Three weeks after joining Freedom Order, Lian Ye finally understood what Suyin meant when he said, "Your powers won't wake up quietly."
At first, it was tiny things.
He'd wake up two seconds before his alarm, every day, without fail.
He'd "sense" people walking behind him before they made a sound.
If someone dropped something in the distance, his body jerked toward the noise before his mind even processed it.
But then came the real signs.
His chest would buzz, like something inside wanted to burst out.
His fingers twitched whenever someone argued nearby.
Sometimes he felt phantom heat on his palms, or a ringing sensation around his ears — like someone was whispering without making a sound.
Rin Shen would just stare at him like, "Bro, you're a walking hazard."
He never said it, but the look said everything.
And today… those instincts were exactly why Suyin finally called him in.
---
Suyin stood in front of the long metal table with his usual expression — annoyed, tired, like every person in the room owed him money.
"White Lotus," Suyin said, tapping the table. "You're field-ready."
The words hit Lian Ye harder than expected. His pulse quickened, but his face stayed still.
Rin Shen leaned against the wall, legs crossed, flipping his fruit knife like he practiced this every hour of his life.
Suyin slid a folder across the table.
"Your first assignment: Retrieve a rogue member. Code name: Kite. He abandoned his assigned identity, used the faction's reputation under a false name, and crossed into the Assassin Faction without the knowledge of any member luckily there is the informant faction or else we wouldn't have known."
He looked Lian Ye dead in the eye. "Your job is kill him if he causes too much of a problem or else bring him in alive."
Lian Ye nodded.
"Rin Shen will lead. You follow his orders."
Rin Shen smirked. "Try to keep up, rookie."
Suyin ignored him, continuing, "Your powers should be stabilizing now. If anything feels unfamiliar, suppress it. We don't need another 'train-track incident.'"
Lian Ye's stomach twisted at the vague memory he still didn't fully understand.
"Understood," he replied.
Suyin stepped back. "Move out."
---
At Dock Sector 12
The docks were quiet in the way dangerous places always were — the silence felt intentional.
Fog rolled across the water, swallowing the lower parts of warehouses and rusted cargo containers. The wooden planks creaked beneath each step like they were whispering warnings.
Rin Shen walked ahead with an unbothered attitude wearing a green long coat, a green tie with his hair just like Lian ye's, one of his hands in pockets, the other twisting and in twisting the end of his hair. Lian ye behind wearing a black suit, his white hair combed perfectly while he had a lotus broach on his jacket.
But when they reached the target building — a low, rectangular warehouse with shattered windows and black mold creeping down the walls — Rin Shen's expression shifted to sharp focus.
"Snake Eye," Rin Shen murmured.
His pupils shifted, swirling into a dark shade of green.
Then the door vents hissed.
A silent flow of greenish smoke leaked into the building — poison gas, controlled and directed by him alone.
Inside, muffled coughing erupted almost instantly.
Rin Shen didn't smile. He just tilted his head. "Alert level achieved."
Then he glanced at Lian Ye. "Your entrance."
Lian Ye inhaled slowly.
His first real mission.
His first real fight.
His first moment to see whether those strange instincts were truly his or just illusions.
He stepped forward, kicked the door open—
BANG.
A gunshot erupted the second the door flew backward.
Lian Ye didn't think.
His body moved on its own.
He shifted half a step sideways and felt the bullet brush the air right next to his temple.
Everyone in the room froze for half a second at the impossible dodge.
Then chaos.
---
Three men in black gear scrambled behind crates. Poison gas swirled around their legs as they coughed violently. One man reloaded shakily, aiming at Lian Ye again.
Lian Ye lifted his hand.
His fingers shaped into a gun without conscious thought.
Before he realized what he was doing—
PAK.
A compressed burst of air launched from his fingertip.
It struck the gunman's shoulder.
The man spun and slammed into a stack of crates, unconscious.
A second attacker lunged at him with a knife. Lian Ye pivoted aside with inhuman sharpness, the blade slicing only air. He grabbed the man's wrist, twisted, and flipped him to the floor effortlessly.
"That's two," Rin Shen commented from behind, sounding bored but impressed.
The third attacker panicked and threw something—
Flash grenade.
The world exploded white.
Lian Ye staggered, blind, instincts screaming. A presence flickered past him — the target.
Kite.
Lian Ye blinked rapidly, vision returning in flickers.
A figure shimmered, bending light around his body — camouflage.
Kite grabbed a bag from a desk and bolted toward the back exit.
Rin Shen hissed. "really?."
He closed his eyes.
