CHAPTER 89 — THE SYSTEM DOES NOT ANSWER
It was night in Vermillion Phoenix Academy.
The arena was quiet now, sealed behind layers of dormant formations, its vast bowl resting like a sleeping beast waiting to be awakened. Most competitors were training. Some were meditating. Some were pretending to sleep while their minds spiraled through every possible outcome of the coming battle.
Long Hao did neither.
He stood alone on one of the outer terraces, far from the training grounds, far from the noise. The city lights of Vermillion burned in the distance like scattered embers, reflected faintly in his eyes.
Stillness had always been his weapon.
In his previous life, stillness meant survival.
In this one, it meant something else entirely.
Inside his chest, the Eclipse System pulsed faintly. Not loudly. Not urgently. Just enough to remind him it was there.
Watching.
"You're unusually quiet," Longyu's voice finally said.
