The trail stretched deeper into the outskirts of Jinzhou, the night air thick with mist and the faint hum of cicadas. Jeff kept to the shadows, his breath shallow from all the walking and running. Man my stamina sucks ass bruh I need to work on my cardio again to get back to my prime.
Ahead, Lirong trudged forward with Yuanyuan clinging to his side, her small frame wobbling with exhaustion.
Found him. Fucking finally. Lirong is here.
I should go take a closer look...
Jeff lowered himself behind a slope of rocks, eyes narrowing, watching the scene unfold like a grim play on stage.
"Daddy… I'm tired…" Yuanyuan's voice wavered, her tiny fingers gripping the hem of Lirong's tattered coat.
Lirong crouched down, sweat rolling down his temple as he stroked her hair with trembling hands. "It's okay, Yuanyuan… They won't find us here." His voice cracked, as if he were trying to convince himself more than her.
"Those scary people…" Her lips trembled, tears shining in her eyes. "Are they coming after me?"
"Not just you, Yuanyuan…" His face hardened, eyes narrowing as he pulled her closer. "They want all the puppets here. But I won't let them. I'll make sure every puppet finds a home—together with people who love and need them. I will NOT let those freaks use you for experiments!"
His hands balled into fists, knuckles white. His voice lowered into something heavy, bitter. "Master Dollmaker… How could you be the first to betray our belief…"
"Dollmaker," huh… the fucking name gives me the creeps.
Yuanyuan's eyes widened, innocence peeking through the dread. "Is Master Dollmaker bad, Daddy?"
"I'm not sure anymore." Lirong's shoulders slumped, his jaw trembling with doubt. "He was our hope… He saved us all, but…" He stopped, exhaling raggedly before forcing a smile down at her. "Doesn't matter now. I must get all of you to safety first."
From his hiding spot, Jeff clenched his jaw. I guess they still have some morals… there are still things they won't do, lines they still won't cross no matter what. That's a good thing.
The sudden snap of branches tore the moment apart.
"I spotted them! Over there!"
The chubby Fractsidus member emerged from the trees, a grotesque grin plastered on his face as he sniffed the air dramatically. "You can't hide from this good ol' sniffer of mine!"
Lirong's body stiffened. "Yuanyuan, get behind Daddy, quick!"
"Oh-ho," the brute sneered, his eyes locking onto the girl. "I'll grab these puppets now. What about that guy, boss?"
From the shadows, the slim Fractsidus member stepped forward, his eyes glinting cold and merciless. "Ice him. And take that puppet behind him too."
"Huuhhh… urghh… hufff…" Lirong staggered forward, his body convulsing with unstable energy. His veins bulged dark beneath his skin, his eyes dilating with rage. "I will not… let you…! AAAAAHHHHH!"
Lirong's going to severely Overclock at this rate. I gotta do something.
Lirong gasped, a strangled cry escaping his throat as his body shook violently.
"D-Daddy!" Yuanyuan cried out, terror flooding her face. "H-Help!"
Jeff surged forward, breaking cover, his voice firm but calm. "Yuanyuan take your father somewhere safe!"
The Fractsidus men whirled at the sound, the chubby one snarling, "Hey! The fuck are you doing here?! Where the hell did you come from?!"
"One man's not gonna make a fucking difference," the slim one spat, drawing his blade. "Get rid of them now!"
But before they could strike—another voice slashed through the night.
"—Forgetting someone, are we?"
The words dripped with confidence, echoing like a whipcrack across the clearing.
The Fractsidus grunts squared their shoulders.
"What the… Those idiots," the chubby one spat, spittle flying from the corner of his mouth. "They were supposed to take care of you!"
The slim one raised a hand, eyes darting nervously. "Careful."
From the shadows, Yinlin stepped forward, her strings humming faintly with restrained energy. Her smirk was cool, but her eyes flicked between the two men like she'd already calculated every possible outcome.
"Sorry I knocked out your friends earlier," she said, her tone casual, almost mocking. "We're not planning to start anything with the Fractsidus, really. What do you say? Care to give Lirong and his daughter a little break? They're our people, after all."
She tilted her head toward the dolls. "You may have these puppets here. We can pretend none of this ever happened."
