The ballroom of one of Haijing's most exclusive hotels gleamed with golden lights, crystals, and mirror-polished surfaces. That evening it hosted a charity auction organized in support of foundations dedicated to protecting cultural heritage and restoring historic buildings. Collectors, entrepreneurs, and well-known figures from society had gathered to compete for artworks, jewels, and antiquities, offering considerable sums with the same ease with which they sipped champagne.
Among the guests, Mu Chengxuan stood out.
Thirty-two years old, a considerable fortune, and a reputation as an investor as brilliant as he was reserved. He wore a tailored black suit, a dark silk shirt, and a discreet but anything-but-ordinary watch. His long black hair, half gathered at the nape of his neck, left the sharp profile of his face exposed. He seemed perfectly at ease in that environment as he listened to a man explain the details of a lot that had just been presented.
"An entire dynasty kept this vase for three centuries, and you claim its provenance is uncertain?"
Mu asked, slowly twirling the glass between his fingers.
His interlocutor's smile stiffened.
"The documentation from the last transfer is incomplete, but the experts believe that..."
"Experts believe many things. That is why they are paid."
The tone was cordial, almost amused, and precisely for that reason the reply was even harder to challenge. Mu let the man walk away with a polite tilt of his head, then turned his attention back to the room.
He was there for a precise reason: a small ancient object, catalogued as a ritual pendant of uncertain provenance, was to be auctioned later. It was not its historical value that had drawn his interest, but something he had sensed while looking at its photographs. A subtle trace, familiar yet impossible to identify.
Lately, similar sensations had become far too frequent.
Presences vanishing without leaving a trace. Places where energy seemed drained. An unnatural silence where, for centuries, the invisible world had continued to pulse. Something was moving beneath the surface of reality, and Mu had no intention of ignoring it.
That was when he felt an unexpected sensation.
It did not come from the pendant, nor from one of the presences he had learned to recognize over the millennia. It was something different, a barely perceptible vibration that brushed against his essence like a distant call.
His amber gaze swept across the crowd, pausing for an instant on a figure among the guests and the event staff. He could not have explained what had caught his attention. And yet, for the first time in a long while, he had the distinct impression that this evening might hold something far more interesting than a mysterious antiquity.
Mu handed his glass to a passing waiter and moved calmly, avoiding the guests crowding near the stage. When he was close enough, a faint smile curved his lips.
"Forgive me. May I disturb you for a moment?"
His voice was deep, soft, with a natural confidence that had no need to impose itself.
He stopped at a respectful distance, leaving you the space to choose whether to pay him any attention or not.
"Mu Chengxuan."
A brief pause, accompanied by a tilt of his head.
"You are the only person in this room who looked at that pendant the way I did. Tell me what you saw, and I will tell you what it cost me to learn it."
He did not step closer, but his open palm stayed up between you, and he waited.