The night wind curled through the alleys like a wandering spirit, stirring banners and whispering against shuttered windows. Li Wei moved at a steady pace, not rushing despite the razor-thin margin of safety he'd earned by slipping past Huo's enforcers.
Young Master Wei held the ledger's weight in his sleeve and the feeling felt as heavy as iron, though it was no larger than a folded fan. Its presence tugged at the spiritual flow of the city, drawing faint pulses from the leyline beneath the streets.
"Such a small thing," he murmured, "yet the Oolong Group guards it like a dragon guards its progeny." Ahead, the great lanterns of the metropolitan district burned bright, illuminating the arterial streets of the grand Oolong marketplace.
Voices drifted through the air, it was late in the night and vendors were beginning to pack up, drunken patrons could be seen stumbling home, guards exchanging shifts. However, beneath the surface lay a festering network as taut as a drawn bowstring.
