The underground hideout crackled with the tension of hurried whispers and the flickering light of a projector. Felix, David, and the others watched an old video, its grainy quality doing little to diminish the weight of the figure speaking on the screen. It was the Phoenix Dragon—not the fiery, commanding leader they had just seen rallying their followers, but a younger, quieter version of themselves, seated across from none other than Wei Long.
The video had been salvaged from one of Wei Long’s private archives, uncovered by Eka’s relentless hacking into the Nine Dragons’ old networks.
Onscreen, Wei Long leaned back in a chair, his posture relaxed but his voice commanding. “Tell me, why do you think the Nine Dragons exist?”
The Phoenix Dragon, younger and visibly idealistic, hesitated before answering. “To bring balance. To unite the fractured. To burn away the old and build something stronger.”