Recommendation Tickets and Monthly Tickets, please.
Five chapters today (1/5)
Glass Gas Lamps hung from the crossbars, their flames enclosed by specially made glass shades. They burned a fuel refined from a gas mixture of luminous moss spores; the flames were almost colorless, but dazzlingly bright and exceptionally steady.
Dust in the warehouse courtyard swirled through the beams cast by the Glass Gas Lamps as An Mingyuan gently placed a text-filled form onto the stack of papers.
Zhu Wuneng shouted for the last few children to line up, his voice still booming, but carrying the easy relief of a job finished.
Chen Xiaojun's gaze swept over the courtyard before him, ruined yet already showing faint signs of life, then over each young face—some frightened, some curious, some carrying a barely perceptible trace of hope.
He took the stack of papers from Gu Yuanchao, papers that carried the fates of over a hundred people, and his fingertips brushed across the pale sheets.
He did not read quickly. His eyes were calm and still, as though he were inspecting a silent field.
A moment later, he gently set the entire stack of documents back on the table. It made a faint sound, almost too soft to hear, yet it seemed to press the mute button on the entire courtyard.
Every gaze, even those of Chen Mu and Gu Yuanchao standing nearby with arms folded, focused on him.
He rose to his feet, his figure drawn somewhat long beneath the setting sun.
He released no deliberate pressure, but the composure born of bloodline and status made even the air seem a little thicker.
"Where the Chen Clan stands," he said, his clear voice carrying a gentle magnetism, "darkness stops."
Those few short words fell like an invisible boundary marker crashing down.
He