They didn't walk back. They ran. This was Part Two of the plan: The Performance.
They burst into the Mission Hall, Ren Wei half-carrying a "sobbing" Li Mei. They were covered in
mud, fake web-silk, and artfully applied blood. Ren Wei's face was a mask of pale, wide-eyed
terror.
"Spiders!" he yelled, his voice cracking with panic. "Gods... hundreds of them! The cistern... it's
an infestation!"
The hall went silent.
"We... we barely escaped!" he panted. "The mission is wrong! It's a death-trap!"
An elder stormed over. "What nonsense is this?"
"We... we saw them!" Li Mei wailed, her face buried in Ren Wei's chest. "Three other disciples!
They went in ahead of us! We... we tried to warn them, but they were too arrogant!"
"They... they were swarmed!" Ren BWei picked up the narrative, his eyes flawless with feigned
trauma. "We... we just ran! We ran!"
The elder's face darkened. Three disciples? An infestation? "Show me your mission slip."
Ren Wei gave it to him. The elder looked at the slip, then at them. He suspected something, but
the story was... plausible. "Go to your quarters," he barked. "Do not speak to anyone. I will
investigate."
They fled.
The next day, the Inner Sect was buzzing. The investigation team had gone to the cistern.
They found the three bodies. They found the 'Jade-Mist Toxin.' They found the webs.
The problem, and the genius, was Li Mei's art. Her 'Silken Threads' were infused with her Qi.
When she'd created the needles to poison the second disciple, she had used her 'Silken Heart'
art, which had a faint, residual "fear/poison" aura. Her fake webs, spun from the same Qi, also
carried this faint aura.
The investigators found three bodies, drained of life, covered in venom, and wrapped in
poisonous spider webs.
The conclusion was inescapable: a Mutant Shadow-Weaver Queen. The mission was
catastrophically mislabeled.
The leader's clique was furious. They knew it was a lie. But they had no proof. How could two
second-stage trash disciples possibly kill three third-stage warriors and stage such a perfect scene? It was impossible.
Ren Wei and Li Mei were brought in for questioning. Ren Wei was the perfect 'traumatized
survivor,' shaking so hard he could barely speak. Li Mei was the 'terrified mouse,' just crying and
clinging to Ren Wei.
The case was closed. The cistern was sealed, declared a 'Forbidden Zone.'
And Ren Wei and Li Mei were given a 'Compensation Package' for their "trauma."
Five. Hundred. Contribution. Points.
They had murdered three people and been paid for it.
They sat in their small courtyard, the pouch of points on the stone table between them. They
were no longer 'trash.' They were no longer 'invisible.'
They were the 'Survivors.' The 'Lucky Ones.'
And the other disciples, the arrogant ones... they looked at them differently. They didn't sneer.
They didn't talk. They just... stayed away. Ren Wei and Li Mei had found a new kind of
invisibility. The kind that comes from fear.
"It worked," Ren Wei whispered, his hands steady as he touched the pouch. The price of three
lives.
"Yes," Li Mei said, leaning her head on his shoulder. "It always will. As long as we're together."
Ren Wei looked at the points. He felt no guilt. He just... felt cold.