The morning after the shrine mission, Li Wei woke to the sound of rain pattering against the headquarters' windows. His back ached where the demon's claw had grazed him, and the golden bracelet on his wrist pulsed faintly, as if Longyuan were stirring in his sleep. Rest while you can, the dragon's voice murmured, barely audible. The gate's shadow grows.
Li Wei groaned, pulling himself off the cot. The squad's HQ felt different in the daylight—less like a war room and more like a shared home, cluttered with signs of life. Sun Hao's laptop sat open on the table, surrounded by empty energy drink cans. Chen Mu's sketchbook lay beside it, a half-finished drawing of a dragon curling across the page. A faint smell of ink and jasmine lingered, probably from Mei Xuan's sketching or her tea.
He wandered into the main room, where the squad was scattered in their morning routines. Zhao Yanying sat cross-legged on the floor, her daggers spread out on a cloth as she polished them with a rag, her movements sharp and methodical. She wore a sleeveless shirt, her arms scarred from countless fights, and hummed a pop song under her breath, pausing to curse when the rag snagged on a blade.
"You're up late," she said without looking at Li Wei. "Thought you'd sleep through the apocalypse."
"Feels like I already did," Li Wei muttered, rubbing his neck. "What's with the dagger obsession? You do this every morning?"
Zhao's eyes flicked up, narrowing. "They're not just daggers. They're my edge. You don't maintain your tools, you die." She tossed one into the air, catching it with a flourish. "Besides, it's cheaper than therapy."
Across the room, Chen Mu sat by a window, his frame hunched over a small bonsai tree. He trimmed its branches with delicate precision, a stark contrast to the hulking, six-armed beast he'd become in the shrine. His face was calm, almost serene, as he shaped the tiny leaves, occasionally glancing outside at the rain-soaked city.
Li Wei hesitated, then asked, "You… garden?"
Chen Mu glanced at him, his eyes soft but unreadable. He pulled out his notebook and wrote: Keeps me steady. He gestured to the bonsai, then to himself, as if the act of nurturing something small grounded the monster within.
Mei Xuan emerged from a side room, her hair loose and slightly damp, as if she'd just showered. Her tattoos glowed faintly under a loose silk shirt, the dagger on her forearm shimmering as she carried a steaming mug of tea. She moved with a casual grace, her hips swaying just enough to draw Li Wei's eye before he caught himself. "Morning, kid," she said, her voice warm and teasing. "Sleep off the demon fight yet?"
"Barely," Li Wei admitted, sinking into a chair. "You're awfully cheerful for someone who was whipping demons last night."
Mei Xuan smirked, sipping her tea. "I teach art classes at the community center on my off days. Keeps me sane. Plus, it's fun watching retirees argue over watercolor techniques." She set her mug down, her tattoos catching the light. "You should try it sometime. Might help with that dragon stress."
Li Wei blinked. "You… teach art?"
"Don't sound so shocked," she said, leaning against the table. "I was an artist before all this. Still am, when the world's not burning."
Sun Hao poked his head up from his laptop, his shield flickering briefly. "And I'm stuck debugging code for a client's e-commerce site when I'm not hacking demon surveillance. Pays the bills." He yawned, rubbing his eyes. "You guys are lucky. I'd kill for a hobby that doesn't involve screens."
Huang rolled in, his wheelchair creaking, a newspaper tucked under one arm. "Enough chit-chat," he said, but his tone was softer than usual. "I spent my morning at the veteran's clinic, getting my burns checked. Sun Spirit's not kind to old scars." He tapped his cane against the floor. "What's the status on the shrines?"
Mei Xuan straightened, her playful demeanor shifting to business. "I was going to head out solo again this afternoon.
There's one more shrine on the district's edge—smaller, but it's got the same energy signature as the last one. I can handle it."
Huang's eyes narrowed. "No solo runs until we know what we're dealing with. Zhao, Li Wei, you're with her. Chen Mu, Sun Hao, you're on standby."
Zhao groaned, sheathing a dagger. "Babysitting the rookie again? Great."
Li Wei shot her a look. "I'm not the one who almost got clawed last night."
She smirked, flipping him off. "Keep talking, dragon boy."
By noon, the rain had stopped, leaving the temple district slick and gleaming. The final shrine was a crumbling stone structure tucked behind a row of abandoned shops, its roof half-collapsed, moss creeping over its walls. The air hummed faintly, like a distant heartbeat, and Li Wei felt Longyuan stir, its presence heavier than before. Another key, the dragon whispered. Break it, or they'll come faster.
