Chapter 16: The Debut of Aegis

The entrance to the abandoned Line 3 subway station was cordoned off with the crisp, yellow tape of the Hunter's Association. The air buzzed, not with the energy of the D-Rank Gate festering below, but with the palpable curiosity of the onlookers. A handful of journalists, kept at a safe distance, aimed their cameras. More telling were the unmarked black sedans parked across the street, their tinted windows hiding the scouts and observers from Fuzhou's other guilds. They had all come to see the circus: the debut of the mysterious, mega-funded guild led by a seventeen-year-old boy. They were expecting a joke, a failure, a story of rich-kid hubris.

When the Aegis team arrived, they did so without fanfare. A single, nondescript black van pulled up. The doors slid open, and the four of them stepped out. There were no flashy uniforms, no guild emblems. Just four figures dressed in practical, dark combat gear.

Gao Qiang, the Titan, was a walking fortress, his sheer size and the calm confidence in his eyes drawing immediate attention. Chen Ling, the Valkyrie, was a coiled spring of lethal energy, her gaze sharp and focused, her hands wrapped in combat tape. Sun An, the Lifeweaver, carried a medical kit, his expression that of a calm, analytical scientist. And then there was Wei Heng. He looked exactly like his file: a seventeen-year-old boy. But the way he moved, the way his ancient eyes scanned the scene with absolute command, made the entire picture feel deeply, fundamentally wrong.

An Association official, a harried-looking man in his forties, approached them with a datapad. "Guild Master Wei Heng? I'm Section Chief Liao. The Gate is unstable but holding. Standard D-Rank energy signature. Primary threats are expected to be low-tier spectral and insectoid types. Are you... is your team ready?" The skepticism in his voice was thick.

"We are," Wei Heng said, his voice cutting through the ambient noise. He handed over their official registration papers.

Across the street, inside one of the black sedans, Lin Xia watched the scene unfold on a high-resolution monitor. "He brought a doctor and two unknowns," she murmured. "No ranged support, no elementalist. An unbalanced team."

"Perhaps he's as foolish as he looks, Captain," her second-in-command offered.

"No," Lin Xia said, her eyes narrowed on Wei Heng's calm face. "He's not foolish. He's confident. There's a difference."

Wei Heng ignored the stares and the cameras. He tapped his earpiece, a custom device designed by Mei Ling that integrated with their Qi-based mental link.

'Oracle, are you in position?' he projected.

'Connected to the city's network and piggybacking off the Association's deep-ground sensors. I can see the entire tunnel system, Sir,' Mei Ling's voice replied in his mind, a calm stream of data. 'I'm mapping it now.'

Wei Heng looked at his team. "Final briefing. Titan, you are the point. Draw all aggression. Your only job is to stand. Do not overextend."

Gao Qiang slammed a massive fist into his palm. "Understood."

"Valkyrie," he said, his gaze meeting Chen Ling's. "You are the sword. Follow Titan's lead. Do not engage until he has established a threat lock. Focus your power. No wasted energy. Control, not chaos."

Chen Ling took a deep, centering breath, the memory of her training at the forefront of her mind. "Yes, sir."

"Lifeweaver, you are support. Stay behind the line. Your priority is monitoring our vitals and dealing with any unexpected toxins or status effects. Do not engage in combat."

Sun An adjusted his glasses, his eyes scanning the subway entrance with clinical interest. "Acknowledged."

"I will command," Wei Heng finished. "Listen to my orders. Trust your team. Let's begin."

With that, they descended the concrete steps into the darkness of the subway, leaving a crowd of baffled onlookers behind. The moment they passed the threshold, the mundane sounds of the city vanished, replaced by a damp, oppressive silence and the faint, metallic scent of old blood and ozone.

'First contact in thirty meters,' Mei Ling's voice echoed in their minds. 'Multiple small hostiles. They're using the acoustics of the tunnel to mask their positions.'

As they reached the ticketing hall, a high-pitched shriek erupted from the darkness, a disorienting wave of sound that would have crippled a normal person's senses. They were attacked by a swarm of "Shriek-Bats," Abyssal creatures that used sonic blasts to stun their prey.

"Titan!" Wei Heng commanded.

Gao Qiang didn't hesitate. He let out a deafening roar of his own, a sound infused with the Qi of the 'Unmoving Mountain.' It wasn't an attack, but a solid wall of sound that met the bats' shrieks and neutralized them. He stomped his foot, and the ground shook, drawing the attention of every creature in the room.

