The knocking echoed through the apartment, slow and insistent, like a pulse beating against the walls.
Zhang Lu stood frozen in the living area, Merlina's hand clenched around his sleeve. Her green eyes reflected the lantern's muted blue glow, wide with urgency.
"Brother," she whispered. "Don't let him in. Not now."
Zhang Lu swallowed.
*Day one,* he thought grimly. *And I'm already facing the creepy-landlord miniboss.*
No tutorial. No reset button. Just him—pretending to be Lewis, the brooding investigator who knew what he was doing.
He nodded once, forcing calm into his posture.
"Stay here," he said quietly. "Hide anything… sensitive."
Merlina didn't argue. She swept loose papers from the table—rune sketches, half-written notes—and vanished up the stairs toward the tower, silent as a shadow.
Zhang Lu dimmed the lantern instinctively.
It obeyed.
The flame shrank to a restrained glow without backlash or resistance.
His breath caught.
*Magic actually listens to me.*
He descended the narrow staircase, each step creaking softly beneath his boots. The knocking paused, then resumed—sharper now, impatient.
"Master Lewis?" came the voice beyond the door. Polite. Smooth. Wrong.
"I know you're in. The pipes… they've been whispering again."
Whispering pipes. Of course.
Zhang Lu placed a hand on the latch.
*If I die here,* he thought dryly, *at least it won't be from mana exhaustion in a moldy apartment.*
He cracked the door open just enough to see.
Mr. Voss stood in the dim hallway beyond—unnaturally tall, his gaunt frame wrapped in a black suit that clung to him like wilting shadows. His skin was pale and stretched tight over sharp bones, eyes sunken and dark. His fingers were too long, tapping idly against a brass wrench.
The air around him smelled of damp metal and rust.
"Good evening, Mr. Voss," Zhang Lu said.
Lewis's voice carried weight he wasn't used to—low, calm, edged with quiet warning.
Voss's lips curled. "Up early, are we? Or perhaps returning late from your… studies?"
A probe.
Zhang Lu met his gaze and didn't blink.
"Family matters," he replied flatly.
For a fraction of a second, Voss's eyes slid away.
*Good.*
"It's the water supply," Voss continued, leaning closer. The chain held, but his breath fogged the gap between them—cold and metallic. "Strange flows from your level. Noises in the tower pipes. Blue light at odd hours."
So he *had* been watching.
Zhang Lu kept his expression unreadable.
"Noises?" he echoed mildly. "Perhaps the building's ghosts are restless. Or your imagination."
Voss chuckled, wet and rattling. "Ghosts don't leave mana traces, boy. And I've seen the glow from your window. Digging where you shouldn't be?"
The lantern in Zhang Lu's hand warmed.
Shadows in the hallway stretched, subtly lengthening toward Voss's feet.
Voss noticed. He stepped back a half pace.
"The wards on this apartment are none of your concern," Zhang Lu said, voice dropping. "Interfere, and the flow may… reverse."
It was mostly a bluff.
Mostly.
The shadows twisted again, restless and eager.
Voss straightened, eyes narrowing. "Currents shift quickly in Nocturne City, Master Lewis. Best to stay afloat."
With that veiled threat, he turned and glided down the hall, his footsteps soundless as he disappeared into the gloom.
Zhang Lu shut the door and locked it.
Only then did he exhale, pressing his back against the wood.
*I actually did that.*
A rush of exhilaration surged through him—quick, intoxicating—followed immediately by cold awareness.
One wrong move, and Voss wouldn't have left politely.
Footsteps padded down the stairs.
Merlina emerged, relief flooding her face. "You handled him perfectly. That stare—just like Father when he's angry."
Zhang Lu managed a faint smile. "Practice."
She laughed softly, the sound easing the tight knot in his chest.
"Come," she said. "Tea's still warm. And we need to talk about the journal."
They returned to the living area, the apartment settling into a fragile calm. Mana crystals hummed faintly in the walls as Merlina poured more bitterroot tea.
"You've been incredible lately," she said, studying him. "Voss has been snooping more. Asking about you."
"Ever since the research started?" Zhang Lu asked.
She nodded. "Since you brought home that sealed journal last week."
Last week for Lewis.
For Zhang Lu, this was still hour one.
Her voice dropped. "I'm scared. If the Murk breaches fully…"
The Murk.
An ancient shadow entity. A devourer of secrets. Bound years ago by their mother's final ritual.
Zhang Lu reached across the table and covered her hand.
"We'll stop it," he said.
This time, it wasn't acting.
Merlina squeezed back. "I wish I were stronger."
"You are," Zhang Lu replied gently. "Your magic is beautiful."
Her cheeks flushed. She lifted a hand, and phantom butterflies bloomed into existence—iridescent wings fluttering softly through the room. They weren't solid, but they stirred the air.
Wonder stirred in him.
This wasn't borrowed power. This was living magic.
They moved to the tower chamber.
The blood message on the wall had dried, flaking into dark stains.
Merlina retrieved the black leather journal from its hiding place. The shadow rune on its cover pulsed faintly.
"It needs blood from our line," she said, drawing a small blade.
"I'll do it," Zhang Lu said.
He pricked his finger and pressed it to the rune.
The journal sighed open.
Maps unfolded across shifting pages—Nocturne's underpipes, ancient aqueducts beneath the city. Notes in Lewis's elegant script detailed growing disturbances.
One line froze Zhang Lu's breath.
*An intruder in the flow. A wrong reflection watching.*
The pages rearranged, revealing a glowing map.
"Tonight," Merlina whispered. "The breach opens."
Before Zhang Lu could answer, the walls groaned.
Black liquid seeped from a downstairs pipe.
Shadows detached from the corners of the room, stretching independently.
Merlina inhaled sharply. "It's starting."
The lantern flared as tendrils of living darkness crept forward, whispering.
Zhang Lu seized Merlina's hand.
"Run," he said. "To the aqueduct."
The mystery had found them.
And it was hungry.