Dark Eagle's gloves creaked as he pushed the emerald vial across crysteel. "Blood oath protocol." His mask's ventilation slits whistled like a dying man's breath. "Neurotoxin binds to mitochondrial RNA. Monthly antidote required."
Lin Hao's thermal sensors detected sudden temperature spikes in the chamber's northeast corner—hidden snipers adjusting plasma rifles. His tongue pressed against a subdermal capsule containing emergency antitoxins. Little White's claws extended reflexively, scraping the floor with crystalline scritch-scritch that echoed through soundproof walls.
"Compliance guarantees continued respiration." Dark Eagle's ocular lenses dilated, projecting holographic death certificates onto the table—each bearing Lin Hao's biometric signature.
The poison sloshed with viscosity matching human spinal fluid. Lin Hao's olfactory filters cataloged its composition: 23% aconite extract, 41% modified botulinum, 36% unknown compounds emitting gamma-ray signatures. Four Treabytes' augmented vision revealed nano-machines swimming in the greenish sludge—microscopic trackers shaped like scorpion tails.
"Objection equals termination." Purple Night's voice carried frostbite warnings. Her fingers brushed a dagger hilt carved from frozen starlight.
Lin Hao's adrenal glands flooded his system with combat enzymes. Through neural command, he activated Shadow Spider's cloaking protocols. The arachnid materialized along his spine, its chitinous plates mimicking human epidermis texture.
"To new beginnings." Lin Hao tipped the vial dramatically, throat muscles contracting in precise sequence. Shadow Spider's proboscis pierced his buccal mucosa, intercepting the poison stream. Nano-trackers sparked and died against the spider's acid-lined digestive tract.
Performance metrics flashed across Lin Hao's HUD:
- Facial capillary constriction: 98% complete
- Pseudosweat secretion: 4.3ml emitted
- Pain simulation neural impulses: 7.2/10 intensity
He collapsed against the crysteel wall, fingers clawing imaginary insects from his neck. Shadow Spider's metabolic readouts glowed green—toxin conversion rate at 300% efficiency, nano-trackers repurposed as energy sources.
"Initial convulsions match expected symptoms." Dark Eagle's biometric scanners whirred approvingly. "Welcome to the flock."
Purple Night's tension molecules decreased by 18%. She produced an onyx chip glowing with fractal encryption. "Antidote dispensary coordinates. Monthly retrieval mandatory."
Lin Hao's counterfeit tremors subsided. He accepted the chip with trembling fingers, its surface temperature precisely matching human body heat. Four Treabytes memorized the encryption patterns through quantum-entangled photoreceptors.
As exit protocols engaged, Lin Hao's augmented reality overlay mapped seventeen new surveillance implants in his clothing. Shadow Spider's spinnerets secreted neutralizing enzymes, dissolving trackers before they could activate.
The marketplace's assault on senses felt cleansing after the sterile death chamber. Roast duck fat sizzling on open flames, drunken poets reciting elegiac couplets, and the ever-present undertone of sewage gas escaping through iron grates.
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"Master, detect three tailing units." Four Treabytes' warning vibrated through jawbone conduction. "Thermal signatures match Dark Eagle's personal guard."
Lin Hao's smile tasted of blood and victory. He purchased candied hawthorns from a trembling vendor, each sugary shell containing micro-doses of anti-surveillance pheromones. The trackers dissolved before reaching his large intestine.
At a canalside brothel, he "accidentally" bumped into a naval officer, transferring cloned nano-trackers into the man's wine cup. By midnight, Dark Eagle's monitors would show false biometrics from three separate districts.
The game of reflections continued.
Surging Through the Fourth Meridian
The chamber’s air thickened with the metallic tang of oxidized poison and frostbitten stone. Lin Hao’s tongue registered the antidote pill’s contradictory flavors—honeyed lotus root undercut by bitter wormwood. As the tablet dissolved, its cooling energy slithered through his meridians like liquid nitrogen, searching for toxins that didn’t exist.
Shadow Spider’s digestive chamber hummed contentedly within his pet storage grid, its eight eyes glowing with converted venom. Lin Hao’s biosensors tracked the antidote’s futile journey: 37% hepatic filtration, 22% renal circulation, 41% wasted diffusion into muscle tissue.
“Why hasn’t the pain subsided?” Purple Night’s question carried the crispness of breaking icicles. Her jade hairpin trembled at 6.8Hz—a frequency matching Lin Hao’s fabricated convulsions.
Dark Eagle’s mask emitted subsonic growls as he tossed a second pill. The tablet arced through air ionized by containment runes, its trajectory calculated to land precisely at Lin Hao’s boots.
Crunch.
Lin Hao’s molars ground the second dose to powder. This time, the cooling flood carried traces of celestial jasmine—a scent triggering Four Treabytes’ threat protocols. The mechanical parrot’s talons gouged microscopic runes into crysteel as antidote energies converged on Lin Hao’s dantian.
Three meridian channels glowed like overloaded fusion cores. Lin Hao’s augmented vision visualized the fourth barrier: a obsidian wall veined with dying stars. He marshaled the antidote’s energy into a diamond-tipped drill of concentrated qi.
Crack.
The sound echoed through his bone marrow. Meridian Four bloomed like a supernova, its awakening releasing pheromones of burnt ozone and blood oranges. Lin Hao’s pores excreted counterfeit sweat laced with adrenaline analogs, perfecting the illusion of recovery.
“Your bio-signature stabilized abnormally fast.” Dark Eagle’s ocular lenses whirred with suspicion. Infrared scans painted Lin Hao’s body in emergency reds, searching for hidden toxin reservoirs.
Four Treabytes preened its tungsten feathers, scattering nano-dust that scrambled thermal readings. “Master’s constitution proves resilient,” it chirped in Purple Night’s dialect. “A testament to celestial favor.”
The guild leader’s gloved hand twitched—micro-muscle movements indicating 83% probability of attack initiation. Lin Hao’s claws extended 0.3mm, Soulreaver Blade’s cryo-edge humming at sub-auditory frequencies.
“Return to the academy.” Dark Eagle’s voice crackled with distorted harmonics. “Yang Chengji’s demise barely scratches the conspiracy’s surface.”
As the guild leader dissolved into smoke smelling of burnt hair and decaying code, Purple Night’s frostflower perfume spiked with relief compounds. Her fingers brushed Lin Hao’s wrist—a contact lasting 0.7 seconds, transmitting encrypted pulse-code: Alliance possible. Caution advised.
Lin Hao’s retinal HUD decoded the message while his face maintained neutral exhaustion. “What of the true mastermind?”
“A shadow within shadows.” Purple Night’s breath fogged crystallized in shapes resembling ancient warning sigils. “Even Dark Eagle’s spiders fear its web.”
The market’s chaos greeted them like a fever dream. Lin Hao purchased roasted chestnuts from a trembling vendor, their charcoal scent masking Shadow Spider’s acidic burps. Four Treabytes identified seven new surveillance tags—five chemical tracers on his boots, two nano-drones mimicking dust motes.
At the canal’s edge, he “accidentally” dropped a chestnut. Shadow Spider emerged in microform, devouring trackers with the enthusiasm of a starved wolf. The water rippled with distorted reflections—Lin Hao’s face overlapping Purple Night’s, both wrapped in layers of deception.
As moonlight fractured on black waves, Lin Hao’s meridian network thrummed with stolen power. Meridian Four’s resonance frequency matched the city’s ancient defense grid—a coincidence or cosmic joke?
The game deepened.