The crimson notification hung in the air, a cold, geometric starkness against the backdrop of Sacha's ruined living room.
[Warning.]
[Host, the unique ambient Qi signature in this room has been tagged by a localized scrying artifact.]
[Origin Location: Wen Family Estate.]
Stan's eyes narrowed, the relaxed, brotherly warmth vanishing from his face in a fraction of a second, replaced by the absolute, lethal calculus of a man shifting into a war footing.
The Wen family closest to this place, one of the great ancient families.
They were already throwing a sensory net over Inksea, hunting for the exact kind of anomalous Qi spike his sister had just produced. Sacha's kinetic flare hadn't just been a local accident; to a scrying artifact, it had rung out like a dinner bell in a silent house.
"Stan?" Sacha asked, her voice dropping into a nervous whisper as she watched his expression change. "What's wrong? You have that look again."
