Chapter 16 – Eyes in the Fog
The rain had finally stopped by morning, but the rooftop where Mo Chen stood still glistened under the clouded dawn. He didn't move, didn't speak—just stared at the spot where the gloved man had disappeared into the fog.
In his earpiece, Bai Xueqing's voice crackled again. "Mo Chen, respond."
"I saw his eyes," he murmured. "Grey, cold… like ash. Like someone who's died before."
There was a pause.
Then Xueqing said, quietly, "Come back."
---
Back at the Bai Corp underground ops center, Xueqing stood at the command table, arms folded, hair tied in a sleek ponytail, gaze locked on a projected map of the city.
Mo Chen entered, still damp, his expression unreadable.
She didn't look at him right away.
"Surveillance?"
"Scrambled," Lin Nuo reported. "Same fingerprint as before—Ghosthand uses a feedback loop to blind the street cams."
"We've got nothing, then," Meng Zhihao muttered.
"No." Mo Chen's voice was flat. "We've got a lead. Just not the kind you'll find on your little tech toys."
He placed a weathered photo on the table.
Xueqing's breath hitched.
The black-and-white picture showed a group of people in ancient-style tactical gear—clearly from another era. At the center was a man with cold grey eyes and a jagged scar running down his temple.
"Who is he?" Lin Nuo asked.
"Project Echo," Xueqing said softly. "A failed military experiment from the last dynasty. He was part of the group sent to eliminate 'traitors to the realm.' I knew him in the past."
"You… knew him?" Meng raised a brow. "Like, biblically?"
Xueqing shot him a sharp look.
Mo Chen answered instead. "He was her executioner."
The room went quiet.
Xueqing touched the photo with a gloved hand. "His name was Han Qiren. We thought he died during the siege of the Azure Tower. But if he's here—alive—and working with Ghosthand..."
"Then this isn't just about corporate revenge," Mo Chen finished. "It's personal."
---
Later, in her private quarters, Xueqing sat by the floor-to-ceiling window, absently swirling tea in a porcelain cup. The sky outside remained dull, but a strange warmth flickered in her chest.
A knock sounded. Mo Chen entered without waiting for permission.
"You don't knock now?" she asked dryly.
He stepped in, handing her a file. "Because you don't say 'come in' anymore."
She quirked a brow but took the file.
It was a dossier—Han Qiren's modern identity.
"Name: Qin Han. Occupation: Unknown. Frequent associations: Private arms dealers, offshore shell corps, and…" she trailed off. "...a medical facility in City B."
Mo Chen leaned against the wall. "The same facility that disappeared three young subjects last year. No trace. Just... gone."
Her voice dropped. "Experimental bodies."
"And if Qiren is continuing his past experiments," Mo Chen added, "then it's not just your life he wants. He's building something—maybe someone."
Xueqing's eyes hardened. "Then we burn it before he finishes."
---
The next day, while Lin Nuo and Meng Zhihao worked on identifying Qin Han's inner circle, Mo Chen and Xueqing took a quiet drive to the abandoned edge of District 9. It was where Ghosthand had first made his threat—and where the line between past life and present began to blur.
Xueqing stood before a half-collapsed temple, once hidden in vines and dust.
"He brought me here once," she said. "Said this is where traitors find peace."
Mo Chen looked around. "Doesn't look peaceful."
"No," she murmured. "It's a graveyard."
Her fingers brushed over the stone slab by the altar. Hidden beneath was a seal—cracked now—with the character for truth engraved deep.
"It's started again," she said. "The past... It's crawling into this life."
"And we'll face it," Mo Chen said. "Together."
She turned slowly toward him. Their eyes met.
"Don't promise," she said, voice low. "Just stay."
He didn't move closer. Didn't press.
But his voice was like iron. "Then I'll stay. Not as your guard. Not as your guilt. But as your sword."
For a moment, the silence between them pulsed with meaning.
Then Xueqing said, "We go to City B tomorrow. I want to see what kind of monster Qiren is raising."
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