The corridor swallowed Li Wei whole, its air thick with incense smoke and the cold musk of sealed time. Each step he took stirred faint echoes—soft as the heartbeat of something vast and buried. The lanterns that lined the hall trembled, their flames bowing in submission before guttering one by one.
~Ffft… ffft…~
Darkness crept in behind him like an obedient shadow.
He moved with the calm of one long accustomed to walking the edge of calamity. His hand brushed the wall's lacquered surface, fingertips gliding over carved cranes and dragons. The wood beneath felt strangely warm—as though the house itself breathed with fever. Somewhere above, the rain struck the tiled roof in uneven rhythm.
~Pat… pat… pat-pat…~
Pei Zheng's voice echoed faintly from behind the closed study doors, muffled by distance. "Li Wei! The vault is sealed! The wards—" His words cut off in a hiss, as though strangled by the storm.
