Xie Yunlan's Penthouse: 10:30 PM
By the time Lin Yuer arrived back at the apartment, everyone was already assembled—Xie Yunlan, Kai Zhen, Adrian, and Wei Feng, all looking varying degrees of concerned.
"You said you learned something important," Xie Yunlan said the moment Lin Yuer walked in, already standing. "What happened?"
Lin Yuer sat down heavily on the couch, suddenly exhausted from the weight of everything he'd learned tonight.
"Shen Rui thinks my death wasn't just a betrayal gone wrong," he said. "He thinks it was deliberate. That I was eliminated because I knew something dangerous."
The room went silent.
"What kind of something?" Kai Zhen asked, voice tight.
"Something called the Meridian Project."
Kai Zhen's face went pale. Actually pale, all color draining away.
"You know it," Lin Yuer said, watching his reaction.
