The night air over Jiangnanâs Antique Market was thick with the scent of roasted chestnuts, old paper, and damp limestone. Located on Phoenix Street, this quarter of the city was a labyrinth of traditional gray-brick alleys squeezed tightly between neon-lit high-rise commercial blocks. During the day, it was a tourist trap filled with fake jade and mass-produced brass trinkets. At 11:00 PM, however, the vendors had long packed up, leaving the narrow lanes illuminated only by flickering, low-wattage streetlamps and the ambient red glow of traditional lanterns hanging from carved eaves.
Lin Feng walked down the cobblestone pathway with slow, unhurried steps. His black hoodie was pulled up, casting a deep shadow over his face. To anyone looking, he was just another late-night wanderer.
But his senses were operating on an entirely different plane.
With his
Mortal Flesh Refinement
resting firmly at the Stage 3 Peak, his ears picked up the distant clicking of high-end surveillance cameras mounted under the roof tiles three alleys over. His skin detected the subtle variations in air pressure caused by people hiding in the blind spots of the courtyards ahead.
Four hidden scouts,
Lin Feng noted mentally, his pulse remaining flat and rhythmic.
Two on the roofs, two in the doorways. Professional posture, minimal breathing noise. The Bai family doesn't take chances.
He stopped at the designated meeting point: a small, open courtyard centered around a centuries-old dry stone well. The air here was perfectly still.
"You're late, Xuanwu."
A crisp, cold voice cut through the silence. From the deep shadow of an arched gateway, a figure stepped forward.
It was a young woman, appearing to be no older than twenty-four, dressed in a sleek, tailored black trench coat that accentuated her sharp, athletic frame. Her long hair was tied back into a flawless, high ponytail, and her features were strikingâsharp jawline, pale skin, and eyes like polished obsidian. This was Bai Qingxi, the brilliant young director of intelligence for the Jade Pavilion and the second granddaughter of the prominent Bai family.
Behind her stood a towering, broad-shouldered man in a dark tactical suit. His hands were clasped in front of him, his knuckles heavily calloused, and his eyes locked onto Lin Feng like a hawk tracking a rabbit.
Lin Feng didn't lower his hood. He kept his hands casually tucked into his sweatshirt pockets. "The rain delayed the subways. Letâs not waste time, Director Bai."
Bai Qingxiâs eyes flashed with a hint of surprise upon hearing her title, but her expression remained an unreadable mask. "You know who I am, yet you still show up wearing a cheap hoodie and a fake name. Bold. Or incredibly foolish."
"I brought what you wanted," Lin Feng said, completely ignoring her provocation. He reached into his pocket and produced a small, inexpensive USB flash drive, tossing it casually through the air.
The towering bodyguard caught it flawlessly between two fingers, immediately inserting it into a ruggedized, military-grade tablet he carried in his tactical pouch. He tapped the screen rapidly, analyzing the data. After a tense ten seconds, he looked up at Bai Qingxi and gave a brief, firm nod. "The baseline reading is complete, Director. It matches the automated geological anomalies. The seismic variance is verified."
Bai Qingxi turned her gaze back to Lin Feng, her curiosity deep and dangerous. "The Zhao Group has completely sealed off the West District site. They logged the incident as a localized gas line explosion and structural failure, but our informants inside the city hospital say three of their elite Vanguard Corps enforcers were admitted early this morning with severe, untraceable nerve trauma. Their weapons were destroyed, and their equipment was vaporized."
She took a step closer, the scent of expensive sandalwood perfume trailing behind her. "The telemetry on that drive could only be pulled from an internal administrative device. Who did you kill to get it, Xuanwu?"
"The data is accurate. Thatâs all the Jade Pavilion paid for," Lin Feng replied smoothly, his voice flat and detached. "Where is my equipment?"
Bai Qingxi stared at him for a long moment, attempting to read his posture. But Lin Feng stood with complete, relaxed indifference. There was no tension in his muscles, no spike in his breathing, and no scent of fear. To a trained observer like her, it was infuriating; it was like trying to read a blank stone wall.
She signaled with her hand. The towering bodyguard opened a heavy, aluminum briefcase resting near the stone well. Inside, nestled in custom-cut anti-static foam, was a sleek, matte-gray device resembling a thick external hard drive, coupled with a bundle of specialized fiber-optic leads. Next to it was a neat, paper-wrapped brick of crisp, high-denomination cash.
