Chapter 86: Somebody Else Has Read It

Liam left when the alarm rang, though Alexandra looked offended on his behalf when he started putting things away. They had a drawing, a list of parts, and three different ideas crossed out beside the library. None of that would become more useful if they stayed until midnight making mistakes because they were tired. He photographed the page, helped her clear the bench, and waited outside until she locked up. By the time he reached the apartment, Clara had already reheated his dinner.

“You actually came.”

“I said I would.”

“You also said you were only going to look at the recorder.”

Liam sat beside her and picked up his fork. She had left her books open across the other half of the table, with a pen resting between two pages. He asked about her day while she moved them, then listened as she explained something that had annoyed her during class. For once, he finished eating without opening a message or checking a mission. Afterward, Clara returned to her work, and he took the mental cultivation manual into the bedroom.

The screwdriver stirred when he opened its cradle. Liam let it rest across his palm, following the exercise that required him to maintain the connection without constantly issuing commands. At first, he kept catching himself trying to make it turn or change shape. Each time, he stopped and began again. The tool eventually settled against his fingers, sending back a quiet feeling that he was beginning to recognize as contentment.

‘At least one of us doesn’t have homework.’

He stopped before the familiar pressure became a headache and put it away. When Clara joined him later, the manual was closed, and his phone was charging on the other side of the room.

By Wednesday afternoon, the new recorder looked worse than the one they had sold. Its cover wouldn’t close, two additional wires ran along the edge, and Alexandra had taped a warning to the side so neither of them would mistake it for a finished unit. Liam considered that an improvement. The first version had looked ready long before they had asked enough questions about it.

They had changed how it saved and added a small reserve of power to let it finish when the main supply disappeared. Getting both parts to work together had taken most of their available time between classes. The first attempt had preserved an older recording while losing the current one. The second had stopped properly, then refused to start again until Alexandra found what they had missed.

Now Liam sat across from it, reading a paragraph from his economics notes while she watched the timer.

“Keep going.”

“I am.”

“You stopped to answer me.”

He gave her a look and continued. Halfway through the next sentence, Alexandra disconnected the main power. The recording light remained on briefly, then went dark. Liam waited while she restored the connection and opened the saved file. His own voice came through the speaker, followed by the sound of his chair moving and the beginning of Alexandra’s laugh.

It ended where they expected.

Nothing before the interruption was missing.

They repeated the test with longer recordings, shorter ones, and the recorder already busy saving another file. Alexandra chose the moment to cut the power without warning him. On the final attempt, Liam was complaining about how many times he had read the same paragraph when the light went out.

His complaint survived perfectly.

Alexandra leaned back and covered her face with both hands.

“Finally.”

A green panel appeared above the bench.

[Side Mission Complete: Build a recorder prototype that preserves recorded audio through an unexpected loss of power.]

[Reward: Basic Rechargeable Battery Pack.]

[AMPLIFYING THE REWARDS BY 10,000X…]

[NEW REWARD: Divine Reserve Cell.]

[Explanation: Stores supplied electrical energy for later use. Output can be adjusted within the cell’s operating limits. Does not generate energy or restore the user’s physical or mental strength.]

Liam read the explanation twice. After spending two afternoons finding room for an ordinary solution, being handed something better made him want to argue with Red. He left the reward unclaimed for the moment and looked at the ugly little recorder between them. They had built that with parts Alexandra could obtain again. Whatever the new cell could do, it wasn’t something they could quietly put into every unit and sell for a hundred and fifty dollars.

‘You can stay in my pocket until I know what you’re worth.’

Alexandra lowered her hands.

“What?”

“Nothing. We still need a case that closes.”

She laughed, then pulled the notebook toward her. Four recorders had come back for inspection so far, including the original failed unit. They had found a second wire being pressed into the same tight space and corrected both the placement and the instructions they used during assembly. The first student had received his refund and repaired recorder on Tuesday. Liam intended to offer him the improved version once they had finished testing it properly.

For now, they wrote down exactly what the prototype had survived.

When he stood to leave, Alexandra was still examining the drawing.

“We should keep this one.”

“We are.”

“I mean even after we make the next version.”

Liam glanced at the open case and the warning taped across its side.

“Fine. You can frame it when we have an office.”

“You’ll have to explain why it looks like that.”

“You built it.”

She threw the folded test sheet at him before he reached the door.

Lin was already at the warehouse when Liam arrived the following afternoon. This time, he had brought two worn training mats and placed them inside the marked area. Liam stopped beside them, then looked at him.

“You were worried about me?”

“I was tired of waiting for you to get up.”

