The defense tower stood rigid against the night sky, its sharp spire jarringly out of place among the lavish estate grounds.
The rotating patrol drones swept overhead just as Fu Tailan pushed open the car door — a swarm of oversized mechanical hornets breaking from their hive, buzzing outward and dissolving into the darkness.
…He was already inside the Illusion's surveillance perimeter.
The manor knew he was here. What it didn't know yet was whether he was an intruder — and how long that would last was anyone's guess.
From this point on, Fu Tailan knew he might need to act at any moment.
A single transmission. A glance. The faintest tremor in the air. Any of it could be the first sign of an incoming attack.
He gripped his backpack straps and deliberately fell back two paces, keeping the other two men in front of him as they made their way toward the security center. Every step felt like moving under the gaze of some vast, inescapable eye.
