Void Veins: The Forbidden Ascension

Chapter 13. The Blood Report

Lin Ye breathed out—for the first time since dawn. His body was weary, yet not with physical exhaustion, but the mental fatigue of maintaining unwavering vigilance. Deep within his chest, the black jade throbbed with a calmer rhythm. Mo Yuan had said nothing about the ambush earlier. But Lin Ye could feel his silent assessment: You passed. Barely.

As he turned to leave, his gaze caught something in the corner of the room—a faint mark upon the wall, nearly invisible, drawn in faded ink. A cleaved crescent moon, identical to his own identity token. Beneath it lay a single number: 7.

Seven. What did it mean? The seventh member? The seventh mission? Or… the number of those who had failed before on similar assignments?

Lin Ye stared at the symbol for several moments, then turned and vanished down the bookstore’s corridor. Questions would have to wait. For now, something far more pressing remained: reporting his mission success to Shen Kui. And perhaps finding out why a rogue assassin had tried to intercept a package meant to be known only to the network.

Outside, the sun began to rise, its light piercing the morning mist. But for the Shadow of the Abyss, a new day brought no promise of hope. It was merely the start of the next game—and this time, he did not yet fully understand the rules.

Rain began to fall over Qinghe City, turning street dust into slick mud. Lin Ye did not return to Safe House Gamma. It was far too exposed after the ambush. If there was a traitor within the network, safe houses would be the very first places they checked.

He took a winding route, crossing the fish-market rooftops thick with briny stench, toward an old brothel in the Red District. Here, the din and cheap perfume offered the finest of disguises. Mo Yuan remained quiet inside his chest, yet his wariness pricked like a fine thorn along Lin Ye’s nerves.

“Shen Kui waits at the Birdcage,” Mo Yuan whispered suddenly. “Do not use the front entrance. Enter through the wastewater drain behind the kitchens. The stench will mask your qi signature.”

Lin Ye gave a faint nod. He knew Shen Kui never gave instructions without cause. The drain meant Shen Kui had already detected watchers at their usual meeting spot.

Half an hour later, Lin Ye emerged from the subterranean gloom, damp and soiled but sharp-eyed. He stood in the cellar of a quiet teahouse. Shen Kui sat there, brewing tea with an unsettling calm. Spread before him was a map of Qinghe City marked with red pins.

“You are three minutes late,” Shen Kui said without turning.

“Three pursuers. Silent Wind Step technique,” Lin Ye replied curtly, drying his hair with a coarse cloth scavenged from the corner. “Not orthodox sect members. Rogue cultivators—well-trained.”

Shen Kui finally turned to face him. His eyes were aged, yet keen as a hawk’s. “The number seven. What does it mean to you?”

“I do not know. But I am certain it is no coincidence.”

Shen Kui sighed, then pushed a scroll across the table toward him. “A list of names. Seven people. All former agents of the Shadow of the Abyss who vanished over the last six months. Every one of them disappeared after receiving an assignment from Merchant Chen.”

Lin Ye’s blood ran cold. This morning’s mission… it had never been a simple delivery. It was a survival test. And he might be the only one left alive from this group of seven.

He unrolled the parchment. The names were unfamiliar—save one: Li Wei. His first mentor within the network; the man who had taught him to breathe beneath the waves and how to cloak a killer’s aura. If Li Wei was gone, then the network was far more compromised than they had feared.

“Chen knows,” Lin Ye murmured. “He sent us into a trap.”

“Or Chen is also a pawn,” Shen Kui countered. “Merchant Chen is merely a mid-level go-between. He has no access to high-tier intelligence. Someone above him—on the Shadow Council—is cleansing the ranks. The number seven is their signature.”

Lin Ye clenched his fists. The black jade pulsed fast, echoing his anger. “They used you as bait,” Mo Yuan hissed. “And now you are the only lure still breathing. They will come to make sure the job is finished.”

“What comes next?” Lin Ye asked.

“We cannot remain in Qinghe,” Shen Kui said, standing and folding his map. “Your identity as the Shadow of the Abyss is compromised. You must become a ghost once more. Erase every trace. Burn your token.”

Lin Ye withdrew his cleaved-crescent metal token from his pocket. It felt cold in his hand—a symbol of sworn loyalty that now tasted like bitter irony. He cast it into the small brazier in the corner. Flames licked at the metal, yet it did not melt easily.

“Meanwhile,” Shen Kui continued, “I have another assignment. Not for the network—for you. A formation master named Master Gu lives on the city’s outskirts. He once served the clan that devised the nullification barrier you encountered this morning. Find him. Before they do.”

“A suicide mission,” Lin Ye said flatly.

“Your life became a suicide mission the moment you accepted that jade, boy,” Shen Kui replied, a thin smile touching his lips but never reaching his eyes.