Huo Qi’s jaw tightened. He reached for his earpiece, "Section Four, sweep the east corridor and surveillance feed near the restrooms. Now."
Tang Fei blinked, startled, "That’s not necessary...." They were alerting Huo Ting Cheng by doing this!
"It is," he said quietly, his tone even but edged with sothing colder. "You were inside less than fifteen minutes, Madam. The security caras outside the washroom, went static for six."
Twilight’s hand went rigid around Tang Fei’s.
The corridor felt suddenly longer, the fluorescent light too bright. Sowhere down the hall, a door clicked, faint, but sharp enough to make Tang Fei flinch.
Huo Qi noticed. His eyes softened just slightly, "Let’s get you back to Master Huo," he said after a mont, his voice lower now, almost gentle. "He’ll want to know."
Tang Fei hesitated for a mont, her gaze flicked back toward the washroom door.
The mirror had been spotless when she left. But she could feel it.
Sothing still lingered behind that glass.
They walked back to the private room.
The door slid open.
Huo Ting Cheng looked up instantly, mid-sentence with Secretary Li. The mont his eyes landed on Tang Fei, his expression changed, the faint composure he wore like armor fractured into quiet alarm.
He rose from his chair without a word.
"Fei’er."
It wasn’t loud, just her na, spoken low, weighted with too much aning and intimate.
Tang Fei tried to steady herself, but all her emotions were written on her face. "I’m fine," she said automatically, but her voice betrayed her, too thin and too controlled.
Huo Ting Cheng crossed the room in two strides. His hand ca up, catching her wrist before she could step away. The faint red stain on her skin hadn’t fully dried. His eyes dropped to it and hardened.
"What happened?"
Her lips parted, but no words ca out. Twilight stepped forward instead, her tone professional but tight.
"There was... a malfunction. The lights went out for a few seconds and Auntie Tang got startled, that’s all."
But even she couldn’t keep the edge out of her voice.
Huo Ting Cheng’s gaze flicked between them, then to Huo Qi, who had just entered, "Report," he ordered quietly.
Huo Qi bowed slightly, "Six minutes of static interference on the washroom feed, Master. East corridor caras cut out. They’re rebooting now. No intrusions detected so far."
The silence that followed was heavy, and palpable.
Huo Ting Cheng’s hand still held Tang Fei’s wrist, thumb brushing faintly over the pulse point as if to confirm she was truly there. Then, slowly, he turned her hand over, inspecting it, eyes tracing the faint red marks.
"This isn’t paint."
"It’s nothing," she whispered.
His gaze lifted sharply, locking with hers, "Don’t lie to ."
For a mont, neither of them spoke. Only the low hum of the air system filled the space.
Tang Fei finally looked away, her voice barely audible.... "It wasn’t... anyone. I just... saw sothing."
Huo Ting Cheng’s jaw flexed. He didn’t ask what, and not in front of others. Instead, his arm ca around her shoulders, pulling her close in a gesture that was protective yet wordless.
He turned to Huo Qi. "Seal that corridor. I want every fra reconstructed and every electromagnetic frequency scanned. Soone tampered with the feed, or wanted her to think they did."
"Yes, Master."
Tang Fei felt his arm tighten slightly, not harshly, but with an intensity that made it hard to breathe.
Huo Ting Cheng’s voice, when it ca next, was low enough that only she could hear.
"If this is another warning," he murmured near her ear, " they made a mistake showing it to you."
Tang Fei’s breath hitched, "And what if it wasn’t a warning?" she asked worriedly!
His reply ca without hesitation, his tone dark, final. "Then it’s a declaration."
The air between them thickened, too many things unsaid, too many ghosts crowding close.
He turned his head slightly, his profile cutting clean against the sterile light, "Go back to the lounge, Fei’er. Wait for there."
She opened her mouth to protest, but the look in his eyes silenced her, an unspoken command wrapped in worry. Twilight guided her gently toward the door.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Huo Ting Cheng’s composure fractured completely. He turned and faced Huo Qi.
"Get everything, infrared, magnetic, biological scan, of every damn fluctuation in that corridor. I want to know what could scramble our feed for six minutes."
" Yes, Master."
" Also," he added, voice lowering further, " tighten her security periter around her. I want double shadow detail on her for the next seventy-two hours. Discreetly."
Huo Qi nodded grimly, "Understood."
When they were gone, Huo Ting Cheng stood in silence for several long seconds, his hand still faintly stained from where he had touched her wrist. He lifted it, staring at the faint reddish mark left on his skin. It wasn’t blood, he knew that much, but sothing colder ran through him.
Soone was playing with her.
And that, more than any physical threat, chilled him.
---
Tang Fei sat on the edge of the couch, fingers entwined tightly in her lap. The room was warm and quiet, too quiet. Twilight stood near the door, restless, scanning every shadow.
"Momma," she said softly after a while. " You shouldn’t have said that...."
Tang Fei didn’t answer imdiately. Her gaze was locked on the reflection in the glass table before her, half-distorted, rippling faintly as if moved by unseen air. "Sotis," she softly murmured, "to draw out a viper, you have to let it believe you’ll walk into the nest."
Twilight frowned, stepping closer, "That’s exactly what they want, Momma... Don’t fall for their cheap tricks, Momma."
" I know." Tang Fei looked up then, eting her adopted daughter’s eyes, "But that’s the only way to end this. We have to get to the root of all this..."
The door opened softly behind them.
Huo Ting Cheng entered, his steps controlled but heavy. He dismissed Twilight with a glance. "Give us a mont."
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