Chapter 4: Secrets in the Fishing Ledger
649 Words
Lin Shuang wound bloodied silver strands around the broken hairpin. Moonlight pierced the library's shattered dome, staining starfall polish manifests with indigo splotches. When Frost was summoned by the student council, she crushed the last ice shard under her heel.
"Borrowing this." She flicked frost from the logistics uniform collar, jade fingers grazing Luo Yang's gilded doorplate. The blacksteel lock recoiled like living flesh upon sensing Soultrace Cords in her hair.
System alarms shrieked upon entry: [Bloodmoon Missive Detected - 10% Memory Fragments Required to Activate Xuanwu Residue]
The sandalwood desk held open weighted by pine-soot ink. Lin lifted the gilt cover with her pin—constellation charts inverted midair.
Her heel triggered a hidden copper box reeking of ambergris and blood. Dozens of jade tokens glowed azure—fishing ledger membership tallies.
"Duplicate." She spat blood onto Xuanwu engravings. As tortoise patterns crawled across parchment, searing pain lanced her nape.
Seven names materialized before inky fog choked the room.
The blade at her throat arrived before the voice: "What's the witch hunting?"
"Your Young Master hides fishing logs in shallow drawers?" Lin hurled the box at a starfall ornament. Xuanwu's shadow devoured the azure glow as memory-cracking echoes resounded.
Mid Holy Realm pressure crushed three barriers but recoiled against silver shields. Luo Yang's pine-scent permeated with starfall dust: "Since when is my study an gladiator arena?"
Lin shoved copied parchment into her sleeve, blind pupils reflecting retreating hostility. Groping shelves, her hand found a warm cloisonné box—three siren-engraved rings inside, their serrated edges matching her neck scars.
"Junior's hands outpace blades." Luo Yang's breath grazed her ear, canines teasing the glowing pendant**. "Which excites the elders more—fishing members or embezzlement?"
Lin crushed a voice-crystal. Scorched letters exposing Wren's collusion fluttered down. She slammed ledger-disguised star charts against Luo Yang's chest: "Deliver this gift to the elders personally."
Midnight found her splashing water in the lavatory. Clouded pupils stared back as she planted forged accounts into Wren's repair kit. Bloodied silver strands clinging to Soultrace Cords now bore dragon-scale starfall fragments.
"Net closing." She secured the broken pin, tracing new cracks in her pendant.
Beyond the door, logistics staff argued with frost mages. Snow outside bore puppet-thread scorch marks leading straight to Restricted Section Tier Nine.
Morning mist clung to library arches as Lin tucked parchment into , leaving ink-stained tassels visible. At seventh prayer bell, she glimpsed Dean Hermann's silver sash. A subtle finger flick sent heavy tomes crashing toward his mechanized aide.
"Starfall Pavilion sigils?" The automaton's ocular lenses whirred. Hidden on spiral stairs, Lin heard parchment unfurl with hissed breaths.
When the first magic missive exploded as fireworks above the fountain, she pried open Wren's gearbox with her pin, embedding ambergris-scented starfall slivers.
Dusk pooled fountain basins with ash. Lin crossed rose arbors at peak gossip hours, her hair's Soultrace aura luring spy orbs into pillars.
She paused beneath moon-drenched wisteria, letting Luo Yang's astral threads entwine her pendant.
"Embezzlement forgery outshines three years past." His canines grazed her fresh Soultrace scab, fingertips burning memory shards into her temples. A glowing siren ring slid from his sleeve—its teeth marks aligning with her collarbone scar.
Lin seized his pulse. Xuanwu's phantom flared: "Think elders recognize ledgers marinated in ambergris?" Her loud taunt drowned in Frost's ice-shattering fury.
Moonlight prismed as twenty-eight constellations haloed Luo Yang. He traced a serrated starfall shard down her neck: "What if elders notice my exclusive pine-soot ink..."
Wisteria iced over. Lin shattered prismatic light behind her. Xuanwu devoured last starlight as Frost's blade bisected her fountain illusion.
Frozen petals mirrored Frost's bloodshot eyes—proof of burning core essence.
"Time for Restricted Section antidotes." Lin brushed star-burnt sleeves, frost on her fingers warping into f*******n runes.
Following moonlit frost trails into the forest, she jammed the dragon-scale starfall sliver into her pendant's fissure.
- Writer
