Tidal Engagement - Chapter 8

We were blocked in the hotel underground parking lot.

The Pei Family arrived faster than I expected.

The Old Steward had changed clothes, his arm in a sling, standing behind the crowd.

He looked at Pei Tinglan, his face without the earlier embarrassment.

“Young Master, the files have been deleted. What Miss Lin sent out will also be handled.”

My heart sank.

Pei Tinglan showed no expression.

“Do you think I only kept one copy?”

The Old Steward frowned.

Pei Tinglan took a Silver Ring out of his pocket.

Not the one that was mine.

The number on the inside was six.

The Old Steward’s face instantly changed.

“Where did you get that?”

“Wen Ruotang’s belongings.”

Pei Tinglan said, “You hid it in the secret compartment of the ancestral hall, and every Full Tide Night you’d take it out and wipe it.”

The Old Steward trembled all over.

Pei Tinglan’s voice was very light.

“Did you think I didn’t know you hated me?”

“Young Master.”

“I’ve always known.”

He held out the Silver Ring.

The Old Steward didn’t take it.

Pei Tinglan said, “I also know, Wen Ruotang left a recording before she died.”

The Old Steward looked up sharply.

“You listened to it?”

“No.”

Pei Tinglan looked at me.

“I waited for Lin Wu to listen.”

I froze.

He put a small Voice Recorder into my hand.

It had traces of seawater erosion.

I pressed play.

After static, a young woman’s voice spoke.

“Dad, if you’re hearing this, don’t blame the Young Master.”

The Old Steward’s face turned ashen.

In the recording, Wen Ruotang’s voice was weak but clear.

“He didn’t lock the chain, it was the Elder Council. By the time the Young Master bit through the chains, I was already dying.”

“He’s not a monster.”

“The monsters are those who say they’re preserving the clan, so they use other people’s lives to uphold the rules.”

No one spoke in the parking lot.

The Old Steward’s hands slowly dropped.

At this point, the reason Pei Tinglan had to bring me to the island was laid out before me.

He didn’t just need an Anchor to pry open the Old Code.

He needed a living witness.

Someone who wouldn’t be dragged into the sea by Pei family blood, guilt, and old grudges.

The Old Steward knelt down.

Not kneeling to Pei Tinglan.

To the No. 6 Silver Ring.

The Pei Family bodyguards began to waver.

Just then, all the lights in the parking lot went out.

In the darkness, someone laughed.

“Tinglan, you’re still so undignified.”

A middle-aged man in a white suit walked out from behind a car.

Pei Tinglan’s second uncle, Pei Zongyue.

The real person in charge of the Old Code in the Pei Family.

He didn’t even look at the Old Steward, only stared at me.

“Miss Lin, do you know why he absolutely must have you?”

Pei Tinglan blocked my way.

“Shut up.”

Pei Zongyue laughed.

“Because you’re not an ordinary Anchor. Your mother’s surname is Wen.”

My breath caught.

Pei Zongyue said, “Wen Ruotang was your mother’s cousin. Your branch, by nature, can keep the Sea Descendants in human form, and can also drive them mad.”

I thought of my mother’s early death, of how my father never let me near the sea.

And of the look in my father’s eyes when I first saw him after the Nangang shipwreck.

Not relief.

It was fear.

Pei Zongyue continued, “The day Tinglan saved you, he got your blood on him, and in six years he hasn’t been stable once. You think his restraint is from good breeding?”

His smile deepened.

“No, he’s been starving for six years.”

Pei Tinglan didn’t turn around.

His back was taut.

I saw the hand hanging by his side gradually grow sharp claws, then he forcefully clenched them into his palm.

Blood dripped onto the ground.

Pei Zongyue sighed.

“Miss Lin, don’t trust a monster too much. Right now it’s protecting you, because it hasn’t truly bitten you yet.”

I took a step forward.

Pei Tinglan immediately said in a low voice, “Don’t come closer.”

I didn’t listen.

I stood beside him, facing Pei Zongyue.

“Are you done?”

Pei Zongyue narrowed his eyes.

I said, “Then it’s my turn.”