Elder Zhao and Advisor Liu were running through the crumbling remains of the pitch-black subterranean corridors like their lives were on the line.
Their lungs burned, their chests heaved, and their dirt-stained silk robes fluttered wildly as they sprinted through the damp stone tunnels.
Every shadow seemed to twist with impending doom, and every echo of distant, grinding stone behind them sent fresh waves of paralyzing terror shooting down their spines.
They were high-ranking council members of Leaf Green City, men who had spent centuries delegating orders from comfortable carved chairs, yet now they were reduced to panicked, panting animals scrambling through the dark.
"Faster! We just need to reach the auxiliary array control chamber!" Advisor Liu wheezed out, his face pale as chalk, cold sweat dripping off his chin. "Once we turn those secondary keys, the central pagoda will be locked down tight! Faction Leader Mu Gang will save us!"
