Grounded. Tense. Clear.
Inside the Stillness
At first there was nothing.
Just darkness behind Violet's closed eyes.
Then—
Movement.
Not a dream.
Not exactly a vision either.
More like looking through water.
The surface rippled.
Shapes formed slowly.
Stone pathways.
Tall walls.
Ancient architecture.
A courtyard surrounded by dark tiled roofs.
Violet recognized the place immediately.
Yè ancestral residence.
Her breathing remained slow.
Steady.
But her mind sharpened.
The Memory of a Week Ago
The courtyard was no longer peaceful.
Wooden doors hung crooked.
Paper windows had been torn open.
Storage chests lay overturned.
Scroll shelves emptied.
The house had been ransacked.
Violet observed silently.
She wasn't reliving the event.
She was seeing its aftermath.
A week had passed since the break-in.
Yet the damage remained.
No repairs.
No officials.
No police.
Just silence.
Like the house itself didn't want outsiders involved.
Movement in the Courtyard
Footsteps.
A figure walked across the broken stone tiles.
Huáng Nián Qīng.
Her posture was straight.
Controlled.
She moved through the courtyard as if she had every right to be there.
Which, in a way, she did.
She had led the operation.
A week earlier she and her team had searched every room in the house.
Every drawer.
Every archive chest.
Every hidden compartment.
They had not seen what they came for.
But apparently…
ET wasn't finished.
Someone Else Arrives
Another presence entered the courtyard.
Even before Violet saw him clearly, she felt the difference.
Authority.
Pressure.
The kind that makes people stand straighter without realizing why.
He wore long black robes.
Not combat gear.
Not the lighter uniforms the field members used.
This one was ceremonial.
High rank.
His face was partially hidden beneath the shadow of the robe's hood.
Huáng Nián Qīng stopped walking.
Then bowed slightly.
Not submissive.
But respectful.
"Supervisor."
The man stepped closer.
His voice was low.
Controlled.
"You handled the operation."
No praise in the tone.
Just acknowledgment.
Huáng Nián Qīng didn't react.
She simply waited.
The robed man reached into his sleeve.
Pulled out a rolled scroll sealed with dark thread.
Old paper.
Not modern.
He held it out toward her.
"This is your next assignment."
Huáng Nián Qīng accepted it without hesitation.
Her fingers untied the thread.
She unrolled the scroll just enough to read the first lines.
Her eyes moved across the characters.
Her expression didn't change.
But something in her posture tightened.
Very slightly.
Violet Observes
Back in the apartment…
Violet's breathing remained calm.
But her focus deepened.
She leaned closer to the moment.
Watching carefully.
The characters on the scroll were written in formal script.
Old style.
The kind used for important directives.
Huáng Nián Qīng finished reading.
Then rolled the scroll closed again.
"Is this confirmed?" Huáng Nián Qīng asked.
The robed figure nodded once.
"It has already begun."
"Your involvement is necessary."
Huáng Nián Qīng looked toward the damaged study doors of the ancestral house.
A brief silence passed.
Then she asked something else.
"Am I assembling a team?"
The man shook his head.
"No."
His voice remained even.
"This task requires precision."
"Not numbers."
He stepped closer.
Just enough for his shadow to fall across the courtyard.
"You will proceed alone."
A Pause
For the first time, Huáng Nián Qīng hesitated.
Just a fraction.
Not fear.
Calculation.
She looked again at the scroll.
Then back at him.
"What exactly am I retrieving?"
The robed man answered without delay.
"Not retrieving."
A beat of silence.
Then—
"Finding."
Back in the Apartment
The image rippled.
The courtyard faded.
The stone pathways dissolved back into darkness.
Violet's eyes opened slowly.
The sunlight in the apartment hadn't moved much.
Only a few minutes had passed.
But her expression had changed.
Slightly.
She leaned back against the wall.
Quiet.
Thinking.
Then she muttered to herself.
"ET doesn't stop."
Not anger.
Just certainty.
Her gaze drifted toward the window.
Toward the university somewhere across the city.
Where Qiū Huà Bǐ was still sitting in class.
Completely unaware.
Violet exhaled slowly.
Then said quietly:
"Yeah…"
"They're definitely circling."