Rui's Pov

I have no clue where it all went wrong.

Shanghai had been getting messier by the hour; burnt-out districts swallowed by acid fog, black-market tech changing hands faster than currency, but I’d built a wall between myself and all of it.

As long as my life in SkyBastion was steady, climbing rank by rank, none of it mattered. Not one bit.

Maybe that’s why I’m here now, half-conscious on a dorm floor that smells of disinfectant and blood, clinging to life through the hands of a strange girl whose face keeps replaying in my mind. Mei. A flash of dark eyes and the warmth of her palm on my skin.

“Hey…” She crouched low, cutting through the haze, flicking a quick wave in front of my face.

My vision doubled, then steadied, and her hair brushed forward when she leaned in closer.

“You said something about a code…” She narrowed both eyes. “Yes? So… exactly what type of code are you talking about?”

Her knees hit the floor; she folded down onto them, leaning forward. “Is that like… a pass code? Or perhaps a… bunker code?”

“You don’t know the code I’m referring to?”

“Well, um…” She flicked her tongue against the inside of her cheek. “There are a lot of codes in my head. Take that door, for example…”

She jerked her chin at the steel door glowing faint blue, as its access pad continued to blink in a slow heartbeat. “I could recite three to you right now.”

If only I were strong enough, I thought, to grab her, to force her out of here, drag her to the place she’s supposed to be. She’d hate me for a while…, sure. She might even fight me. But she’d survive. We both would. And later she’d see I’d done it for her.

I turned back to her, parting my lips open to speak—

—when the door clicked.

That sound, so small, hit my nerves really hard.

The panel hissed and slid aside with a clean hydraulic sigh, and someone quickly stepped through.

“Fen…?” Mei shot to her feet.

Fen walked down toward us, making a low thump with her boots on every step.

“So, did you find the bot?” Mei raised an arm without thinking.

“I did,” Fen slowed halfway into the room, locking her eyes with mine for a second, tugging an almost flirty smile at her lips before she turned back toward Mei. “And I’ve got some bad news.”

“What’s the bad news?” Mei’s voice faltered.

Fen tilted her head, assessing me… my face to be precise. “I think it’d be better for everyone if he just gets the treatment from the bot and goes his way. Honestly, there’s not a single peaceful place where we can hide him here.”

Her tone had that practiced casualness that told me she’d rehearsed the line in her head before walking in.

“It’s too dangerous.”

“I know…” Mei’s fists curled at her sides.

“If you’re caught on one more offense, Mei,” Fen took a step towards her, “you’re out of this place.”

“I know, Fen. I know.”

A long beat of silence.

“So…” Mei’s voice lightened, but her eyes didn’t. “Where’s the bot?”

Fen swallowed hard, flicking her glance between me and the window beside me.

My fingers twitched against the floor, and the air felt really heavy.

“On its way… Jia had to tighten some of its loose screws so… so uhm… Rui, right?” Fen shot the words toward me. “Can you use the bot properly? You can, right?” She squinted both eyes at me.

“I can…, and I promise to be out of here as soon as it treats me.”

The door hissed open with a metallic sigh, and Jia stumbled in, clutching the bot.

Her face looked troubled, with curled lips and unsettled eyes.

“Jia…” Fen dragged the name, tilting her head, dripping her voice with suspicion. “What did you do? Why is your face screaming silently?”

Jia blinked rapidly and stepped back half a pace, with trembling lips in tight curls.

“Fen…” her voice cracked slightly. “It won’t start. The bot won’t start. I think it’s broken.”

“Aww, goodness…” Mei slapped a palm hard against her face, exhaling with sharp frustration.

She walked forward in quick strides, snatching the bot from Jia’s hands. Turning it side to side, narrowing her eyes, scanning every joint and seam.

She paused, then raised her gaze straight at Jia.

Jia’s breath hitched, and her feet shuffled back. She blinked again, faster, twitching her lips helplessly.

“You need to check the battery life first before you make a conclusion that it doesn’t work, Jia,” Mei snapped. “Stop worrying me unnecessarily.”

Her words rang against the walls. Silence pressed in, broken only by the faint hum of the dead bot in her hands.

That was when memory jolted through me: smashing a security bot on my way here, salvaging its parts, shoving one into my belt just in case. Maybe…

With a sharp, low grunt of pain, I dug into the utility belt strapped around my waist, forcing my shaking hands to move.

Metal clinked as I fished out a slightly long, rectangular piece on a silver casing, with golden stripes etched along its side.

I lifted it toward the light: “Will this do for a battery?”

Three heads turned to me instantly as gasps slipped from their lips.

Fen darted forward, snatching the piece from my hand before I could even lower it. Without hesitation, she shoved it toward Mei.

I needed to survive this. I needed to keep a promise to my friend. For that sake, I had to get through this and leave this place, no matter what.

Mei’s fingers worked fast. She slotted the piece into the bot, twisted, and locked it in.

A pulse of energy rippled out as the machine whirred, flicking sparks and blinking lights around itself.

It wobbled in the air for a second, then stabilized with a smooth hover, lighting up a round screen with a bright, friendly emoji.

“Med Bot 607 at your service, ma’am,” it chimed, raising one metallic arm in salute. “How may I be of help?”

The bot hovered right before Mei, tilting its glowing face.

Mei exhaled, flashing relief across her features. She extended an arm toward me, where I still sat slumped on the cold floor, begging my body not to black out.

The bot turned its screen in my direction…, and froze.

The cheerful emoji flickered, and the light bled into red. Its frame stiffened, whirring and shifting mechanically into a sharp, grinding urgency.

“Armed fugitive suspect spotted,” the bot’s voice shifted, flat and loud. “Now initiating a call for SkyBastion's immediate arrest.”