Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 152: Welcome to the Age of Wealth... or Death

As rain kept on blasting against Leon's glass window, red lightning tore from the sky and struck the center of the street.

The white light from the lightning brightened the dark edges of Leon's room for just a second, revealing ghostly humanoid figures that had their eyes sucked out.

The screen of his Nexa Pro smart device caught one before it lit up, a buzzing sound echoing from it as it vibrated on the bed.

"Who might be calling me at this time?" Leon's brows raised as he rolled on the bed, the bedsheet peeling off him like skin.

'Can that be Zoe?' he said low in his head as he wrapped his fingers around the device. "Liu Yan?!"

Leon propped himself on his elbows, then pressed the green button hovering at the left side of the red button with a cross.

"Hello, birthday boy." Liu Yan's voice erupted first, followed by An Lang's. "Why don't you ask if it's him? Maybe we called the wrong number."

A soft laugh escaped Leon as he adjusted himself, raising the phone completely from the bedsheet that had tangled with it.

Leon sat at the edge of the bed, his feet touching the floor. He inhaled deeply, then cleared his throat. "This is a wrong number. Please, who are you trying to reach?"

He tuned his ears to the quarrel going on on the other side.

"Didn't I say that's a different number?" An Lang's voice echoed loudly, almost as if the words alone wanted to swallow Liu Yan.

Then a new voice lanced through. "Let me check."

'Is that Wu Ze?' Leon adjusted the volume of the Nexa Pro, then listened.

"That's the exact number I have on my phone," Wu Ze confirmed. "Here, you can try mine. Maybe your device caught up with another person's instead of Leon."

Leon's pretense got loose as he mistakenly giggled while his device was closer to his lips.

"Stop fooling with us, Storm." Wu Ze's voice exploded, followed by a long chuckle.

"My bad." Leon apologized, then cleared his head, ready to receive whatever they had for him.

With one voice, though there were scratches, the madhouse squad sang a birthday song for Leon.

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you…"

Leon's head moved side to side as he danced with the tone.

Just as the birthday song and wishes paused, Liu Yan's voice came up. "So, Storm, tell us. How old are you now?"

An Lang's voice backed Liu Yan, but only moving footsteps echoed, not a single word from Wu Ze.

Leon hesitated, then spoke lightly. "I am twenty-two years old now."

"TWENTY-TWO?!" An Lang's voice echoed loudly on the other end, overshadowing Liu Yan's murmuring.

Leon's expression shifted slightly. "Why, do I look older or younger than my age?"

"You… never mind. Welcome to the age of wealth… or death." An Lang laughed eerily, then footsteps echoed, his voice becoming distant.

'Age of wealth or death?' The words played a crucible joke in Leon's head as he tried to find the meaning by himself.

"Don't mind An Lang, he has recently been joining me at the library." Liu Yan brushed the tension off with a slight joke, then ended the call.

Night birds flew high toward the blue moon, flapping their wings so slowly that they felt frozen for a moment.

Leaves danced across the front of Storm's mansion, following the shadowy beings that kept stopping by the iron gate every second.

Inside the walls of the mansion, the water dripping from the fountain began to slow, almost as if time had glitched.

Long, creepy shapes stretched on the ground as the moon's rays shone on the edges of the mansion itself.

The sitting room was clean, but wet footsteps remained in the hallway from the entrance to the base of the stairs. Yet not a single soul was in the room at that time.

Lily's face gleamed with smiles as she changed the posture in which she slept. "Hehehe… I will tell her if you don't."

The voice escaped her lips as her mind replayed the moment over and over, as if time had gone back and wasn't ready to let go.

The chilled wind brushed against Li Mei's window, fogging it. A white bedsheet covered her from the shoulders to the feet as she delved into her dream, where she had sight.

Yet her grip remained on the golden cloth she had woven.

Beside her bed, and on the small table that was occupied by her weaving materials, a thin red thread lay tangled.

A knocking sound echoed from her closed window. Outside the window, a small white bird banged its beak on the glass, its chiming cry echoing.

Smoke blasted around the creature as lightning struck it, burning it alive.

In Leon's room, his eyelids twitched as the smell of burning flesh flowed through his slightly opened door and entered his lungs.

His unconscious self turned, the cloth covering him pulling off his body.

Deep within his head, he stood at the front of the gigantic Y-sigil door, the Paloalto in his hands.

