Mist clung to the small courtyard, damp and quiet, as if the morning itself didn't want to disturb what had just happened. The old house stood still behind them, windows shut tight, secrets once again buried beneath worn wooden floors. Suo Ran and Lian Ziho stepped out through the orphanage gate, bags in hand, the faint sound of metal clicking into place behind them echoing heavier than it should have.
"Gege…" The small voice made Suo Ran stop.Jun Wei stood near the gate, clutching the strap of his tiny backpack like it was something anchoring him in place. His eyes were red, lips pressed together as if he was trying very hard not to cry."You're really going back?" he asked, voice wavering despite his effort to sound steady.
Suo Ran forced a small smile, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I have work." he said gently. "I can come with you." The words tumbled out too quickly, too desperate. Jun Wei took a small step forward. "I won't be noisy. I'll listen to everything. I promise."
Lian Ziho leaned lightly against the car nearby, watching the exchange in silence, his usual easy expression softened into something quieter, more thoughtful. He didn't interrupt.
Suo Ran crouched down in front of Jun Wei, bringing himself to eye level. His voice lowered, careful. "You have school. And this is your home."Jun Wei's fingers tightened on his backpack strap. "I don't like it when you leave."Suo Ran's expression faltered for a second before he pulled the boy into a tight hug, holding him just a little longer than necessary. "It's not forever." he murmured softly against his hair.
Jun Wei sniffed, voice muffled. "Promise?"
There was the smallest pause."Promise." Suo Ran said.Lian Ziho stepped forward then, breaking the heaviness just slightly. He held out a small object between his fingers, tone deliberately light. "Hey," he said, crouching a little. "I saw this yesterday."
Jun Wei blinked, curiosity cutting through his sadness as he looked at the wooden keychain shaped like a fox. "For me?"
"For the bravest man here." Lian Ziho replied with an easy grin.
Jun Wei's eyes lit up just a little, pride slipping through the cracks of his sadness. "Really?"
"Of course," Lian Ziho said. "You guard the house while we're gone."The boy nodded seriously, clutching the keychain like it was something important. "I will."Suo Ran glanced at Lian Ziho, a quiet, unspoken gratitude in his eyes. Lian ziho only shrugged slightly, like it was nothing.
They got into the car.As the engine started and the vehicle began to roll away, Jun Wei stood by the gate, waving with both hands, small figure growing smaller by the second. "Bye, gege!" he called out, voice carrying faintly.Suo Ran didn't look back immediately.
But eventually, his eyes shifted to the rearview mirror. The orphanage looked smaller from a distance.His grip on the strap of his bag tightened slightly.
The road stretched out ahead, long and quiet, cutting through fading mountains into open highway. The sky was pale, the air still carrying a trace of morning chill.Lian Ziho drove, one hand steady on the wheel, the other resting loosely near the gear. After a few minutes of silence, he glanced sideways.
"You okay?" he asked, voice softer than usual.
Suo Ran didn't answer right away. His gaze stayed fixed ahead, but his voice, when it came, was quiet. "He's growing up too fast."
Lian Ziho hummed lightly. "That's what kids do."Suo Ran let out a faint breath, something between a sigh and a tired laugh. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."Another stretch of silence passed.Then Lian Ziho spoke again, a little more carefully this time. "You always get like this when you leave?"
Suo Ran's fingers shifted slightly against his bag. "…Yeah."Lian ziho nodded once, eyes returning to the road. "Makes sense."
Suo Ran glanced at him briefly. "You handled him well."Lian Ziho smiled faintly. "He's easy to like." A pause.Then, quieter, "So are you."
Suo Ran blinked, caught off guard, but Lian didn't look at him just kept his eyes on the road like he hadn't said anything unusual at all.
Suo Ran looked away after a second, the corner of his lips tightening just slightly.
The car continued forward, the city slowly pulling closer with every passing mile.Behind them, the mountains faded.Ahead of them, something heavier waited.Neither of them said it out loud.But both of them felt it.
Inside it, beneath folded clothes, was an envelope thin, worn at the edges, carrying weight far beyond paper. Old documents. His father's handwriting. The ink alone felt like a memory he hadn't been ready to face again. Suo Ran's fingers lingered over it for a second before he pushed the bag closed, like shutting it away could delay everything attached to it. He hadn't told Lian Ziho.
Lian Ziho noticed the silence stretching too long, the kind that wasn't empty but heavy. He glanced sideways, voice gentle but observant. "You didn't sleep." he said after a while."I'm fine." Suo Ran replied automatically, gaze fixed ahead.Lian Ziho let out a faint breath, almost amused but not quite. "You say that a lot."Suo Ran didn't respond. His fingers tightened slightly against the strap of his bag, knuckles paling for just a moment before relaxing again.
The wind brushed softly against the car windows, a quiet hum filling the space between them. Time passed ten minutes, twenty, thirty until exhaustion finally caught up with Suo Ran. His eyelids grew heavier, blinking slower, his posture loosening without him realizing it.The car rolled over a small uneven patch of road.Suo Ran shifted slightly.And without meaning to, his head tilted resting lightly against Lian Ziho's shoulder.Lian ziho froze.
His hands tightened on the steering wheel, breath catching for half a second. He could have moved. Could have adjusted his posture, nudged him awake, said something casual to break the moment.He didn't.
Suo Ran's breathing deepened, soft and steady, the tension that always clung to him finally slipping away in sleep.
