Then, Taeril’s eyes dropped to his hand.
He stared at it, as if noticing its existence for the first time. His gaze travelled from his hand to his surroundings, to the pairs of eyes in the room that keened onto him like pins. Something minute shifted in his stare, a tiny crack around the edges.
He opened his fingers, and Chen Mo dropped like a stone. The Paladin landed on his knees and one hand, coughing.
Taeril ignored him completely, instead going back his now-empty hand. The faintest twitch touched his lip.
Eathan’s internal alarm system exploded. “We need to go,” he said, voice suddenly sharp. “Now. Chewie!”
He didn’t wait for agreement. He grabbed Taeril’s wrist with both hands and pulled.
For a second, it felt as if he was tugging on a full mountain. Then the White Tiger’s legs moved, following his momentum. They surged right over the ground where the Paladin was still laying down and bolted straight toward the balcony.
Behind them, Ji Renshu’s voice snapped like a whip towards the closest member of the Elite Force.
“Yuling!”
The hesitation from the Paladin with bobbed hair that followed was microscopic, but it was all Eathan needed.
“Chewie, screen!”
“On it!”
Chewie flung a string of seals over her shoulder without looking. They slapped against the floor in a loose arc.
“Flashbang special!” she yelled.
Every seal went off at once.
Blinding white filled the room, accompanied by a screeching sound that shattered the air. Ji Renshu swore for the first time since she’d entered the room.
[SYSTEM] NOTIFICATION:
Skill [Major Reconstitution] has been activated!
60 Qi Tokens have been subtracted from your [PROFILE]! (8159 → 8099)
Eathan dragged his gold-covered hands up like a shield and slammed his palm against the nearest cracked wall.
What followed sounded like a groan from the suite itself.
Broken plaster, dislodged fixtures, even the door Yang Mingze had kicked in—they all shuddered, then hurtled through the air in reverse time, slamming a hastily reconstructed baracade between Paladins and balcony.
“Don’t let them escape!” Ji Renshu’s voice sliced through the chaos.
Spearlight flashed. The newly reformed wall took the hit, cracking down the center but held for a precious heartbeat more.
“Go!” Eathan shouted.
They burst through the balcony doors.
Or, more accurately, Eathan shoulder?checked them and [Major Reconstitution] frantically softened the frame enough not to break his bones. Glass shattered outward in glittering arcs, raining down toward Midnight Avenue.
The night sky greeted them in violet and indigo as they dropped.
Chewie cussed, twisting mid?air. She slapped a seal onto Eathan’s back, another onto the White Tiger’s chest; the runes flared, ballooning cushions of spectral air beneath their falls.
A wagon piled high with ghost arcade toys trundled conveniently into position below.
They crashed into plush specters, rubbery lantern fish, and a life?sized screaming chicken doll that went off as Bai Hu’s elbow struck it.
The driver—a zombie teen in a cap—stared up at them, slack?jawed, cigarette dropping out of his mouth.
Eathan spat out a mouthful of cottons.
“Delivery,” Chewie said, face mushed into a pile of plush dumplings.
Above them, shadows peeked from the glowing balcony.
Ji Renshu appeared at the broken edge, silhouette sharp against the hotel lights. Yue Shiyin stepped up beside her, interface already projecting a grid shifting over the building’s face. Threads of Mei Yuling’s seals glimmered like spiderwebs in the air behind them.
Thankfully, they didn’t jump after the three.
Yet.
Eathan rolled, dragging Taeril up to his feet. The latter landed lightly despite everything. His gaze travelled slowly across the street vendors, neon signs, streaming spirits below.
His eyes shone.
Do not, Eathan thought, panic feral.
They did not have time for a public breakdown.
“Go,” he hissed to Chewie. “We lose them in the crowd.”
Chewie hopped down from the wagon, already slapping some other seals on the side of it. One flared, turning the wagon’s signage into: FREE LIMITED MERCH, ONE NIGHT ONLY.
The street exploded in shrieks.
Spirits surged toward the wagon from three market lanes at once. The poor zombie driver vanished under a wave of customers. Eathan winced in sympathy and then used them as cover, pulling the White Tiger into the crowd.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Without hesitation, they plunged headlong into the bustling chaos of Midnight Avenue.
