Before Dawn
Shen Mo's new message arrived promptly early on the third day.
When the message reached the stone house through Mu Shuang's channels, it was tucked inside a roll of newly hunted animal hide. Mu Shuang's knuckles were still stained with blood as she untied the leather straps and shook out the scroll. The words on the scroll were shorter than before, without a single wasted word. "The Reverse Fusion Device completed its full-load test last night. This morning, three new living beings were transferred from the processing area to the core area, one of whom is an adult Soul Master of the Light-Dark hybrid type."
As Long Tian rolled the paper up in the furnace to burn, flames rose from the edge, licking the last few words of ink to ash. Everyone in the room watched him burn the paper from their seats. Shen Mo was the first to speak, "After the full-load test, the equipment entered a stable operating period. From now on, they will continue to receive new living beings. Every additional day of operation means another batch of people will be sent to the core area."
Yu Jin turned around from the doorway, leaning against the doorframe and looking into the room. "How long can our Closed Circuit hold?"
"I did nine laps last night, which took almost half an hour." Long Tian dusted off his hands and stood up. "If I try again in two days, I should be able to do more than twelve laps. But even twelve laps, I can't hold out by just colliding head-on with Meng Changyuan's nine rings."
"So we can't confront them head-on." Long Tieshan placed the thin charcoal stick in his hand on the edge of the map on the table, "And split it in two. One end will distract Meng Changyuan and his guards, while the other end will go into the ventilation duct to dismantle the machine."
Shen Mo looked up at Long Tieshan, their eyes meeting briefly in the firelight. Shen Mo didn't object, only asking, "Who will distract Meng Changyuan?"
Long Tieshan didn't answer the question. He picked up the charcoal stick again and drew a circle on the map around the outer perimeter of the northern camp, then looked up at Shen Mo: "There's a dedicated supply route outside the north wall of the camp, used to transport fuel to equipment in the core area. Those who use that route have a short break during their shift change on Thursday nights. Can you get a specific timetable?"
Shen Mo didn't hesitate. "Yes. I can get it to you before the night after tomorrow."
The division of labor was finalized over the next half day. Long Tieshan and Shen Mo were responsible for diverting Meng Changyuan's attention—using the shift change at the North Wall supply passage to create a large enough commotion to draw the camp's attention and Meng Changyuan's own attention away for at least 35 minutes. Mu Shuang led Long Tian and Yu Jin through the ventilation ducts to the back of the core equipment room, while Shen Qiu stayed on the perimeter to provide signal support. Yu Jin was responsible for using the source to interfere with the core circuit of the Reverse Fusion Device, and Long Tian used the key card to break through the level six restriction and enter the main body of the equipment room.
"The window of opportunity to dismantle the machine is at most half a cup of tea." Mu Shuang drew her short blade and ran it across the whetstone, the cold gleam reflecting in her eyes. "After Meng Changyuan is lured away, eight to ten guards will remain to watch the main building. We can bypass the guards and go through the ventilation ducts; it will only take a quarter of an hour to reach the back of the equipment room. Dismantling the machine will take half a cup of tea, and withdrawing will take another quarter of an hour. The total will not exceed three quarters of an hour—the time Tie Shan spent holding off Meng Changyuan was also three quarters of an hour."
"If Meng Changyuan turns back in a quarter of an hour, how should we retreat?" Yu Jin asked.
Mu Shuang sheathed her short blade and stood up. "Back at the back of the equipment room, we retreated to the ventilation shaft. There, an abandoned smoke extraction shaft led to the wasteland outside the north wall. Shen Qiu used a signal flare to lure us out of the shaft from that location, after which we dispersed and retreated into the wilderness. There are pre-planned hiding spots in the direction of the Heavenly Wolf Mountain Range."
Long Tian pulled the key card out of his clothes and coated it with the aura of the Origin Return Pearl. The runes on the card lit up briefly and then dimmed. As he put it away, he casually touched the corner of the token and the soft silk fabric with his fingers to confirm that all three items were in their original positions.
