Some mysteries require a slow simmer.
If she cornered him now, here by the acid pits, he would just double down on the airhead routine. He would panic, or worse, his abyssal defense mechanisms would trigger, and he might fold space and run away.
'He is hiding something massive,' Ji'an concluded, a cold, clinical resolve settling over her turbulent emotions. 'He knows about the Tower. He has trauma tied to it. But his body language... the way his shoulders tensed, the way the light warped... he is terrified of talking about it. He is reluctant. He's protecting a secret, and he's using this golden-retriever persona as a blast-shield.'
She had the clue. She had seen the crack in the armor.
That was enough for today.
Ji'an forced the intense, interrogating glare off her face. She let her shoulders drop, summoning a lazy, arrogant, perfectly natural smirk to her lips.
She reached out and plucked the obsidian skipping stone from Zechuan's palm.