"Valkyrie, now!"

With Gao Qiang drawing all the aggression, Chen Ling moved. She was a blur, her fists striking with the focused, controlled rage of the 'Asura's Heart Sutra.' She didn't throw wild punches. Each strike was a precise, contained explosion, shattering a bat's skull with a single blow before she moved to the next. In seconds, the swarm was annihilated.

They proceeded deeper, moving with a coordination that belied their short time together. They reached the main platform, a cavernous space where a derelict subway train sat rusting on the tracks. The air here was thick with a cold, malevolent energy. At the far end of the platform, a spectral figure flickered into existence. It was vaguely humanoid, dressed in the tattered remains of a conductor's uniform, its face a swirling vortex of purple energy. In its spectral hand, it clutched a glowing, antique pocket watch.

'That's the boss,' Mei Ling confirmed. 'The Corrupted Conductor. D-Rank. High spectral energy, low physical defense. Its core is the pocket watch.'

The Conductor raised its hand, and with a screech of tortured metal, the doors of the subway train slid open. From within, dozens of "Ghastly Passengers," weaker spectral forms, began to pour out.

"Standard formation," Wei Heng ordered. "Titan, engage the boss. Draw its attention. Valkyrie, clear the adds. Lifeweaver, watch for psychic residue."

Gao Qiang charged, his feet pounding the concrete. He didn't attack the Conductor directly but slammed his fists into the ground before it, a taunt that focused the creature's rage entirely on him. The Conductor unleashed a blast of spectral energy, which splashed harmlessly against Gao Qiang's Qi-infused defense.

While the shield held the line, the sword went to work. Chen Ling became a whirlwind of controlled destruction, her fists and feet a blur as she systematically dismantled the Ghastly Passengers. Each one dissipated with a silent scream as she struck.

'Sir, the Conductor is channeling energy through the rails!' Mei Ling warned.

As she spoke, the entire subway train shuddered and began to slide down the tracks, aimed directly at Chen Ling.

"Valkyrie, disengage! Titan, intercept!" Wei Heng commanded instantly.

Gao Qiang, without a moment's hesitation, abandoned the boss and threw his immense frame in front of the moving train car. He braced himself, his feet digging into the concrete, the yellow light of his technique flaring brilliantly.

CRUNCH!

The train car slammed into him. The sound of groaning metal filled the station. The car buckled, its front end crumpling against the immovable object that was Gao Qiang. He was pushed back a few feet, a line of blood trickling from his nose, but he held.

The Conductor shrieked in fury, its pocket watch glowing brightly as it prepared another attack.

'That's the opening!' Wei Heng thought, his mind processing the battle with the speed of a supercomputer. 'Its energy is focused on the train; its core is exposed.'

"Valkyrie," he commanded, his voice a sharp crack in the chaos. "Target the core. Full power. One strike."

Chen Ling saw it. The brief moment of vulnerability. All her training, all her rage, all her newfound control focused into a single point. She took one explosive step, covering thirty feet in an instant. Her fist, glowing with a crimson aura, shot forward.

Her knuckles connected with the glowing pocket watch.

There was no sound. Just a flash of blinding white light, and then a wave of pure silence. The Conductor's spectral form dissolved like smoke in the wind. The train car groaned to a halt. The remaining Ghastly Passengers faded into nothingness. The Gate at the end of the tunnel began to shrink and stabilize.

It was over.

They emerged from the subway steps into the waiting silence of the evening. The journalists, the guild scouts, the Association officials—all of them stared. The four members of Aegis were not battered and bruised. They were not celebrating wildly. They were calm, composed, and moved with the quiet efficiency of a veteran team returning from a routine job.

Across the street, Lin Xia lowered her monitor. Her analyst was speechless. "They cleared a D-Rank Gate... in under fifteen minutes. With a four-person team. Their coordination was..."

"Flawless," Lin Xia finished, her voice tight. She watched as Wei Heng gave a few quiet words to his team before they boarded their van and drove away, ignoring the clamoring reporters.

She had come expecting to see a rich boy's folly. Instead, she had witnessed the birth of a terrifyingly efficient new power in her city. The ghost now had a name, a face, and a guild. And he was no longer a mystery to be solved.

He was a rival to be defeated.