CHAPTER 12 — THE THING THAT WATCHES BACK
Leylin's steps slowed almost without thought. The fragment called to him—not loudly, not dramatically—but like a pulse beneath the skin, familiar in rhythm, alien in presence. The crowd around the stall didn't notice him yet; he moved through them like water finding cracks.
The stall was simple. A table, a man behind it, nothing remarkable. And yet…something was off. Not in the man, not in the fragment,but in the way the fragment seemed to hesitate under Leylin's gaze.
Leylin's hand twitched, almost reflexively, and he stopped in front of it.
"What is this?" His voice was low, casual, like he was asking for directions.
The man's eyes flicked to him. A twitch of a smile. "Something you might call…a fragment."
Leylin raised a brow. "A fragment of what?"
The man shrugged, deliberate. "A fragment of a domain user, I think. Could be wrong." He looked past Leylin, as if seeing something else entirely. "Picked it up, didn't mean to keep it. Thought it might sell."
A passerby leaned over, smirking. "A fragment of a domain user? Really? You expect people to believe that? Might as well be a scrap of rock from the alley." His laugh was light, mocking, but it carried. "You, staring like a fool, and him pretending he knows what it's worth,pathetic."
Leylin's gaze didn't waver. He watched the fragment, felt the subtle tug again. The object throbbed..not violently, just insistently.
A small crowd had gathered, drawn by the argument. Their eyes lingered on Leylin. Whispers traveled quickly, shaking heads, pity flashing in glances. "Poor fool. Heart user fragment, and he doesn't even know it…" Leylin caught their expressions, noting the judgments without needing words.
"Heart user fragment?" Leylin murmured, testing the information.
"Could be," the man said, shrugging. He didn't clarify. Didn't have to. The fragment's value wasn't his to measure..or maybe he couldn't see it.
The passerby scoffed again, stepping closer, peering at the object. "If it were anything worth notice, it wouldn't be sitting here, would it? Look at him, hoping for miracles from the gutter."
Leylin's lips pressed thin. He didn't defend the fragment. Didn't need to. He let the murmurs wash over him, cataloging, observing. The fragment pulsed once more, almost shyly, before stilling.
Leylin stepped back, feeling the tug fade. He didn't take the object. Not today. But he didn't leave empty-handed. The exchange had given him something: a measure of who this underground was, the value they overlooked, and a hint that even ordinary-looking people carried pieces of power they didn't understand.
He looked at the man behind the table once more. No apology, no explanation. Just the quiet acknowledgment of a transaction that had never been completed.
Leylin turned, walking away. The fragment remained, pulsing faintly, ignored by the crowd, untouched..but not unnoticed. And somewhere, deep in the edges of his perception, he understood something with baffling clarity...*whatever power system governed this world,he was painfully unaware of it,and that alone was unacceptable "
Ahead, the building that hosted the auction waited.