The canyon was a graveyard.
Shen Yuan leaned against a jagged rock, ribs screaming with every breath, and counted the living. Thirty-seven.
Thirty-seven survivors from more than a hundred who had once dared to call themselves a rebellion.
The branded captives huddled together on one side of the camp, whispering quietly. The Dregs kept to the other, their glares sharp as knives. Yun Xue stalked between them, enforcing order with her presence alone, but even she couldn't keep the fear from curdling.
Han Fei emerged from the shadows, blood drying along the scar at his collarbone. "We're out of food," he said simply.
Shen Yuan nodded. He didn't have the energy for anger.
You can't sustain this, I told him through the tether. Every step forward bleeds you dry. If we continue as we are, this group will collapse before the Bone Court even finds them again.
"We'll find a way," Shen Yuan said.
Not if you insist on carrying dead weight.
The argument broke out after nightfall.
"We're not going to make it," a Dreg spat, standing at the edge of the firelight. His face was hollowed by exhaustion, voice shaking with desperation. "We need to split up. Scatter. Maybe some of us will survive."
Han Fei rose, eyes hard. "If we scatter, the Bone Court will hunt you down one by one. We need to stay together."
"That's easy for you to say," another Dreg said bitterly. "You're the reason they keep finding us. The branded captives bring their wrath!"
The branded captives bristled. One stepped forward. "We're the reason you have a rebellion at all! Without us, you'd still be crawling through the canyons waiting to die!"
"That's all we're doing now!"
Shen Yuan pushed himself to his feet. "Enough."
But the words didn't have the same weight they used to.
Yun Xue appeared at Shen Yuan's side. "We can't let this continue," she whispered. "If they fracture now, we're finished. We need to consolidate, hide, rebuild."
"We don't have time," Han Fei cut in. "Every day we wait, the Bone Court kills more captives. We should be finding other Dreg cells, rallying them. If we move fast—"
"Fast?" Yun Xue's voice was sharp enough to cut. "You saw what happened at the outpost. You're going to get us all killed chasing ghosts."
Han Fei stepped closer. "And what's your plan? Hide in a canyon until they sniff us out like dogs? We need to fight, Yun Xue."
The branded captives murmured their support. The Dregs shifted uneasily.
Shen Yuan tried again. "We can't afford this," he said. "We have to—"
A commotion broke out near the edge of camp. A small group of Dregs had begun to pack their meager belongings.
"Where are you going?" Han Fei demanded.
"Away from you," one of them snapped. "You and your captives can die playing hero. We're done."
Han Fei stepped into their path. "If you leave, you won't survive a day."
"Then we'll take our chances!"
The man shoved Han Fei. Han Fei shoved back. Another Dreg drew a weapon.
Shen Yuan moved, but he was too slow.
The branded captive's sword flashed. The Dreg fell with a choked gasp, blood pooling beneath him.
The camp erupted.
Yun Xue was already shouting orders, dragging people apart before it could turn into a massacre. Han Fei stood frozen over the body, his expression a mask of guilt and rage.
"This is what I meant," Yun Xue snarled at him. "You're tearing this group apart!"
Han Fei spun on her. "I'm trying to keep us alive!"
"By making yourself their savior?" Yun Xue's voice cracked like a whip. "Look around you! Half the camp follows you, the other half hates you!"
The branded captives closed ranks behind Han Fei. The Dregs clustered around Yun Xue.
Shen Yuan felt the rebellion splintering beneath his hands.
You can't hold them together, I said. Not like this. If you want any of them to survive, you need to cut the weakest now.
"No," Shen Yuan whispered.
Then they all die, I replied.
The argument died when I projected the signal into Shen Yuan's awareness.
[ SYS-NET SIGNAL LOCKED – SOURCE: BONE COURT NEXUS TELEPORTATION ARRAY ]
I showed him the map, the coordinates burned into the tether.
"This is it," Shen Yuan said aloud.
The camp quieted. All eyes turned toward him.
"The signal I've been tracking—it's coming from the Nexus," he said. "There's a teleportation array there. If we can reach it, we might be able to escape Grave Omega."
Shock rippled through the group.
"That's suicide," a Dreg said. "The Nexus is a fortress!"
Shen Yuan raised his voice. "If we run, they will find us. If we hide, they will find us. The Bone Court will not stop until we're all dead."
He looked at Yun Xue. At Han Fei. At the survivors who had given everything to get this far.
"We strike the Nexus," Shen Yuan said. "If we fail, we die anyway. But if we succeed…"
He didn't finish. He didn't need to.
Yun Xue stepped forward, her face set. "Then we plan. And we do it right."
Han Fei nodded once, the fire returning to his eyes. "If we're going to die, we make it mean something."
The branded captives straightened. The Dregs looked uncertain but didn't move.
Shen Yuan felt the weight of the decision settle across his shoulders like a mountain.
"We end this," he said.