The slim man scoffed. "You think we're stupid or what? We're taking the puppets, and you're all going under!"
"Aww, you sure you want to do this?" Yinlin's voice dripped with faux sympathy, though her grip on her staff tightened. "We're business partners, remember?"
"Partners?" the chubby one barked a laugh. "You're just a bunch of lab rat keepers trying to play the game! Guess you fucking idiots bit more than you can chew and overestimated yourselves."
Yinlin sighed dramatically, then turned her head just enough to glance at Jeff. "So they're not up for peace talks. What do you say, Jeff?"
Jeff's tacet mark pulsed faintly at his neck, heat prickling under his skin. His lips curved into something between a smirk and a snarl. "Count me in. It's not like they'll let me off the hook either."
"Hehe… true," Yinlin chuckled softly, eyes glinting. "You know your Fractsidus well."
Yinlin tried to attack first, her dolls arcing with resonance energy, but Jeff never gave her the chance to finish.
The mark along his neck flared white-hot. In a blink, the world warped—Jeff reappeared behind the chubby Fractsidus member. The man barely had time to widen his eyes before Jeff's boot smashed into his knees. Bone cracked under the force, the brute collapsing with a guttural howl.
Jeff didn't pause. He drove his fist into the man's solar plexus, cutting his breath short and slamming him to the dirt in a heap.
The slim one blinked, dazed, struggling to process what had just happened. He fumbled for his blade, too slow Jeff was already moving. A sweeping kick sent him sprawling face-first into the ground. Before he could rise, cold metal pressed against his temple Jeff's pistol, drawn fluidly from his hip.
The man froze, eyes wide with terror. "W-Wait! We can talk about this!"
"There's nothing to talk about," Jeff said, voice low, steady, almost frightening in its calm. "You just fucked with the wrong people."
"W-Wait, wait—!"
The plea died in a grunt as Jeff swung the butt of his pistol into his temple. The man slumped unconscious, his head cracking against the dirt.
The mark surged again, leaping from Jeff's eye in jagged streams of frost. In seconds, both Fractsidus members were encased in a prison of ice, their frozen breaths suspended in the crystalline haze.
Jeff stood over them, chest rising and falling steadily, the glow fading from his mark.
Yinlin's lips parted, eyes glimmering with something between awe and amusement. Her voice was soft at first. "You've got some moves. Impressive…"
Her grin returned, sly and feline. "Guess I can rely on you a bit more. I'll be counting on you."
She tilted her head, teasing, as though she couldn't resist poking at his composure. "How do you fight like that? Are you injured? I don't want my precious civilian investigator to be hurt now do I."
Jeff shook his head, pistol still at his side. "As you can see not even a scratch."
"Those were Fractsidus grunts, and you didn't even bat an eye," she remarked, tapping her chin with her. "Looks like you've got the skills—and the nerve too."
"They were a bit easy to deal with," Jeff said, exhaling through his nose, "but I can't let my guard down."
Yinlin's smirk softened into something almost genuine. "Yeah. Better stay cautious. I've seen too many die from recklessness."
Jeff holstered his pistol, the faintest curve of a smile tugging his lips. "I can do this all day."
"Oh? Really?" Yinlin's eyes sparkled with mischief. "I'll sit back and leave it all to you next time."
Jeff rolled his shoulders, ignoring her jab.
Yinlin let out a small laugh, then glanced at the frozen bodies. Her tone grew serious again. "We took care of them for now… but there's probably more trouble coming our way."
The mist carried her words, chilling the air even further.
Jeff leaned back against the cracked wall, the rough concrete pressing cold into his spine. His eyes narrowed on Yinlin, who stood half-veiled. Her arms crossed loosely, the ghost of a smile tugging at her lips as if she knew something he didn't.
"Is your cover at risk? Are you compromised?" Jeff's voice came out steady, clipped, but his gaze betrayed the concern he didn't want to show.
Yinlin's brows arched in playful surprise. "My, my… are you worried about me?" The laugh that slipped from her lips wasn't just mockery it carried a note of curiosity, almost like she was testing him. "What a surprise. I thought you never trusted me this entire time."
Jeff's jaw tightened. She wasn't wrong. He looked away for a breath, then forced his eyes back to hers. "Can't completely trust someone who keeps secrets all the time, right?" What a fucking hypocrite I was being.
