Chapter 4: Three Generations
~2.6k words · 2026-06-20
They drove to the old laboratory site at 3 AM. Zhang, Li Wei Wang's driver and bodyguard, took them through the industrial outskirts of Shanghai, past warehouses and streets with no names.
The laboratory had been built directly over what the original surveyors called a "geological anomaly." The official records said the site was abandoned.
"You kept security," Chen Wei observed as a uniformed guard checked their credentials.
"The research never stopped. After the fire, I had the building sealed. But I couldn't just walk away."
"Your father started this in 1945."
"He was obsessed. He never told me what he was looking for. After he died in 1968, I inherited the project. I thought it was archaeology. Cultural preservation. I didn't know the truth until 1997."
"And in 1997?"
"The carvings your mother translated. They described a cultivator from the Tang Dynasty — a rogue who discovered immortality by consuming the life force of others. They called him the 'Devourer of Souls.' The records say he was executed. The carvings said something else entirely."
"They trapped him," Chen Wei said. "They couldn't kill him, so they built a prison."
"And we opened it."
They walked through the fire-damaged corridors to an office marked "Dr. Liu Xia — Senior Archaeologist." Chen Wei's mother's office.
On the desk, untouched by fire or decay, lay a leather portfolio. Inside were her mother's final translations. And tucked between the pages, a single sheet covered in handwritten notes.
At the bottom, in shaking characters: "For my daughter. When the time comes, you will know what to do. — Mom"
Chen Wei read the instructions twice. Then she looked up at Li Wei Wang, her eyes blazing.
"We need five things," she said. "And we have three weeks to find them."
The laboratory had been built directly over what the original surveyors called a "geological anomaly." The official records said the site was abandoned.
"You kept security," Chen Wei observed as a uniformed guard checked their credentials.
"The research never stopped. After the fire, I had the building sealed. But I couldn't just walk away."
"Your father started this in 1945."
"He was obsessed. He never told me what he was looking for. After he died in 1968, I inherited the project. I thought it was archaeology. Cultural preservation. I didn't know the truth until 1997."
"And in 1997?"
"The carvings your mother translated. They described a cultivator from the Tang Dynasty — a rogue who discovered immortality by consuming the life force of others. They called him the 'Devourer of Souls.' The records say he was executed. The carvings said something else entirely."
"They trapped him," Chen Wei said. "They couldn't kill him, so they built a prison."
"And we opened it."
They walked through the fire-damaged corridors to an office marked "Dr. Liu Xia — Senior Archaeologist." Chen Wei's mother's office.
On the desk, untouched by fire or decay, lay a leather portfolio. Inside were her mother's final translations. And tucked between the pages, a single sheet covered in handwritten notes.
At the bottom, in shaking characters: "For my daughter. When the time comes, you will know what to do. — Mom"
Chen Wei read the instructions twice. Then she looked up at Li Wei Wang, her eyes blazing.
"We need five things," she said. "And we have three weeks to find them."