Elias's sudden disappearance, his karmic signature utterly vanished from the Ledger, sent a wave of shock through Mei Lin. The news of the Sutra Corps murder, and Elias's alleged involvement, fueled her cold rage. She had seen through his lies, but she still believed in his cause. Now, with him gone, she was left exposed, vulnerable, and more determined than ever.
She felt the abrupt severing of their karmic bond, a painful tearing sensation that left her with a profound sense of loss, but also a fierce independence. Elias might be a necessary evil, but he was her necessary evil, and she would not let him be consumed.
She knew Veyra was behind this. The intricate framing, the subtle mimicry of Elias's karmic signature—it reeked of the Phantom User's insidious precision. And if Veyra was willing to frame Elias for murder, then the bomb was truly imminent.
Mei Lin didn't hesitate. She wouldn't chase phantoms in the Ledger's depths. She would hunt Veyra in the physical world. She relied on the Sylvan karmic anchor—the charm Lyra had given her, now a direct link to the Grove Warden and, through her, to the natural world's subtle energies. If the Guild was moving a massive resonance bomb, the Sylvans would sense its passage.
She contacted Lyra, using the unique, nature-attuned frequencies, her message concise and urgent: "Locate Master Veyra. Find the bomb. Now."
Days of frantic searching blurred into a desperate blur. Mei Lin followed the faint, shifting trail of anomalous ley line disturbances reported by Lyra's network of Grove Wardens. The Sylvans, seeing the growing imbalance in nature, responded with quiet, urgent efficiency.
Finally, a breakthrough. Lyra's last report pinpointed a heavily shielded Guild facility hidden deep within the treacherous, volcanic region of Emberfall—not the border where the Sentinels had been diverted, but a concealed, subterranean complex.
Mei Lin made her way to the location, moving with the stealth and caution Elias had painstakingly taught her. She bypassed perimeter alarms, slipped past automated defenses, and finally found an access point to the underground complex.
What she discovered inside chilled her to the bone. Not just one resonance bomb, but a vast, sprawling laboratory. Dozens of Earth Cores, glowing with ominous power, were arranged in intricate arrays, each one being meticulously tuned to different ley lines across the Realm. This wasn't just a single bomb; it was a network, designed to detonate simultaneously, to cripple the entire Realm's karmic flow.
As she absorbed the horrifying truth, a heavy hand clamped down on her shoulder. A powerful Guild enforcer, alerted by a subtle, unseen tripwire, had materialized behind her. Mei Lin struggled, but the enforcer's grip was like iron.
In that desperate moment, a flash of Elias's teachings, and the lingering spiritual connection, surged through her. She had been captured. But she wouldn't go quietly. With a surge of raw will, Mei Lin consciously overloaded her own Sylvan karmic anchor, forcing it to emit a massive, untraceable pulse of energy, a frantic distress signal. It was a desperate plea for help, directed blindly into the karmic ether, hoping that Elias, wherever he was, would sense it.