The reinforced steel door closed with a muted click behind them.
The room wasn't large, nor did it feel oppressive. A long wooden table occupied the centre, polished smooth by years of use rather than decoration. Shelves lined one wall, each filled with carefully catalogued files instead of books. On another stood a landscape painting in ink, mountains disappearing into mist. Nothing inside the room was extravagant, yet nothing seemed placed without purpose.
A pot of freshly brewed tea rested in the middle of the table. Thin streams of steam curled lazily into the air. Beside it sat two small plates of pastries and preserved fruits.
Factor IV had always believed serious conversations deserved proper hospitality.
Chūn Lěng Fēng noticed the food before anything else. Without anyone telling him where to sit, he quietly pulled out the chair beside Violet and lowered himself into it.
It wasn't a conscious decision. Among everyone present, she was the only person he truly knew.
A member of staff entered silently, poured tea into three porcelain cups, bowed slightly, then withdrew without interrupting the atmosphere.
The door closed once more.
Silence settled. Not the kind that made one uncomfortable.
But a silence between two people who had already begun measuring each other long before they met.
Chūn Lěng Fēng looked from Violet to the man seated opposite them.
Neither spoke. Neither looked away.
He reached toward one of the pastries. Halfway there, he paused.
He glanced sideways at Violet. She remained motionless.
He quietly withdrew his hand.
...'Maybe later'.
Back at the Chūn Clan, whenever elders looked at each other this long, someone usually ended up kneeling before sunset.
He suddenly wasn't hungry anymore.
Several more seconds passed.
Then Ān Tiān Kuò smiled. Not broadly but just enough to soften the quiet.
"So."
His voice carried the steadiness of someone accustomed to waiting for answers.
"It seems history wasn't exaggerating after all."
Violet remained silent. She simply watched him.
Ān Tiān Kuò rested one hand lightly upon the table.
"For over thirteen centuries, countless records have attempted to explain the Time & Space Arm... They never agree."
His fingers tapped the tabletop once.
"Each generation leaves behind another observation."
"Another theory."
"Another unanswered question."
"But... never the complete picture."
His gaze settled on Violet.
"Only two confirmed wielders have appeared over the past thirteen centuries. The records surrounding them remain fragmented."
"Some believed the Time & Space Fate governed movement."M Others argued it governed causality."
He paused.
"There were scholars who insisted it wasn't a Arm at all. They believed it was humanity's closest encounter with creation itself besides the Void Arm."
The room grew quieter. Even Chūn Lěng Fēng stopped shifting in his seat.
Ān Tiān Kuò continued,
"The ability to influence what exists..."
"...and perhaps what never should have existed."
Chūn Lěng Fēng frowned.
He understood Time. He understood Distance.
Space...
Somewhat.
But...
Creation?
His thoughts tangled immediately.
...How does that work?
Is he saying someone can make things from nothing?
Wouldn't everyone just make food?
His brows drew together until they almost met.
Finally he looked at Violet.
"...I don't get it."
She turned slightly.
"You don't need to."
"...Oh."
He nodded.
"...Alright."
The answer somehow satisfied him.
Ān Tiān Kuò couldn't help smiling.
"You've brought someone refreshingly honest."
"He usually says whatever comes to mind," Violet replied.
"I noticed."
Chūn Lěng Fēng scratched the back of his neck.
"...Is that bad?"
"It depends."
"...On what?"
"Who you're talking to."
"...Oh."
He considered that carefully.
Maybe... I should talk less.
The thought survived all of three seconds.
Ān Tiān Kuò looked back toward Violet.
"The records have made many predictions. They speak of possibilities. They speak of potential. But history rarely tells us what those people themselves believed."
His voice slowed.
"So tell me.. What does the newest generation think?"
Again, Violet didn't answer immediately.
She lowered her eyes to the cup before her. The tea was still steaming.
Only after several quiet breaths did she finally speak.
"I don't know."
The honesty of the answer caught Chūn Lěng Fēng off guard.
He had expected certainty... Not uncertainty.
Violet lifted her gaze again.
"But I can promise you one thing."
"When this generation ends..."
"...the records will need to be rewritten."
Ān Tiān Kuò laughed softly. There was genuine satisfaction in it.
"I was hoping you'd say that."
He reached for his teacup.
"I've heard you've been staying with the Yè family's heir."
Violet nodded.
"Mm."
"And ET has begun moving."
Violet nods.
"They have."
"They've become more aggressive."
"They no longer wait for gifted individuals to reveal themselves."
"They search first."
"They observe."
"And once they identify someone useful..."
"They don't stop."
Ān Tiān Kuò's expression hardened slightly.
"Every talent they acquire strengthens them."
"Every talent they lose weakens everyone else."
He took another sip of tea.
"I also heard about the hacker."
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Xiao Bái sounded genuinely disappointed. He believed another five minutes would've convinced him."
"He was wrong."
"So he admitted."
The smile remained.
"He complained about it for three days."
Chūn Lěng Fēng blinked.
"...Who's Xiao Bái?"
"Ān Bái."
"...He has a nickname?"
"Everyone does."
His eyes brightened immediately.
"...Can I have one?"
"No."
The reply came without hesitation.
"..."
"...You answered very quickly."
Ān Tiān Kuò quietly laughed into his tea.
The warmth faded from his expression as naturally as clouds covering sunlight.
"Our doors remain open. But they are never locked."
He folded his hands together.
"Unity through forced submission doesn't equal loyalty."
The words settled heavily inside the room.
"I've watched too many organisations mistake obedience for trust. They are not the same."
Violet gave a slight nod.
"That's why Factor IV still stands."
"And why ET continues to grow."
Neither statement contradicted the other.
Both were true. That was precisely the problem.
Ān Tiān Kuò exhaled slowly.
"ET has already become a menace. They've abandoned restraint."
"Yet people continue following them."
"Some seek power... Some seek protection... And some simply convince themselves the ends justify the means."
For the first time since they entered, irritation crept into his voice.
"Every year they leave behind another family. Another ruined life. Another child who should never have become part of their ambitions."
The room fell silent again.
Nobody interrupted him.
His attention shifted at last.
He looked directly at Chūn Lěng Fēng.
"And who might this young man be?"
Chūn Lěng Fēng instinctively straightened his back.
Before he could answer—
Violet spoke.
"This is Chūn Lěng Fēng. A member of the Chūn Clan."
His head snapped toward her.
"...You didn't have to tell him that."
"I know."
"Then why did you?"
"He would've asked."
"..."
"...Fair."
Ān Tiān Kuò's eyes changed. But not colder.
Sharper.
"The Chūn Clan..."
He repeated the name quietly.
"I've spent years reading about it. It has always existed on the edge of history. A renowned clan... A hidden one.."
"..There are records.. But very few eyewitnesses. Those born there seldom leave."
His gaze rested steadily upon Chūn Lěng Fēng.
"And yet... One now sits before me."
Chūn Lěng Fēng suddenly became painfully aware of the teacup in his hands.
"...Is that... bad?"
Ān Tiān Kuò smiled.
"No. But it tells me something."
"What?"
"The world is beginning to move."
He looked once toward Violet. Then back at Chūn Lěng Fēng.
"And history..."
"...is struggling to keep pace."
No one spoke after that.
The tea had begun to cool.
Outside the reinforced room, Factor IV continued its ordinary work as though nothing had changed.
Inside...
Three people sat quietly around a wooden table.
One represented a future no record had ever captured.
One carried a past that had almost vanished from the world.
And one had spent his entire life waiting for the day those two paths would finally cross.
The chapter ended there.
The conversation had only just begun.