The Veil Of Ages

(Ethan’s POV – The Aftermath of Voss’ Warning)

Ethan leaned back in his chair, his apartment dim except for the cold glow of his laptop screen.

He hadn’t turned on the lights.

Didn’t need them.

The silence in his room felt thicker than usual.

The sealed envelope from Graves had been worthless. Someone had stolen the real information before he even opened it.

And Voss?

Voss had given him a choice.

"You think you’re chasing the truth, Carter. But what if the truth is chasing you?"

Ethan exhaled sharply, rubbing his face.

His laptop screen flickered.

The video call connected.

Aryan’s face appeared—laid back in his chair, expression unreadable. His room was barely visible, just the faint glow of his monitor in the background.

"Well?" Aryan said.

Ethan tapped his fingers against the desk, thinking. Then, without a word, he picked up Graves’ notebook and flipped it open.

He held the page up to the camera.

> "If you want the truth, start here. But be ready to pay the price."

And below it—a location.

Mount Emei, China.

Aryan’s smirk faded slightly. His eyes flickered with something sharper.

"Well, damn," he muttered. "Looks like she wanted you to find this."

Ethan exhaled. "Yeah. But that’s the part that doesn’t make sense. Why go through all the trouble of hiding this if she knew someone was already watching?"

Aryan leaned forward, resting his chin on his fist. "Maybe she wasn’t hiding it from them. Maybe she was hiding it from you—until the right moment."

That thought settled in Ethan’s chest like a stone.

Because if Graves had been waiting for the right time… that meant she knew something was coming.

And the price she mentioned?

He had no doubt they were about to find out exactly what it was.

---

(Renji’s POV – The First Omen)

Renji closed the budgeting spreadsheet on her screen with an exhausted sigh.

Another day. Another headache.

Her coworkers had already left for the day, but she was still at her desk, a half-empty coffee cup next to her keyboard.

Her phone buzzed.

She checked it instinctively, expecting another work email.

Nope. Group chat.

> Aryan: "Ethan found something. Call incoming."

Renji sighed, stretching her arms over her head before grabbing her headphones.

She clicked into the video call, her screen filling with Aryan’s and Ethan’s tired faces.

"Alright," she said, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "What is it this time?"

Ethan didn’t waste time. "Graves left me a message before she vanished. It led to this."

He held up a notebook page.

Renji adjusted her glasses, scanning the writing.

> "If you want the truth, start here. But be ready to pay the price."

Mount Emei, China.

Her fingers froze over her keyboard.

"...This is real," she muttered.

Ethan frowned. "What do you mean?"

Renji exhaled, sitting up straighter. "I’ve been looking into artifact tracking networks—stuff that isn’t public. And Mount Emei? It’s been flagged more than once in the past year. Weird movements. Missing research teams. Stuff getting erased from records."

Aryan raised an eyebrow. "Erased how?"

Renji tapped a few keys on her laptop, pulling up a government database she probably wasn’t supposed to have access to.

"I mean missing names. Scientists vanishing from research teams. Artifacts marked as ‘recovered’ but never surfacing. Someone’s been cleaning house."

Ethan’s stomach twisted. Project Aegis.

If Graves had known this…

Then maybe she had been their last loose end.

---

(The Silence from Nadia)

Renji’s fingers hesitated over the keyboard.

Something wasn’t sitting right.

She checked the group chat.

Then she scrolled back.

Something was missing.

Her chest tightened. "Wait. Has anyone heard from Nadia?"

Ethan blinked. "What?"

Renji tapped out a quick message.

> Renji: "Nadia? You good?"

Three dots appeared. Typing.

Then they stopped.

The message never sent.

Renji’s breath hitched.

"She’s not answering."

Aryan leaned back in his chair, stretching. "Maybe she’s just busy."

Renji shook her head. "No, she always checks in after work. She hasn’t said anything for hours."

Ethan’s grip tightened on Graves’ notebook.

This was not a coincidence.

If Project Aegis was making a move…

They had just made their first one.

