Chapter 569: Mu Fan
(Planet Vorthas, Mu Fan’s POV)
It was 4 am, and the streets of Vorthas were silent at this hour, save for the faint click of Mu Fan’s boots, as she walked to work.
*Sip*
She nursed on a cup of bitter coffee while walking, which was her one indulgence during her nightly break.
Her schedule only allowed her to have an hour’s break a day between three and four in the morning to step away from her desk, since it was the time-frame when usually nothing important happened and everyone was asleep.
Otherwise, her surveillance work was 24x7 and a non-stop headache, for which she solely blamed the Twelfth Elder.
Surveillance was not supposed to be a one man job, she needed more employees to run an efficient operation, but the man did not care for her demands.
"Stupid, Stupid Elder," She cursed while walking, when suddenly, she felt a chill run down her spine, as if she were being watched.
*Turn*
Turning swiftly, she checked the street behind her for signs of any pursuer, before then looking towards the rooftops, only to find no-one there.
"Seems like I was overthinking it once again...." She said to herself, as she let out a deep sigh and continued walking.
For the past week, Mu Fan had felt increasingly anxious, as if someone had been constantly watching her from just beyond sight.
It was a source of constant paranoia for her, as she often changed her walking route and tried hard to find out the location of her pursuer, but found nothing to validate her anxiety.
No matter how hard she looked, she found nothing to justify her suspicion, and hence after a week of feeling this way, she began to ignore the warnings and blamed it on the nature of her work.
"Am I going crazy?" She wondered, as she looked over her shoulders once again, only to find no-one behind her, yet again.
"I hate the Twelfth Elder... I need a better boss, one who actually takes things seriously." She cursed next, as she had started to despise every aspect of that man over the past few months.
Not only did he overwork Mu Fan, he also did not appreciate her efforts and did not care for her inputs, which frustrated Mu Fan to no end.
If possible, she wanted to work for a new Elder as soon as possible, but for now she was stuck with the Twelfth.
*Tap*
*Tap*
Soon, the alley before her began to narrow, its walls echoing the sound of her footsteps, as she arrived at her destination.
This was the back entrance to her office, wedged between the Twelfth Elder’s personal office building and the Labor Association Office, concealed deep within a narrow alley far removed from the sight of the main street.
As usual, she checked the door handle for fingerprints or lingering heat signatures, but found none, as she opened the door with her biometrics.
*Click*
She strode into her office with calm, sipping on the last portion of her coffee, when suddenly a dart struck the side of her neck.
*Spock*
Mu Fan flinched hard, her eyes snapping wide as a cold shock ran through her veins.
"Who?" She muttered, as her hand shot instinctively toward her storage ring, pulling free a short sword in a swift motion.
Her gaze swept the room in sharp, frantic arcs, as she searched for the source of the attack, yet the shadows revealed nothing but the quiet calm of the empty office surrounding her.
"Who?" She asked again, but by now her vision had begun to waver.
The outlines of the walls bent and doubled before her, as a vicious, splitting headache tore through her skull like claws raking from the inside.
She tried to focus, but each turn of her head made the pain worse, the dizziness pulling at her like a riptide, until her knees began to tremble under the strain.
*CLANG*
The short sword slipped from her fingers, clattering against the floor as her breath quickened in shallow, panicked gasps, her body refusing to obey her will.
She told herself to stay awake, to force her muscles into one last act of defiance, to fight back no matter the cost— yet the blackness creeping at the edges of her sight was merciless.
Her strength drained away in a slow, suffocating tide, her body collapsing against the floor, as the world slipped into silence before she could even see the silhouette of the man who had struck her.
—----------
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a dimly lit room that smelled faintly of damp stone and iron, the air heavy and stale as if it had been sealed for years.
Her vision was still hazy, yet she could make out the uneven brick walls, the single bulb hanging low from the ceiling, and the faint flicker of a candle placed on a table several feet away.
’Where am I?’ she wondered, as she tried to move, only to find out that she couldn’t.
The chair she sat on was cold metal, and it seemed like her wrists were pulled painfully behind her and locked together with thick restraints, with her ankles also bound in a similar fashion, leaving her unable to move more than an inch in any direction.
The ropes bit into her skin, coarse and unyielding, while a thin metal chain looped around her waist and tied her to the chair itself, making escape impossible without outside help.
’Why?’ she wondered next, as she tried to circulate mana, only to find out that she couldn’t, as amongst the many ropes tying her, one seemed to be the type that disrupted internal mana flow.
Seconds passed, and her head cleared some more, as it was only then that she noticed that she was not alone.
Across from her, seated in silence, were three figures.
On the far left sat Viper, his face unreadable behind his white mask, however, Mu Fan already knew who he really was.
He was Dupravel Nuna, and even if the commoners did not know his true identity, she did.
Next to him was Su Pei, who avoided her gaze entirely, his hands clasped together in front of him as if the weight of the situation made him wish he wasn’t here entirely.
And in the center, occupying the seat directly opposite hers, was Leo.
His eyes met hers instantly, and in that single moment she felt her blood run cold.
There was no trace of warmth, no hint of the man she had once believed she could mentor to become a fine young man, only a frozen calm that pressed down on her like a physical force.
His expression was empty of pity, empty of restraint, and the longer she looked into his eyes, the more she realized that whatever this was, it would not end with her walking away freely.
*Drip*
The faint sound of dripping water somewhere in the distance filled the silence between them, each drop echoing like a countdown she could not stop.
She wanted to speak, to demand an explanation or feign ignorance, but her throat felt tight, her voice refusing to form, as if some instinct told her that the wrong word might seal her fate entirely.
Leo leaned back in his chair slowly, never breaking eye contact, the flickering candlelight painting his face in sharp shadows that made him seem less a man and more an executioner awaiting the moment to pass judgment.