Mei Lin stepped into the light.
Her cloak dripped with moisture from the tunnels, her hair clung to her cheek, and her eyes—those sharp, calculating eyes—held a storm Li Wei had never seen before. Not coldness. Not fear.
Guilt.
Yan Xiu instantly drew both daggers.
Zhang leveled his spear.
Peng flinched backward.
Yao grabbed a freed prisoner protectively.
Li Wei didn't move.
He couldn't.
Mei Lin stood there like a ghost half-returned, breath steady, face unreadable.
Yan Xiu's voice was a blade.
"You have a lot to explain."
Mei Lin didn't look at Yan Xiu. She looked at Li Wei.
"Put down your weapons," Mei Lin said softly. "All of you."
Zhang snarled, "We'd be idiots to—"
Li Wei raised one hand.
"Stand down."
Zhang blinked. "Brother—?!"
Li Wei's voice was calm. Too calm.
"Stand. Down."
Slowly, reluctantly, weapons lowered—but only barely.
Mei Lin exhaled shakily and approached the stone table. She didn't touch the scroll with her handwriting. She didn't need to.
"It's real," she said quietly.
Yan Xiu stiffened. "So you admit it."
"Yes."
A single word, heavy as a falling stone.
Peng nearly dropped his spear. "She admits—?!"
Yan Xiu took a step forward, trembling. "WHY? Why would you betray the garrison? Why would you—"
Mei Lin cut her off sharply.
"I never betrayed the garrison."
Silence.
Zhang roared, "THEN WHY IS YOUR HANDWRITING ON THAT SCROLL?!"
Mei Lin's gaze softened, but her jaw tightened.
"Because the person I was writing to… wasn't the Hunter-General."
Li Wei's breath caught.
"What?" he whispered.
Mei Lin turned to him fully now—brows knit, eyes burning with something painfully human.
"I was writing to Meng Tian."
Yan Xiu froze.
Zhang froze.
Peng nearly collapsed.
Even the freed prisoners stared.
Li Wei blinked hard. "You… used the traitor's channel… to send intelligence to our own general?"
Mei Lin nodded. "The Hunter-General's tunnels are nearly impossible to infiltrate. Messages placed in certain drop points are intercepted by him, yes… but also by a second network Meng Tian secretly established years ago."
Yan Xiu's mouth parted slightly.
"The Counter-Shadow Network…"
Mei Lin nodded. "Created for one purpose: to observe the Hunter-General from within."
Zhang rubbed his forehead. "So you were… spying on the spy?"
Mei Lin smiled bitterly. "Yes. Exactly."
Yao whispered, "But why route official documents through these tunnels at all?"
Mei Lin's eyes darkened.
"Because Meng Tian knew the Hunter-General would intercept them. He wanted to feed controlled information. To study how the traitor moves. Thinks. Reacts."
Li Wei's heart hammered. "So you weren't helping him… you were tracing him."
"Yes."
Yan Xiu frowned. "But the handwriting—the scrolls in this chamber—"
Mei Lin's voice cracked for the first time.
"He collected every message I ever sent. Not because he needed them… but because he wanted to remind me that he still sees everything."
She reached for one scroll—not the patrol one, not the supply one.
A personal one.
A note written in fear.
"This," she whispered, "was the message I sent after I refused to join him years ago. He kept it."
Li Wei stepped closer.
"What does it say?"
Mei Lin's lips trembled. "It says:
'I choose Qin. I choose the light. I will oppose you until the end.'"
Silence crushed the room.
Yan Xiu lowered her daggers slowly.
"So he kept your declaration… as a scar."
Mei Lin nodded. "To remind me that he considers me unfinished."
Zhang growled, "Why didn't you tell us?! Why let us believe—"
"Because I was under Meng Tian's orders!" Mei Lin shouted suddenly. "The fewer people who knew, the better. A spy who is known is a dead spy."
Her voice shook.
"Feng knew only part of it. Yan Xiu knew nothing. And Li Wei… I—"
She stopped.
Li Wei stepped closer. "You what?"
Mei Lin stared at him.
"I wanted to tell you. But I knew the moment I did… the Hunter-General would shift all his attention to you."
Yan Xiu hissed, "And he did anyway."
"Yes," Mei Lin whispered. "Because of me."
Li Wei's breath hitched.
Mei Lin turned to him fully.
Her eyes glistened.
"Li Wei… I didn't lie about my past. I hid the parts that would endanger you."
A soft breath.
"But I never betrayed Qin. And I never betrayed you."
The chamber fell utterly silent.
Then Zhang whispered:
"Then why are you here? In the tunnels?"
Mei Lin looked away.
And gave the answer none of them expected.
"Because the Hunter-General summoned me."
Yan Xiu stiffened. "What?"
Mei Lin swallowed hard.
"He left a message at one of my drop points. He wrote:
'Come to the fourth chamber. Or I bring him to you.'"
Li Wei felt the world tilt.
"He threatened you… with me?"
Mei Lin nodded, tears finally breaking through.
"Yes."
Zhang gritted his teeth. "So this was all a trap."
Mei Lin whispered, "Not for you. Not for me. For us."
Li Wei's voice was cold now.
"Where is he?"
Mei Lin turned toward the far end of the chamber, where another stone door stood—cracked open just slightly.
Her voice trembled.
"Ahead. In the next chamber. Waiting."
Yan Xiu stepped forward. "What's in there? Another trap?"
Mei Lin shook her head.
"No."
Her face darkened.
"It's his throne room."
Li Wei inhaled sharply.
Zhang hissed, "We're not ready to face him!"
Mei Lin looked at Li Wei—the man she feared for, fought beside, and hid truth from.
"Li Wei… if you go in there…"
She stepped closer.
"You must be ready for the truth he wants to carve into you."
Li Wei swallowed. "What truth?"
Mei Lin whispered:
"Why he chose you."
Li Wei looked at the cracked door—the darkness beyond.
Then back at her.
"I'm going," he said quietly.
Mei Lin grabbed his sleeve, eyes wide.
"Then I'm coming with you."
Yan Xiu stepped between them. "No. You stay here."
Mei Lin glared. "Over my dead body."
Li Wei raised a hand.
"No," he said. "Yan Xiu. Zhang. With me."
He turned to Mei Lin.
"You're coming too."
Her shoulders sagged in relief.
Yan Xiu exhaled. "Then the five of us face him together."
Mei Lin shook her head slowly.
"No," she whispered. "Not five."
She pointed at the stone door.
"He only invited two."
Li Wei's breath stopped.
Yan Xiu whispered, horrified:
"He wants you and Mei Lin alone."
The torches flickered violently.
The stone door creaked.
A voice whispered from beyond:
"Enter, builder."
"Enter, successor."
Li Wei felt a cold calm settle in his bones.
He stepped forward.
And the chamber waited.
---
Teaser:
Li Wei and Mei Lin step into the Hunter-General's throne chamber—where the traitor finally speaks the truth of Li Wei's past… and his future.
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