And Nadia was caught in the middle.

-----

(Renji’s POV – A Sudden Silence)

Renji stared at her phone screen, her fingers still hovering over the keyboard.

Three dots. Typing.

Then… nothing.

Her message to Nadia never sent.

Her stomach twisted.

She checked the chat again, scrolling up. Nadia’s last message was over six hours ago.

That wasn’t normal.

Nadia wasn’t the type to just go silent.

She tapped out another message.

> Renji: "Nadia, where are you?"

Nothing.

Not even a read receipt.

Renji exhaled sharply, a chill creeping up her spine.

Something was wrong.

She turned back to the video call, where Ethan and Aryan were still discussing Mount Emei.

"Guys," she interrupted. "We might have a bigger problem."

Ethan glanced at her screen. "What?"

Renji hesitated. Then, slowly, she turned her phone toward the camera, showing the unread messages.

"Nadia’s gone quiet," she said. "And I don’t think it’s just nothing."

Aryan frowned. "You sure? Maybe she just—"

Renji cut him off. "She always checks in. Always. She hasn’t read my messages, and when I tried calling just now, it didn’t even ring."

That made Aryan pause.

Ethan sat up straighter. "What’s the last thing she said?"

Renji scrolled up, reading aloud.

> Nadia: "Work ran late today. I’ll check in later."

Nadia: "Something weird happened at the museum today. I’ll tell you guys about it later."

Renji’s breath caught.

She hadn’t really paid attention to that last message when she first saw it.

But now?

Now it felt like a warning.

---

(Ethan’s POV – The Pattern is Clear)

Ethan’s mind immediately started connecting the dots.

Nadia had sent that message before she went silent.

Something happened at her workplace.

And now, she was missing.

He clenched his jaw. "Where does she work again?"

"A museum," Renji answered, voice tight. "She’s an artifact analyst. She works with recovered historical pieces."

Aryan exhaled, running a hand through his hair. "You’re kidding me. That’s not just a coincidence."

Ethan agreed.

Aegis had already erased Graves’ research. They had stolen the real contents of the file before Ethan even opened it.

And now, the one person in their group who worked with artifacts had just… vanished.

This was a warning.

Or worse—a recruitment.

Ethan’s grip tightened on the edge of his desk.

If Aegis had taken her, they were already running out of time.

---

(Renji’s POV – Digging for Answers)

Renji was already typing, her hands flying across the keyboard.

If Nadia was in trouble, then Renji was going to find out exactly what happened.

"Hold on," she muttered. "I’m accessing the museum’s employee database."

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "That’s not legal, is it?"

Renji shot him a look. "Does it look like I care?"

A second later, the screen loaded.

She scrolled through the logs, narrowing her search to the last twelve hours.

Then she saw it.

Her blood ran cold.

"Nadia clocked out at 7:42 PM," she said slowly.

Aryan frowned. "Okay… so?"

Renji’s hands trembled slightly as she clicked into the security logs.

"There’s no exit record."

Ethan’s eyes darkened. "What?"

Renji turned the laptop so they could see.

"She never left the building."

The last recorded footage showed Nadia leaving her office… but never exiting the museum.

And that meant she was either still there—

—or someone had made sure she never got logged leaving.

A heavy silence filled the call.

Then Aryan spoke, his voice lower than before.

"...We need to move."

---

(Ethan’s POV – The Decision is Made)

Ethan took a deep breath. "Alright. Renji, can you pull up the museum’s security cameras?"

Renji was already one step ahead of him, her fingers flying over the keyboard. "Working on it."

Aryan leaned forward. "We don’t know if she was taken or if she just went off the grid on purpose."

"But," Ethan countered, "if she did disappear on purpose, she would’ve left some kind of message."

Aryan exhaled. "So what’s the plan?"

Ethan’s mind was already racing ahead.

Renji was in Japan. Aryan was in China. Nadia was missing.

And Ethan?

He was about to make a very, very dangerous call.

