited, as is the gap in effort. What really creates a gap is resources, wealth.

Unless you're so much of a genius that you can disregard resources and wealth.

Was mom truly a genius to such an extent?

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" Wang Qi asked with a slight smile.

"Not exactly, just a bit unexpected. If my mom was the Southern Flame Emperor, then her disappearance must have been a big deal for Jade Country, right? How come there was no news about it at the time?"

"How could the nation possibly report such a thing? I can even tell you that in the eyes of foreign countries, the Flame Emperor was just on a certain mission, or perhaps a high-ranking official in our country, even working at the Ministry of Defense. The whole world—probably no more than a hundred people knew about your mother's disappearance."

"Right, but still, my mom was so badass yet she left me with nothing... There's not a single Star Martial Skill at home, not even a Soul Bead. Doesn't she know about saving for the future?"

"Didn't she save you three office buildings in CBD? Plus a commercial plaza in Modu City, and two in the Imperial Capital."

"Money is an external possession. What use is having more? I mean Star Martial Skill, secret technique..."

"Hmph, if your mother had really left you something, would you still be alive now? You'd have been chopped into eighteen pieces long ago."

"I see..." Wang Lan instantly understood all this, but still felt it was a pity. With such a badass mom, it was a shame she hadn't left any legacy for her son.

*Sigh...*

"However, your mother did leave you something," she said, turning to point at a box on the balcony coffee table. "Your mom left this with me before she left, saying she didn't know when she would return. If she didn't come back in a few years, and you had awakened the Star Martial Warrior talent, then it was to be given to you."