Hei Zhen stood in the kitchen with two cups of tea in his hands.
From the side, the apartment opened into a quiet living room. He walked over and set the cups down before turning back toward the counter.
"How is Lian Ye doing?"
Hei Zhen paused.
"He's doing good."
He looked toward the person sitting nearby.
The man had long dark hair tied back with a scarf. Gold-rimmed glasses rested on his face, their thin strings hanging down beside his cheeks. He wore a grey suit, though the jacket had been removed and left on the sofa behind him.
The man gave a small laugh and picked up his cup of tea.
"Do you know you're being used?"
Hei Zhen placed a plate of cookies on the table.
"I know I'm being used. I'm also using the person who's using me."
He calmly sat down.
"Lian Ye knows he's using me, and he chose to be used."
Hei Zhen picked up a cookie.
"The friend of your enemy is your enemy, and the enemy of your enemy's friend is your friend."
He took a bite.
The man scoffed lightly.
"That wasn't what I meant."
---
Back in Aurora Heights, the three of them slid down the side of the building.
Shen Yu reacted first.
He threw the knife-shaped part of his weapon, keeping hold of the chain attached to it. The blade struck the side of a nearby building and lodged itself firmly into the surface.
Shen Yu pulled on the chain.
His body was dragged toward the building. Just before reaching it, he removed the knife and pinned it into the floor below.
He rolled the moment he landed, using the movement to kill his momentum.
Rin Shen, however, simply kept falling.
He descended toward the ground until he reached a certain height.
Then his body changed.
His form became fog-like, just as it had when he had once saved Lian Ye.
The fog slowed his descent, allowing him to lower himself safely before returning to his normal form once he reached the ground.
Lian Ye took a different route.
He slid along the edge of the building, but maintaining his balance proved difficult. The structure wasn't normal, making his movements far less accurate than usual.
Eventually, he reached a point where continuing was no longer possible.
He pushed himself off.
His hand caught a streetlight.
Using it as support, he lowered himself toward the ground before finally releasing it.
He landed.
Lian Ye looked down at his hands.
His gloves were torn.
"It would've been better to find a different route."
"White Lotus."
Rin Shen's voice came from the side.
"It's time to go. The Forbidden is on the move."
Lian Ye looked over.
Rin Shen pointed toward the distance.
A string of light was moving through Aurora Heights.
The three of them checked their equipment one final time.
Then they followed the light.
---
For several minutes, the three continued following the moving string of light.
It passed through the streets of Aurora Heights, occasionally disappearing behind buildings before reappearing somewhere ahead.
None of them spoke.
They simply followed.
Then—
Shen Yu stopped.
His foot barely touched the ground before he reacted.
His chain snapped outward.
The knife-shaped weapon at its end flew through the air, catching against the side of a nearby building.
Shen Yu pulled.
His body swung sideways, changing direction in an instant.
He used the momentum to propel himself upward, turning his body before landing on the balcony of a nearby house.
Rin Shen and Lian Ye slowed down.
Lian Ye glanced toward the balcony.
"What happened?"
"I don't know."
Rin Shen looked at Shen Yu.
"But he found something."
The two moved toward the balcony.
Shen Yu was already crouched down.
He had pulled out a small device and was looking at its screen.
His eyes moved across the information displayed on it.
Then he pressed something.
The communication device connected.
A faint static sound came through.
Shen Yu opened his mouth.
Before he could say anything, another voice came through.
"I know."
Shen Yu paused.
Kael.
His voice sounded calm.
Almost too calm.
"That wasn't what the report mentioned."
Rin Shen and Lian Ye stepped closer.
"What do you mean?" Rin Shen asked.
Shen Yu turned the device toward them.
An image appeared on the screen.
A Forbidden. Its body was round and strangely compact. Several eyes surrounded its head, each one staring in a different direction. There was nothing particularly intimidating about it.
If anything, it looked almost incapable of fighting.
Lian Ye stared at the image.
"This is the Forbidden we're supposed to be dealing with?"
"According to the report," Shen Yu replied.
Lian Ye looked at the screen again.
Then he looked past the balcony.
His expression changed.
The others followed his gaze.
Farther down the road—
something floated in the middle of Aurora Heights.
It was completely different from the image.
A skeletal figure hovered above the ground.
A pale, web-like shroud covered its body, hanging from its shoulders and stretching downward like torn fabric caught in a wind that wasn't there.
Its ribs were exposed beneath the material.
Its spine rose sharply from its back, extending upward like a jagged red structure.
Its two pairs of hands hung beneath the shroud.
Long, red, claw-like fingers stretched downward.
And above its head floated a circular ring.
The ring was crimson.
It looked almost like a halo.
Except it wasn't clean.
Drops of red hung from its lower edge, suspended before slowly falling.
The Forbidden didn't move.
It simply floated there.
Waiting.
Shen Yu stared at it.
Then he hissed.
He stood.
Pulling the chain, the weapon came back into his hand.
He spun the part with the blade once around his fingers.
"It probably mutated its concept."
Lian Ye looked at him.
"Mutated?"