Eathan took on the role to be the the first to barrel through the path. Vendors dove for their wares as he ploughed straight through a stack of glowing peach buns.
“Sorry, official divine emergency!” he wheezed, not slowing at all.
Chewie cleared the way ahead of him with all the grace of an artillery shell. She shoulder?checked a regret dumpling cart, hopped over a table of discounted karmic charms, and shoved a gossiping ghost influencer out of the path with a flat, “Move.”
Bai Hu ran between them both, steps frighteningly steady considering the fact he’d been reassembled less than an hour ago. His eyes were still suspiciously misty, and divine aura spilled off him in slow waves.
Every time a wave rolled out, something in Eathan’s meridians shivered and woke up.
He could feel his own qi channel again. It was like someone had turned his soul from airplane mode back to full service. Unfortunately, the same signal pinged every heavy hitter in the district.
Somewhere behind them, a spear of divine light chewed a new groove into the cobblestones.
“Left!” Chewie yelled.
Eathan yanked Taeril’s wrist and dove between two packed stalls. One was selling nostalgia noodles; the other, bottled ex?boyfriend deletions. Both vendors shouted creative curses after them as they burst past.
“VIP Tier?Two coming through, clear the path!” Eathan hollered, because subtlety had officially died five minutes ago.
That, at least, worked.
Spirits flinched back on instinct when they saw the Tier sigil on his ID. A path opened, mostly out of fear of accidentally offending someone with enough karmic credit to buy a private reincarnation slot.
He darted a look over his shoulder.
Sleek platinum armour glinted under the Avenue's neon lights. carving through the crowd like a knife. The Paladins were already closing in.
This entire time, Taeril’s presence was pulsing out in low waves, bending spiritual currents around them. People in the street turned their heads without knowing why, attention snagging on their little trio.
Eathan grimaced. Mister White was practically a walking spotlight.
“Up,” Chewie barked suddenly.
They hit the next wall in sync—Chewie running two steps up the stone, Bai Hu following with unconscious ease, Eathan more like a flailing gecko. A burst of springing tension under his soles from training his [Strength] and [Agility] stats gave him just enough momentum to haul himself onto the rooftop.
Eathan landed in a scatter of tiles and ghost moss squelching beneath his palms. The air up here cut colder, tugging sweat from his neck.
He half turned, risking a glance over his shoulder.
Chen Mo was already on the roof behind them.
The jade?eyed Paladin moved like he’d been born in gravity’s blind spot. Yue Shiyin vaulted up after him, robes barely disturbed, eyes already flickering with overlay data.
With a flick of his wrist, he waved a fan from his robe, and suddenly the number of Paladins multiplied until three copies of each chased across the rooftops—Ji Renshu striding straight across a hovering spiritual pathway, Mingze bounding like an angry crimson blur, Mei Yuling stepping lightly around chimneys.
Eathan swore under his breath and tugged Bai Hu onward. He tried to call up [Karmic Insight]—only to get a polite error ping in his HUD.
[SYSTEM] NOTIFICATION:
Skill [Karmic Insight] is currently unavailable due to cooldown!
Time remaining: 71 hours 42 minutes.
Fantastic.
“Can you see through them?” he yelled.
Chewie squinted at the nearest pack of illusions. “Nope.”
“Fantastic.”
“But I don’t need to.”
Crimson force cracked out from under her feet, a shockwave radiating from her small frame. Tiles jumped, and illusions scattered in all directions—some fraying at the edges, some flickering as if buffering.
Chewie launched herself at the nearest cluster.
She didn’t even try to pick the real Yang Mingze. She just swung, and the impact blew up half a row of tiles. A tile slammed through one copy, and in the same motion hammered into a second that happened to be solid.
The real Yang Mingze dropped to one knee with a grunt, hand braced on the roof.
“Kid,” he wheezed. “You punch like—”
“Finish that sentence and I’ll reinstall you into infancy,” she snapped.
Up on the opposite ridge, Yue Shiyin’s mouth tightened. His composed expression flickered into something akin to disappointment as several of his duplicates dissolved, broken threads of light sinking into the night.
