From the post station to the capital, normal travel took four days.

Lu Xingchen and Shen Ye had been walking for three—and had not yet covered half the distance.

Not because the road was hard. Because the two of them simply did not get along.

"Shen Ye, there's a tea stall up ahead. Can we rest?"

"No."

"I've been walking all morning. My legs are sore."

"Then walk faster."

"…Are you made of iron? You don't get tired, hungry, or thirsty?"

"Not thirsty."

Lu Xingchen wanted to roll his eyes.

In all his life he had never met anyone this difficult. No—he wasn't even sure Shen Ye counted as a person. Who acted like this? Three days, and apart from necessary questions and answers, he had not pried a single extra word out of Shen Ye's mouth.

Ask about the shadowfolk council—"None of your business."

Ask about the Shen family—"Not your concern."

Ask why Shen Ye would not share more about the mission—"You don't need to know."

Lu Xingchen felt less like he was traveling with a man and more like he was walking beside a wall.

"Hey, Shen Ye." He finally could not stand it. He quickened his pace to catch up. "Can you say a few more words? This silence the whole way is awkward as hell."

Shen Ye's steps slowed.

He turned his head and looked at Lu Xingchen.

The gaze was cold, as if he were observing some incomprehensible creature.

"We're not close."

"…"

Lu Xingchen opened his mouth and found he had nothing to say.

Fine. Not close, was it? Then they'd get close. Who was close with someone the first time they met?

"Isn't that what this trip is for?" he said, forcing cheer through gritted teeth. "There's nothing else to do on the road anyway. What's wrong with talking?"

Shen Ye stopped.

He turned to face Lu Xingchen fully, brow slightly furrowed.

"Lu Xingchen."

"Huh?"

"I don't like useless talk." Shen Ye's voice was level, emotionless. "If you want to chat, find someone else."

He turned and walked on.

Lu Xingchen stood where he was, watching that receding back, a knot of anger stuck in his chest with nowhere to go.

He had always been an optimist. In town he could talk to anyone. Even Old Li next door, famous for never opening his mouth, would exchange a few words about the weather when Lu Xingchen showed up.

Only this Shen Ye—immune to softness and hardness alike, impervious to everything.

What was he being so proud about?

So he had saved his life once—did that give him the right to act this arrogant?

The more Lu Xingchen thought, the angrier he got. He sped up and caught up.

"Shen Ye, stop!"

Shen Ye's steps slowed but did not stop.

"I'm asking you one question. Answer honestly." Lu Xingchen came up beside him, slightly out of breath. "That night in the forest—why did you save me?"

Shen Ye finally stopped.

He stood beneath an old tree, back to Lu Xingchen, silent for a very long time.

Long enough that Lu Xingchen thought he would not answer at all.

"…Convenience."

"What?"

"I saved you on a whim." Shen Ye's voice was quiet, giving nothing away. "I wasn't there for you that night."

Lu Xingchen went still.

"Then why were you there?"

Shen Ye did not answer.

He only turned his head slightly, profile hard in the shade.

"Why ask so much?" he said. "You're alive. You owe me. You'll pay it back sooner or later."

"Owe you?" Lu Xingchen frowned. "When did I owe you anything?"

Shen Ye finally turned to face him.

Those bottomless eyes looked even darker in the tree shadow, like two wells with no floor.

"Your life," he said, voice flat. "If not for me that night, you'd be dead."

Lu Xingchen: "…"

Suddenly he did not know what to say.

Because Shen Ye was right. Without him that night, Lu Xingchen would indeed be dead.

"So," Shen Ye continued, "on this mission, you follow my lead. I say east, you go east. I say stop, you stop. No acting on your own. No meddling. Don't—"

"Don't what?" Lu Xingchen cut in, voice edged with defiance. "Don't get close to you?"

Something shifted in Shen Ye's gaze.

"…Interpret it however you like." He turned away. "Let's go. We need to reach the next post station before dark."

Lu Xingchen stood watching that retreating figure, and a feeling rose in him that he could not name.

Not anger. Not hurt. Something deeper.

He had seen Shen Ye's eyes just now.

In that instant—when he spoke of your life—Lu Xingchen thought he glimpsed something else. Not coldness. Not distance. Something like—

Exhaustion.

Heavy, buried exhaustion.

As if he were carrying something enormous and would not let anyone see.

"…What a strange man," Lu Xingchen murmured.

And still he caught up.

Not because he owed the man anything. Because—he did not know why.

