The black envelope sat on the mahogany table in Mu Feichi's private study, looking more like a death warrant than an invitation. The banquet had been cut short, the guests ushered out under the guise of a "security protocol," leaving the capital's three most powerful figures alone in the silence.
"The Forbidden Zone isn't just a place," Mu Feichi said, his voice tight. He stood by the window, his gaze fixed on the dark silhouette of the central peaks. "It's a subterranean complex built during the Great War. It's where the High Council houses the 'Archives of Origin.' If the man in grey was telling the truth, Yun Zi didn't just work there—she was part of the foundation."
Xiao Jinglin stood by the fireplace, his face illuminated by the flickering orange glow. He looked older than he had during the toast. "I knew she worked for a government research wing, but I never knew it was the Council. They told me she was a freelance botanist. Another lie."
Shen Xi picked up the envelope. The paper was cold, and as her fingers brushed the seal, a small, recessed light on the flap turned green. "Biometric recognition," Shen Xi whispered. "It didn't trigger for the messenger. It only opened for me."
Inside was not a letter, but a small, transparent slide containing a drop of dried, crystalline liquid.
"It's not a message you read," Shen Xi realized, her medical instincts overriding her fear. "It's a sample. She left me a chemical key. This is a concentrated strain of the enzyme found in our blood, but it's been modified. It's a map."
As Shen Xi moved to grab her medical kit, a heavy hand landed on her shoulder. Xiao Jinglin stepped in front of her, his towering frame blocking her path. The financial magnet, usually so calculated and cold, had eyes filled with a raw, protective terror.
"No," Xiao Jinglin said, his voice a low, vibrating rumble. "You are not going. I just got you back, Xi'er. I will not let you walk into a trap set by the people who destroyed your mother."
"Father, I'm the only one who can open the locks," Shen Xi argued, her amber eyes meeting his. "The biometric key is tuned to my DNA. If you go alone, you'll trigger the failsafes."
"Then let the vault stay closed!" Xiao Jinglin barked, his grip tightening slightly—not to hurt her, but to anchor her. "I have enough wealth to buy this city ten times over. I can hire ten thousand mercenaries to level that mountain. You are a Xiao. You don't put yourself in the line of fire for a ghost's secret."
Mu Feichi stepped closer, his expression grim. "Master Xiao, the Council isn't just holding secrets. They are holding a trigger. If we don't go, the sequence they started twenty years ago will finish itself."
Xiao Jinglin turned his fierce gaze toward his former student. "Then you go, Feichi! You are the Marshal. You are the weapon. My daughter is a surgeon; her hands are for saving lives, not for being stained by the Council's filth."
Shen Xi reached up, placing her hand over her father's. "Father, look at me. My mother didn't leave this for you, and she didn't leave it for the Marshal. She left it for me. She knew I would be the only one who could survive the 'source.' If you want to protect me, then come with us. But don't ask me to hide while the world burns. That isn't how you raised your daughter—even if you weren't there to see it."
Xiao Jinglin's jaw worked in silence, his chest heaving as he fought the urge to lock her in the highest room of his estate. Finally, he closed his eyes and let out a long, defeated breath.
"Fine," he rasped, looking at Mu Feichi with a look that promised death if a single hair on her head was harmed. "We go. But I lead the vanguard. If the Council wants a 'consultation,' they can start with my accountants and end with my executioners."