Doctor Yao stepped away from the massive blue glacier blocking the grand foyer. The air inside the triage center tasted of copper and potent antiseptic. She spent the last two hours sealing ruptured arteries and purging necrotic poison from the veins of dying academic instructors. Her pristine white silk dress was ruined. A heavy crust of dark blood stained her sleeves from the elbows down to her wrists. She wiped a stray lock of hair from her forehead and stared at the thick wooden doors leading to the side courtyard.She needed to find the Pavilion Master. The seeds of doubt planted by the vagrant in the dark lecture hall were blooming into a suffocating forest of righteous fury.Yao pushed the heavy side doors open and stepped into the humid night air. The dense red vapor swallowed her up to her waist. The synthetic fog muffled the distant screams of the ongoing invasion and turned the sprawling campus into an isolated nightmare. She walked away from the safety of the ice barricade

The doors of the Inner Vault loomed at the end of the descending stone corridor. Elder Gu stumbled to a halt and pressed his sweating palms against the cold metal. His silk robes clung to his back as sheer terror hijacked his nervous system. "Form the defensive wall right here." Gu pointed a trembling finger at the polished stone floor. "Lock your shields and draw your steel."The captain of the elite guard stepped forward with a deep frown on his face. He held his heavy broadsword tightly. "Sir, we abandoned the upper barricades for this isolated position. Are we truly preparing to fight the Ghost Envoy instead of hunting the vagrant?""The syndicate used us to crack the outer crystal and now they want to erase the evidence." Gu spat on the floor and gripped his ceremonial sword. "The Envoy is coming down here to slaughter us all. If you see a crimson robe you cut the man down without hesitation.""We left Instructor Ma bleeding in the grand foyer." The captain argued with clear rel

Ye Tian stepped out of the narrow spiral staircase and entered the subterranean antechamber. He wiped a fresh trail of blood from his chin and steadied his breathing. The stone room served as the final checkpoint before the Inner Vault corridor.Two senior Academy Elders stood in the center of the room. A dozen elite orthodox guards formed a rigid defensive line behind them. They held their heavy steel swords ready."Hold your position." Elder Zhao pointed his polished blade at the intruder. "The Pavilion Master declared you a syndicate operative. Surrender your weapons and kneel on the stone."Ye Tian did not summon his Golden Qi or adopt a martial stance. He needed the orthodox establishment intact. He required their institutional authority to issue his medical license once the dust settled. Killing senior faculty members would complicate his long term objectives."You are pointing your swords at the wrong target." Ye Tian spoke with a calm steady voice. He kept his hands visible at

Elder Gu pressed his spine against the massive iron doors of the Inner Vault. His silk robes clung to his skin. He stared at the jagged green talisman resting in his sweating palm. The stone vibrated with a violent erratic rhythm. The necrotic frequency coded into the rune was spiking to terrifying levels. The Ghost Envoy was descending the main stairwell and his aura projected nothing but absolute murder."Hold the perimeter," Gu screamed to the shadows at the far end of the corridor. "The sector leader is coming to slaughter us all.""We are not holding any perimeter for you," Elder Lin replied from the darkness.Gu flinched at the cold tone. The orthodox guards marched into the dim light of the vault corridor. They did not form a protective circle around the Pavilion Master. They stopped twenty feet away and lowered their steel shields. Their faces held zero institutional respect."What are you doing," Gu demanded. He pointed a trembling finger at his own men. "Raise your weapons.

The rhythmic tapping of the wooden cane echoed down the stone stairwell like a ticking clock marking the end of a life. Elder Gu heard the sound and lost his grip on reality. The terrifying pressure of the Ghost Envoy bleeding through the ceiling fractured his mind into a thousand jagged pieces. He looked at the drawn silver sword of Doctor Yao and the indifferent golden eyes of the vagrant.He was trapped between an orthodox execution and a demonic slaughter. He refused to die kneeling on the floor of his own institution.Gu spun around and jammed a heavy brass key into the central locking mechanism of the Inner Vault. He twisted the metal with frantic strength. The ancient tumblers clicked and released the primary deadbolt. Gu shoved his weight against the right door and forced the heavy iron panel open just enough to squeeze his body through the gap.He slipped into the dark antechamber of the vault and slammed the heavy iron door shut behind him. The locking gears ground together