Shao Xinyuan rose from his chair so sharply it screeched against the floor. He strode toward her, everyone instantly mirroring his movement and rising to their feet.

"What do you mean, Old Blood?"

Zhaohe let out a heavy sigh, rubbing the back of her head. "I went out to get something for Wenzhi’s food poisoning. When I came back..."

Her face tightened, "he was gone and there was blood on the floor."

Xinyuan’s eyes narrowed.

"I panicked," Zhaohe continued. "Before I could leave, something hit me from behind."

She pressed her fingers to her temple. "I blacked out. But before I lost consciousness, I heard voices. ’Tell Youran the coast is clear.’"

"They bombed the place to erase the trail," Chenxi concluded, letting out a dark, bitter scoff. "Seems they finally got their hands on Wenzhi."

He directed the final words at Xinyuan, whose knuckles turned white as his fists clenched into tight balls.

"I’m leaving," Xinyuan said flatly. He turned on his heel, marching straight past Zhaohe without a second glance.

"Hold on, Xinyuan! What the hell do you think you’re doing?" Kaiwen immediately asked, jogging to stop him, but Xinyuan just let out a heavy, suffocating breath that made the air pressure in the room drop.

"I’m out," he rasped. "You all can continue building whatever it is you want here. I don’t care anymore."

"Or we help you?" Yuzhen interjected, his tone sharp and matter-of-fact as he tightly hooked his arm through Zhiyao’s. "Duan Ze and Ru Yi are missing as well. They didn’t just target Wenzhi, they messed with our people. Just because he’s your Guide doesn’t mean you can just push the rest of us away, Shao Xinyuan."

"Xinyuan, you can’t do this alone," Zhaohe pleaded, stepping into his path. "At least, not without...."

"No," Xinyuan cut her off. "There was a mole two months ago. A mole that helped Shao Jingxin who isn’t even dead. He was the entire reason I ended up battling Wu Youran in the first place. None of this is safe. None of you are safe. You all stay here and deal with the monsters and the rifts. I will deal with the Old Blood. It’s my parents’ handiwork after all."

Before anyone could argue, a swirl of dark mist erupted from Xinyuan’s skin, preparing to warp him out of the room.

But Chenxi moved faster.

A roaring, concentrated wave of fire blasted out from his palms, slamming directly into Xinyuan’s direction.

Xinyuan instinctively whipped his shadows forward to shield himself from the heat, stepping back through the smoke to glare at Chenxi like the man had completely lost his mind.

"You do not get to do whatever the hell you want, Shao Xinyuan!" Chenxi snapped furiously, his hands still sparking with raw embers.

Xinyuan actually looked surprised, his jaw tightening as Wang Chenxi stormed straight through the fading smoke and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. The rest of the room froze in shock, nobody daring to intervene.

"I understand exactly what you are going through right now!" Chenxi roared right into his face. "Suye died right in my goddamn hands, so don’t you dare act like I don’t know this feeling! The rage, the urge to tear the world apart, wanting to kill every single one of them, I get it! But you are lucky, Xinyuan. Because your enemies are humans. Humans are not like the mindless monsters that just keep pouring out of a rift. I can’t turn back time. I can’t storm into the CEA headquarters and demand to know why they hid the mutation data that got my Guide killed! I want to murder them all, I really do! But that desire is exactly why I am here! It is why I joined this faction and why I pour everything I have left into this cause of freedom!"

Chenxi’s grip tightened, his knuckles digging into Xinyuan’s chest.

"So you do not get to just quit," Chenxi growled, his voice cracking with raw emotion. "And you sure as hell do not get to toss me aside like I am fucking expendable."

"You can’t toss us aside either," Yuzhen chimed in, decisively raising his hand and then hoisting Zhiyao’s hand into the air as well. "Him too. We’re a packaged deal."

"Me too," Kaiwen muttered, his brow furrowing deeply as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I’m not sitting out while my guide is out there."

Mo Heyun stepped forward. "I think I should stay behind in the underground city. I’ll coordinate with the Rift Bureau to ensure everything stays up, so that you all will always have a safe haven to return to. We can’t just let everything we’ve spent months building crumble into dust because of a single backlash."

