The silence that followed was heavy with implication. Moving almost a hundred refugees across a militarized border wasn’t a minor operation, it was a full-scale evacuation requiring coordination, timing, and resources they weren’t sure they had.

“That changes things,” Yang murmured, his mind already working through more complications. “You and I will need more than a simple distraction. We’ll need a real commotion.”

“Maybe those unexpectedly large numbers aren’t so bad…” Wei smiled for the first time in hours, a plan beginning to form. “Chen, how quickly can your neighbors be ready?”

“They’re already packing. Most only have what they can carry anyway.” The old man’s voice carried both sadness for what they were leaving behind and hope for what lay ahead. “If they’ll be given a temporary place to sleep on the other side… while this disgrace that won’t let them work to eat ends… That’s all they need.”

The desperation in his voice was telling. These weren’t political refugees fleeing ideology, they were families fleeing starvation, oppression, the simple inability to live decent lives under the current system.

“Perfect.” Wei headed toward the entrance, purpose finally replacing anxiety. “Yang, stay with the boy’s parents for now. I’m going to make some preparations for a better plan.”

As Wei headed out of the storehouse pit, Reed called after him. “Professor, are you sure Ren and Lin will be safe when they come out from their new hiding place toward the plain?”

Wei stopped at the threshold, his back still turned.

“Your son has survived worse things. And Lin… well, she certainly won’t let anyone else tire him out…”

“But we should help with the distraction too…”

“No,” Wei turned around, his eyes blazing with determination. “I’ll personally handle initiating the distraction. I owe him that much.”

♢♢♢♢

Wei hid among the thick vegetation a few kilometers from Chen’s house, having moved relatively easily in the darkness now that troops seemed more dispersed in the vicinity.

The repositioning of forces had created gaps in patrol coverage, exactly the kind of opportunity he’d been hoping for.

With a fluid gesture, his Silver 2 manticore, which fortunately at this level already had wings, materialized before him in all its glory. The beast was impressive: three meters in length, with the muscular body of a lion, bat wings that extended six meters, and a tail ending in a venomous stinger that dripped toxins.

The creature’s presence filled the small clearing with power, its eyes glowing with intelligence.

“Old friend,” Wei murmured, placing a hand on the creature’s flank, “I need your eyes.”

The connection established immediately, decades of partnership making the fusion seamless. Wei closed his own eyes and began seeing through his manticore’s as the beast rose into flight.

The ascent was vertiginous, the ground falling away with breathtaking speed. At altitude, Wei could see the border as a slightly irregular line of approximately 150 kilometers extending to the great rift.

After a general reconnaissance, he descended to around three hundred meters, where details became sufficiently clear for his beast’s enhanced vision: patrols moving like ants, fortifications that looked like children’s toys from this height.

“Perfect,” he murmured, mentally directing his manticore toward the border.

The first interceptor beasts appeared almost immediately. Two silver eagles rose from watchtowers, their cries cutting through the air as they rapidly gained altitude.

But Wei had expected correctly. His Silver 2 manticore was more powerful than the individual standard patrol beasts, which were mostly Silver 1. The eagles followed him, yes, but didn’t dare attack directly while he wasn’t attempting to cross without permission.

Of course, sending the message with his beast would have been a bad idea… they would have known that the “Yino-like” code Han had taught him was a facade. There were few winged manticores in the city.

The battle would also be slightly against Wei’s beast, and reinforcements would arrive, but fighting wasn’t his intention. Not yet…

Instead, Wei directed his manticore deeper into Goldcrest territory, away from the border. To observers’ eyes, it appeared to be a retreat, an appropriate submission before the border’s show of force.

The eagles ceased their pursuit once the “threat” moved sufficiently away from the sensitive zone.

Wei smiled from his hiding place. Exactly as he had expected.

While his manticore flew over Goldcrest territory, Wei scanned the landscape looking for what his memory told him should be there. Thirteen years had passed, but…

There it was.

A temporary camp, tents scattered around smoking campfires. But it wasn’t a normal military camp. The markings on the tents, the banners fluttering in the wind, the entire disposition of soldiers and equipment indicated aggression and urgency…

Clan Strahlfang.

“Of course,” Wei murmured. His memory had been perfect. The young patroller Ren had ended wasn’t just any soldier. He was the eldest son of Patriarch Strahlfang, heir to the clan who had been, like hundreds of important children… his student once.

And now the entire clan was here, in border territory, demanding vengeance for their lost heir.

Wei directed his manticore in wide circles, observing the camp from multiple angles. He could see the tension even from this height: groups of men gesticulating angrily, meetings that looked more like arguments than strategic planning.

The clan was agitated, volatile, exactly the kind of fuel barrel he needed for his purposes.

Wei smiled, an expression that had nothing academic about it.

It was time to light the fuse.

♢♢♢♢

Back in the forest…

The sound of wind intensified, and Kieran descended like a comet through the forest canopy. His Vulture Fox had manifested completely, transforming him into an amalgamation of aerial predator and terrestrial hunter.

His arms had extended into membranous brown-black wings, while his legs displayed enormous claws on his feet. His face had elongated into a muzzle full of sharp teeth, and his eyes glowed with the intense red of a hungry scavenger.

He wasn’t a double yet, they had rewarded him only recently. But the third corruption adaptation potion was giving him an increase in his transformation’s intensity, pushing his beast beyond its normal limits.

Kieran launched directly at Lin, his claws extended in a diving attack that cut through the air with precision. It wasn’t a particularly elegant assault, but his aerial diving speed was considerable…

The fastest attacks always came from aerial hunters, and he intended to end this quickly.

But Lin instinctively stepped back, barely avoiding the claws aimed at her neck, and evaluated this new threat. The Yino agent still lay partially buried among rock debris, but now he had time to regenerate and regroup.

The situation had just become a bit more complex.