Maybe that lonely back reminded him of something. Maybe it was simple curiosity.

Either way, he caught up.

By evening they reached another post station.

This one was larger. The dining hall was packed—mostly merchant caravans and escort guards.

Lu Xingchen and Shen Ye found a corner table and each ordered a bowl of noodles.

While he ate, Lu Xingchen could not help stealing glances at Shen Ye across the table.

The man ate slowly, posture straight, as if trained in formal manners from childhood. But his eyes stayed on the bowl, as if he did not want anyone to see them.

One of the Light Spirit Hall's selection criteria held that light spirit wielders and shadowfolk should not have deep contact, or erosion would result—light and shadow clashing inside the body, weakening at best, fatal at worst.

Yet now the Hall had paired him with a shadowfolk man on an official mission.

Was that trust—or something else entirely?

He was still thinking when a commotion broke out in the hall.

"Move aside, move aside! I'm in a good mood today—let me put on a show for you!"

A drunken brute lurched to his feet, wine jar in hand, weaving toward their corner.

Lu Xingchen frowned.

The brute was heading straight for them.

"Little brother," the man stopped at their table, bleary eyes fixed on Shen Ye, "all alone? Come on, have a drink with your big brother!"

Shen Ye did not look up, as if he had not heard.

The brute's face darkened.

"Playing hard to get, are you? I'm talking to you!" He slammed the table. Bowls jumped. "Know who I am? Wang of the capital! You know how big the Wang family's reach is? Cross me and you won't walk away in one piece!"

Lu Xingchen started to speak—but Shen Ye finally lifted his head.

Those bottomless eyes fixed on the brute. At the bottom of the wells was a chill that crawled up the spine.

"Get lost."

One word.

Soft—but weighted like stone.

The brute blinked, then flushed red.

"What the fuck did you say?" He flipped the table. Bowls shattered on the floor. "Today I'll teach you what heaven and earth really mean—"

He reached for Shen Ye's collar.

Lu Xingchen rose instinctively—

And then he saw it.

Shen Ye's shadow.

On the ground it shifted slightly, then seemed to come alive, silently spreading toward the brute's feet.

The next second the man's foot slipped. He pitched forward and hit the floor face-first.

"Ow—my teeth!"

He lay sprawled, hand over his mouth, blood seeping between his fingers.

The hall erupted.

Shen Ye stood, looked down at the man on the floor without a ripple in his expression.

"I told you to get lost," he said quietly. "You didn't listen."

Then he looked at Lu Xingchen. "Let's go."

Lu Xingchen blinked and hurried after.

They left the station and did not stop until they reached the grove behind it.

"Shen Ye," Lu Xingchen could not help saying, "just now, that—"

"What do you want to ask?" Shen Ye cut in.

"…That shadow. Was that you?"

Shen Ye did not answer.

He stood beneath the trees. Moonlight filtered through the leaves onto his face, tracing cold, hard lines.

"Remember what I said." His voice was softer than usual. "Don't meddle. Don't act on your own."

He turned to Lu Xingchen.

In the moonlight those bottomless eyes were like ancient wells, yet held something Lu Xingchen could not read.

"This time was a warning. Next time—"

He paused.

"Next time I won't save you."

Then he walked back toward the station.

Lu Xingchen stood at the edge of the grove, watching that retreating back, a strange feeling rising in his chest.

Had Shen Ye been warning him—or protecting him?

He thought of the technique Shen Ye had used. Shadowfolk power, so secret and so strong even in broad daylight.

If Shen Ye had used that ability against the shadows in the forest that night…

Suddenly he understood.

That night, Shen Ye had not saved him on a whim.

He had saved him on purpose.

But why?

He walked back to the station with questions he could not answer.

That night he dreamed again.

The dream was a black forest. Faceless shadows appeared once more. But this time a figure stood in front of him, blocking every shadow behind his back.

The figure was lean. The back was cold.

And yet, somehow, Lu Xingchen felt safe.

When he woke, dawn had broken.

Shen Ye was already waiting at the station entrance.

"Let's go," the man said, voice flat. "We can reach the capital today."

Lu Xingchen nodded, shouldered his pack, and followed.

Sunlight spilled across the road ahead, stretching their shadows long behind them.

Two shadows, one after the other, as if silently chasing each other.

Neither noticed the eyes watching from distant tree shadow.

Their owner curled the corner of his mouth in a cold smile, then vanished without a sound into the morning mist.