“That sounds like concern.”

“Take off your jacket.”

Liam put his things beside the wall and stepped onto the mat. His shoulder had stopped aching, and the bruises from their previous session had faded enough that Clara had finally stopped pressing them to see whether they still hurt. He intended to return home without giving her another reason. Lin apparently had other plans.

The first round ended with Liam on one knee, his arm caught behind him. The second lasted longer because he stopped trying to finish a movement after Lin had already ruined the position. By the fourth, he managed to free himself from a grip that would have put him down the previous week. Lin immediately caught him another way, but Liam felt the difference before he hit the mat.

Knowing the escape had finally become doing it.

“Again.”

Lin pointed toward his feet.

“You keep moving that one too far.”

Liam looked down, adjusted his stance, and tried the movement slowly. The grappling skill supplied the correct position as soon as he focused on it. Under pressure, however, he still reached for something comfortable before something useful. Lin made him repeat the step several times, then caught his shoulder without warning.

This time, Liam turned with it.

He didn’t throw Lin. He barely moved him. But the man had to release the grip and step back before taking hold again.

Liam smiled despite himself.

“There.”

“Do it twice before you start celebrating.”

They continued until his shirt clung to his back. When Lin finally stepped away, Liam accepted the break without arguing and reached for his water. A panel appeared while he was drinking.

[Combat EXP Gained: 60.]

[Level: 4 (188/500)]

[Main Mission: Reach Level 5.] [Incomplete.]

Three hundred and twelve remained. He dismissed the panel and sat on the edge of the mat, breathing through his nose while Lin checked his phone. The man’s expression changed almost immediately. He read something, opened another message, then picked up his jacket.

“We’re finished.”

Liam lowered the bottle.

“What happened?”

Lin didn’t answer until he had reached the door.

“Somebody’s been in my room.”

Liam followed him in the Bentley. He called Clara before pulling out, told her the training was finished, and explained that he would be delayed. She asked whether Lin had drawn the sword. When he said no, she told him to keep it that way.

Twenty minutes later, he stood inside a small apartment while Lin spoke sharply to someone on the phone. A drawer had been pulled out beside the bed, and the contents of a cupboard lay across the floor. Nothing looked broken. The television remained on its stand, a laptop sat on the desk, and a watch had been left beside an overturned box.

Liam stayed near the entrance until Lin ended the call.

“Who told you?”

“The building manager. Someone complained that my door was open.”

“Was anything taken?”

Lin crossed the room and knelt beside the bed. He pulled out an empty cloth cover, looked inside it, then stood slowly.

“The case. The manual.”

Liam felt the remaining warmth from training leave his face. He looked toward the untouched laptop again. Whoever had entered hadn’t been interested in taking whatever could be carried.

“The sword?”

“With me.”

“Don’t bring it out.”

Lin gave him an irritated look, but kept his hands empty. Liam moved toward the desk, careful not to step on the scattered papers. He remembered the case’s damaged lining, the marks around the place where the hilt rested, and the darker pages added to the manual. Until now, he had treated those things as something left behind by dead people.

Somebody living had known where to look.

“Who knew you had them?”

Lin’s jaw tightened.

“Very few people.”

“Start counting.”

Before Lin could answer, Liam noticed a folded sheet beneath the laptop. Unlike the other papers, it had been placed squarely in the middle of the desk, with a small metal piece resting on top to hold it down. He stopped short of touching either.

“Was that there before?”

Lin came beside him.

“No.”

The metal piece was thin and dark, with one curved edge and a broken section along the other. Liam activated Material Analysis while Lin carefully unfolded the sheet.

[Object: Fragment of an inscribed metal fitting.]

[Detected property: Residual spiritual isolation.]

[Condition: Broken.]

Liam looked toward him.

“What does it say?”

Lin had gone very still. His eyes moved over the short message once more before he answered.

“It’s from the added pages.”

“The instructions?”

“One line.”

Liam waited.

Lin lowered the paper enough for him to see the dark strokes, though they meant no more to him than the writing in the manual.

“The vessel must be prepared before the guest is received.”

For a moment, neither spoke. Liam looked at the fading marks still visible above Lin’s wrist, then at the fragment left on the desk.

“You translated that part before?”

“No. It was farther back.”

“And you were going to keep feeding the blade until you got there?”

Lin didn’t answer.

Liam took out his phone and photographed the note without moving the metal. The case and manual were gone, the sword remained with Lin, and whoever had done this had made sure he would find that particular sentence.

He looked back at the paper.

“Turn it over.”

Lin did.

There was an address on the other side.