Raymond could tell that his so-called father, Fang Mo, was not someone who was good at arguing. When it came to talking, his mother Roland could probably beat him by a mile.
But according to the original owner's memories, Fang Mo was still the real head of the house, which wasn't without reason.
Sure enough, the day after Raymond came home, Fang Mo had already settled things with Roland.
This made Raymond feel a bit of respect for his father and also a bit of curiosity—how exactly did he pull it off?
Still, even if he was curious, he knew better than to ask.
But just as Fang Mo helped Raymond get rid of one problem, Roland quickly started a new one.
Early the next morning, while the family was having breakfast, Roland suddenly said, "Son, I think it's time for you to find a girlfriend..."
"Why bring that up all of a sudden?" Raymond was having trouble keeping up with her.
"Because I think you need someone to take care of you instead of me."
"I'm in my thirties, not thirteen. I don't need anyone to take care of me."
"Oh, so you remember you're over thirty? Just tell me—yes or no? Stop wasting time!"
Seeing his mother playing hardball again, Raymond turned to Fang Mo for help.
But this time it didn't work—Fang Mo just kept his head down, focused on eating, not even glancing at him.
From this reaction, Raymond knew immediately that he'd been betrayed. The couple must've planned this conversation last night.
Since Fang Mo had switched sides, Raymond had no choice but to play his trump card. "I just got better. Can't you let me rest for a while? If you keep pushing, I'll just go back home..."
When she heard him mention his health, Roland had to hold back the speech she had prepared.
After all, her son's health was the most important thing. Everything else could wait.
Raymond's "going home" referred to the apartment in D.C. that the original owner had bought. He usually stayed there and only came here for the holidays.
Richmond was very close to D.C., so coming back was easy.
Raymond hadn't planned on going back so soon—he was going to stay until the next S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy semester started—but threatening to leave worked well.
Seeing his mother go silent, Raymond quickly got up, pulled Clarice up as a human shield, and said, "I'm taking Clary to school now. We'll talk later. Bye!"
Clarice was still drinking her milk when Raymond dragged her away in confusion.
That left a sulking Roland and a daydreaming Fang Mo, still staring at his plate.
…
"Brother, is this your new car?"
As they got in, Clarice grinned and asked.
"Borrowed it from a colleague," Raymond replied casually as he started the car and backed out of the garage.
The original owner did have a car, but it was still in the apartment's underground garage. Since Raymond hadn't had time to go back, he simply took a S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle from the Academy.
As an official S.H.I.E.L.D. car, this one had bulletproof and waterproof features and was far more advanced than similar cars on the market.
As the car pulled onto the main road, Raymond asked, "Was everything okay at home while I was gone?"
Clarice thought for a moment and said, "Hmm... other than Mom and Dad being a little down because they missed you, nothing really happened."
"What about you?"
"Of course I missed you too~~~"
"That's not what I meant. I meant how you've been lately."
"Uh..." Clarice hesitated a bit, then shook her head. "I've been fine! Mom says my grades are even better than yours were back then!"
Clarice probably thought her answer sounded normal, but for Raymond, something felt wrong.
Whether it was his past life as a private investigator or his present life as a psychology expert, he was no stranger to spotting lies.
For someone like him, Clarice's innocent act was far too easy to see through.
"Are you hiding something from me? Are you dating someone? Or got into a fight?" Raymond pressed.
"Really, I'm not~~~"
Clarice seemed to realize that her acting wouldn't work on a psychology expert like her brother, so she quickly switched tactics—playing the cute card!
And this time Raymond really couldn't resist and had to give in.
Soon he had dropped the little girl off at school.
Just before she got out of the car, Raymond asked, "Want me to pick you up after school?"
"No need! One of my classmates is having a birthday party, so I'm going straight there. I already asked Mom for permission!" Before she had even finished speaking, she was running off.
Watching her go, Raymond frowned slightly. "Could she be showing signs already?"
He hadn't randomly decided to test Clarice. It was perfectly normal for a high school girl to have secrets—especially in North America, where dating at that age wasn't even considered early.
Still, he had his reasons for testing her. Even the decision to bring her to school himself was part of his plan to get a closer look at her.
The reason was simple. The first moment he saw Clarice, a system notification popped up in his head:
Ding!
You've encountered B-level 'Hero' Clarice Fang. Exploration points +30.
You can convert exploration points into Universal System Points to unlock various system features.
…
Raymond was a bit stunned when he saw this message.
He had just come home for a family visit—how did he end up bumping into a "story character"?
He already knew that Clarice was the younger sister of the original body, and he had gone over that part of the memory before. But there had been no indication in those memories that she had anything to do with superpowers.
This sudden surprise left him at a loss.
And before he could think about it, he was hit by his mother Roland's emotional attacks, so he didn't have time to figure out what was going on with this sister—how could she be a B-level hero?
It wasn't until that night that it suddenly hit him—Clarice's true identity!
Back on his previous earth, not many people might know the name Clarice Fang, but her other name? A lot of people knew that.
"Blink"—Clarice Fong! (TL/N: As we got more context, the last name would be changed from Fang to Fong)