Chapter 67 – The Awakening of Xu Yanshang
In a sterile chamber buried beneath Facility B, the silence was unnaturally thick—broken only by the steady beeping of life monitors. A single glass pod stood in the center, mist curling around its edges.
Inside, Xu Yanshang lay dormant.
Until now.
The command code from the Oracle filtered through a secured terminal, triggering a sequence deep within the cryogenic matrix.
> [Subject 17 – Neural sync: COMPLETE]
[Resurrection protocol: ACTIVE]
Yanshang's eyes snapped open.
Amber irises gleamed with the flicker of buried memories—battlefields, betrayal… and her.
Bai Xueqing.
His voice cracked as he whispered, "She's… alive."
The chamber hissed open. He stepped forward, muscles still stiff but gaze sharp.
A masked technician bowed low. "Welcome back, Commander Xu."
He didn't respond. His mind reeled through fragmented memories—Xueqing standing by his side in the ancient world, laughing, dying, burning.
And now, she walked again?
The technician continued, "Your directive is clear—locate, observe, and if necessary… reclaim Bai Xueqing. She may become a threat."
Yanshang's eyes darkened. "She was never a threat. She was everything."
"But she walks with Mo Chen now."
A long silence. Then a dry chuckle escaped Yanshang's throat.
"Then let's see if he can hold onto her."
---
Meanwhile, in City A…
Xueqing sat in her balcony garden, staring into the night. Her instincts stirred with unease.
She turned to Mo Chen, who had just set down a tray of jasmine tea. "Did you feel that?"
He frowned. "What?"
"Something old… something familiar just woke up."
Before he could answer, Lin Nuo burst in.
"We intercepted an encrypted data pulse," she said breathlessly. "It originated from an Oracle server, meant for someone named—Xu Yanshang."
Xueqing froze.
She hadn't heard that name in lifetimes.
Mo Chen's jaw clenched. "He was part of the Phoenix Legion. Your most trusted general before your death."
Her fingers curled tightly around the teacup. "He died protecting me."
Mo Chen met her eyes, unreadable. "Apparently not."
Xueqing's voice was low. "Then this war just got personal."