He led Yiran to the back of the warehouse where the exit was. To Yiran’s surprise, it was connected to another, smaller building that had been hidden from sight. The outside of the building looked old, like the rest of the warehouses. But the inside had been reconfigured. It was empty except for a control panel on the side. A hexagonal platform made of glass stuck out in the middle. Above it, a large skylight on the roof mirrored the platform. There were no cages or cells to house any prisoners that Yiran could see.
Curiously, he walked to the glass platform and looked down.
There was a basement—a dungeon—below. Mysterious crates had been placed in a seemingly haphazard manner across the concrete floor. An eerily familiar feeling rose in Yiran as he stared at the crates, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He struggled to contain his shock when he saw what—orwho—was tied up and shackled to various pillars. The kidnapped Exorcists and cadets bore injuries, and they all seemed unconscious, as if they’d been drugged. He’d found them. Now he needed to get the message out. But how?
Song Liming wasn’t paying attention to him. Instead, he was admiring the place, looking almost giddy.
“I designed all this myself,” he said. “The skylight allows moonlight to shine through to the level below us, and it’s especially potent on a night of the full moon. But what makes it even more effective is this.” He pressed a button on the control panel.
There was a hissing sound from below. Gooseflesh rose on Yiran’s arms. This feeling... he knew it—
“Those crates are Revenant nests, aren’t they?”
“That’s right,” his father said. His eyes had a fervent, obsessive light in them. “We discovered that the spell works differently depending on who it’s cast on. First, it allows us to extract yinqi from the original Revenants, and we can flood someone’s spirit core with it when we cast the spell again on a human, enhancing the results of the energy transfer. This machine concentrates the yinqi. The process isn’t perfected yet, but perhaps what I need is the right specimen to test it on.”
Ihave tostop him.Yiran could feel the sweat breaking out on his forehead. His friends, the city—everyone was counting on him.
“Well, I’m right here,” he said evenly.
His father stepped back, assessing him. Yiran couldn’t tell what he was thinking, if he would decide to test it on his own son right at this moment. But his father made no move to take out the talisman. What if Yuki was wrong and Song Liming didn’t carry it with him?
There was a sudden whooshing sound. Something wrapped around Yiran, yanking him up so fast, it felt as though his back would break.
Celeste leaped down from the open skylight, moving quickly as she knotted and spun a dozen ropes, leaving traces of her yinqi on them. Yiran yelped as the rope around him started to burn.
The Hybrid smiled sweetly at father and son. “I’m afraid there’s been a change of plans.”
67
Rui
“Wait—” Zizi pulled something out of his pocket. A string with a charm attached. Whispering under his breath, he slipped it over her head. “I imbued it with a protection spell. It won’t last long, but it’s better than nothing.”
“How about you? Do you have one too?” Rui said, worried. He looked even paler after casting the spell, and she could see a tremor in his left hand.
“I’m from the underworld, babe,” he said, eyes twinkling, as if that was protection enough.
“Don’t call mebabe,” she said, blushing furiously. Why did he thinkthiswas a good time to flirt?
Zizi sobered, his focus returning. “I’ll distract the Hybrids, keep them out here so they can’t start whatever mess they’re here to start. You get Yiran out. Keep to the perimeter. Don’t let them see you.”
She turned to go, but he held her wrist.
“I—” he started.
But Rui pulled away. “We don’t have time. Whatever you want to say, it can wait.”
Looking torn, he nodded and turned from her.
As she crept along the perimeter, she saw him saunter out into the light.
He stood directly in front of the group of Hybrids.
“Good evening, my merry adversaries,” she heard him say. “I come bearing gifts—wit, charm, and your impending doom.”
The night filled with the sound of cracks and angry grunts. The Hybrids were arming themselves, their attention solely on Zizi.
Leaving him to it, Rui sprinted off.
