The hum of fluorescent lights buzzed steadily above as Liang Mei adjusted her gloves, the blue latex snapping around her wrists. Her laboratory, tucked beneath the western wing of the Liang estate, was a world apart from the courtyards above—sterile, precise, and humming with quiet energy. Test tubes glowed faintly in containment pods, and a long digital console blinked lines of data across its screen.
Here, Liang Mei wasn't just the quiet elder sister with dormant powers—she was a scientist, bold and confident, a trailblazer in genetic manipulation and arcane compatibility. Despite the incomplete manifestation of her own powers, she had built a reputation for dissecting the mysteries of bloodlines and supernatural energy. Some whispered that even the State Council had offered her discreet contracts.
She stood now before a sealed chamber, within which a thin thread of Liang Yue's blood floated in suspended analysis. The scanners traced faint patterns—ancient, complex, and wholly female in lineage.
"Still no male resonance," Mei murmured. Her eyes flicked to the data logs. "Always female. Always awakened at cost."
She leaned back, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and sighed. Her mind was always running—hypotheses, failed theories, half-proven equations. And still, none explained why the Fourth Bloodline only awakened fully in daughters.
The lab door hissed open. Liang Yue stepped in, her training uniform still damp with sweat from the morning drills. A faint bruise lingered on her temple.
"You should be resting," Mei said without turning.
"I'm not tired," Yue replied, walking up to the main console. "What are you working on?"
Mei glanced at her and, after a beat, tapped a few keys to bring up a visual projection. "You."
Yue blinked. "Me?"
"Well, your bloodline." Mei gestured to the swirling model of DNA and supernatural threads dancing around it. "The Fourth Bloodline is complex. Every scan yields new energy patterns. Yours have already shifted since last year."
Yue stepped closer, fascinated. "Do you think that means I'm getting stronger?"
Mei smiled—fond, proud. "Yes. And maybe more unstable, too. But strength is rarely clean."
They both turned at the sound of a knock aboveground. Yue frowned.
"Expecting someone?" Mei asked.
"No."
A few moments later, footsteps echoed through the estate until Liang Fei's voice rang out from the central courtyard.
"Wu Xian. I thought you were stationed near the capital."
Yue froze. That name—it tugged something strange in her memory.
Mei gave her a curious glance. "You know him?"
"No," Yue said slowly, "but I've heard the name."
Curiosity pulled her back to the surface.
---
In the courtyard, the knock on the gate had summoned a visitor unlike the usual delegates or business affiliates. A tall boy stepped inside, dressed in a modern charcoal-gray coat over a slim, collared black shirt tucked into tailored trousers. His boots were polished to a mirror shine, and a silver lapel pin—shaped like the Wu Family's coiled serpent—glinted against the morning sun.
He moved with the precision of someone trained, yet held the air of someone who chose his words carefully and his silences even more so.
"Wu Xian," Liang Fei greeted. "Didn't expect to see the Wu heir running delivery errands."
"Only for people worth the walk," Wu Xian replied smoothly.
Liang Zhen arrived next, his uniform jacket half-buttoned, clearly fresh from drills. His handshake with Wu Xian was firm, soldier to soldier.
"You're taller than the last time I saw you," Zhen said.
"You're still louder," Wu Xian replied.
Yue watched from the side. The moment his gaze slid to her, something stilled. Recognition? Or simply curiosity? She couldn't read him.
He gave a slight nod. "Liang Yue, I presume?"
Her name on his lips felt oddly familiar. She nodded slowly. "And you're Wu Xian."
"Only when I'm not being scolded," he said, almost smiling. Then he turned back to Zhen. "I brought the new tech proposal. Our fathers want it tested at your facility before the year ends."
Zhen accepted the sealed case. "I'll run it through the lab."
As they talked, Yue drifted back to where Jin waited under the peach tree, chewing on a pastry.
"Who wears boots like that to visit a war general?" Jin whispered.
"Someone who doesn't need to impress," Yue murmured back.
Jin chuckled. "He didn't even look at you twice."
"He did," Yue said softly, her gaze still trailing after Wu Xian.
She didn't know why—but she felt she'd see him again.
And the next time, something would change.
---
Back underground, Mei watched the lab feed recording from above. Her fingers paused on the controls, thoughtful.
She didn't believe in coincidences.
And the Wu heir's arrival might just be the spark that would ignite the Fourth Bloodline's legacy.