"Have you ever thought that your children, just like you, were greatly impacted by mom's death? But to make you feel better, every child hid their emotions, and you ignored it, treating us all like air."
"Do you know how many times Xiaomai cried after you left without a word? And how many times did she tell me she wanted dad to come back?"
At this point, Gu Qiye was so angry that he laughed instead, a sarcastic curve forming at the corner of his lips:
"I shouldn't have told her you would come back. I should have said: People like you should just cling to a dead person's coffin for a lifetime, since living family members don't matter to you... dead ones are the only ones important, isn't that right?"
There were still a bunch of things Gu Qiye hadn't said, and couldn't say.
He knew better than anyone else that their father was severely crippled by the Rainbow Wings incident.
To help his father investigate who exactly killed his mother, and to give himself closure, over the years Gu Qiye juggled academics and took care of his siblings during the day. Then by night, he'd don his battle suit and report to the association, undertaking one covert mission after another, narrowly escaping death countless times while dealing with all kinds of psychopath criminals in high-pressure situations.
It's fair to say he risked his life to gain his current status and reputation in the Mutants Association.
But he knew even more acutely that wallowing in despair over his mother's death was unfair to the children who survived. So, for his siblings' healthy growth, he's kept all his pain hidden in his heart, always wearing a smile on his face.
But after doing so much and harboring so many burdens, he was often nearly crushed...
And this useless father, what was he doing?
To speak frankly, Gu Qiye never expected his father to do anything from the start.
He only hoped his father could move on from his mother's death and face the other children in the family;
Hoped his dad would recognize that the sudden death of their mother was not only saddening to him, but also to every child who, upon seeing their father's state of despair, would try to smile at him, pat his shoulder to make him feel better, even though they were also heartbroken.
But this coward ran away, and he's been gone for two years.
He originally thought that after two years of absence, the Gu Zhuo Case might have changed. After all... it was during these two years that Gu Qiye grew from a helpless child to Li Jing City's standout Mutant "Blue Arc," so perhaps the father had also already turned a new leaf.
No one stays in the same place forever.
But the hopeful Gu Qiye was soon utterly disappointed, disgusted even with himself for holding such expectations.
Right in front of him, after two years apart, his father inexplicably laid hands on his own child.
What difference is there between this and... a piece of scum?
However, at that moment, the Gu Zhuo Case stood there with his head lowered, like a statue.
No matter how Gu Qiye vented his anger, he remained motionless; yet the more he did so, the more complex the expression on Gu Qiye's face became, as if he was punching cotton candy—powerless and furious, all accusations falling on deaf ears.
After a long time, the father suddenly spoke: "Then... have you forgotten your mother?"
Gu Qiye was instantly dumbfounded, and the next moment veins bulged on his forehead as he nearly roared, his voice trembling uncontrollably: "Shut up... do you even know how much I've done?!"
Su Zimai remained silent from beginning to end, her eyes cast down, saying nothing while holding her chopsticks.
Ji Minghuan stood alone in the living room, taking a band-aid from the drawer of the tea cabinet, sticking it symbolically onto his wrist.
Listening to the voices coming from the kitchen, he glanced sideways at the father and son deadlocked in a stalemate, and mused to himself: "What a family drama... Speaking of which, you father and son are really quite the pair of characters, wearing masks and fighting each other fiercely outside, then coming home to bicker once the masks are off. In a sense, truly a like father, like son scenario."
Actually, he also knew why Gu Qiye behaved so unusually today.
The reason why Gu Qiye's emotions were so unstable was that both of his landmines had been stepped on perfectly:
First, last night he was played around by an uninvited guest called "Black Cocoon," who even told him that they knew his identity, implying they could harm his family at any time. Gu Qiye valued his family so much that his heart was naturally thrown into utmost turmoil;
The second landmine was seeing his father hurt his brother before him and even uttered, "Have you forgotten your mother?" To know that these years he had risked his life in the association just to find out the truth about his mother's death, all to gain a chance to join Rainbow Wings.
Yet this unspoken effort of his was simply negated by his father's word. Forget her? How could he possibly forget?
Although it seems that he is the cause of all this strife, Ji Minghuan does not believe it to be his problem.
Because in time, Gu Qiye will definitely come to understand the other side of the Gu Zhuo Case, to know that he is the super criminal "Ghost Bell" whom he battled to the death twice, and that like himself, Gu Zhuo Case has been "struggling" all along to find the truth about their mother's death.
By then... Gu Qiye's long-held internal defenses may collapse completely in an instant, shattered on the ground, never to be picked up again?