"Please do."
Han Qing looked between them.
"Are you always like this?"
"Yes."
"Even when a city might collapse?"
Su Yubing answered, "Especially then."
Mo Yuxin took her hand.
"If everything around us becomes chaotic, at least I know where I belong."
Su Yubing's eyes softened.
"With me."
"With you."
They walked on.
Behind them, another formation node broke.
This time the city itself seemed to exhale.
The pressure weakened.
People began finding paths out of the central streets.
But beneath the city, something answered.
A low rumble rolled through the ground.
The sea moved again.
One wave struck the outer wall.
Then another.
Mo Yuxin looked back.
Far away, beyond the harbor, the black ship had disappeared.
But she could still feel it.
Not the ship itself.
The presence inside it.
Something was waiting.
Something that had been waiting for a very long time.
Su Yubing squeezed her hand.
"Ready?"
Mo Yuxin nodded.
"Yes."
