The elevator doors hissed shut, cutting off the city's roar.
Joey's scuffed sneakers sank into white marble. The room was a cathedral of glass, hovering over a skyline she usually viewed from a bus window.
Expensive silence filled the air. No mismatched socks. No cardboard noodle cups. Just black furniture and the hum of an invisible cooling system.
Xingcheng stood by the window. His "BOB" shirt was a rag—shredded, soot-stained, and stiff with drying blood. He didn't slouch anymore. He stood tall, looking out over the grid of lights he controlled.
"This isn't a rewards program," Joey said. Her voice echoed, thin and hollow. "There are no 'loyalty points' for a place this big."
He turned. The blue light of the city sharpened the edge of his jaw. The car wash intern was dead.
"No," he said.
"You're not homeless. You didn't lose your wallet." Joey clutched the hem of her cardigan, her knuckles white. "You were watching me. Like a bug under glass."
Xingcheng walked toward her, his boots snapping against the marble.
"My name is Lu Xingcheng. And this place... is a cage. I didn't choose to be found by you, Joey. But I chose to stay."
Joey stepped back, her heel catching on a rug that cost more than her nursing tuition. Tears hit her cheeks, hot and stinging.
"You lied every time you spoke," she said, her voice cracking. "You sat at my table and ate my last sandwich. I skipped lunch for three days so you could have a hot meal. You let me pin a Powerpuff Girls patch on a jacket that costs more than my life. Were you laughing the whole time?"
"I wasn't laughing." Xingcheng's face tightened.
He took another step, hand reaching out before he caught himself.
"If I'd told you who I was, the Ghost Clan would have burned your building down just to see what you knew. I was keeping the monsters away."
"No!" Joey stepped into his space, her fist balled up. "You were using me. I was your vacation. You wanted to see how the 'little people' lived—if my two-dollar tea tasted better than your wine. You played house while I thought I was saving someone."
Xingcheng flinched as if he'd been hit. He looked at his hands, then at her.
"You were the only thing in this city without a price tag. I stayed because I forgot what it felt like to be human until I saw you."
Joey shook her head, backing toward the elevator.
"I don't care. I want my drafty room and my stickers. I want a life where nobody shoots at the pizza."
She spun to run, but the doors slid open. Two men in tactical suits blocked the path.
Earpieces glinted in the light.
"Let me out!" Joey screamed.
Xingcheng didn't look at her. He looked at the guards. The air in the room went cold.
"Step aside," he said.
"Sir," the lead guard hesitated. "Lao K's orders. The perimeter is hot. For her safety—"
Xingcheng moved in a blur, grabbing the man's lapels and slamming him into the door frame.
"I am the order. If you touch her, you'll never walk again. LET. HER. GO."
The guard scrambled back. Joey didn't thank him. She looked at Xingcheng with a new, sharp fear. She realized the "monster" she'd been feeding was far more powerful than the ones at her door.