“This intel’s a lantern in the fog—properly valuable.”

Nana Shi narrowed her eyes at the runemark dossier on the floating screen, a hawk peering through mist. “If low and mid-tier runemarks are forged from high-tier ones, then someone’s minting these so-called runemark bearers in the shadows, right?”

“Exactly.” Yan Xiao flicked more windows open, like paper cranes sprung from light.

“Beyond the runemarks, I pulled blood DNA from the bearers’ corpses and cross-checked the continent’s resident database—threads woven against the master loom. These people aren’t unknown outsiders.”

“For instance, those runemark bearers from the Saintsun Kingdom were actually registered citizens from Cangfeng Sanctuary and the Xuanyang Ancient Pool.”

“And the hundred runemark bearers who assaulted Chronos City—another full spectrum of the continent, a patchwork quilt of nations. Every country had a slice.”

“So you mean those moss-backed old monsters all had a hand in the runemark game, then played dumb at the United Council?”

Nana offered the possibility like a blade laid on a table.

But.

“Afraid it’s not that simple.” Yan Xiao’s expression sank, roots buried under snow. “Anyway, Nana, finish this feed first.”

More windows budded like frost blooms. As Nana read, her face darkened, clouds banked before rain.

“The runemark invaders in Northland were residents of my Chronos City? What’s that about?”

Unease pricked like thorns. She’d ordered the ministers, again and again, to count the districts; the numbers were clean as polished steel.

Then who were those intruders in Northland?

Was there a mole muddying the reports?

Her thoughts spun like leaves in a whirl. Yan Xiao cut in like a bell.

“Don’t overthink. Those invaders were war captives you exiled from Chronos City back then. Someone spotted the loose thread and pulled, aiming to sour our ties with Northland, so they sent them north.”

“No wonder the Ice Emperor showed up at that joint council…” So she was testing my stance?

The realization hit late, like dusk tipping into night.

Still, odd. She and Northland had ties like braided rope, not the kind to snap at one tug.

Whoever schemed this had a fried brain-pan.

Or maybe they were just testing the Ice Emperor’s weather?

Too many suspicious ripples, and—

“Where’d you get continent-wide resident database access?” That thing’s under the institutes’ lock and key.

“Don’t forget—your hacking tricks? I taught you.” Yan Xiao’s smile bloomed, a flower in frost. “Cracking a database is nothing. It’s not like I have to go make small talk.”

“…Fair.” The nod came like a pebble dropping into a still pond.

On the research net, if Yan Xiao is second, no one dares claim first.

“Also, notes on runemarks existed years ago, back in Moragus’s age—smoke, not flame.”

She spread a beast-hide scroll before Nana, the leather smelling of old rain. “Remember when Moragus sent you and Yi-chan to Northland, to probe strange anomalies and aggravate the tension among the six states?”

“His true goal was hunting the power described in this scroll—the runemark’s bite.”

“You’re saying Northland had runemark news?”

She read the scroll, taking it in like slow tea. Then she looked up, voice uncertain.

“It’s a guess, Nana.”

“Isn’t it strange? In Moragus’s era, Northland’s six states were split like shattered ice. Yet the moment you headed north to seek truth, a figure burst from the horizon calling herself the Ice Emperor.”

“Her strength was terrifying—storm in hand. She unified the six states with thunder, then even an old monster like Moragus, thousands of years deep, fought her to a stalemate.”

“She was barely thirteen or fourteen.”

“At that age, to turn Spirit Energy into cold and wield it—across history, who tops that?”

“If not for this flood of runemark news, I’d have called her heaven’s darling without blinking.” Yan Xiao spoke in a rush, breath flushing her cheeks like dawn.

“Nana, I’m not targeting Northland on purpose. It’s just—the Ice Emperor’s arrival was too abrupt, like pawns arranged on a board. You feel me?”

“If so, assuming she’s directly tied to runemarks, why did she share runemark intel at the United Council the other day?”

With runemarks erupting everywhere, she should’ve sealed the news, like ice over a lake.

Her methods reach the sky; if she wills it, Northland’s walls can be watertight.

“So, it’s a guess.” Yan Xiao lowered her head, rifling the table like a sparrow pecking grain. “Everything I’ve studied points toward Northland, yet I can’t pin decisive proof. It’s maddening.”

“So you want me to head to Northland in the next few days, see the weather myself?”

“Uh… why would you think that, Nana?”

“You’ve told me this much. I can’t sit idle in Chronos City, hands in sleeves.”

“I’m not saying you must go. The Ice Emperor has ties with us; if a needless misunderstanding strains our two states, that’s a loss-for-loss.”

Nana didn’t care for careful balance.

“Who wants ties with that icy girl.” For Nesting Phoenix, she’d cut through snow and thorn.

“So, you mean…”

“Of course I’ll go to Northland. But first, I’ll settle other matters in Chronos City.”

She didn’t want a repeat of the south-prison riot, weeds back through the stone.

“In that case, take Xiao Yi along.” Yan Xiao weighed it, then nodded, steady as a willow. “Northland’s changed, but it’s still the Ice Emperor’s domain. With Xiao Yi beside you, I’m easier in breath.”

“If anything goes sideways, I’ll get it first, and move.”

“No problem. Arrange it.”

Nana gave one last glance at the sleeping girl in the scientific vessel, a chrysalis afloat in pale light, then drew her gaze back and answered, cool as moonlight.

She stayed in the sealed space till the sun dipped, copper sinking into sea, then left.

The palace chamber lay undisturbed, a quiet pond. The yellow Talisman she’d left showed no ripple; no one had come.

“No need to hide. Come out. I know you’ve been tailing me.”

Like greeting an old friend across a winter bridge, Nana stood by her window and spoke to the air.

“….” The room held its breath. Ten heartbeats passed. As Nana was about to let it go, Thousandwise finally uncurled from the ceiling beam, a shadow stepping from silk.

“I’ve one question. How did you spot me this time, City Lord Shi?” She’d masked her breath to a thread; even the Ice Emperor wouldn’t catch her without trying.

“Nope. Truth is, I didn’t. I just threw a feint at the air, and surprise—someone was there.”

Thousandwise: “…”

What kind of woman talks to empty air on a whim? Paranoia, or sheer chaos?

She wanted to toss the barb, but the night’s tone wasn’t for jokes.

“Did that one send you?” Nana leaned on the wall, a casual blade, voice drifting toward Thousandwise.

“Hm? City Lord Shi, what are you saying? Thousandwise doesn’t quite follow.” She stood by the window, a mild smile like spring water, playing dumb.

“…” Silence pooled, heavy as snow.

Nana said nothing. She withdrew her gaze, a guess crystallizing like frost.

“She suspects me, right? Tsk… messy.” Her own side still doubted them.

Now Thousandwise was planted at her door. Northland was hiding something about the runemarks.

“Straight with you: in a few days, I’m visiting Northland.”

“Eh?” Thousandwise blinked, a bird startled from bamboo.

“If you wish to go, go. Why tell Thousandwise?”

“Ah… because I want a favor.”

“Ha?” Thousandwise wondered if she’d misheard, face blanking like a wiped slate. “City Lord Shi, what did you just say?”

“Nothing big. While I’m out of Chronos City for a few days, keep an eye on my house.”

Nana’s ask was unexpected, yet oddly fitting, like a key to a strange lock.

“Chronos City has plenty of fighters, but I don’t rest easy. With you watching, I can go north calm.”

“But why would Thousandwise help City Lord Shi?”

“Heh. Because of the Ice Emperor, of course.”