The vent system opened onto a shadowed rooftop two blocks from the Mirage Quarter.
The scent of incense, synthetic musk, and indulgent sin was thick in the air even from here.
Huiya crouched low beside Yunhai, eyes scanning the silken banners fluttering in the warm night breeze.
From above, the building cluster of D-43 looked like a temple crossed with a neon fever dream.
Ornate domes glittered with programmable lighting, the doors etched with shifting sigils. Inside, the air pulsed with music and pheromone-coded lighting, designed to lower inhibitions and keep patrons coming back with empty wallets and bleary memories.
[This is it,] Yunhai murmured, tone surprisingly dry. [Welcome to the Mirage. Where everyone's desires are for sale... and Guang'li plays king behind a velvet curtain.]
Huiya raised an eyebrow. "You said he hides in the labs."
[He does. But he still likes to walk the floor. Flash some charm. Play the benevolent god. It's his ego. He wants the underworld to see him untouchable.]
Her eyes narrowed. "And you're sure we need to dress up for this?"
Yunhai didn't answer immediately. Instead, he flicked his fingers and summoned a shimmering rack of outfits from his personal cache. Fabric spun itself into sleek, skin-hugging silhouettes, spangled in subtle tech-thread.
He held out one: a low-slung midnight jumpsuit with a high collar, asymmetric slit across the thigh, and translucent sleeves that shimmered under light. Embedded defense panels flickered, camouflaged as beadwork.
[If you walk in like you, we'll never make it past the scent threshold. You need to look like someone who belongs. You need to look like a temptation.]
Huiya scowled but snatched the suit. "You're enjoying this."
Yunhai's grin widened. [I am deeply invested in our survival.]
They changed behind a projection screen on the rooftop. Yunhai emerged first, his hybrid form clothed in dark red silk and structured black. A deep V exposed his collarbone, and his hair had been slicked back to reveal sharp angles, obsidian piercings glinting along his ears.
Huiya stepped out a moment later.
Yunhai froze.
Then let out a low whistle.
[If I had a pulse, it would've spiked. Huiya... your figure is amazing.]
She rolled her eyes, but her cheeks pinked slightly. "Let's just get this over with."
They descended from the roof using a hidden lift chute and merged into the line of patrons filtering into the Mirage's grand atrium.
The air was warmer inside, flushed with gold light and softly layered scents designed to intoxicate.
They passed through security with no issue, Yunhai had already scrambled every scanner on site.
Inside, dancers twirled on mirrored platforms, and servers in mesh silk offered drinks that sparkled like starfields.
Music swirled low and slow, like the rhythm of a heartbeat under silk sheets.
[Target's signal is below,] Yunhai murmured, nodding toward a side corridor draped in crimson. [Lab entrance is hidden past the third lounge.]
"Then let's..."
She didn't finish.
Because someone was watching her.
From across the lounge, lounging on a curved velvet sofa, a man had gone completely still.
He sat like he owned the room, legs sprawled in careless confidence, a glass of golden liquor in his hand.
Tall. Unreasonably broad-shouldered. His long dark hair was pulled into a loose half-knot, with a few tendrils trailing along his cheekbones.
The tailored jacket he wore did nothing to hide the sculpted power underneath. Eyes like stormlit steel tracked her every movement, and when he smiled.
It wasn't friendly.
It was cold and mocking.
Huiya tensed, hand twitching toward her thigh.
Yunhai didn't even glance over. [Don't do anything stupid.]
"Who is that?" she asked under her breath.
[You forgot him? Seriously? That's Zhao'kyr.]
-_-
"That is Zhao'kyr?!"
[Yeah, don't you know. You have Huiya's memories, how come you don't remember him?]
"I guess I've never thought too deeply about him. He's fucking hot.."
[-_-]
[Is that what you're seriously thinking about right now? Avert your eyes woman. It seems like he doesn't recognize us, so let's quicky go about our business]
"Alright but quickly take a picture. I want to look at his face more....later"
[-_-]
[You can look at mine though...]
-__-
"Why would I want to look at a face that looks like mine? You remind me of my annoying younger brother, he was 27 like you too, should I use "was" I mean I'm the one who died..."
As they turned towards the direction of the labs, they were quickly surrounded.
"State your business? The section for the whores is over there..." The guard hissed, point his finger to the place they just left.
Huiya's eyes locked onto the guard's and a soft, minute crack of joints shifting was lost in the tension.
It wasn't until the finger was severed, and the scream pierced the air, that the sound of those cracking knuckles came back to haunt them, a tiny, telling detail that preceded the brutal reprisal.
"Fuck! My finger! You fucking bitch l! You watch your woman or I won't be so lenient next time."
[-_-]
"I'm no one's woman and I'm certainly not a whore. Next time, I can guarantee you won't be able to grow your head back when I severe it.."
A guard hissed as he flexed his newly grown finger, the bigger guard pushed him aside and came forward.
"Look here missy, what my colleague was trying to say, is that this is a restricted area and you can only come in, if you're invited by our boss.."
Huiya smiled at the guard, there was many polite ways to pass information rather than that disrespectful vermin, she should have cut off more of his fingers.
"Thank you, and how does one get invited by your boss?"
The guard scratched his head "Well, most of the time, his guests are big shots, so we just call their names and he decides if he wants to see them or not."
Huiya smiled, she guess she'd still end up revealing her identity, these men didn't seem to recognize her, so saying her name wouldn't be bad.
"Very well. Please tell your boss that Huiya has come to see him.."