Guì's bone whip hovered midair, the droplet of Xihua reflecting Lin Yao and Rhea pressed close together.
"Abnormal sync rate: 71%," Guì's voice was calm, emotionless. "Record. Elimination priority: Alpha+."
The silver ship's hull split again. This time, it wasn't drones—it was three humanoid puppets.
Silver-gray armor, Xihua gold fluid flowing through the joints, faceless plates with a single vertical slit, glowing deep-sea blue.
"Silent automatons…" Rhea breathed out. Her prosthetic arm smoked from overheat. She switched to melee—high-frequency vibration blades snapping out. "They don't scan. They kill. Touch Xihua and your nerves die in three seconds."
Lin Yao nodded, right hand forming a hand seal. First Chapter of Qi Drawing, a faint warmth crawling through his veins. His spiritual veins were locked, Lingqi drained dry—but it was enough.
"Left three, right two, center one," he whispered. "I draw, you strike."
Before the words left his mouth, he hurled the charred remains of his electromagnetic pistol at the left puppet.
It exploded midair—Rhea had rigged it. Sparks flew, and the puppet's vertical slit twitched.
Now!
Lin Yao pushed off the ground, arrow-like, flipping the hand seal—
"Point Star!"
A barely visible golden streak shot from his fingertips, striking the puppet's joint Xihua nodes.
Sizzle!
The gold melted into the fluid, boiling Xihua, freezing the puppet mid-move.
Rhea moved like a shadow, her vibration blade cutting a cold arc—
"Center!"
Blade precisely severed the rigid joint, puppet's arm snapped, gold fluid sprayed like blood.
But the center puppet was already at him! Bone claw stabbing for his chest.
Rhea spun to intercept, armor clashing—clang! The force tore her hand open, blood mixing with oil. She gritted her teeth, radar eye flashing: "It's learning! That move—can't repeat!"
Lin Yao pressed against the cold alley wall. Left-eye sensor blared:
[Entropy Infection: +24%]
[Lingqi Overdraw: Warning]
His right-hand wound oozed, dark-gold threads moving faster—Xihua self-repairing, and… signaling for help.
"East!" he shouted. "Back of the temple! The Spirit Spring!"
Rhea froze. "Are you insane? That's a dead end!"
"No." Lin Yao's eyes fixed on the wound in her right shoulder—dark-gold threads quivering eastward. "Someone… is waiting for us."
—Aethra, rear of the Mirror-Keeper temple.
Lin Yao (Qi form) smashed through the vine-choked cave entrance, lungs burning. Behind him, the Mirror Rift phantom's claw tore the air, gray mist surging.
He lunged inside—no divine weapon, no secret manual.
Only a shallow stone basin, dried out. At the bottom, a three-leaf grass, its veins faintly glowing gold, swaying gently in the deathly silence.
By the grass crouched a girl.
Plain linen, bare feet, hair tied with straw. Her back faced him, fingers pressed on the stone edge, tips bleeding, mud-streaked. Hearing footsteps, she slowly turned.
No words. No gaze.
Just a handful of wet black soil, gently placed at the basin's center.
Lin Yao froze.
The soil held tiny Neuroth nanogel particles—deep blue, the same source as his left-eye sensor.
At the same instant—
—Neuroth, Seventh Alley Junction.
Lin Yao and Rhea back-to-back, surrounded by three puppets in a dead-end alley.
Center puppet regrew its severed arm, gold fluid streaming like molten metal. Left puppet locked onto Rhea's right shoulder—Xihua threads glowing strongest there.
"They're waiting for your shoulder to give out," Lin Yao panted. "One strike, and it's over."
Rhea smirked. "We'll see who falls first." She ejected three magnetic explosive darts. "Cover me. Three seconds."
Lin Yao nodded, quietly reaching into his coat—pulling out a half-roll of aged silk scroll, Twin-Bound's fragment. He bit his fingertip, blood dropping onto the word Resonance.
Blood shimmered.
—Aethra, by the stone basin.
The girl (Qing He) looked up sharply, focusing on a point in the void. She rolled the three-leaf grass into balls with blood-mixed soil, embedding them into a palm-sized jade fragment etched with circuits and spiritual runes.
Hum!
The jade glowed, a thin golden line shot toward the void—straight into the Mirror Rift.
—Neuroth.
The scroll in Lin Yao's coat heated violently!
A golden thread shot through the air, merging into his right-hand wound.
"Ugh!" Pain exploded, a rush of cool vitality coursed through his veins—not Lingqi, but the breath of the wild! The parched spiritual energy surged like seedlings catching rain.
"Now!" he roared.
Rhea's prosthetic burst to life! Three magnetic darts shot in a trident formation, striking the puppet joint Xihua nodes—
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions flipped the puppets, gold fluid spraying.
Lin Yao leapt forward, right-hand seal shifting again, weaving the wild energy into a teal-gold thread, wrapping around the nearest puppet's regenerating arm.
"Rhea—cut the thread!"
She understood instantly! Vibration blade didn't strike the puppet—it sliced the teal-gold thread at the Xihua junction.
Shing!
Thread snapped, Xihua reversed violently. Puppet's slit-eyed head flared, gold fluid spewing from every orifice—self-destruct!
Other two puppets froze.
"Go!" Lin Yao grabbed Rhea, sprinting to the iron ladder at the alley end. Behind them, silver ship's beam melted the wall into molten red steel.
They climbed to the rooftop, rain hammering down. Rhea's shoulder gushed, Xihua threads dimming. She collapsed, prosthetic offline.
Lin Yao steadied her, pressing his hand to her wound—the dark-gold threads trembled eastward.
"She's there," he said, eyes on the misty mountains at the city's edge. "She can understand Mirror Frequency, weave grass into medicine… she's waiting for us."
Rhea gasped, wiping rain and blood: "…Name?"
"Qing He," Lin Yao whispered. "Of grass and trees."
Mountain wind carried a faint scent of rain-soaked grass and earth.
—Like a whisper.
Author's Note | After Chapter 3
Hello, Mirrorkeeper.
Thank you for running with Lin Yao through Xihua burns and Rhea's overheating blades, and for hearing the whisper of the wild.
Qing He speaks no words.
But her silence weighs heavier than a thousand.
When she blends Neuroth nanogel into Aethra's sacred soil,
When she calls the breath of grass with her blood to mend tech and Lingqi…
She speaks the truest truth:
Healing never needs a single shared language.
This chapter's combat was rewritten seven times:
Puppets' learning forced the heroes to abandon repeated tactics;Qing He's aid wasn't "overpowered," it was precise synergy (wild energy → disrupt Xihua → create cut points);Even the three grass balls' placement referenced circuits and acupuncture logic.
I wanted you to feel:
When the vibration blade slices the teal-gold thread,
—this is no coincidence. Three broken people, truly in sync for the first time.
Thank you for staying with us.
More silent guardians will join on the road ahead:
Dragon roars, ancient mirror tremors, even the enemy's hesitation…
And you—you're still the first to hear the whisper of the wild.
—KHChing
Era of Mirror Fracture · Night of Vital Renewal