Slowly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out Voss’ business card.

Aryan’s expression turned sharp. "No. Absolutely not."

Ethan ignored him, staring at the blank white surface.

No name. No organization. Just a number.

A direct line to Project Aegis.

"You're seriously going to call him?" Aryan asked, watching him carefully.

Ethan hesitated. Then, he exhaled.

"We don’t have a choice."

And then—he dialed the number.

---

Side story: The Perspective of Li Wei

---

(Li Wei’s POV – The Weight of Expectations)

The office was too quiet.

Li Wei sat at his new desk, fingers drumming against the polished wood. Around him, the HR department of Systic Corporation moved in controlled efficiency—phones ringing, conversations in hushed tones, the subtle clicking of keyboards filling the air.

It was his first official week in the company.

And already, he could feel the weight of expectations pressing down on him.

Not from his bosses. Not from his coworkers.

But from himself.

---

(Why Systic? The Truth He Won’t Admit)

When Li Wei had accepted the job at Systic’s Human Resources division, most people assumed it was for career growth.

And sure, it was a respectable position—a stepping stone into the world of high-level corporate management.

But the truth?

The real reason he was here?

Ethan.

Li Wei clenched his jaw at the thought.

Ever since their internship together, there had been an unspoken rivalry between them. Ethan, always calm and analytical, had outperformed him just enough times to make it infuriating.

And Li Wei hated being second best.

So when Ethan landed an opportunity at Argon Corporation, Li Wei had pushed himself harder.

He studied longer. Networked aggressively. Applied to Systic—a company directly connected to Argon’s management.

Because if Ethan was moving up?

Then Li Wei would make damn sure he was one step ahead.

---

(His Daily Life – The Unseen Struggles)

But now, sitting at his desk, he felt nothing.

The meetings were dull. The work was efficient, but empty.

He was good at what he did—HR strategy, performance analysis, handling employee relations. But it was all… routine.

Nothing challenged him.

Nothing excited him.

And worst of all?

No one here cared about competition.

Li Wei wanted to climb higher. Wanted to prove himself. But this place wasn’t a battlefield.

It was a machine.

Everyone just did their jobs, followed the process, and went home.

He hated it.

---

(Flaws – The Truth He Won’t Say Out Loud)

Li Wei knew his own flaws.

He always needed to be the best. Even when it didn’t matter.

He took failures personally. If something didn’t go his way, he would obsess over it.

He struggled with patience. If there wasn’t immediate progress, he got restless.

And worst of all?

He had no real purpose.

Even now, as he stared at the stack of HR reports on his desk, he felt the nagging thought in the back of his mind.

"Is this all there is?"

He had chased Ethan to prove a point.

But now that he was here…

What was he actually proving?

---

(The Cracks in Systic – A Hint of Something Bigger)

By lunchtime, Li Wei had already finished most of his work.

He grabbed his coffee and walked toward the HR archive room—a quiet space where old employee records were stored.

Not because he needed anything.

But because he was bored.

He skimmed through random files, flipping through hiring reports, old termination cases… the usual corporate nonsense.

 @@novelbin@@

Until something caught his eye.

A list of internal employee transfers.

And on that list, under "Confidential Clearance Required," was a single name he recognized.

> Nathaniel Voss – Reassigned from External Consulting to Internal Oversight

Li Wei frowned.

Why did that name sound familiar?

Shaking his head, he closed the file and took a sip of his coffee.

It was probably nothing.

Probably.

---

(His Next Step – The Feeling of Something Unfinished)

As he returned to his desk, Li Wei checked his phone.

Nothing from Ethan.

Not that he expected anything. They hadn’t spoken in months.

But still…

A part of him wondered what Ethan was doing right now.

Was he struggling at Argon? Was he succeeding?

And more importantly—

Was he still ahead?

Li Wei scrolled through his emails, sighing.

He didn’t know why, but he had a feeling.

A feeling that something was about to change.

And when it did…

He would be ready.

---

End of Chapter 9