Eathan tugged Bai Hu forward just as a spear whistled past his shoulder.
Ji Renshu dropped into their path without warning, spear already in motion. The world narrowed to a glint of silver where his ribs had been a heartbeat earlier.
Eathan twisted, half?dragging Taeril with him. Silver light kissed his sleeve, cutting through fabric, and left his arm tingling.
[HP] has decreased by 21%! (85% → 64%)
He landed hard and skidded sideways, half?crouched, Bai Hu balanced eerily calmly at his back.
Ji Renshu landed soundlessly on the tiles across from them, eyes fixed on her target. “Last warning,” she said. Her voice carried over the wind like a judgement. “Surrender the White Tiger and stand down. You will not be harmed unnecessarily.”
Eathan’s mouth ran ahead of his survival instinct.
“I'm hearing a lot of ‘unnecessary’ from the people throwing spears at my vital organs,” he said. “Gonna pass.”
He didn’t wait for the follow?up.
Skill [Receipt Printer (Lv. 7) has been activated!
He scanned, then spotted a vendor clutching a handful of permits to stick onto his cart. Without hesitation, he lunged, snatching them from the vendor’s ghostly hands.
"Hey, you can’t just—!"
"Official divine business!" he apologized hastily, stuffing the papers into his barcode scanner. The device spat out glittering talismans, each erupting in bold, golden letters:
Talisman [Official Bureaucratic Stall Inspection — Meng’s Branch] has been generated!
Eathan hurled the talisman into the panicking crowd. A second later, an entire Bureau inspection team blinked into existence—a cluster of stern?faced ghost officers in blue robes, clipboards in hand, conical hats stamped with Lady Meng’s seal. They didn’t exist, not really, but they were detailed enough for any sane spirit’s subconscious to flinch.
They descended on Ji Renshu’s squad like a flock of extremely judgmental pigeons.
“Random compliance check,” the lead inspector announced right in Mingze’s face. “Authorization for field deployment of weaponry in a tourism?dense sector?”
To everyone’s surprise, including the Paladins themselves, Yang Mingze actually froze.
Bureaucracy, man, Eathan thought.
Ji Renshu didn’t flinch, but even she paused for one blink as three more inspectors closed in around her with form stacks.
Eathan did not let that half?second go to waste. Without hesitation, he hauled Bai Hu off the roof’s edge. Chewie immediately followed.
The landing in the alley hurt, but not as much as being skewered. Eathan threw reinforcement qi down his legs to keep his knees from folding. The impact rolled up his spine and rattled his teeth.
Chewie landed beside him in a crouch. Bai Hu touched down last, almost soundless, most of the impact swallowed by that ridiculous natural balance gods just… had.
Chen Mo was the only one that managed to escape the illusionary inspectors. He dropped a few paces behind them, but was buffered by hoards of vendors scrambling to gather their scattered wares. Shouts erupted everywhere:
"I swear, my stall is registered!"
"Hide the unlicensed sorrow elixirs!"
An elderly ghost blocked his way, wielding a noodle strainer in her hand like a sword. His pale eyes narrowed and, without losing his smile, he raised a hand, qi rippling from his palm—then froze as a cold voice cut from above him.
"Chen Mo," Ji Renshu warned. Her eyes flashed beneath the polished helm. "We do not harm civilians. That is an order.”
Chen Mo's jaw tightened, clearly displeased, but the glow in his eyes dimmed nonetheless. "Of course, captain.”
The alley twisted in tight dog?legs, buildings crowding overhead. Music bled in from somewhere ahead—strings, drums, the sort of overacted vibrato that screamed “live theatre.” Somewhere behind, the racket of inspection illusions meeting platinum irritation reached a high, painful pitch.
Eathan risked one last glance back.
For a heartbeat, in the corner where alley turned to street, he caught something that didn’t fit: a swirl of navy silk, the gleam of a managerial badge, the outline of a man standing perfectly straight among chaos. Two junior staff hovered nervously at his elbow.
Eathan halted mid-run.
“Is that… Hai Xianmo?”