Yinlin tilted her head, hair spilling over her shoulder, a mischievous sparkle igniting in her gaze. "Fine," she said softly, "I'll spare you the teasing for now… though your serious face is quite cute." She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, her smirk softening briefly before her tone sharpened like steel. "Don't worry. We took care of the Fractsidus people here. If the Society grows suspicious, I'll just pin everything on them. They'll question me, but I've mastered gaining trust with lies." Her lips curved, almost proud. "It's the key to being undercover."
Her pause was deliberate. Then she added, with precision that cut deeper than any blade: "Just like what I did to you. Try feeling your back."
Jeff froze. His hand crept to his shoulder blade. Something small and metallic pressed against his fingertips. His stomach dropped.
"…You planted a bug on me!?" The words tore out harsher than he intended. His chest tightened, heat climbing his throat. How the hell did I let this happen? When? Fuck. I'm getting sloppy. My younger self would've been ashamed of getting myself exposed like that. The oldest trick in the book, being on the receiving end is aggravating. This must be what they felt when I did the same. Damn.
Yinlin's smirk widened into feline satisfaction. "A bug and a tracker. Yes. How else do you think I got here so quickly?" She stepped closer, lowering her voice until it brushed the edge of intimacy. "I put it there the first time we met."
Jeff clenched his fists not from anger, but from the grudging respect gnawing at him. Well played, well fucking played. "Why would you bug me?"
Her tone cooled, precise, but her eyes never wavered. "'Don't trust anyone.' That was the first thing I learned in training. Judging from the look you gave me the first time we met, you already knew that."
Jeff let out a slow exhale, holding her gaze. Don't trust anyone. Man that brings me back. The phrase echoed like a ghost, dragging out memories of his own past—faces, places, and lies he once lived by.
She reminded him too much of himself, back when he was still a naive and idealistic young man who wants justice no matter the cost, wanting to have the ability to realize your ideals and not minding the price you have to pay to achieve it. Spycraft, infiltrating social circles, gathering intel, and lying until you can't recognize what is true and what isn't anymore... He'd already walked that path Yinlin is currently threading on.
"You may not belong to any group," Yinlin continued, her voice lowering but steady, "But I watched your performance in the training ground. I witnessed you make quick work of the Fractsidus. I haven't seen someone fight like you do before. But you cared for Lirong and Yuanyuan. You wanted to recover lost memories. And I couldn't risk you betraying me, better safe than sorry."
Jeff's lips twitched, almost a smile. He didn't mind. He understood. If anything, it made him respect her more.
"Then I'm sure you overheard the name 'Dollmaker'?"
Her expression flickered, gone in a heartbeat, but I caught it.
"Of course," she replied smoothly. "Dollmaker… he must be a high-ranking figure in the Séance Society. Maybe even their leader."
Liar, Jeff thought, studying the hardness in her eyes. You already know who that is. But he let it pass for now.
"We're getting closer to the truth," Yinlin said, adjusting the weight in her arms. Her smirk had faded; in its place was quiet focus. "But Lirong's condition complicates things. He only passed out from Overclocking. Lucky for him, it wasn't worse."
Jeff's gaze shifted toward the unconscious man. "…And Yuanyuan?"
Yinlin hesitated, her expression softening with something unreadable as she looked at the small puppet in her arms. "She reverted the moment Lirong collapsed. Not even I can reactivate her. It could be a long time before she wakes. We've hit a dead end with Lirong."
The words weighed heavy in the silence. Jeff's chest tightened, watching the puppet's delicate, lifeless form cradled carefully against Yinlin's shoulder.
"Then… the prototypes," he murmured. "We could try those."
Yinlin nodded, sliding seamlessly back into mission mode, though her fingers curled a little tighter around Yuanyuan. "That was my plan. Maybe we'll find a thread to pull. But we can't stay here." She looked at him, firm. "Go collect the puppets. I'll watch Lirong and Yuanyuan."
Jeff exhaled slowly, nodding once. The tension between them didn't completely vanish; it changed like two predators acknowledging each other's fangs.
For the first time, though, Jeff wasn't sure if that was such a bad thing. A part of him doesn't want to admit that he was a bit thrilled and excited about what's ahead.