"A military-grade variable frequency cloner, model structural-X," Bai Qingxi said, her voice dropping to a low, suggestive tone. "And twenty thousand yuan in unmarked bills. The cloner is restricted hardware, regulated by the Ministry of Industry. If the authorities catch you with it, youâll face ten years in a high-security facility."
"The authorities will have to find me first," Lin Feng said.
He walked forward calmly, entirely entering the defensive radius of the towering bodyguard. The guardâs muscles instantly coiled, his weight shifting forward as he prepared to neutralize Lin Feng if the youth made a hostile move. To an ordinary person, the bodyguard was a terrifying wall of meat. To Lin Feng, the man's posture had three critical flawsâhis left knee was angled too far inward, his chin was exposed, and his center of gravity was heavily biased toward his right flank.
Lin Feng ignored him completely, casually picking up the cash and the matte-gray cloner from the case, sliding them into his empty backpack.
"A word of advice, Xuanwu," Bai Qingxi said as Lin Feng turned to leave. "The Zhao Group is furious. Theyâve deployed an internal investigative unit to trace the source of the leak. Jiangnan is going to become very small, very quickly. If you have more data of this caliber, the Jade Pavilion is willing to provide you with absolute asylum. A permanent position, protection, and resources."
Lin Feng paused at the edge of the courtyard, his back to her. A faint, invisible smile touched his lips beneath the shadow of his hood.
Asylum? Protection?
In his past life, the Bai familyâs scientific researchers would become obsessed with analyzing the genetic code of independent cultivators to synthesize early-stage spiritual medicines. They weren't monsters like the Zhao Group, but they were still a corporate beast driven by profit and data.
"The Zhao Group's eyes are focused on the mud pit you just bought," Lin Feng said over his shoulder, his voice echoing softly against the old brick walls. "Tell your grandfather to stop looking at the earth. Tell him to look at the sky. The fault lines aren't the only things that are cracking."
Before Bai Qingxi could ask what he meant by that cryptic warning, Lin Feng stepped into the dark mouth of the adjacent alley.
"Follow him," Bai Qingxi ordered instantly, her voice sharp with sudden urgency. "Don't let him out of your sight. I want his real identity by midnight."
The two scouts hidden on the rooftops immediately leaped across the brick tiles, their movements silent and swift as they converged on the alleyway Lin Feng had entered. The towering bodyguard dropped the briefcase and sprinted forward, his heavy boots eating up the distance as he plunged into the darkness.
But when they turned the corner into the narrow, dead-end lane, all three scouts froze.
The alley was completely empty.
A single, rusted iron door at the end of the path was locked from the outside with a heavy padlocked chain. The smooth, rain-slicked brick walls stretched ten meters straight up to the night sky without a single handhold or fire escape. There were no trash cans, no boxes, and no signs of disturbance in the damp puddles on the ground.
"Director..." the bodyguard muttered into his tactical earpiece, his voice laced with a sudden, deep chill. "He's gone. Thereâs no trace. Itâs like he vanished into thin air."
Back in the courtyard, Bai Qingxi slowly lowered her smartphone, her gaze fixed on the empty alleyway. Her heart, usually cold and calculating, gave an uncharacteristic, rapid thud.
A mortal couldn't vanish from a closed brick alleyway surrounded by three professional security operatives in less than four seconds. It was physically impossible.
"Look at the sky..." she repeated Lin Feng's parting words, slowly raising her head toward the dark, turbulent clouds blanketing the Jiangnan skyline. "Who exactly are you, Xuanwu?"
Two miles away, standing perfectly upright on the narrow, dangerous edge of a structural steel beam sixty floors above the city on a half-completed skyscraper, Lin Feng let his hood fall back. The high-altitude wind caught his hair, pulling at his clothes, but his body remained as unmoving and steady as an iron anchor.
He opened his backpack, pulling out the matte-gray frequency cloner and the silver electronic keycard of the Zhao Group Inner Sanctum.
"The funds are secured, the tool is in my hand," Lin Feng whispered, his eyes looking down at the vast, glowing neon grid of Jiangnan Province below him. "Tomorrow night, the Zhao Groupâs central logistics vault belongs to me."