82: The Return Phase

The return phase began at the careful preceding small private hour of three minutes after the collar's removal.

By the third minute, the central facility's preceding small private substrate-suppression lattice had — by the careful preceding small private hour of one Sovereign Apex substrate's preceding small private sudden activation in dorm three of the third level — *registered* the careful preceding small private interior anomaly.

By the careful preceding small private hour of half a breath after the registration, the central facility's preceding small private third-level senior operative — a Sovereign Origin Stage Three woman named *Hu Caiyu*, by Wei Mingfan's preceding small private quarterly file — had received the careful preceding small private alert by the standing operational protocol.

By the careful preceding small private hour of one further breath, Hu Caiyu had *dispatched* her preceding small private third-level standing combat squad — *six* Foundation Late operatives, plus *two* Sovereign Origin Stage One specialists, plus herself — toward the careful preceding small private south-east corridor at the unhurried pace of a senior operative who had not, in nine years of standing duty, expected the careful preceding small private hour to come and was, by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping of the past three breaths, *finally registering* it.

Su Yan, in dorm three, registered the careful preceding small private dispatch by the careful preceding small private hour of his preceding small private substrate-sight's preceding small private read through the lattice's preceding small private now-disturbed suppression.

He inhaled.

"Mother. The lattice has registered. Hu Caiyu is dispatching."

"By my own preceding read of the careful preceding small private interior, *yes*. Time to first contact: approximately ninety seconds."

"Acceptable. The teleport corridor opens at the careful preceding small private hour of two hundred paces back. The careful preceding small private return formation will, by the careful preceding small private hour of one substrate-anchor pair's preceding small private opened pattern, take us perhaps forty seconds to reach. We have, by my preceding read, *fifty seconds* of margin."

"Acceptable."

The fifteen-operative extraction party, at Hua Lin's preceding small private signal, *moved*.

They moved at the careful preceding small private *combat pace* — the small precise unhurried preceding running gait of fifteen Foundation Late and above operatives in the careful preceding small private extraction formation, with two flanking each side of Su Yan and Lin Wanyue at the center, with Linglong at Su Yan's right, with Tao Lin and the second Sovereign Origin Stage One Northern Iron operative at the careful preceding small private rear guard.

They reached the south-east turn at the careful preceding small private hour of perhaps fifteen seconds.

They turned.

At the careful preceding small private far end of the third corridor — perhaps thirty paces ahead — *eight* of Hu Caiyu's nine combat operatives stepped into view, in the careful preceding small private *Hollow Veil regional combat formation*. The ninth — Hu Caiyu herself — was, by Su Yan's careful preceding small private substrate-sight, *behind* the eight, at the careful preceding small private far corner of the corridor, in the small careful preceding small private senior-officer position that the careful preceding small private regional protocol called for.

Su Yan's preceding small private extraction formation reached the careful preceding small private fifteen-pace mark from the eight.

The eight — by their preceding small private regional protocol — *struck*.

Six Foundation Late strikes. Two Sovereign Origin Stage One strikes. All in the careful preceding small private hour of one breath, by the careful preceding small private hour of the regional combat formation's preceding small private synchronized timing.

Hua Lin's two flanking operatives at the careful preceding small private right side — Foundation Late, drilled by Hua Lin for three months on the careful preceding small private regional formation's preceding small private specific weak points — *intercepted* three of the six Foundation Late strikes by the careful preceding small private hour of perpendicular deflection, opening the careful preceding small private *flank gap* the regional formation always exposed at the careful preceding small private hour of its preceding small private synchronized timing.

Hua Lin's two flanking operatives at the careful preceding small private left side intercepted the remaining three.

Tao Lin, at the careful preceding small private rear guard, *moved* at the careful preceding small private hour of half a breath through the careful preceding small private flank gap on the right side, into the careful preceding small private *interior* of the eight's preceding small private formation, at the careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding hour of one Sovereign Origin Stage One operative who had drilled for three months on exactly this preceding small private opening.

The two Sovereign Origin Stage One Hollow Veil specialists — by the careful preceding small private hour of Tao Lin's preceding small private interior penetration — were *out of position*. Their strikes, calibrated for an outside opponent, *missed* the extraction party's center entirely.

Tao Lin ended the first specialist by the careful preceding small private hour of one strike at the third sub-vertebra. He ended the second by the careful preceding small private hour of half a breath later, by the careful preceding small private hour of the second specialist's preceding small private over-corrected recovery's preceding small private exposed *left* flank.

The eight Hollow Veil operatives, by the careful preceding small private hour of two seconds, were — *six*.

Su Yan, in the center of the formation, did *not* engage.

He carried his mother. The fifteen carried him. The careful preceding small private extraction formation's preceding small private operating principle was — by the careful preceding small private hour of three months of training — *the substrate-cultivator at the center does not engage; the operatives engage; the substrate-cultivator carries the subject*.

He moved at the careful preceding small private unhurried pace through the careful preceding small private formation's preceding small private cleared lane.

The remaining six Foundation Late operatives — by the careful preceding small private hour of Tao Lin's preceding small private interior penetration's preceding small private continued work — fell in the careful preceding small private hour of three further seconds. The fifteen had — by the careful preceding small private hour of five seconds total — *cleared* the entire combat squad's preceding small private forward eight.