Shen Yu nodded.
"The report probably describes what it was before."
He looked at the creature.
"Not what it is now."
Rin Shen narrowed his eyes.
"So we have no information on its current ability."
"No."
Shen Yu spun the knife again.
"Either way…"
He stepped onto the edge of the balcony.
"We have a job to do."
He jumped.
"We'll go on the offensive first."
His body dropped toward the road.
Lian Ye watched him disappear.
Then he sighed.
"He really likes doing that."
Rin Shen stepped over the balcony.
"I know."
Then he jumped, and Lian Ye jumped after him.
The two descended toward the street.
---
The Forbidden remained motionless.
It floated in the center of the road.
No movement.
No sound.
Nothing.
Shen Yu landed first.
His feet touched the ground.
Rin Shen and Lian Ye landed moments later.
The three stood around the Forbidden.
They kept their distance.
For several seconds, nobody attacked.
Lian Ye raised his hand.
He looked at the creature.
Then he pointed, he made a gun shape with his hand.
He fired.
The shot struck the Forbidden directly.
Nothing happened.
The projectile disappeared.
The Forbidden didn't even move.
Lian Ye lowered his hand.
"…Okay."
Rin Shen moved next.
He took a kunai from the belt around his waist then aiming for the forbidden's chest, he threw the kunai then it hit the forbidden breaking the Vail at the center covering the forbidden in poison, but it didn't penetrate.
Rin Shen pulled out another one again, he looked at the weapon.
Then at the Forbidden.
"No effect."
Shen Yu moved.
His chain extended.
The knife flew forward.
It struck the creature.
Again—
nothing.
The knife bounced away.
Shen Yu pulled it back.
The three stared.
Lian Ye looked at the Forbidden.
Rin Shen looked at it.
Shen Yu looked at it.
Nothing.
The creature continued floating.
"It's not even reacting," Rin Shen said.
Lian Ye tilted his head.
"Maybe it can't."
Shen Yu frowned.
"Then why hasn't it fallen?"
Nobody answered.
A sound suddenly came from above.
Lian Ye looked up.
Something was moving through the sky.
A projectile.
It came from somewhere beyond the buildings.
Fast.
Far too fast.
The three barely had time to react.
The projectile struck the Forbidden directly in the chest.
A heavy impact echoed through the street.
The Forbidden shifted backward slightly.
That was it.
The projectile fell to the ground.
The three stared at the creature.
A small dent remained where the projectile had struck.
Lian Ye's eyes narrowed.
"Still nothing."
Then—
the Forbidden moved.
Its heilo spun.
Slowly.
Its four arms moved as if trying to know how they worked.
The atmosphere changed.
Shen Yu immediately stepped backward.
"Move."
A second projectile flew toward the Forbidden.
This time, everyone saw it coming.
It struck.
The creature's body reacted.
Its bones cracked open.
Something beneath the pale covering suddenly shifted.
A strange fleshy substance burst outward from the opening.
Rin Shen grabbed Lian Ye and pulled him backward.
Shen Yu jumped away.
The substance struck the road around them.
The three landed several meters away.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Lian Ye stared.
"What…"
He stopped himself.
The Forbidden had disappeared.
The road was empty.
Rin Shen looked around.
"Where did it go?"
Shen Yu turned.
Nothing.
Left.
Nothing.
Right.
Nothing.
Above.
Nothing.
He immediately activated his communication device.
"Can anyone see it?"
Static.
Rin Shen was already on the roof of a nearby building.
He looked across Aurora Heights.
"Nothing from here."
Lian Ye stood on the same roof as Rin Shen, his eyes moved across the buildings.
"It's fast."
"No."
Shen Yu looked toward him.
"It's hiding."
Rin Shen looked at Shen Yu who was still looking around.
"How are we supposed to find something that can disappear like that?"
Shen Yu didn't answer immediately.
He looked at the road.
Then the buildings.
Then the cracks between them.
A small sigh escaped.
"Why do you think Hound is here?"
Lian Ye's eyes shifted toward him.
"Hound?"
Shen Yu pointed.
"Look."
A string of light suddenly moved.
It came from between two buildings.
It slipped through a crack.
Then another.
It moved through Aurora Heights at an incredible speed.
Lian Ye watched it.
The light curved around a building.
Then disappeared.
A second later, it emerged from somewhere else.
Rin Shen followed it from the rooftop.
"It isn't following the road."
"No," Shen Yu said.
"It doesn't need to."
The string of light suddenly accelerated.
It moved through another narrow opening.
Then another.
Then—
it connected to something.
Something moving.
Something fast.
The light followed the creature closely as if it had been connected to it
Lian Ye's eyes narrowed.
"There."
Rin Shen looked in the same direction.
A blur moved between the buildings.
The Forbidden.
It wasn't floating aimlessly anymore.
It was moving.
Fast.
Much faster than before.
The string of light followed it.
Then Kael's voice came through their communication devices.
"Don't let it leave Aurora Heights."
Shen Yu looked ahead.
"Understood."
Rin Shen's expression became serious.
The three moved at the same time.
They chased after the light.