*Chapter 34: Hope on the Edge*
Days bled together as Nightwatch scoured the city, exhaustion etched into every stride. Leads vanished as quickly as they appeared, and the Crimson Phantom always seemed one step ahead—taunting with ruined feathers and riddles burned into alley walls. Each failed search chipped away at the team's morale, but none suffered more than Xiulan.
Gone was her bright energy; now shadows ringed her eyes, her steps dragged, and she flinched at every sudden sound. Night after night she knelt by her window, clutching Li Wei's spare mask, silent tears soaking her pillow. When she wasn't crying, she sat apart—barely speaking, voice trembling with helplessness.
Mei Fen and Bao Yu tried gentle encouragement, but Xiulan only shook her head. Yan, never one for sympathy, finally confronted her in the training room. "You think you're the only one hurting? Li Wei needs us focused—get up, Xiulan. We're not giving up." Jin Ming placed a steadying hand on Xiulan's shoulder, voice softer: "If you collapse, he'll have nothing to come back to."
Meanwhile, Li Wei's ordeal worsened. The Phantom's machine pulsed brighter, leeching away his magic in jagged surges. He fought to hold on—clinging to fleeting images of Xiulan's smile, his friends' laughter, the camaraderie that once warmed his world. But each memory slipped further away, replaced by cold and a suffocating sense of loss.
Despite heartbreak, the team pressed on, piecing together clues, rejecting despair. In the darkness, two forces wrestled for Li Wei: the Phantom's hunger for power—and the slim, stubborn hope that Nightwatch had not abandoned him.