Glimmer

Xiang Yi's command was like a stone cast into stagnant water, stirring silent ripples through the frozen air.

"This old man accepts the order!" Before Guiguzi had finished speaking, his form had already dissolved into a phantom. As his sleeves billowed, countless Xuan Weizi surged out like living mist, seeping through walls and floors in an instant and spreading across the entire neighborhood. [Energy Points -150!]

An invisible force field spread across the ground like spilled mercury. The neon glow outside the windows warped and softened almost imperceptibly. Distant traffic and barking dogs seemed muffled by a thick pane of glass, becoming indistinct. The subconscious suggestion that "there is nothing unusual here" silently enveloped the entire neighborhood like a resilient spiderweb.

["Cognitive Interference" barrier strength increased to Lv2! Coverage range: 500-meter radius!]

["Anti-Energy/Biological Detection Barrier" activated! Cost: 2 points/hour (continuous)]

The cold system prompts flashed through Xiang Yi's throbbing mind. He did not care about the cost. Safety was the only bottom line right now.

"My lord..." Lanling King struggled to prop himself up. The ominous dark gold deep in his right shoulder shifted with his movement, bringing piercing pain and a strange sense of weakness. He dropped to one knee, his left hand gripping the icy floor so tightly that his knuckles turned white. The loose strands of hair on his forehead were soaked through with sweat once more. Every feeble attempt felt like a blade scraping across Xiang Yi's heart.

"Don't move!" Xiang Yi's voice was stern beyond dispute, yet the last note carried an almost imperceptible tremor. Fighting back dizziness and nausea, he swept his gaze over the two crystals on the floor—one bore the Ten Rings imprint on its base, its glow utterly lifeless; the other was pure and translucent, with a faint blue light flowing steadily within.

Without hesitation, he grabbed the pure crystal and shoved it into Lanling King's uninjured left hand. "Grip it tight! Try guiding the gentlest energy, little by little, to wash over the wound! Remember, wrap it around it! Don't strike it!" His voice was rushed, carrying the resolve of someone staking everything on one desperate gamble.

Lanling King's bloodshot eyes immediately locked onto the crystal. He suppressed the agony and the bone-clinging weakness emanating from the dark gold as he sank his will into it. A stream of pure, cool energy cautiously traveled down the meridians of his left arm, probing toward the depths of the contaminated flesh.

"Urgh—!" Lanling King's body jolted violently! The instant the pure blue light touched the dark golden strands, it was like cold water dripping into boiling oil! Those strands instantly transformed into living venomous snakes, madly coiling around and devouring the incoming blue energy! With every swallow, the dark gold grew stronger, while Lanling King's face turned a shade paler. The weakness that seeped into his bones drowned him like a rising tide! The pride of a top assassin shattered inch by inch before this absolute corrosive force, and a frustration and helplessness he had never known before—the feeling of a blade turning on its master—closed around his throat.

"Stop!" Xiang Yi's pupils contracted sharply as he barked the order. This pure energy was not an antidote—it was food for that bizarre power!

Lanling King immediately cut off the flow. His rough breathing sounded like a broken bellows, and even the light of the crystal in his hand dimmed slightly. He looked at Xiang Yi, defeat and fear flashing through his eyes.

At that moment, Guiguzi's phantom condensed once more, his expression grim as iron. "My lord, the barrier has been secured. However... the hounds' reach has already extended here!"

With a sweep of his sleeve, Xuan Weizi particles formed an aerial projection. A faint green beam of energy, nearly invisible to the naked eye, shot out from somewhere in the city center like a precise venomous snake, heading straight for the western district where the Xiang family villa stood!

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s scan! It had arrived!

Xiang Yi's breath stopped instantly, his fingertips digging deeply into his palms. He stared fixedly at the beam's trajectory.

The instant the beam was about to touch the invisible barrier around the villa—

Bzz!

Space warped and rippled almost imperceptibly, like heat haze rising from scorching pavement! The deadly beam seemed to strike a perfectly smooth mirror, abruptly making a near ninety-degree turn! The venomous snake that had been locked onto the villa was forcibly redirected toward the completely opposite southern district!

["Anti-Energy Detection Barrier" has taken effect! Scan trajectory successfully diverted!]

The tension in Xiang Yi's nerves abruptly eased, though cold sweat had already soaked his back. They had fooled them for now!

But Guiguzi's expression only darkened further. "My lord, this is merely a temporary measure. The hounds' tools are sophisticated; they will surely grow suspicious. Their subsequent scans will only become more frequent and more thorough! And..." His gaze sharpened like a blade. "The energy signature of the scanning source is of the same origin as the one that spied on us at the harbor! There must be someone highly skilled in this field behind it! This is no ordinary matter!"

