The journey toward the central peaks was a suffocating study in tension. Inside the reinforced cabin of the armored SUV, the silence was a physical weight. Mu Feichi sat by the left window, his eyes scanning the thermal feed on his tablet, while Xiao Jinglin sat opposite him, his hands folded over a silver-headed cane, his presence filling the vehicle like a gathering storm.
Shen Xi sat between them, the "map" slide clutched in her hand. She could feel the temperature in the car dropping—not from the air conditioning, but from the unspoken collision of the two men's wills.
"You're following the standard military approach, Feichi," Xiao Jinglin said suddenly, his voice cutting through the hum of the engine like a blade. "Scout the perimeter, identify the breach, secure the asset. It's too slow. The Council operates on financial and biological timelines. By the time your soldiers find the door, they'll have triggered a market collapse or a localized purge."
"This isn't a boardroom takeover, Master Xiao," Mu Feichi replied without looking up. His voice was dangerously level. "The Forbidden Zone is rigged with pressure-sensitive mines and acoustic sensors. If you try to 'buy' your way through with a loud entrance, you'll collapse the tunnel on her head. I'm not scouting for a breach; I'm navigating a minefield."
"And while you navigate, you leave her exposed," Xiao Jinglin snapped, turning his amber eyes toward the Marshal. "My satellites have already picked up a heat signature trailing us. You're so focused on the door that you've missed the wolves at our heels."
Mu Feichi finally looked up, a sharp, violet light flickering in his eyes. "I haven't missed them. I've been leading them into a kill zone. If I engage them now, the Council knows we're coming. If I wait, I can eliminate them in the silence of the forest."
"You're gambling with her life for the sake of a tactical advantage," Xiao Jinglin hissed. He leaned forward, his aura of a financial titan shifting into something more primal. "I don't care about your kill zones. I want a wall of steel around her. If you can't provide it, move aside and let my men handle it."
Mu Feichi's hand tightened on the hilt of his sword-cane. "I have protected her since the day I found her in that village. I have bled for her while you were sitting in your skyscraper mourning a memory. Don't lecture me on her safety."
"Enough!"
Shen Xi's voice wasn't loud, but it held a sharp, clinical authority that made both men freeze. She looked from her father to the man she loved, her expression unreadable.
"You're both treating me like a piece of hardware you're trying to transport," she said, her voice cool. "Father, you want to buy safety, but you can't bribe a biological failsafe. Mu Feichi, you want to fight a war, but you can't shoot a virus."
She held up the glowing slide. "The Council is tracking this enzyme. Every second you spend measuring your egos, they are adjusting the frequency of the Ghost Pulse to match my current heart rate. If my heart rate stays this high because the two of you are fighting, they won't even need to shoot us. They'll just trigger a cardiac arrest from five miles away."
The silence that followed was absolute. Xiao Jinglin was the first to look away, a flash of shame crossing his granite features. Mu Feichi exhaled slowly, his shoulders losing their rigid tension.
"The thermal signature behind us," Mu Feichi said quietly, checking his tablet again. "It's not the Council. It's the remains of the Si family's private guard. They're seeking revenge, not data."
"Then we divide the labor," Xiao Jinglin said, his voice regaining its professional edge. "Feichi, you take the wolves. I will use the Xiao satellite array to jam the Council's bio-tracking frequency. We give her the window she needs to reach the door."
Shen Xi looked at the dark forest rushing past. "We're five minutes away. Stop fighting over who holds the shield, and start making sure I have a path to the sword."