Then the door closed.
Inside the room, the invisibility peeled away.
First, a ripple.
Then form.
The fox reappeared,
standing calmly as if she had always been there.
Little White followed,
settling once more atop her head.
Shen Tu exhaled,
a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"…You're back."
The fox glanced at him,
measured,
then gave a small nod.
"I told you I would be."
Her eyes moved briefly around the room.
Simple.
Clean.
Unremarkable.
Good.
Her gaze returned to him.
"…You followed instructions."
Not praise.
An observation.
Shen Tu straightened slightly.
"I—yes, my Lady."
A pause.
Then hesitation crept into his voice.
"…Everything you said earlier…"
His eyes lowered slightly.
"…was that planned?"
The fox didn't answer immediately.
She walked past him,
her tail swaying once,
before settling lightly onto a low seat.
Relaxed.
Composed.
Untouchable.
Then her lips curved faintly.
"…What do you think?"
Shen Tu didn't reply.
Because now—
he already knew.
The way everything had unfolded,
as if it had been decided before it even began.
*Was it really only a few minutes…?*
He stood there for a moment,
listening.
Nothing.
No pursuit.
No commotion outside.
No ripple of alarm through the Hollow.
As if nothing had happened.
His brows furrowed slightly.
That didn't feel right.
It should have caused something.
Noise.
Questions.
A reaction.
But there was nothing.
Only silence.
Then—
her voice came again.
Not spoken aloud.
Not heard.
But placed directly into his mind.
Calm.
Measured.
*Did you take two rooms like I said?*
Shen Tu straightened immediately.
"Yes, my Lady."
No hesitation.
Then a brief pause.
His eyes flicked toward the door.
"…I also made sure they're separated, as instructed."
A moment of silence.
Then—
*Good.*
Simple.
Final.
Her tone shifted slightly afterward.
Still calm—
but edged now.
Sharper.
*Leave this room.*
Shen Tu blinked.
"…Pardon?"
There was no repetition.
No patience wasted.
*Go to the other one.*
A pause.
*Stay there until I call you.*
He hesitated—
just for a fraction of a second.
Then lowered his head.
"Yes, my Lady."
He moved immediately.
No further questions.
The door opened.
He stepped out.
And closed it behind him.
The corridor outside remained quiet.
Unremarkable.
Other guests passed at a distance,
none paying him any attention.
He walked as instructed.
But his thoughts didn't remain still.
They circled.
Returned.
*Why separate rooms?*
*Why remove me now?*
His steps slowed slightly as realization began to form.
If she had truly eliminated the pursuers…
then there was no need for separation.
Which meant—
this wasn't about safety.
Or logistics.
It was about control.
About placement.
About visibility.
His fingers tightened faintly at his side.
*Was I part of the bait too?*
The thought tightened something in his chest.
Not fear.
Not anger.
Something more complicated.
Recognition.
He reached the second room.
Stopped.
Stood there in silence for a moment.
Then entered.
Inside, it was identical.
Sparse.
A single bed.
A small table.
A formation lamp humming faintly in the corner.
He closed the door.
Silence settled again.
Deeper this time.
More isolating.
Shen Tu stood still.
"…Stay here until she calls."
He repeated it quietly.
Then exhaled.
There was nothing else to do.
He sat down slowly on the edge of the bed.
The silence pressed in.
Thicker now.
No fox.
No Little White.
No unseen pressure guiding events around him.
Just him.
And his thoughts.
For a while, he tried to piece everything together.
The Hollow.
The auction.
The trade.
But every conclusion slipped from his grasp,
like trying to hold water.
Too many gaps.
Too many moments where things should have gone wrong—
and didn't.
He leaned back against the wall,
exhaling through his nose.
"…Anyway."
His voice was quiet in the empty room.
"…It's better not to think about it too much."
A pause.
He looked down at his hands.
Then nodded faintly to himself.
"It's none of my business."
That felt simpler.
Safer.
He had learned that much already.
With her, questions didn't always lead anywhere useful.
Only instructions did.
So he nodded again, more firmly this time.
"I just do as she says."
A faint breath left him—
almost a laugh he didn't fully commit to.
"…Like a good servant."
The word lingered.
Servant.
Guide.
Pawn.
He wasn't sure which one fit anymore.
But the conclusion remained.
He didn't need to understand everything.
Just his role within it.
Shen Tu shifted slightly on the bed,
settling in.
Outside, the Hollow continued its quiet rhythm,
as if nothing extraordinary had ever occurred.
And inside the room—
Shen Tu waited.
Exactly as he had been told.
Back in the room, the atmosphere settled into something deceptively ordinary.
A simple rented chamber.
Stone walls.
A faint formation light humming softly in the corners, warding off noise and prying senses.
On the bed, the lizard lay sprawled in quiet comfort, as if the world outside had never tried to kill anything at all.
A jar of wine tilted lazily in his claw.
Slow.
Unbothered.
He drank.
Paused.
Then drank again.
As though the slaughter in the forest had been nothing more than passing weather.
On the floor, the fox sat.
Composed.
Her tail rested neatly behind her.
Between her paws, the dark banner unfurled once more.
Its surface was no longer idle.
No longer dormant.
It trembled faintly.
As if something within it had awakened… and knew it was being called.
The fox's eyes lowered slightly.
"…Come out."
The banner responded.
Not with light.
Not with sound.
But with weight.
The air in the room dipped, subtle yet undeniable, as though something unseen had been pulled through a narrowing space.
Then—
one by one—
figures began to form.
Not bodies.
Not fully.
Fragments of shape.
Distorted outlines of the beasts that had died in the clearing.
Three remained the clearest.
The scarred one.
The illusion-user.
And the last—who had tried to burn his own lifespan to escape.
They hovered just above the floor, semi-transparent, their forms unstable, their expressions twisted with confusion and rage.
"…Wha—what is this…?"
"…Impossible… I was—"
"…Let me out!"
Their voices filled the space—
but the room itself did not respond.
Only the fox did.
She tilted her head slightly, studying them the way one might inspect merchandise.
"Still noisy, even like this."
Her tone was light.
Almost disappointed.
On the bed, the lizard shifted slightly, continuing his quiet drinking without interest.