Chapter 250 - The Phoenix’s Whisper

The Beijing safehouse was a cocoon of shadows as Ruoxi lay on the narrow cot, the city's distant hum muffled by the rain-streaked walls. Hours remained until 2 a.m., until Shuren's compound and the answers tied to Tianhua, but sleep eluded her—fitful, restless, a thin veil between reality and something deeper. Her wrist pulsed faintly, the phoenix tattoo a living ember beneath her sleeve, its heat a quiet companion since Mia's end, since the ambush's raw flare of power. Yukang's steady breathing drifted from the next room, Xiao Zheng's typing a faint rhythm, but Ruoxi was alone with her blood's whisper.