The Door the Federation Opened

On the last day of the eighth week of the God Trial, Yun Jingheng woke up.

Late at night, Ye Xinglan sat on a low stool by the wall as usual, arms crossed, back against the cool wooden wall, eyes half-closed.

She was used to nights like this. Heaven Dou City slept outside the window, the wind seeping in bit by bit through the cracks, and the Half-Sweet Coffee was as silent as a lamp that never blinked.

The room was so quiet that only Yun Jingheng's soft, long breaths could be heard.

But tonight, that breathing suddenly changed.

A very light urging.

Ye Xinglan opened her eyes.

She didn't turn her head immediately.

She simply sat up straight, her fingers slowly tightening. All she could hear was her own suddenly heavy heartbeat and the faint, rhythmic breathing behind her.

The breathing gradually deepened and became steady, as if walking back little by little from a very distant place.

Then, she heard a very faint gasp.

She finally turned her head.

Yun Jingheng remained seated cross-legged.

But her eyelashes were trembling.

Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, falling directly on his brow bone and bathing half his face in a cold silver light.

His fingers moved first; his right index finger lifted very slightly, as if to confirm that he still possessed this body.

Then he slowly opened his eyes.

Ye Xinglan did not move.

She just looked into those eyes.

It's very bright.

The moon, which had sunk to the bottom of the deep water, finally rose to the surface, its clarity chilling.

A very faint silver light flickered deep within his pupils, turning very slowly before gradually fading away after a few breaths.

He looked at her.

She looked at him.

After fifty-six days of waiting, the silence at this moment suddenly felt unreal.

"Awake?" she asked first, her voice so soft it was almost drowned out by her own heartbeat.

Yun Jingheng did not answer immediately.

He looked down at his hands, slowly spread his fingers open, and then slowly closed them again.

It felt like I was getting to know each finger joint all over again.

He opened his mouth, his throat dry and hoarse, as if scorched by moonlight. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Fifty-six days," Ye Xinglan said.

She stood up, walked over to him, and squatted down.

She reached out and felt his pulse.

When I pressed my fingertip against his skin, it felt cool, but his pulse was steady and strong.

She didn't say anything, but pressed her fingers down even tighter.

After two breaths, he slowly loosened his grip.

"I'm back," Yun Jingheng said.

He spoke very softly, Ye Xinglan didn't respond. She simply got up and went to the table to pour water.

The water is warm.

She handed him the cup. "Drink some water first."

Yun Jingheng took it and slowly drank two sips.

The water slid down my throat, like something that had been dried up for a long time being slowly moistened again.

He held his cup and looked up at the tightly closed window.

The curtains were only slightly ajar, and it was still dark outside.

But dawn was approaching.

"Something happened during these fifty-six days," he said, not as a question.

Ye Xinglan sat back down on the low stool, placed the Stargod Sword across her lap, and spoke slowly and deliberately, "Wulin left the night you entered meditation. He caused a scene in the southern suburbs, drawing away the main force."

"Xie Xie and Yuan En sent back a message from the south saying it's nothing serious. Gu Yuena came by and stayed overnight."

She paused. "The Holy Spirit Cult has come, more than once. They already know they're looking for this place."

Yun Jingheng listened quietly and placed the cup at his feet.

He closed his eyes briefly.

"Half-Sweet Coffee," he suddenly said.

The screen lit up, and a very faint blue light spread from the desktop.

The voice of "Half-Sweet Coffee" followed, Wen Erping: "Welcome back, Master. I have prepared fifty-six days' worth of newsletters for you. Would you like to play them now?"

"Let's get to the point," Yun Jingheng said.

"About 20% of the Federation intranet has been restored, but the main force of the Heaven Dou City garrison is still being diverted to the southern front by Terminal One."

"The Holy Spirit Cult's coverts have been active three times more frequently around the association than last week, and it has been confirmed that there are gray-robed men in contact with the North Suburb Quarry."

"Federation trade route system monitors have appeared near Miss Ye's family's home. There is currently no overlap with the Holy Spirit Cult. Mr. Mu Ye and Zhen Hua have each handled two Federation inspections, but neither found us."

Yun Jingheng listened, he slowly tapped his knee twice with his fingers.

He opened his eyes and looked at Ye Xinglan.

She was looking at him too, her gaze calm, as if she had never panicked in the past fifty-six days.

"Your family..." he said.

Ye Xinglan didn't speak, but simply turned her face slightly away.

Her hand was still on the sword hilt, her knuckles slightly white from gripping it for so long, but she didn't notice.

"Now that I'm awake, there's no need to wait for them to come up." Yun Jingheng stood up.

When he first stood up, his body was still sluggish from sitting for so long, but once he stood up straight, that sluggishness vanished as if it had been illuminated from the inside out by moonlight.

He walked to the window and peeked out through the crack.

Heaven Dou City was still shrouded in Mo Lan, its buildings resembling the iron spines of beasts.

"Half-Sweet Coffee, let's find out the last location where the Holy Spirit Cult's sentries appeared," he said.

