Sulei

It was a thread-bound notebook with a dark brown leather cover, embossed with silver-white wings. The corners were adorned with vintage bronze protectors engraved with intricate, water-like patterns.

Gently opening the cover, Zane saw the name "Sulei" inscribed in the lower left corner of the title page, clearly the diary's owner. Although eager to read the contents, Zane decided to tuck the notebook into the bag provided by the storage facility before leaving.

After his departure, a man with a handlebar mustache, resembling a manager, hastened back to his office and retrieved a slender communication pad from his drawer.

He typed a message:

Dear Sir, the item you've been monitoring has just been retrieved by someone named Zane, an Ascendant.

I apologize, but that is the extent of the information within my authorization.

He sent the message and left it at that.

Leaving the storage facility, Zane didn't head straight back to the Lower City District. Instead, he found a park nearby—yes, a park, a luxury not found in the Lower City District. There, he sat on a bench under the shade of the trees, thumbing through the notebook.

The sunlight streaming through gaps in the lush canopy above danced over the powerful yet elegant script on the pages, and Zane read each word carefully.

'...October 7th, it's the hundredth day since I met Lyra. Lord of War, though I am not your disciple, I thank you for allowing me to meet this girl in your church. I feel compelled to document these wonderful days so that we may savor them in our old age.

Perhaps Lyra will mock me, seeing as I hardly seem the type to keep a diary. Well, what does it matter, haha.'

Just by reading the first entry, Zane felt his hands tremble slightly. This Sulei knew his mother Lyra, and it seemed they were romantically involved.

Could Sulei be...

Zane flipped through the pages eagerly.

'...October 23rd, just returned from a mission, utterly exhausted. If it weren't for preserving my right to establish a clan, I'd never set foot in the interstellar wasteland. That place is always so dark, filled with repulsive creatures. Nothing compares to the bright bastion, but most importantly, because it's home to the girl I love the most. Lyra, I'm back.'

'...October 24th, I had a fight with the old man. It's been years since we argued like this. He is unbelievably stubborn, wanting me to court the Anyi family's daughter. What a joke; a superficial girl with no substance, and not even particularly attractive. I wonder what the old man sees in her. Oh, I know, it must be the 10,000 contribution points they promised him annually.'

'...November 7th, poor Lyra fell ill today. There's a different charm about her when she's sick. But I can't tell her that; she'd think I'm a lecher. Am I? Of course not!'

The entries were a mixture of trivial and significant events from Sulei's relationship with his mother—opposition from Sulei's father, an arranged marriage, Sulei's leaving home, and finally his father's reluctant compromise.

From the diary, it was clear that Sulei was an upper-citizen of the bastion. Without significant contributions, one couldn't have a surname.

Unfortunately, Sulei revealed little about his family in the diary, leaving Zane clueless about his occupation within the bastion.

However, the recurring mentions of "missions" suggested that Sulei must have served in one of the three divisions—Nightwalkers, Tempest, or Harvesters.

Reading further, in the middle of May the following year, Sulei's father passed away. By early August, his mother was pregnant, and Sulei's excitement and joy were evident in his writings, even discreetly planning a wedding with Lyra.

'...August 27th, there's another mission today. Looks like it's going to take a while. Damn it, I was hoping to marry Lyra at the beginning of next month. No choice now, I'll have to let Jingnan make the arrangements secretly, so we can get married when I return. She'll be over the moon, no doubt about it!'

'...August 28th, I've decided. The little one in Lyra's belly will be named Zane. I hope he'll have a heart as vast as the sky and a future as bright as the sun! Ha, not bad for an old dad still with some ink in his belly, just a smidgen less than that scoundrel Jingnan. Hmm, I'll mention it to Jingnan later, see what he thinks of the name.'

That was the last entry.

It wasn't that no more were recorded, but the rest had been torn out!

Staring at the uneven tear lines, Zane's mind was full of questions.

Why was the diary torn at this point? What happened afterward that led his mother to live alone with him in the Lower City District?

From that last entry, it was clear Sulei was indeed his father, but why had so many years passed without a word from him?

Had Sulei grown tired of them and abandoned his son and the woman he loved, or was it something else?

Closing the diary, Zane shut his eyes.

At least two people knew the truth.

One was, of course, his mother Lyra, and the other was Jingnan mentioned in the diary.

His mother had always been reluctant to discuss his father, likely remaining tight-lipped if asked. And if she probed how Zane discovered the storage facility receipt...

Shaking his head vigorously, Zane thought, "The only option is to find Jingnan!"

But with a permanent population of over a hundred thousand in the Titan Bastion, where could he find someone named Jingnan? Was he still alive?

Suddenly remembering the residency office worker from the morning, Zane slapped his thigh, "Right, he might help! The residency office should be able to access citizen records."

Jumping up, Zane dashed out of the park and onto the electromagnetic bike. He opened the navigator and set course for the residency office.

At three in the afternoon, Zane drove through the tunnel leading back to the Lower City District.

The residency office had agreed to assist, but even as an Ascendant, Zane's request couldn't access personal information without proper authorization.

He had filled out an application form, which would be reviewed by the bastion's Information Management Department. Only upon their approval could the residency office proceed with the search.

At best, it would be a week before any news came through.

Zane could only clutch the diary tightly and head home, hoping to hide it before his mother finished her shift.

Once back at the shack, he had just parked the bike when he saw a figure waiting out front. Startled, he thought it was his mother coming home early.

Instead, it was a man dressed in the Nightwalkers' long black uniform.

Zane felt a surge of excitement. Could it be that he already had a mission?