The ladder rattled against the stone chimney. Smoke billowed up from the riot below, a thick, greasy column of black soot that stung the eyes and tasted of burning sulfur.
Yang Yi climbed. He didn't use the rungs like a human. He scrambled, his hands gripping the side rails, his feet finding purchase on the slick iron with unnatural precision. The rat essence in his blood fired his nerves. Every vibration in the metal told him a story.
Three guards running on the catwalk below. A steam pipe leaking twenty feet up. The heartbeat of the girl climbing behind him.
"Slow down," Lin rasped. She coughed, spitting black phlegm. "I can't see."
Yang Yi didn't stop. "The smoke is your friend. It blinds them."
They reached the service platform at the top of the stack. A massive ventilation duct, ten feet wide, roared like a captured dragon. It sucked the smoke out of the mountain and spewed it into the night sky.
Yang Yi kicked the maintenance hatch. It swung inward, fighting the immense air pressure.
"In."
He shoved Lin through the opening. The wind grabbed her, nearly tumbling her down the dark throat of the duct. She slammed a dagger into the sheet metal to anchor herself.
Yang Yi followed. The slipstream tore at his clothes. It was like standing inside a hurricane.
They crawled against the airflow, moving deeper into the complex. The noise was deafening—a constant, grinding mechanical scream.
They reached the junction. A massive intake fan blocked the path.
The blades were twenty feet long, forged from star-steel, spinning fast enough to turn a man into a mist of blood and bone in a fraction of a second. The wind howled through the gaps.
Lin stared at the spinning wall of death. She pulled her knees to her chest, shivering. "We can't pass that. It's a meat grinder."
Yang Yi watched the blades. To a normal eye, it was a blur.
But Yang Yi wasn't seeing with normal eyes. He focused. The rat essence sharpened his temporal perception. The blur separated into distinct shapes.
Spin. Gap. Spin. Gap.
There was a rhythm. A mechanical stutter every seventh rotation where the bearings were worn. A gap of zero-point-four seconds.
"We jump."
Lin looked at him like he had grown a second head. "You're insane. The beast blood rotted your brain."
"Trust the math."
Yang Yi grabbed her wrist. He didn't ask. He dragged her to the edge of the blade guard.
"On three. One."
He felt her muscles lock up. She was going to resist.
"Two."
He tightened his grip, digging his thumb into a pressure point on her wrist to force compliance.
"Three."
He leaped.
He didn't jump through the open air. He jumped at the blades.
Lin screamed, the sound swallowed by the wind.
Yang Yi timed the stutter. The massive steel blade roared past his nose, close enough to shave the peach fuzz off his cheek.
He twisted in mid-air, pulling Lin with him. They threaded the needle.
For a split second, they were suspended in the void between the steel titans. Then gravity and momentum took over.
They crashed onto the metal grating on the other side.
Yang Yi rolled, absorbing the impact. Lin landed hard, sliding across the mesh until she hit the wall.
She scrambled up, hyperventilating, checking her limbs to see if they were still attached.
"You..." She pointed a shaking finger at him. "Do not do that again."
Yang Yi stood up. He brushed the soot from his tunic. The adrenaline from the jump tasted sweet, feeding the hunger in his gut.
"We're out of the boiler sector."
He pointed to a louvre vent ahead. Moonlight sliced through the slats.
He pushed the vent open.
Cold, clean mountain air hit them.
They stepped out onto a rooftop.
The view was dizzying. They were high up on the slopes of the Dragon Peak. Below them, the Outer Sect sprawled like a festering wound, glowing with thousands of lanterns. Above them, the true Dragon Transformation Palace floated on clouds, a golden city forbidden to the trash below.
They were on the roof of the Alchemy Hall. The scent of medicinal herbs and exotic poisons wafted from the massive chimneys.
Yang Yi scanned the roof. It was a landscape of slate tiles, gargoyles, and steam vents.
"We need a nest."
He spotted a maintenance shed tucked behind a massive stone cistern. It was small, unnoticed, and sheltered from the wind.
They moved across the tiles, silent as stray cats.
Yang Yi pried the shed door open. Inside, it smelled of oil and old rags. It was tight, but dry.
He sat down in the corner, leaning against a coil of rope. He pulled the Myriad Beast Assimilation Record from his chest. The skin binding was warm, pulsing against his fingers.
Lin collapsed opposite him. She watched him with a mix of fear and curiosity.
"You're going to read it. The forbidden text."
"It's not forbidden because it's evil, Lin. It's forbidden because it threatens the hierarchy."
Yang Yi opened the book. The gold-leaf pages shimmered in the gloom.
He skipped the introduction. He went straight to the section titled The Rat.
The Scavenger's Gut. Digestion of toxins. Enhanced auditory sense. Tremor sense. Weakness: Bright light and overwhelming aromatics.
He turned the page.
The Wolf.
Pack tactics. Endurance. Burst strength. Weakness: Rage. Loss of higher cognitive function during bloodlust.
He had both inside him now. A cocktail of conflicting instincts.
He read the fine print at the bottom of the page.
To merge disparate bloodlines, one requires a catalyst. The heart of a Chimera, or the root of the Soul-Binding Lotus.
Yang Yi closed the book with a snap.
"We have a problem."
"Besides the entire sect hunting us?"
"My blood is unstable. The wolf and the rat are fighting for dominance in my liver. I need a stabilizer."
Lin hugged her knees. "Soul-Binding Lotus grows in the sect's private garden. The Inner Circle."
"Then we go to the garden."
"We just arrived, Yang. We have no resources, no weapons, and you look like a coal miner who rolled in blood."
Yang Yi touched the Dragon Token. It hummed.
"We have this. And tonight, we raid the Alchemy Hall below us. If we can't find the Lotus, we steal the pills to fake it."
He stood up, the fatigue washed away by the promise of the hunt.
"Rest for an hour. Then we go shopping."