Ice Cold Heart | A 'Honkai: Star Rail' Fanfiction

Chapter 11 - Web of Shadows

(Image Credit: "A Dramatic Irony" by miHoYo )

"Missing prisoners..."

The papers rustled in Jing Yuan's hands as he looked through the evidence he had been gathering in Y/N's stead.

"Starskiff departures. Unrecorded. Explains the 'miscalculated' gas prices."

Then, the gentle tune of his phone's ringtone began to sing, a stark contrast to the state of his office and its mess of papers. Jing Yuan closed his door and blinds to ensure nobody would be able to watch or listen before answering the call.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other side kept the volume down, weary of Jing Yuan's warnings of traitors in their midst.

"I did it, wiped his records here and got the retraction letter approved by the IPC. I must ask: Is this wise? If anyone official from the Xianzhou asks the IPC, they'll just reply back that they never took him in. Are you betting all your cards on the fact that nobody cares enough to ask?"

Jing Yuan hesitated for a quick moment, but knew that this was the only way. He needed people he could trust, and perhaps a prisoner long kept away from the light meant he wouldn't be tainted by the agents of the dark.

"I need people I can trust, Fu Xuan, you included. The other Arbiter Generals will be happy to see him out of the records and I'm sure they wouldn't care after that. We just need to make sure we keep Dan Heng out of sight."

Fu Xuan sighed and trusted in her Arbiter General.

"Alright... Need anything else? If what you said is true, then I'd be glad to know you still trust me."

Jing Yuan smiled at the fact that he still had allies, but ultimately dismissed any need of her help for the meantime.

"No, not at the moment, but thank you. Just keep up appearances and raise no suspicion. If any traitors start to notice that we're on to them, then there's no telling what they might do next."

The call ends and Jing Yuan focuses his attention back to the papers, and packs them in his bag. He clears up his office of any Sanctus related work as a precaution to anyone who might search it once he leaves. As to not arouse any suspicion from the people around him, Jing Yuan puts on a smile as he leaves the office building and heads home.

.

.

.

Meanwhile, Y/N had been laying prone up on a nearby hill overlooking the entrance courtyard to Rock's Edge. With a set of binoculars in one hand and a pen on the other, he watches from afar while taking note of the people in the facility, their schedules, and what goes on there.

"The courtyard appears to be a staging ground for 'cargo' more than anything else. People held hostage are brought here in Starskiffs. They're written up by a varying group of people in labcoats, no less than 3 from observation, then sent to the master elevator that leads to the lower levels of the facility. Very few guards, they probably think they're safe enough being in a secluded and abandoned area."

He sets the binoculars down and focuses entirely on his writing for the moment.

"Not much can be determined further. I need a view of the cliff's edge to see what floors of the facility the elevators once used. The hostages, however, seem to be exiting the facility more than any are entering."

Y/N flips through the notepad to look at his notes. Specifically, he looks to a timetable where he'd been recording the number of hostages entering and exiting the facility as well as the times they were being moved.