"What do we have in here this time?" he asked, then began walking in his dream, the book tucked under his left arm.

At the center of the two sentinels, Leon stopped, glanced at them, then sighed. "At least I can predict what can happen. Let me rest a little."

He sat in a lotus posture, the book on his lap.

The first page of the book flared open, giving space for the treasure hidden in its pages to appear before him.

Leon traced his fingers on the names that had been inscribed in the book, all having different colors and styles.

The three nurses. Glass Skitters. Devilish Goat. Grasshoppers.

Underneath all the names was a new one, which was now taking shape. Leon's heart rose and fell as he remained calm, staring at the remaining words that were appearing on their own.

Ironhide Lizard. Cockroach. Oculus Devourer.

The dream shattered like paper crumpling into itself. Water splashed on Leon's face, wetting his bed as he cracked his eyes open.

"Hhhuh!" he gasped heavily, his hand pressed against his chest.

Beside his bed, Lily stood there, Min-seo by her side. Min-seo's grip on the pan trembled heavily, her face pale.

Before he could figure out what gave them that look, Lily dashed forward and threw herself on him, crying. "Brother. Brother. Brother."

Leon's heart dulled, the faint irritation in him slowly draining. "What is it, little Athena?" Leon asked in a calm voice, cupping Lily's face in his palms.

Min-seo still stood there like a frozen tree, sweat dripping down her forehead as Leon tilted his gaze to her.

"Sir, you… you…" Her voice dragged as a scream tore from outside Leon's door.

Without thinking about the wet clothes he wore or questioning them about the reason they splashed water on him, Leon dashed out of the room.

Min-seo broke free the moment Lily moved past her, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Inside the sitting room, Min-ji moved hastily, flapping her arms as if she wanted to fly.

At the side of the glass wall, Li Mei sat in her wheelchair, her head lowered, green lines dressing her skin.

"MOM!" Leon screamed heavily, his boots skipping the stairs as he descended. Though he slid and nearly fell, his attention was far more on Li Mei than on himself.

He fell in front of Li Mei, sharp cries gushing out of his mouth, nose, and ears. "Mom! Mom! Mom!"

Leon grabbed his mother's arm and raised it, but the arm fell down the moment he loosened his grip.

More sweat began to bead on his face as Li Mei's head fell the moment he raised it.

Leon turned, looked at Min-ji's helpless self, then screamed. "WHAT ARE YOU STANDING THERE FOR? CALL THE MEDICAL TEAM!"

The sound exploded in the sitting room so loudly that a crackling sound echoed from the glass wall by which Li Mei sat.

At the base of the stairs, Min-seo held onto the helpless, thrashing Lily, her own eyes turning red.

Tears dripped from Min-seo's eyes as the medical team, led by Mr. Lee, carried Li Mei on a stretcher.

Leon rushed into his room, then exited quickly, forgetting what he wanted to carry along.

On the street to Bastion Hospital, Leon gripped Li Mei's left arm, squeezing it so hard as if doing that would slow her death.

Li Mei's eyes blinked countless times, her lips opening and closing as if wanting to speak.

"Mom… I'm here." Leon said, inhaling the air back into his nose, then wiped his eyes with his elbow.

"Leon," a soft, almost dying voice exited from Li Mei as the ambulance joined a traffic queue.

Leon's jaw tightened after checking through the window and seeing not even a single car moving.

A ragged cough escaped from Li Mei the moment the cars began to move, but in a sequence like a tortoise.

"Leon…"

Leon turned sharply toward her, staring deep into her blind eyes that had opened wide.

"Your father is calling me." Li Mei's face glittered with a smile. Two silent tears dripped off her face as she inhaled deeply.

"Mom, he can't be calling you at this time. We are almost at the hospital, Mom." Leon spoke in a voice that sent chills down the chests of Mr. Lee and every other person in the ambulance.

"Take good care of your sister." Li Mei added her right arm onto Leon's arm, then squeezed it using the little strength she had left.

The heart monitor showed the sequence at which Li Mei's heart was drastically decreasing.

Her words looped in Leon's head as more nurses rushed out of the hospital and carried her on a wheeling bed.

Leon stood at the front of the emergency unit door, his hands pressed hard against his face.

Just as two doctors dressed in full operational outfits walked past him, he heard his name called out loud.

"LEON!"

He wanted to turn, but his neck refused him, almost as if a single movement from him would determine his mother's fate.