"A mole?" Zhaohe’s voice cracked through the line with absolute disbelief.

Then she exhaled sharply. "Fine. I’ll be right there."

The line went dead.

Wenzhi immediately texted Duan Ze asking for Ru Yi’s current whereabouts.

A few agonizing seconds passed before the screen lit up with Duan Ze’s reply.

[Duan Ze: I haven’t seen her since you all got back from the Bureau.]

Wenzhi’s eyes darkened.

Of course.

His fingers moved quickly.

[Find her. Shao Jingxin isn’t dead. He was wearing her face. He must have trapped her somewhere inside the mansion.]

Duan Ze replied instantly. [What?! I’m checking now.]

Wenzhi was about to pocket his phone when he heard a low, weak groan.

Jingxin.

His body shifted against the alley floor. He was going to wake up soon.

Wenzhi’s gaze hardened. He slid the phone back into his pocket and lifted the gun in his hand.

He could shoot him now. End it.

But no. Not this time.

His jaw tightened.

He wanted it personal this time.

Wenzhi pulled the pocketknife from his jacket, smiling as the steel glinted under the dim lights.

He crouched, pressing the blade against Jingxin’s throat when a violent gush of wind exploded into the alleyway.

Wenzhi was hit dead in the chest, lifting him clean off his feet and hurling him backward against the brick wall behind him, pinning him there.

The air pressure pressed hard against his ribcage and lungs, making it entirely impossible to draw a full breath.

The knife slipped from his fingers and clattered to the ground.

Shit.

The Esper, Min landed in the alleyway.

Her eyes immediately went to Jingxin confirming if he was alive only then did she turn to Wenzhi.

Her mouth curled. "Finally."

She walked toward him slowly. "The great Lin Wenzhi."

Her smile was ugly. "You have absolutely no idea how much of a generic pain in everyone’s ass you are."

Wenzhi’s face twisted from the lack of oxygen. "That’s... disgusting."

Min’s expression flattened.

The air in front of him condensed into a sharp spear of compressed wind formed directly over his heart.

"You are completely useless to the Old Blood," she said coldly.

"They only wanted you dead because once you’re gone, Shao Xinyuan will break."

Her fingers flexed.

The pressure on his chest tightened.

Wenzhi felt something crack. Pain shot through his ribs.

"A broken destruction can actually clear the path to fix what needs to be fixed in this world. So... I am going to be the one to kill you. Wu Youran promised she’d do it herself, but sorry, that’s not going to happen tonight. But first..." Min stepped closer, her palm pressing against his chest.

Wenzhi’s entire body locked completely. His muscles wouldn’t respond. Not even a finger.

His pupils contracted filled with fear. Real fear.

Min stared at him with an unsettling curiosity, her bloody fingers lifting to caress his cheek. He couldn’t even twist his head away from the touch, his grey eyes filling with deep revulsion as he was forced to endure it.

"You know..." Her fingers dragged slowly across his jaw.

Wenzhi shut his eyes. Disgust burning through him.

"Jingxin told me about the imprint," she murmured, her hand sliding lower.

"And that your guiding energy is extraordinarily potent... pure. You guide Shao Xinyuan so effortlessly."

Her nails dug lightly into his shirt. "And he’s a Disaster-Class."

Her smile widened. "That makes you very special."

Wenzhi’s breathing hitched with raw panic. He hated this. He hated this so much.

"Too bad," Min’s mouth moved near his ear. "I’m going to take it and by the time I’m done, you are going to beg me to slide this spear through your heart."

Wenzhi’s eyes snapped open filled with rage. "Don’t." The word came out sharp and broken.

Min grabbed his throat hard. "No one is coming to save you, Lin Wenzhi."

She sank her bloody hands beneath his shirt, her fingers tracing roughly over his skin.

Wenzhi’s stomach twisted with disgust.

Her eyes dragged over his face with a smile.

"You’re really attractive," her fingers pressed harder into his chest. "Give me your energy, or I am going to hurt you, Lin Wenzhi."

The sharp tip of the wind spear suddenly shifted to his forehead and pierced the skin. It only sliced through a shallow layer, but the pain was enough to make Wenzhi’s entire body tense against the brick wall.

He hissed in pain through his teeth, blood trickling down between his eyes.

"Give it to me!" Min snapped, leaning her face incredibly close to his. "Come on, Lin Wenzhi."

Wenzhi felt sick.

Then her lips crashed against his.

Wenzhi’s eyes widened.

Her hand slid lower to his waist, to his pants.

Something inside him froze. He wanted to disappear.

How did it escalate this far?

Everything had been calculated.

Xinyuan was supposed to handle the Espers, Wenzhi was supposed to permanently kill Jingxin to send a clear warning to the High Families, and they were supposed to gauge the true extent of Wu Youran’s strength.

They had known it wouldn’t be easy.

After all, the Old Blood wanted Xinyuan and wanted Wenzhi dead.

But this.... This wasn’t part of it.

Wenzhi felt bile rise into his throat.

Her mouth.... Her hands.... The blood on her skin. The Old Blood tattoo on her neck. Everything made him want to tear his own skin off.

His lashes trembled shut and all he could think was one person.

Xinyuan.

Suddenly, the world shattered and shifted into the endless black void of Xinyuan’s mindspace. The vast, infinite dark void filled with floating debris.

Wenzhi dropped into it with a gasp, collapsing onto his knees, clutching his own body like he could still feel her hands there.

His breathing came hard.

"What the fuck—" His voice broke.

He was actively being assaulted, and his subconscious had retreated here?

Angry, bitter tears blurred his grey eyes. "Damn it! Xinyuan!"

Xinyuan’s form materialized in front of him instantly.

"Freckles? What..." The Esper looked completely surprised to see Wenzhi looking so shaken, but the confusion vanished instantly, replaced by a terrifying, murderous expression as he felt the nature of Wenzhi’s distress leaking through the bond.

"What is she doing to you?" The roar in Xinyuan’s voice snapped Wenzhi right back into reality.

Wenzhi’s eyes flew open in the alleyway. In that exact heartbeat, Min was thrown backward against the opposite wall with a sharp, choked gasp.

A massive, solid spike of dark mist erupted directly from Wenzhi’s own body, channeled straight from Xinyuan through their wavelength connection, and impaled her clean through the head, pinning her dead to the brickwork.

The suffocating wind pressure shattered. Wenzhi dropped heavily to the concrete, falling onto his hands and knees as his stomach convulsed, and he threw up hard onto the ground.

"Fuck," he choked out, his voice raw.

He forced his head up to find Jingxin, but the spot was completely empty.

Of course.

Gritting his teeth till they ached, Wenzhi dragged himself to his feet. He used the back of his hand to aggressively wipe his mouth, his gaze settling on the dead Esper who had just touched him.

His face was entirely devoid of emotion. He adjusted his shirt, buckled his pants, and walked over to her corpse.

The dark mist still bleeding from his frame erupted as massive tentacles. The shadows wrapped securely around Min’s limbs and ripped her body completely apart, scattering the remains into the ground.

Wenzhi just watched the carnage with a cold, hollow stare.

Before the echo of the tearing flesh could even fade, the dark mist swirled aggressively back around Wenzhi’s body.

And he vanished from the alley.