The final day of the mission should have felt like a victory lap. Instead, Yu Xi moved through it like a ghost.
His body obeyed, but barely. Every step was heavier than the last, his limbs sluggish, his mind fogged. He had downed two energy boosters in the morning, and another by midday, but they barely kept him upright. His thoughts kept drifting, always back to Jian Ci.
Jian Ci's health indicator updates on his communicator looked stable. There were no spikes or relapses. But Yu Xi couldn't be rest assured. Not when he hadn't seen him fully awake. Not when he didn't know what Jian Ci remembered,or felt, after what happened.
And not when his own body was betraying him. His psychic field was frayed at the edges, like a net stretched too thin. He could feel it. His usual precision dulled, his instincts lagging. That night had taken more from him than he had realized.
They were only a few miles from the finish line when the air changed.
