Chapter 31 · The Gatekeeper's Gambit - Chapter 31: The Knife in the Contract

Wei Tiegu didn't wait for the scream to finish. He shoved the last Seventh Keeper through the Black Gate like the guy was trash, not a colleague, and the gate took him with a wet sound, like a throat closing.

Mo Han was already standing on the wrong tile. He'd put Su Jin on the only square that wouldn't eat her and walked himself into the kill zone on purpose. That had been the plan. The plan was now trying to cook his boots.

Blood hit his sleeve. Not his. Not yet. The Seventh Keeper's. Still warm.

"You done playing hero?" Wei Tiegu said. He wiped his palm on his robe like it was nothing. "Because I'm not."

Su Jin stood three steps away, on that safe tile, fists locked so tight her knuckles looked like bone. Crimson Flame prodigy. Contract-bound. Right now she looked like she wanted to burn the floor and him with it.

"Don't," Mo Han said. Quiet. For her. "You move, the ring eats you. That's not a threat. That's the rule."

"I know the rule." Her voice came out sharp. "You put me here on purpose."

"Yeah."

"And you walked in there on purpose.