Lian Ziho's gaze flickered down briefly, something unreadable passing through his eyes. "You look tired." he murmured under his breath, so quiet it barely existed.He kept driving.Even when his shoulder began to ache, he didn't move.Because for once, Suo Ran looked like he wasn't fighting something invisible.
They reached the city near sunset, the golden light fading into the harsher glow of streetlamps and traffic signals. The quiet of the mountains dissolved into noise engines, voices, life returning all at once.The car slowed near the apartment.Suo Ran stirred, blinking awake slowly before realizing where he was and how close he was. He straightened immediately, pulling back. "Sorry." he said, voice still rough with sleep.
Lian Ziho shook his head lightly. "It's fine."
They stepped out of the car.Across the street, leaning against a streetlight with a stillness that didn't belong to the busy city, stood Cai Lang.Cai Lang had arrived before them.He had seen them leave days ago.
Now he watched them return.His expression didn't change."You're back." he said.Suo Ran nodded once. "Yeah."
"How was it?"
"Quiet."
Cai Lang's eyes shifted briefly, sharply to Lian Ziho. Then back to Suo Ran, gaze steady, unreadable. "Did you find anything?"There was a pause.Suo Ran's fingers tightened slightly around the strap of his bag. "Just old things," he said calmly. "Nothing useful."
Lian Ziho remained silent.Because he truly didn't know.
Cai Lang held Suo Ran's gaze a second longer than necessary. Measuring. Weighing. Not convinced.But he didn't push."Rest," Cai Lang said finally. "You look tired."His tone .
That night, Cai Lang didn't go home immediately.Instead, he drove somewhere else.His father's company building loomed tall and quiet against the night sky, glass reflecting nothing but darkness. He didn't enter.He had already started pulling records days ago.Security movements,private shipments and restricted cultural archive transfers.
His jaw tightened as the same code surfaced again and again.Scroll Archive Unit 7.
"The same unit…" he muttered under his breath, eyes narrowing. "That's not coincidence."His phone buzzed.Unknown number.
He answered without hesitation. "Who is this?"A distorted voice came through, cold and deliberate. "You should stop digging."
Cai Lang's expression hardened. "Or what?"
"Tell the boy to stay away from the scroll."
The line went dead.Cai Lang lowered the phone slowly, eyes darkening. "The boy…" he repeated under his breath."That means Suo Ran." he said quietly, anger sharpening each word.They weren't warning him.They were warning about Suo Ran.Cold anger rose in his chest, steady and dangerous. "Who exactly is watching you…" he murmured,"and for how long?"
Meanwhile, on the rooftop of Suo Ran's building Lian Ziho stood alone beneath dim overhead lights, hands resting lightly on the railing. The city stretched endlessly below, glowing, alive, deceptively normal.But something felt off.He didn't know about the documents.He didn't know about the envelope hidden in Suo Ran's bag.But he knew Suo Ran was hiding something.Not from him specifically.Just… from everyone.
He let out a quiet breath. "I don't know if that's better or worse." he muttered.
Footsteps approached.Suo Ran stepped onto the rooftop, shoulders still tense despite the quiet."You're not sleeping either." he said softly."No." Lian Ziho replied.They stood side by side.Close enough to feel each other's presence.Far enough to avoid the questions neither wanted to ask."Thank you for coming with me." Suo Ran said after a while, voice quieter now.Lian Ziho glanced at him. "You didn't have to thank me."
"I still am."
The wind lifted slightly, brushing past them.
"You seemed different," Lian Ziho said carefully.Suo Ran's gaze stayed fixed on the skyline. "Maybe I am."Lian Ziho hesitated, words sitting right at the edge of being spoken.He wanted to ask.He didn't.Instead, he said quietly, "If you ever need help… you don't have to carry it alone."Suo Ran's expression softened just slightly. "I know."
Down on the street below a black car idled in shadow, engine barely audible.Inside, a man lowered his phone slowly. "They're back." he reported. "And?" a voice asked from the other end. "The target hasn't opened it yet."
Silence.Then voice came "Accelerate."The call ended.The man looked up toward the rooftop, eyes cold, calculating. "If he won't open the scroll willingly…" he murmured, "we'll make him."
Back upstairs Cai Lang finally returned to the apartment building. He stepped out of the car, gaze lifting instinctively toward the rooftop.Two figures stood there.He didn't call out.Didn't interrupt.He simply watched.
For a moment too long."You look comfortable." he muttered under his breath, something tight in his chest he refused to name.His phone vibrated again.This time a message.He opened it.
There was a photo.It was photo of Suo Ran from inside the old hometown house. He was holding something like envelope.Cai Lang's breathing slowed, his expression going still in a way that was more dangerous than anger.
"They were watching him there too…" he said quietly.His grip tightened slightly around the phone."This isn't just about the scroll anymore."It was about what Suo Ran had found.Cai Lang looked up at the rooftop again, eyes lingering on the two figures.
"I should tell him." he muttered.A pause.
"…Or protect him from it."
Above him, Suo Ran suddenly felt a strange chill run down his spine.He stiffened slightly, gaze shifting as if trying to find something that wasn't visible."Did you feel that?" he asked quietly.Lian Ziho frowned slightly. "What?"" Nothing." Suo Ran said after a second, though his expression remained tense.
The wind shifted again and far across the city.
A sealed archive case was placed on a metal table with a dull metallic sound.Inside it an identical scroll casing.Beside it a single written order."If necessary, remove him."
Suo Ran didn't know yet.But the moment he left his hometown…Everything had already begun to close in.The countdown had already started.