The next morning, Song Jia arrived at Tranquility Conservatory with several hours of sleep behind her and far too many thoughts in her head.
The emblem.
The vanished settlements.
The undead.
The Imperial military office.
And somewhere beneath all of it—
the memory of her final battle.
"Sis Jia."
Song Jia blinked.
Shao Mei was waving a hand in front of her face.
"What?"
"You've been staring at your tea."
Song Jia looked down.
The cup had already gone cold.
Dai Bao leaned across the table.
"She's thinking about the competition."
"No." Song Jia said.
"The undead?" Fang Cheng asked.
Her gaze shifted toward him.
Dai Bao frowned.
"What undead?"
Song Jia paused.
The group knew about the strange corpses they had encountered before, but she had not told them everything Sun was currently dealing with in Dragon Kingdom.
Not yet.
"There's been another development on Xun's side."
The others became serious.
"Bad?" Wei Hua asked.
"Potentially."