"Retrieved. Two people passed by the rice shop on South Street twelve minutes ago."

Yun Jingheng stared at the screen, remaining silent for a moment.

"Draw up the timeline."

He said, his voice not loud but clear, "When was the first time the Holy Spirit Cult's sentries appeared near the association?"

"The twenty-ninth day after the start of the God Trial."

Half-Sweet Coffee replied, "That morning, two people lingered at a tea stall on South Street. At the time, I only recorded it as a minor anomaly, not escalating it to an alert level."

"The twenty-ninth day," Yun Jingheng repeated. "How many days has Tang Wulin been gone?"

"Twenty-nine days."

"Just the night before, the main force of the Federation garrison was lured away by Tang Wulin. The next morning, suspicious individuals appeared." (Half-Sweet Coffee replied, "... the very night before, Tang Wulin lured away the main force of the Federation garrison. The next morning, suspicious individuals appeared.")

Yun Jingheng picked up his water glass, took a sip, and slowly put the glass down.

He walked to the table and looked at the data panel on the screen.

"What a coincidence!"

He said, "No sooner had Wulin pulled the garrison out of the city than the Holy Spirit Cult moved in. There was no intelligence delay; it's as if they had been waiting for this opening."

That was also my judgment at the time.

Ye Xinglan said from the side, "But I didn't dare to move. I was afraid of revealing our position."

"You were right not to move."

Yun Jingheng said, "The fact that they arrived so quickly means they received the information long ago. Tang Wulin's route south wasn't decided on the spur of the moment."

"Only a few people within the association and a handful of us know about this, and within the association, no more than five people know the exact time."

He turned to look at Ye Xinglan: "Who have you suspected?"

"No."

Ye Xinglan answered decisively, "The two seniors wouldn't leak the secret. Tang Wulin is even less likely to. Nobody in the association knows when he's leaving."

"So the problem doesn't lie with the association."

Yun Jingheng nodded. "The problem lies with the Federation. Someone knows Tang Wulin's route and also knows we might be hiding in the Association. Tang Wulin lured the military away and then brought in the Holy Spirit Cult."

He paused, then continued, "The Federation intranet has been restored to 20%, but the Holy Spirit Cult's sentries can still cooperate."

"They didn't use the public internet, nor did they seem to rely on human messengers. There's only one explanation for this efficiency: someone within the Federation government is providing them with communication channels."

"I think so too."

"I've intercepted four shortwave encrypted signals in the past two weeks, on the same frequency as the old Federation military channels, but the content is undecipherable," said Half-Sweet Coffee.

"This does not conform to the encryption format of Federation military communications; it's more like someone handed the device over to an external force."

"That makes sense," Yun Jingheng said.

He switched the screen to the map of Heaven Dou City and circled the North Suburb Quarry.

The location of the red soil.

"What's near the quarry?" he asked.

"Three abandoned mine shafts, an unused underground warehouse complex, and a freight railway track to the north."

"Two months ago, the Federation Trade Route System designated it as a temporary supply depot, but it was only used for ten days before being shut down," said Half-Sweet Coffee.

"Trade Route System"

Yun Jingheng looked up, "The same system used to monitor the Ye Family."

"Yes."

Half-Sweet Coffee said, "Although the people at the quarry and near the Ye Family had no direct contact, they were all connected to one department: the Eastern Frontier Trade Route Inspection Bureau."

Yun Jingheng remained silent.

He walked up to Ye Xinglan and gently brushed a strand of her hair aside.

"When did the surveillance of your family begin?" he asked.

"About two weeks ago," Ye Xinglan said.

"The timing of their increased activities near the association highly overlaps with that of the Holy Spirit Cult," Yun Jingheng said.

He paused for a few seconds, then said, "Two possibilities."

"First, they're monitoring the Ye Family because of your identity, trying to force you out. Second, someone is using the Trade Route Inspection Bureau to bring the Ye Family and the association into the same net."

Ye Xinglan's hand tightened slightly, but she didn't reply.

"Regardless of the type," Yun Jingheng looked at her, "Your parents are just being watched right now, it hasn't reached the point where they're being targeted."

"Otherwise, those people wouldn't still be observing from the outside. They're waiting too, waiting for me to appear."

He walked to the chair and sat down.

The blue light from the computer screen shone on his face.

He didn't seem to be in a hurry, but his voice was getting faster and faster.

"If I jump out of the window now, I'll be caught red-handed. That's exactly what the Holy Spirit Cult wants."

He said, "So I'm not jumping out of the window. I'm going down the hallway and out the front door."

Ye Xinglan frowned. "Are you serious?"

"They want to confirm whether I'm dead or not."

Yun Jingheng said calmly, "Then I also want to confirm one thing: who exactly opened the door for them from within the Federation?"

He looked up. "Half-Sweet Coffee, activate Level 3 signal monitoring. For the next 48 hours, intercept all encrypted shortwave signals emitted from the vicinity of the association. I need to know where these signals ultimately end up."

"It's already in progress," said Half-Sweet Coffee.