The Prime Minister's Mansion

Knock, knock, knock.

Di'an, inner courtyard of the Prime Minister's Mansion.

A gentle knocking drifted away on the wind.

After a long silence, a steady middle-aged man's voice finally came from within, devoid of any emotional fluctuation:

"Come in."

Clutching the news from the Western Desert tightly in his hand, Xu Changge pushed open the door and entered the instant he heard the voice.

The study was quiet. Sunlight streamed in, making the motes of dust visible. Incense smoke curled from a low table in the corner. The middle-aged man in black robes sat behind his desk with lowered eyes, reviewing memorials as he spoke slowly:

"What is it?"

Xu Changge walked up to the desk, placed the secret letter he had been clutching onto its surface, and said softly:

"There is news from the Western Desert."

"..."

At those words, Xu Yinhe's brush halted abruptly as he reviewed the memorial. A blot of ink immediately spread across the page beneath its tip, yet he neither raised his eyes nor reached for the letter.

A breath later, his brush began moving again, but the study had suddenly fallen deathly silent.

Xu Yinhe did not ask any questions. He continued reviewing the memorial with his eyes lowered, but upon closer inspection, the characters beneath his brush had already bitten through the paper, leaving faint indentations in the desk below.

Seeing this, Xu Changge gently lowered his gaze.

It had already been two days since his uncle had used the Void Ring to teleport away. There had been no news for two days. For a great city equipped with Communication Crystals, that was far too long.

His father was not refusing to read it, nor was he refusing to ask.

He simply did not dare.

This Prime Minister who held power over