Someone highly skilled in this field? Maria Hill? Or Fitz and Simmons? S.H.I.E.L.D.'s technological fangs had already been bared! There would be no second stroke of luck!

"We have to move faster!" Xiang Yi gritted his teeth, his gaze passing between the dark gold in Lanling King's shoulder and the Ten Rings crystal. Pressure from three sides ground against his nerves like millstones. Intelligence! Core intelligence!

"Mr. Guiguzi, the Zhang family was silenced, and the ashes are still warm. There must be traces of spatial ripples!" Xiang Yi's voice was cold as a blade, carrying the frenzied determination of someone digging forward in a desperate situation. "Residual energy? Spatial disturbances? Even the most insignificant speck of dust? Search every inch!"

A sharp light flared in Guiguzi's eyes. "All things between heaven and earth leave their traces! Even a bird flying through the sky leaves the trace of its feathers! This old man shall scour the finest dust and trace the source of the ripples! I will overlook not even a single thread or clue!" His phantom dispersed, leaving behind only a faint ripple of particles.

The room fell deathly silent. Outside, the neon lights were bizarre and dazzling, yet they could not drive away the oppressive darkness or the biting danger.

Xiang Yi slowly crouched down and, ignoring the bloodstains, sat cross-legged in front of Lanling King. He picked up the pure crystal and pressed it against his forehead. Cool, spring-like energy slowly nourished his exhausted mental strength.

[Mental strength recovering: 5/170... 6/170... (slow)]

"My lord..." Lanling King looked at Xiang Yi's pale face and the blood at his temple. His hoarse voice was filled with bottomless guilt and helplessness. "This subordinate... is incompetent... and has instead become a burden..." The king of shadows who had once taken lives without a sound had now become a broken shield that required his young lord to protect him with his life. That realization hurt more than the wound itself.

"Shut up." Xiang Yi's voice was soft, yet it weighed as heavily as a thousand tons. He closed his eyes, drawing in the faint clarity. "The wound will be cured. The power of the Ten Rings... must have a nemesis. First, survive." He opened his eyes, and within them lay a cold abyss that seemed ready to swallow everything. "Then drag out whatever is hiding behind the curtain!"

He picked up the Ten Rings crystal and rubbed the cold imprint on its base with his thumb. The pattern beneath his fingertip seemed... to pulse faintly in time with his heartbeat? A strange feeling of being watched crawled up his spine like a poisonous insect.

"System! Analyze the energy composition of the imprint! Compare it against the database!" His mental command was urgent.

[Command confirmed. Analyzing energy imprint "Ten Rings"...]

[Warning: Energy composition is abnormally complex and contains multiple unknown high-dimensional energy entanglement states!]

[Preliminary analysis: Contains corrosive properties including "space," "mental erosion," and "material enhancement"!]

[Database comparison: 87.3% match with energy descriptions related to the "Ten Rings Syndicate" in the host's memory fragments! Danger level: Destruction-class!]

[Weak "beacon" characteristics detected! This imprint possesses passive positioning and information relay functions! Immediate isolation or destruction of the carrier is recommended!]

A beacon?! Passive positioning?!

Xiang Yi's pupils shrank to pinpoints! A soul-freezing chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head! A trap! A chain of deadly traps, linked one after another! The Hand's smuggling operation had been bait, and the crystal was a locator! The Zhang family's extermination had cut off the trail! S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intervention had muddied the waters! Whoever obtained the crystal, so long as they activated or touched it, would expose themselves to the Ten Rings Syndicate's hunting sight! Every one of them had become a piece waiting to be slaughtered on this vast chessboard!

"Mr. Guiguzi!!" Through their mental link, Xiang Yi's will was nearly a roar. "The crystal is a beacon! Maximum-strength shielding! Immediately!!" At the same time, as though throwing away a red-hot branding iron, he viciously stuffed the crystal into the bottom drawer of the desk, layering lead plates and heavy books over it!

Only after doing all that did the weakness born of lingering fear crash over him. He looked at his trembling hand, then his gaze finally locked onto Lanling King's shoulder—the dark golden imprint that flickered in the gloom and slowly writhed. This was not merely a wound... It was very likely a living beacon buried deep in his flesh, one even more deadly and more concealed! The shadow of the Ten Rings Syndicate had already burrowed into the heart of their strongest fortress like a parasite clinging to bone!

"We..." Xiang Yi's voice was heavy and cold, as though steeped in the boundless darkness outside the window. "...have fallen into the stomach of the abyss, Shadow Guard."

His gaze lingered for a moment on the dark golden imprint pulsing like a living thing on Lanling King's shoulder, filled with worry and the resolve to carve it out at any cost. The night was thick as ink. The crisis had only just torn open one truly hideous corner of itself.