Mei Xuan led the way, her bow tattoo already glowing as she summoned an arrow, holding it loosely at her side. Her eyes scanned the shadows, her confidence unshaken despite the eerie quiet. "Stay sharp," she said, her voice low. "This one feels… off."
Zhao Yanying flanked her, daggers drawn, her steps light and predatory. "Off how? Like 'demon ambush' off, or 'we're screwed' off?"
Mei Xuan's lips twitched. "Let's find out."
Li Wei gripped the bracelet, his pulse quickening. The shrine's interior was damp, the air thick with the smell of mildew and something sharper—blood, maybe, or something older. A stone altar sat at the center, another blackened shard floating above it, its crimson glow pulsing erratically.
"There it is," Mei Xuan whispered, her whip tattoo flaring as she summoned the glowing cord. "Same as before. Li Wei, you know the drill."
Before he could move, the shadows writhed. Two demons emerged, their bodies taller and more jagged than the last, their limbs elongated and tipped with bone-like claws. Their eyes burned with the same crimson as the shard, and they moved with unnatural speed.
Zhao reacted first, diving forward with her daggers flashing. She sliced through one demon's arm, ducking under a claw swipe with a curse. "These ones are faster!"
Mei Xuan snapped her whip, catching the second demon's leg and yanking it to the ground. "Li Wei, the shard! Now!"
Li Wei lunged for the altar, the bracelet burning as Longyuan's power surged. Gold light flooded his vision, his fist glowing as he slammed it into the shard. The impact sent a shockwave through the shrine, the stone cracking, but the shard pulsed brighter, and the demons roared, their wounds healing instantly.
"It's not breaking!" Li Wei shouted, panic rising.
Mei Xuan cursed, summoning a spear from her thigh tattoo and driving it into the demon's chest. "Keep hitting it! Something's different this time!"
Zhao spun, her daggers carving arcs through the air, but the first demon grabbed her wrist, twisting hard. She grunted, kicking its knee and breaking free, but blood dripped from her arm. "Li Wei, hurry the hell up!"
Longyuan's voice thundered in his mind. The shard is bound. Blood must break it.
"Blood?" Li Wei muttered, his heart pounding. He glanced at his shoulder, where the previous demon's claw had cut him. Without thinking, he smeared his bloodied hand across the shard, gold light flaring as Longyuan's power surged through it.
The shard shattered with a deafening crack, and the demons collapsed, their bodies dissolving into smoke. The shrine fell silent, the hum gone.
Zhao panted, clutching her wrist. "What the hell was that? Since when do shards need blood?"
Mei Xuan's eyes were fixed on the altar, her spear dissolving back into her skin. "They don't. That wasn't just a shard—it was a lock. Someone's reinforcing them." She glanced at Li Wei, her expression unreadable. "Lei Feng's playing a deeper game than we thought."
Li Wei's legs shook as he stepped back, the bracelet still warm. "Longyuan said… blood breaks it. What does that mean?"
Mei Xuan's lips pressed into a thin line. "It means we need answers. Fast."
Back at HQ, the squad regrouped, the air heavy with tension. Huang listened to Mei Xuan's report, his fingers drumming on his cane. "A blood lock? That's old magic. Older than the gate itself."
Sun Hao looked up from his laptop. "I pulled some data from the city archives. The temple district was built on a network of seals—each shrine was a node to keep the gate closed. If someone's turning them into locks…"
"Then Lei Feng's not just opening the gate," Mei Xuan finished, her tattoos glowing faintly as she crossed her arms. "He's rewriting the rules."
Zhao leaned back in her chair, cleaning blood off her dagger. "So we keep smashing shards. Great. My kind of therapy."
Chen Mu wrote in his notebook: More shrines, more demons. We need help.
Huang nodded. "We can't keep this pace alone. I'll reach out to some old contacts. For now, rest. Tomorrow's the rally, and Lei Feng's going to make his move."
As the squad dispersed, Li Wei lingered, watching Mei Xuan sketch the shattered shard in her pad, her fingers steady despite the day's chaos. Zhao sharpened her daggers, her focus unbroken. Chen Mu tended his bonsai, and Sun Hao typed, his shield humming softly.
For a moment, Li Wei felt like he belonged—until Longyuan's voice whispered, The gate knows your blood now. Be ready.
He shivered, the weight of the day settling in. The rally loomed, and with it, the shadow of Lei Feng's plans.