Chapter Fifty-Two – The Pressure Beneath Glass
Horizon Gate's headquarters gleamed in the morning sun — an unbroken tower of steel and glass rising above the city like a monument to certainty. Inside, however, that certainty was thinning.
Xinyue watched internal heat maps bloom across her screens. Staff movement had increased by twelve percent. Late-night access logs spiked. Private communication channels were multiplying faster than official ones.
Jun's message arrived quietly:
"They've started loyalty vetting. Background checks. Behavioral scoring."
"Fear audits," Xinyue murmured. "They're losing internal trust."
She initiated a narrow adjustment — not an attack, just a whisper in the system. Two minor compliance alerts appeared in unrelated departments. They triggered investigations. Investigations triggered rumors.
By afternoon, she walked through a financial district plaza, eyes scanning reflections in glass towers. Two men stood near a café entrance, posture too rigid, conversations too forced.
Watchers.
She didn't change direction. She didn't hurry. She simply passed, letting them decide whether she was important.
They didn't follow.
That evening, Horizon Gate's containment council convened again. Minutes leaked through unofficial channels — frustration, contradiction, fear. No one agreed. Everyone wanted control.
Xinyue leaned back in her chair, eyes half-lidded.
Pressure beneath glass always showed as cracks first.
And the cracks were spreading.