Lin Yuer nodded slowly. "Yesterday. Threatening message. Said he knows I'm alive."
"Alive?" Adrian perked up. "Interesting word choice."
"Not now," three voices said simultaneously.
Adrian held up his hands in surrender.
Kai Zhen leaned forward, elbows on the table. "Lin Yuer. I'm going to ask you a direct question, and I want a direct answer. No deflection, no half-truths. Are you Phantom?"
He looked at each man in turn:
Kai Zhen—stern, military precision, but eyes pleading for the answer to be yes.
Xie Yunlan—barely breathing, hands clenched on the table, looking like a man standing at the edge of a cliff.
Adrian—curious, interested, but not judgmental. Just waiting.
Shen Rui—knowing, calm, giving Lin Yuer a slight nod. Your choice.
"I..." Lin Yuer started, then stopped.
How do I even explain this?
"The person you knew as Phantom died three years ago on that Shanghai rooftop," he said carefully. "That's true. I remember falling. I remember dying."