Snake Eye widened.
Heat signatures bloomed through the room in glowing silhouettes.
"There you are," he whispered.
Rin Shen raised two fingers then snapped.
THWIP.
The toxic Gas already in kite's body spread rapidly causing his heart to speed up and making him to lose balance.
Kite fell out of invisibility mid-sprint, rolling across the wooden floor.
He clawed desperately at the ground, trying to drag himself through the exit.
"Pathetic," Rin Shen muttered.
He approached slowly, pressed two fingers to the man's forehead—And reality shifted.
---
Kite suddenly found himself standing in a world of swirling green mists stretching endlessly in every direction.
His breath rattled. His heart raced.
The mist thickened, rising up his legs, pulling him deeper.
"No— no— WAIT—" he screamed.
The gas crawled up his body and dragged him downward, into its depths.
His last scream echoed until it drowned completely.
---
Back to Reality
Kite convulsed violently on the floor.
His eyes rolled back.
White foam spilled from his lips.
Then his chest stopped moving.
Dead.
Rin Shen wiped his fingers on his dark coat casually. "Ugh. He was annoying."
He picked up the bag Kite tried to steal and tossed it to Lian Ye.
"What happened back there?" Rin Shen asked.
Lian Ye blinked. "Just instincts."
Rin Shen clicked his tongue. "Let's pretend I believe that."
He sighed dramatically. "Whatever. Conflict avoided. Paperwork minimized. Let's sweep the area."
They searched the warehouse — overturned crates, broken furniture, old equipment — but found nothing unusual.
Then, out of nowhere—
Lian Ye froze.
"Hold on."
"What now?" Rin Shen groaned.
"I… I hear something."
Rin Shen narrowed his eyes. "Hear what? There's nothing."
Lian Ye's eyes went distant.
Soft, gentle singing drifted through his mind.
Not from outside.
Not from inside the room.
Somewhere far… yet close.
It was beautiful.
Cold.
Calling.
He took a step toward the staircase.
"White Lotus," Rin Shen said carefully. "Don't move without direction."
But Lian Ye was already ascending.
"hey— YO, don't do this. Not today," Rin Shen hissed.
He jogged after him — and immediately had to stop and pant like he hadn't slept in days.
"Why… is… it… happening now?…"
Lian Ye continued climbing, eyes blank as the singing grew louder.
The top floor door creaked open.
The sea's waves roared faintly outside — the whole structure was built right over the water.
"Lian Ye!" Rin Shen shouted.
But he was too late.
Lian Ye walked into a storage room with shattered windows facing the sea, stepped onto the edge—
And jumped.
Rin Shen lunged.
He missed by inches.
"Damn it—!"
He leapt after him, body turning midair into swirling green fog.
The mist wrapped around Lian Ye as they fell.
For a heartbeat, the singing reached Rin Shen too — faint, chilling, wrong.
Then—
SPLASH.
The ocean swallowed them.
Cold water hit like needles.
Rin Shen grabbed Lian Ye, kicking upward.
After fifteen agonizing seconds, they burst out from the waves, both gasping.
Rin Shen dragged Lian Ye toward the dock edge and pulled him out, collapsing beside him.
Water dripped from their clothes. Neither spoke.
Two minutes later, backup arrived.
Lian Ye was unconscious. Rin Shen was furious, freezing, and exhausted.
They were taken back to the Freedom Order base.
---
Suyin drops a folder so calmly that it doesn't make a doing then clasps his hands and says in a calm voice looking straight at Lian ye.
"YOU COULD HAVE DIED."
Lian Ye stared at the floor, still pale from exhaustion.
"You heard singing," Suyin repeated, voice low and dangerous. "And your first reaction was to JUMP OFF A BUILDING?"
Rin Shen sat in a corner wrapped in a towel, looking personally offended. Suyin ignored him.
"This level of recklessness—"
But before he could finish, a quiet tap echoed through the room.
Footsteps.
Slow. Heavy. Calm.
A presence rolled in like a wave.
The temperature dropped.
Suyin froze mid-sentence.
Rin Shen stopped breathing.
Even the air felt trapped.
Lian Ye's eyes lifted.
A figure stepped through the doorway.
Tall. Composed. Wearing a dark coat with the insignia of the Inner Faction.
The pressure around them was suffocating — a presence so overwhelming it made everyone instinctively stiffen.
This was someone whose power didn't need to be shown.
Someone whose existence alone seized the room.
The figure's eyes locked onto Lian Ye.
"You," the stranger said, voice deep and unnervingly calm.
"We need to talk."