"Xinyuan, Wenzhi is our friend too, and we care about him," Zhaohe added, her voice soft but firm. She kept one hand pressed against her head, her face pale. "Besides, if they targeted Duan Ze, Ru Yi, and the Espers from the Bureau... Then this is bigger than just Wenzhi."

Xinyuan’s jaw tightened. "Bigger?"

His voice dropped into a growl. "Something bigger like more disaster-class Espers?"

Zhaohe let out a heavy, defeated sigh. "Xinyuan, I’m sorry."

Chenxi’s gaze lingered on Xinyuan for a few more tense seconds before he slowly released his iron grip on his collar.

He smoothed down his own vest, turning his head slightly to glance at Gu Luhan. His Guide had remained exceptionally quiet, standing right next to Doctor Ruixin, his eyes pinned to Xinyuan’s deteriorating posture.

Chenxi let out a breath, looking back at his friend. "Let’s just do this right. Together."

Gu Luhan had caught Chenxi’s gaze, a deeply thoughtful, calculating expression flitting across his features. Doctor Ruixin noticed the shift, quietly shifting her weight to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him.

Xinyuan looked at the faces surrounding him, but his mind was short-circuiting. He couldn’t process anything

His thoughts were a scattered, jumbled mess of loud voices and violent impulses.

His dark mist receded slightly, clinging to his skin like oil. He let out a ragged, suffocating breath and tightly closed his eyes.

When he snapped them open, both of his eyes were raging pools of glowing crimson.

BOOM.

The dark mist didn’t just swirl, it exploded outward from his body in a massive, concussive wave. The pure gravity shockwave caught everyone completely off guard, forcing the Espers to drop into defensive stances to avoid being blown back.

By the time the smoke cleared a second later, Xinyuan was completely gone.

Chenxi scoffed in disbelief. "That arrogant bastard."

"I don’t care what his problem is, I am going to find Ze’er," Kaiwen snapped and stormed out of the hall.

"Wait up!" Yuzhen called out, immediately jogging after him while dragging Zhiyao along by the wrist.

The hall emptied out rapidly until only Chenxi, Gu Luhan, Zhaohe and Doctor Ruixin remained. Chenxi adjusted his gloves, his burning gaze landing squarely on his Guide.

"Shall we go?" he asked, a grim, humorless smirk touching his lips. "He’s going to need an ungodly amount of help out there. If Lin Wenzhi dies, we’re all going to die."

Gu Luhan stared at the empty space where Xinyuan had just vanished, his jaw setting into a hard line. "Let’s go."

"I’m coming too." Zhaohe said with a small smile.

~•~

Lin Wenzhi had completely lost track of time. He hadn’t been visited again by the doctors or by Xinyuan’s father, and every meal was delivered at irregular intervals, making it impossible to count the days or tell whether it was morning or night.

He didn’t touch a single tray. He left the plates stacking up by the sealed door, never moving to retrieve them or reaching for the water bottles.

His throat felt like sandpaper, and a gnawing ache had settled deep in his stomach, but starvation and dehydration were still a better choice than getting foolishly poisoned.

Slouched in the corner of the cell, he stared directly into the lens of the security camera. His grey eyes were dull and heavy, revealing just how rapidly his body was failing from the lack of fluids, but he knew the bastards on the other side of the screen were watching every frame.

He also knew they didn’t want him to die a quiet, pathetic death from dehydration in a cell. They were waiting for a specific reaction. What exactly?

Wenzhi didn’t have the energy to break it down. Let them wait. He was waiting, too.

Then, the heavy metal door slid open, and Wenzhi dragged his heavy eyelids upward to track the person stepping into the light.

It was Wu Youran. She marched into the small cell, flanked by two armed guards, a highly amused, mocking smile pulling at her lips.

"What a stubborn motherfucker," she said, her voice dripping with dry disdain. She glanced down at the untouched, wasted rations and the sealed water bottles cluttered on the floor and gestured carelessly at him. "Take him."