The alarm bell cracked through the compound before dawn, three sharp rings meaning breach rather than fire. Wei Liang was moving before he'd fully processed the sound, boots hitting the corridor floor, Brigh already awake and pulling a blade from under his mat.
"East storage wing," Brigh said, listening to shouting carried faintly on the wind. "That's where they're keeping Cao Bin."
Xu's voice snapped alert instantly. "Rong. He's stripped of rank, cornered, out of allies. Taking a hostage is exactly the move a desperate man makes when he's got nothing left to bargain with."
They reached the storage wing at a dead run, finding two guards already down outside the door, unconscious rather than killed, Rong's usual restraint even now still holding by some thread. Inside, Cao Bin lay half-dr
