— FRIDAY MORNING —
Yunjiao walked in at Jinhao around eight twenty three with Lollipop in her mouth, a pink sling barbie Bag, her Hair loose and a White shirt with short pleated pink skirt Looking like she had slept ten hours and dreamed about absolutely nothing troubling. Which was, of course, a complete lie.
She had slept four hours and spent the other four running everything through her head from seventeen different angles.
But nobody needed to know that. Hawk had spent the night carefully — not chasing Xue Lian directly, but mapping the edges. Who knew the name. Where it appeared in old records. What threads connected to what without pulling on anything that would announce their presence.
So far:Three references in documents that predated her birth.
All connected to an intelligence operation that had been wiped from official records twelve years ago.
All pointing to a woman who had been very powerful and very careful and then very gone.
Whether that woman was her mother—She didn't know yet.
She walked through the main gate. The courtyard did its usual thing. She ignored it.
"Feng Zichen at ten o'clock," Hawk murmured. She didn't look and Kept walking.
Footsteps fell into pace beside her.
"You look different today," Feng Zichen said.
"Good morning to you too," she said.
"Not bad different." He walked beside her with his hands in his pockets, looking straight ahead. "Just different." A pause. "Something happened."
"Many things happen every day. The world is full of events."
"Something happened to you." She glanced at him sideways.
He was looking straight ahead. Expression neutral. The face of someone who wasn't asking so much as stating.
"Sister and I had a nice chat in the garden last night," she said pleasantly. "Very bonding. Very sisterly."
Feng Zichen looked at her.
"Yunjinna doesn't do bonding," he said.
"She's growing as a person."
"Yun Jiao."
"Feng Zichen."
They looked at each other. Two people having a conversation that was also a different conversation. "Be careful," he said.
Just that.
She looked at him for a moment.
This boy who had no reason to say that to her.
Who had said it anyway.
"I'm always careful," she said.
"No." He looked forward again. "You're always prepared. That's different." A pause. "Careful means knowing when not to move."
She looked at his profile.
Something about this boy.
She hadn't decided what yet.
But something.
"General Bao says hello," she said. The corner of his mouth moved.
"Go to class," he said.
She went to class.
——
At 42nd Floor, The report landed on Si Xi's desk at nine AM.
Not from Lin Feng.
From a source that had nothing to do with Jinhao.
One of his intelligence channels. The ones that ran quietly in the background of everything, feeding him information the way rivers fed oceans — constantly, without announcement.
He looked at the report.Three lines.
An old intelligence operation. Twelve years dormant. Showing signs of activity in the last six months.The operation's former head: a woman named Xue Lian.
Declared dead. Possibly not. He read it twice. Set it down. Picked up his coffee. Drank and Set it down.
"Lin Feng," he said.
"Sir."
"Cross reference Xue Lian with the Yun family."
A pause.
"The Yun family sir?"
"Do I have to repeat myself?" His eyes glinting coldly.
"No sir." He shivered with head lowered "Cross referencing now."
Si Xi looked at the city.
He didn't know why he had said Yun family.
He had said it anyway.
Some instincts didn't ask for explanations.
They just moved and his has never failed him.
———
Yunjiao was between classes.Window ledge. Second floor. The same spot she'd eaten chips on Monday. No chips today. She'd forgotten again. Another tragedy.
"Hawk," she murmured.
"Still mapping the edges. Nothing direct yet." A pause. "But Master — the activity around that name has increased in the last twelve hours. Something is moving."
"Moving toward us?"
"Moving in general. Like—" he paused, searching for the right words, "—like someone was sleeping and just got poked."
She looked out the window at the courtyard below. Students crossing. Bags. Coffee. The ordinary Friday energy of people calculating how many hours until the weekend.
"Is there anyone on this campus who wasn't here on Monday."
A pause. Short.Then shorter than she expected:
"Yes," Hawk said.
Her eyes moved slowly across the courtyard.
"One person," Hawk said quietly. "Arrived this morning. No student ID. No staff registration. Sitting in the east courtyard cafe for the last four hours." A pause. "He hasn't ordered anything."
She looked at the courtyard cafe through the window.
Found it.
Corner table. A man. Ordinary-looking. The specific kind of ordinary that took effort. The kind that said: I have been trained to be forgettable. He was looking at his phone. But his phone—Was facing the wrong direction for reading. She looked at him for exactly three seconds.Then she looked away. Picked up her bag. Stood up. she said quietly, walking toward her classroom.
"Take his photo."
"Already done."
"Run it."
"Running." A beat. "Master."
"Mm."
"He's not from Yunjinna's side."
She kept walking. Her footsteps even. Unhurried. The picture of a student heading to her next class with nothing on her mind.
"Whose side is he from," she said.Hawk was quiet for exactly two seconds.
"The name you told me not to chase," he said carefully. She pushed open the classroom door and Sat down. Opened her notebook and Uncapped her pen. Wrote the date at the top of the page.
And thought:So.Yunjinna thought she was feeding her to the wolves. She hadn't moved an inch.
And the wolves came anyway.
She smiled at her notebook.
Interesting.