Chapter 16: The Forbidden Truth and a Familiar Face

Swish, swish, swish—

The rustling of pages echoed from a secluded corner on the first floor of the library.

As the book’s leaves continued to turn, the reader’s delicate brows gradually furrowed into a tight knot. A faint, bitter smile slowly bloomed across their small, fair face.

The reader was none other than Ye Yu, who had just managed to acquire the ‘Forbidden’ book.

There is a saying that goes: ‘What does not concern me, I hang high above.’ Yet, if something genuinely impacts one’s personal interests, then one will strive with all their might.

Having obtained the forbidden book, Ye Yu, for the first time in his life, truly grasped the meaning of this adage today. This was because the forbidden ability genuinely pertained to his own future.

For several hours, Ye Yu found himself utterly engrossed, immersing himself in an ocean of knowledge.

Through his reading, Ye Yu discovered that the book did not merely expound upon various theories. It also presented numerous illustrative examples.

For instance, Mors Helena, the renowned Saintess of a sacred academy in Sweden during the last century, was an ability user who commanded a forbidden power.

Her awakened ability was a divine resurrection art, capable of bringing the dead back to life. However, this divine art came with a steep price.

It could only be used once, and the lives of the resurrected individual and Helena would become inextricably linked. Should one perish, the other would instantly follow.

Beyond Helena’s overseas example, the book also contained many instances from within Huaguo itself. The one that captivated Ye Yu the most, and was arguably the most famous, concerned the Magical Girl who, 20 years prior, had defended Huaguo by slaying an evil white dragon.

Regarding the Magical Girl’s ability, no one to this day has ever possessed a similar one. Even the true identity of the Magical Girl ability user remains unknown.

Yet, the reason this ability was classified as forbidden was simple: becoming a Magical Girl made one incredibly powerful. Each of her skills was so dazzlingly beautiful.

When she battled the evil white dragon that slaughtered humans, many speculated that she might indeed be a forbidden ability user. According to this historical record, the Magical Girl’s last appearance was 18 years ago.

Since the white dragon incident, the Magical Girl had vanished without a trace. This indirectly suggested that using the ‘Magical Girl ability’ likely incurred some form of significant cost.

Beyond describing the immense power of forbidden ability users and the sacrifices they made, the book also offered several hypotheses at its conclusion. The author, ‘Navin,’ proposed that forbidden abilities, much like blood types, could be passed down genetically.

Aside from external environmental factors, most children would inherit a portion of their ‘parents” talents. This hypothesis implied that individuals who awakened forbidden abilities, besides those influenced by genetic mutation or environmental factors, likely had a parent who was also an ability user.

In a sense, the child’s ability would be similar to the one their parent awakened. Reading this, Ye Yu couldn’t help but think of his own parents.

However, he quickly shook his head, finding it rather improbable. Ye Yu’s family was an ordinary household of three, residing in Yuxi City, far from the bustling provincial capital of Nanyun Province, Yun City.

Although their family had built a spacious two-story house, its remote location made it akin to the rural countryside of Anyang County. In a way, property prices were even cheaper than in the city, making their life quite unremarkable.

Ye Yu knew that his mother, Ning Yurou, had awakened an inhibitory ability. This ability was rare and quite peculiar in its everyday use, capable of altering others’ perceptions.

Due to its efficacy against demons, his mother had made outstanding contributions in the demon-hunting guild’s exploration division. At a young age, she had earned the title of a four-star hunter—a ‘Hunter Lord.’

Yet, despite how uncommon this ability was, Ye Yu considered his mother’s somewhat mischievous nature. She often used her ability to tease him.

Considering the various costs associated with forbidden abilities, Ye Yu felt that his own forbidden cross-dressing ability likely had little connection to his mother’s.

As for his father, Ye Changqing, Ye Yu shook his head even more after recalling him. Ever since Ye Yu was born, his father had seemingly been a full-time househusband, genuinely and truly by his side for 18 years.

If his father were truly a forbidden ability user, wouldn’t that be like a typical web novel trope: ‘Son, Dad’s not pretending anymore, I’m coming clean, I’m a billionaire’? Ye Yu dismissed such a possibility.

Eighteen years of living together would surely reveal some traces; if his father were truly faking it, he would have done an exceptionally good job. Moreover, Ye Yu had awakened a ‘cross-dressing ability.’ No matter how he thought about it, this peculiar ability didn’t seem to align with his father at all.

However, despite feeling that it was improbable in every aspect, Ye Yu couldn’t help but consider his blissful upbringing over the past 18 years, with a father, a mother, and Tang Yue by his side.

Now, it seemed the likelihood of his forbidden ability being inherited was still quite high. Ye Yu decided that once he returned home, he would cautiously broach the subject with his father.

Time, when one is focused, always seems to fly by. While Ye Yu was engrossed in his reading, time quietly slipped away, and the sun had climbed high into the sky without him noticing.

Sunlight streamed through the transparent glass, scattering warmly throughout the library. As the library grew warmer, more and more students began to flock in.

Noticing the increasing number of students with no classes entering the library, Ye Yu stretched, finally realizing that people had begun to gather even in his previously shaded, secluded corner.

Seeing the growing crowd of students, Ye Yu frowned slightly. The forbidden book was nearly 1,000 pages thick and very heavy. If he continued reading, he might finish it before the library closed today, but he didn’t want anyone else to know the secret of his forbidden ability.

Considering that Tang Yue would soon return to school and he had something important to explain to his ‘wife’ in person, Ye Yu decided to head to the sparsely populated third floor once more.

After secretly returning ‘Forbidden and Price’ to its shelf, he rented a copy of ‘Unofficial History of Diao Chan’ as a cover, then exited the library.

However, Ye Yu, walking out of the library, had no idea that at this very moment, in the library’s surveillance room, Elder Gu, a man he knew well, was intently staring at the playback footage from various cameras on the third floor with his kindly, squinted eyes.

The screens clearly displayed Ye Yu from multiple angles in front of that ancient bookshelf. The reason for the many blind spots in the third-floor cameras stemmed from this very location.

Observing Ye Yu’s delicate features on the screen, Elder Gu couldn’t help but look at Ye Yu’s enrollment records. He noted how much more refined Ye Yu appeared compared to the photos from a year ago.

Then, looking at the ‘Ye Changqing’ in the ‘Parents’ section, a name he ‘could never quite recall,’ Elder Gu’s benevolent aged face narrowed his somewhat clouded eyes. His expression held a hint of surprise, but even more, a trace of manic glee.

After a few seconds, Elder Gu’s face curved into a smile, and he softly muttered to himself, “Heh heh, Magical Girl. Eighteen years. We finally meet again!”