2026-03-31 23:58:14
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56
The silence did not feel empty.It felt watched.Sofia shifted slightly where she stood, her eyes locked on the massive screen in front of them as the silhouette remained still, unmoving, like it had all the time in the world. “Okay… I am just going to say it,” she whispered, her voice tight. “This is officially the worst situation we have walked into so far.”Ethan did not respond.He stood still, his posture straight, his gaze steady, like the tension in the room did not belong to him at all.Shen Fei stepped slightly forward, positioning herself just behind him, her voice calm but lower than before. “Do not speak unless necessary,” she said quietly. “We do not know who this is yet.”Sofia blinked. “I feel like we very much know that this is bad,” she muttered.The screen flickered.The silhouette shifted slightly, just enough to show movement.Then—A voice.Not mechanical this time.Human.Smooth.Controlled.“So,” the voice said slowly, “you finally decided to come back.”Sofia s
55
The moment Ethan stepped past the threshold, the atmosphere shifted so sharply that it almost felt physical, like walking into a space that rejected the outside world entirely.Sofia felt it immediately, her steps slowing as her eyes scanned the narrow metallic corridor ahead of them. “Okay, I need to say this out loud because maybe hearing it will make it less creepy,” she said, her voice echoing faintly. “This place feels wrong, like actually wrong, not just abandoned or old, but like it was never meant for normal people to walk into.”Ethan did not slow down.“That is because it wasn’t,” he replied calmly.Sofia blinked, then quickened her pace to keep up with him. “You saying that so casually is not helping,” she said. “Like at all.”Shen Fei walked beside him, her movements controlled and quiet, her eyes scanning every detail with sharp precision. “Stay focused,” she said. “We are not here to react to atmosphere.”Sofia let out a quiet breath. “Easy for you to say,” she muttered.
54
Morning did not feel like morning.It felt like a countdown.The sunlight that slipped through the curtains was too soft, too normal, like the world outside had no idea what they had decided the night before, like nothing had changed when, in reality, everything had.Sofia was the first one awake.She sat on the edge of the couch, already dressed, her hands wrapped tightly around a cup of coffee that had gone cold a long time ago. Her eyes were fixed on nothing in particular, but her thoughts were moving too fast to settle.“This is a terrible idea,” she muttered under her breath. “Like, objectively terrible.”“You said that already.”Sofia jumped slightly, turning her head toward the hallway as Ethan stepped into the room, his movements calm and unhurried like he had actually slept peacefully.She stared at him. “You slept?” she asked, disbelief clear in her voice.Ethan walked toward the kitchen, reaching for a glass of water. “Yes,” he said simply.Sofia blinked. “How?” she demande
53
The room stayed quiet long after the glow from the rings disappeared, but it was not the kind of quiet that felt peaceful or empty. It was the kind of silence that pressed down on everything, heavy and unavoidable, like something had just shifted and there was no way to pretend it had not.Sofia stood near the couch with her arms folded tightly across her chest, her fingers gripping her sleeves like she needed something to hold onto. Her eyes moved between Ethan and Shen Fei, searching for hesitation, for doubt, for anything that suggested this plan might not actually happen.But there was none.Ethan stood by the desk, still and composed, his fingers resting lightly against the surface where the glowing pattern had just been. His gaze was distant, focused on something only he could see, like he was already walking through that place in his mind.Sofia exhaled slowly, trying to steady herself. “Okay,” she said, her voice quieter but still tense, “I just need to hear you say it clearly
52
The room stayed quiet long after the glow from the rings faded, but the silence did not feel empty.It felt final.Sofia stood near the couch, arms folded tightly across her chest, her eyes moving between Ethan and Shen Fei like she was waiting for one of them to say this was all a bad idea, like this was just another one of those moments that sounded intense but would pass if they just gave it time.But no one said that.Because no one believed it.Ethan stood by the desk, his fingers resting lightly against the surface where the glowing pattern had just been, his gaze distant but focused, like he was already somewhere else in his mind, already walking through that place the rings had shown him.Sofia let out a slow breath. “Okay,” she said finally, her voice quieter now but still tense, “I just need to hear you say it clearly, because right now it feels like we are standing at the edge of something really stupid.”Ethan glanced at her. “Say what?”“That you are actually planning to
51
The car moved smoothly through the city, the soft hum of the engine blending with the distant noise of traffic, but inside, the silence felt heavier than anything outside, like the air itself had thickened after what had just happened.Sofia leaned back in her seat, staring up at the ceiling for a long second before letting out a frustrated breath. “Okay, I am sorry, but I cannot just sit here and act like that was normal, because that was not normal in any way, shape, or form,” she said, turning her head toward Ethan. “You just stepped out of a car, got surrounded, and handled it like you were late for a meeting instead of possibly getting attacked.”Ethan did not look at her immediately, his gaze still fixed ahead, his expression calm in a way that felt almost unnatural after everything. “They were not trying to attack me,” he said.Sofia blinked. “Oh, that is supposed to make me feel better? Because it really does not,” she shot back.Shen Fei spoke from the front seat, her tone st
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