That night, he practiced the Closed Circuit with Yu Jin as usual. The two sat facing each other in the open space in front of the house. When their palms met, the Origin Return Pearl and the core operated simultaneously. The combined power was drawn from the dantian, bypassing three bends along the pivots on both sides of the body and returning to the confluence. Tonight, he added an extra directional guidance—at the moment the circuit closed, he separated a wisp of the Origin Return Pearl's aura and injected it into the depths of Yu Jin's core. The Third Ring embryo that was brewing in Yu Jin's core suddenly lit up the moment it was touched by that wisp of gray-white light, like a seed that had been moistened by spring rain pushing open a thin layer of soil above its head. Yu Jin felt that the outline of the third ring was almost twice as clear as before.
"Again." His voice was steady in the night wind.
The two repeated the infusion three times until the third ring on the surface of Yu Jin's dantian core condensed from a hazy mist into a light-colored halo with substantial thickness before they stopped. As Yu Jin withdrew his palm, he looked down at his chest and could see a very faint grayish-white light appearing briefly under his skin through his clothes before disappearing.
"The Third Ring is almost complete." He looked up at Long Tian, the golden-black Yu Jin in his eyes shining brighter than before. "It should stabilize before we dismantle the machine the day after tomorrow."
Long Tian nodded. When the two stood up from the open space, Yu Jin's steps were lighter than usual, as if an extra layer of support was helping him walk. He walked to the stream and squatted down to wash his face. When he bent over, his knees bent slightly more smoothly than before, and the lines of his shoulders were no longer the slight hunch caused by long-term hunching. He looked at his reflection in the water, reached out and brushed away the ripples of moonlight, and when he stood up, he glanced back in the direction of the stone house. The fire in the stove inside the house cast a warm yellow glow through the crack in the door, spreading out and then receding on the open space.
Long Tian stood at the other end of the open space, watching him. The night wind blew the stray hairs on Long Tian's forehead, partially obscuring his eyelashes. He didn't brush the hair away, but simply leaned against the tree trunk, looking at the Yu Jin against the moonlight, as if watching something that had just sprouted from the ground slowly being bathed in light and revealing its true colors.
When Long Tian returned to the stone house, everyone else had already retired for the night. He quietly sat down on the bed by the hearth, taking out the three items from his robe and placing them flat on his lap—a token, a silk cloth, and a key card. The sword star emblem on the gray iron surface gleamed slightly in the afterglow of the firelight; the silk cloth, as thin as a cicada's wing, revealed the grain of the wood on the table; and the gray runes on the key card lay dormant in the firelight. He carefully put them back in their places, lay down, and gazed at the old wooden beams on the stone roof, blackened by decades of smoke. The grain of the beams, covered layer by layer by soot, revealed new cuts, like a tree that had been sawed but was still breathing.
When he closed his eyes, he felt the Origin Return Pearl in his dantian slowly rotating on its own. The residual energy from the Closed Circuit dissipated slowly in his meridians, wandering in circles along the path marked on the silk, like a stream that had just learned to find its way, groping its way into the main river downstream. He listened to the sound of the mountain stream flowing outside and the soft sound of the charcoal fire slowly collapsing in the stove. His breathing gradually became deeper and more steady. In that half-asleep interval, he clearly felt the end of the golden ice crack on the surface of the Origin Return Pearl curl upwards slightly in a new shallow arc, like a thin corner of a book being turned.
The day after tomorrow evening, he couldn't explain why this specific time kept popping into his mind. Perhaps it was the lingering warmth of the stove, perhaps it was the rhythm of the mountain stream, or perhaps it was just the last ripple of the Closed Circuit deep within his body gently tapping his ribs before sleepiness crept in.
The day after tomorrow evening.
He left this time on his pillow, letting it slowly sink to the bottom in the darkness, and then slipped into sleep along with the ceaseless sound of flowing water outside.