In her own cell, Mrs. Lu sat equally still, equally cold. But her hands were clenched so tightly her nails drew blood from her palms, and her eyes held a fury that would have made anyone who saw it take an involuntary step backward.
The baby was gone. Their grandson, the Lu heir, the only piece of their destroyed son that remained, vanished into impossible light.
Soone would pay for that.
Everyone would pay for that.
---
The sedan glided through the pre-dawn streets smoothly, Ting Fei’s hands steady on the wheel as he navigated the familiar route back to the Lin mansion. The city was still caught in that strange liminal space between night and morning, most windows dark, only scattered lights marking where early risers or late workers kept vigil against the darkness.
In the back seat, Shuyin had her eyes closed, her head resting against the cool leather, trying to process the impossible events of the night. Beside her, Yu Shou sat in watchful silence, those jade eyes never still, constantly scanning the passing streets with predatory alertness.
Lu Yuze was on his phone in the front passenger seat, speaking quietly with Ah Ying about the children. "And they haven’t woken at all? Good. Keep it that way. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes."
Shuyin felt herself beginning to drift, exhaustion finally catching up to her. It had been the longest night of her life, or lives, considering she carried mories from both Kailani and the original Lin Shuyin. Finding her mother. Freeing Qiao. The jade stone. Yu Shou’s transformation. The revelation about the baby. Too much. All of it is too much.
Then her eyes snapped open.
Not voluntarily. The jade eyes activated on their own, responding to so threat her conscious mind hadn’t yet registered. The world shifted into translucent shades of green and gold, the x-ray vision piercing through tal and glass and darkness.
And she saw it.
A car, three blocks behind them, engine roaring as it accelerated. No headlights. Moving with purpose. Closing the distance rapidly.
But that wasn’t what made her blood run cold.
The car was empty.
No driver. No passengers. Just an empty vehicle hurtling through the streets with impossible speed and precision, steering itself, following them with single-minded determination.
"Ting Fei!" Shuyin’s voice cut through the quiet like a knife. "Car behind us. Three blocks back. No lights. Moving fast."
Ting Fei’s eyes flicked to the rearview mirror, professional instincts engaging imdiately. Lu Yuze ended his call mid-sentence, turning in his seat. Yu Shou’s entire posture shifted, muscles coiling with readiness.
"I see it," Ting Fei confird, his voice calm but alert. "Black sedan. No plates visible. Accelerating."
"There’s no one inside," Shuyin said, her jade eyes still active, still seeing through the pursuing vehicle’s shell. "It’s empty. No driver. No one."
Lu Yuze’s expression went very still. "What?"
"Empty," Shuyin repeated, her voice tight. "Sothing’s controlling it, but there’s no one physically....."
The pursuing car surged forward with a burst of speed that shouldn’t have been possible, eating up the distance between them. Two blocks. One and a half. One.
"Hold on," Ting Fei said, his hands were already moving. The sedan’s engine roared as he accelerated, the vehicle responding with the smooth power of expensive German engineering. But the pursuing car matched them, then began to close the gap again.
"It’s going to ram us," Yu Shou observed with eerie calm, her jade eyes tracking the vehicle through the rear window. "Targeting the rear quarter panel. Classic PIT maneuver approach."
"Not if I can help it," Ting Fei muttered. His hands spun the wheel sharply, guiding them into a hard right turn down a side street. Tires squealed. Shuyin was thrown against her seatbelt, Yu Shou bracing herself with supernatural grace.
The pursuing car followed.
No hesitation. No overcorrection. Just perfect, inhuman precision as it took the turn at speed.
"This isn’t normal," Lu Yuze said, his hand moving to his phone. "Ting Fei, lose it. Now."
"Working on it, sir."
Another turn. Left this ti, into a narrow street between comrcial buildings. The sedan’s mirrors nearly scraped the walls on either side. Behind them, the pursuing car followed with impossible accuracy, never touching the walls despite the tight clearances.
Shuyin’s jade eyes tracked it, seeing through tal and machinery to the empty interior. The steering wheel turned itself. The pedals were depressed under an invisible force. The engine revved with no foot on the accelerator.
Magic. Or sothing like it. Sothing controlling the vehicle from a distance, or animating it directly.
"Yu Shou," Shuyin said sharply. "Is this....."
"Yes," the guardian confird, her young face set in grim lines. "They’ve found you already. Faster than I anticipated." Her jade eyes blazed brighter. "This is a hunting construct. Crude, but effective. Designed to force you into an accident or drive you into a trap."
"Can you stop it?"
"Not while it’s moving. The enchantnt is too distributed through the vehicle’s systems. I’d need....."
"There!" Ting Fei interrupted, pointing ahead to where the narrow street opened onto a wider boulevard. "Hold on!"
He floored the accelerator, the sedan shooting forward like a missile. They burst out onto the boulevard, tires smoking as Ting Fei wrenched the wheel hard left, the vehicle’s stability control screaming in protest.
The pursuing car followed, erging from the narrow street with the sa impossible precision.
But sothing had changed.
Maybe the enchantnt was weakening. Maybe the distance had stretched too far. Maybe whoever was controlling it had lost concentration.
The pursuing car’s steering jerked violently to the right.
Not turning. Jerking. Like soone had yanked an invisible tether.
The vehicle swerved wildly, overcorrecting, its rear end swinging out. It clipped a light post, the impact sending up a shower of sparks. The post bent but held. The car careened sideways, montum carrying it toward the roadside barrier.
Then it hit.
The crash was spectacular. tal shrieked as it struck the steel guardrail. The rail gave way with a sound like a giant groaning, and the car punched through, airborne for a brief, surreal mont before gravity reclaid it.
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