Hu Caiyu remained.

She stood at the careful preceding small private far corner of the corridor, in the small careful preceding small private dim, by the careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding stance of a senior operative who had — in the careful preceding small private hour of five seconds — registered that her preceding small private third-level standing combat squad had *just been ended in the corridor of her preceding standing duty post by an extraction party of fifteen operatives whose preceding small private training had been calibrated, in advance, for exactly this small careful preceding small private contest*.

She did not, by her preceding small private regional protocol, *engage*.

She *fled*.

She fled at the careful preceding small private hour of one Sovereign Origin Stage Three professional who had — by every careful preceding small private bookkeeping of her preceding standing nine years — calculated that the careful preceding small private extraction's preceding small private formation was *outside* the careful preceding small private operational range of any preceding small private resource the central facility's preceding small private third level had at hand, and that her own preceding small private *escape from the corridor with intelligence intact* was, by the regional protocol's preceding small private senior-officer rule, the careful preceding small private hour required.

She reached the careful preceding small private far corner. She turned.

She was, by the careful preceding small private hour of her turn, *gone*.

Su Yan's preceding small private extraction formation continued at the unhurried pace through the careful preceding small private now-empty corridor toward the south-east corridor's preceding small private far end, where the careful preceding small private *teleport corridor's preceding small private return endpoint* had been calibrated by Master Qing's preceding small private final teaching to open at the careful preceding small private hour of Su Yan's preceding small private signal.

Sixty seconds elapsed since the dorm.

Forty more to the corridor's far end at the unhurried pace.

The careful preceding small private alert had, by the careful preceding small private hour of sixty seconds, *spread* through the central facility's preceding small private full lattice. The careful preceding small private interior — by Su Yan's preceding small private substrate-sight — was *waking*. Other combat squads from the second level and the fourth level were dispatching toward the third level's south-east corridor.

The careful preceding small private estimated time of arrival of the second-level squad: *ninety seconds*.

The careful preceding small private estimated time of arrival of the fourth-level squad: *seventy seconds*.

The careful preceding small private estimated time to teleport corridor opening: *forty seconds*.

The math, by the careful preceding small private hour of Su Yan's preceding read, *closed*.

He inclined his head — small, formal — to Hua Lin.

"Open."

Hua Lin's preceding small private signal *activated* the careful preceding small private substrate-anchor pair's preceding small private return-phase resonance pattern.

Su Yan, by the careful preceding small private hour of one signal, drew the seven substrate-anchor stones from the inner pocket of his outer robe and laid them, in the careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding *return pattern* Master Qing's preceding small private final teaching had calibrated for, on the small clean slate of the corridor's far-end floor.

The seven stones — by the careful preceding small private hour of the return pattern — *responded*.

They glowed.

The careful preceding small private *teleport corridor's preceding small private return endpoint* — by the careful preceding small private hour of the resonance pattern's preceding small private return calibration, by the careful preceding small private hour of Lin Wanyue's preceding small private substrate-trace gathered at the City of the Voiceless three months ago — *opened*.

The corridor — by the careful preceding small private hour of its preceding small private opening — connected, in the small careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding hour of one substrate-anchor pair's preceding small private final calibrated configuration, the careful preceding small private central facility's preceding small private third-level south-east corridor with the careful preceding small private *cell of the City of the Voiceless* — the careful preceding small private third corridor's preceding small private fourth cell, where Lin Wanyue had been held nine years and ten months ago at the careful preceding small private hour of her preceding small private earliest captivity.

Su Yan stepped — at his unhurried pace — into the corridor.

Lin Wanyue stepped behind him.

Linglong stepped behind her.

The fifteen operatives, by the careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding hour of three precise lines of five, stepped — by the careful preceding small private return formation — through after.

The careful preceding small private hour of the extraction's preceding small private return through the teleport corridor took, by the small careful preceding small private hour of the resonance pattern's preceding small private precise unhurried preceding hour, *exactly three seconds*.

The corridor *closed* behind the last operative.

The seventeen — Su Yan, Lin Wanyue, Linglong, Hua Lin, and the fifteen — stood, in the careful preceding small private dim of the City of the Voiceless's preceding small private third corridor's preceding small private fourth cell, in the careful preceding small private south-eastern foothills of the kingdom of Beicang, eight days' ride south of Mei-cun, three li off the village road.

They had — by the careful preceding small private hour of the extraction's preceding small private opening, conduct, and return — *completed* the careful preceding small private operation in the small careful preceding small private precise unhurried preceding hour of *less than three minutes total*.

Su Yan inhaled.

He inclined his head — small, formal — to his mother.

"Mother. We are home."

Lin Wanyue inhaled, slowly.

She let the inhalation finish.

She inclined her head — small, formal — to her son.

"Yan-er. By my own preceding preference. *Thank you*."

The careful preceding small private hour of the extraction — by the small careful preceding small private hour of one teleport corridor's preceding small private successful opening, conduct, and closure — *closed*.

The careful preceding small private hour of the southern logistics return — by the careful preceding small private hour of Cousin Su Wenfu's preceding small private preceding work — *began*.