“Unless he has the power and resources to rival Kami no Ha, I can’t imagine how he would be successful. They would crush him before he got his feet on the ground.”

“Xingyu, wait.” Just outside the hospital doors, it was Weiran’s turn to skid to a stop with his hand around Xingyu’s wrist and inconvenience whatever poor family was just trying to navigate inside. “How big of a threat is Kami no Ha?”

Where was he going with this? “B—Liu Baiyan was constantly going on about how annoying they were. They’re expanding their territory a lot faster than the List, and recently it’s gotten even overseas, close to us. I guess they changed leaders in the last year or so.”

“Annoying?”

“Liu Baiyan was worried that they would manage to expand into List territory. He really had no idea how they were expanding so fast when he couldn’t fathom them having the kind of reach and influence that people in the List have. I know there was some talk on making some kind of deal with them to ensure they wouldn’t try to move into List territory, but as far as I know nothing came of it.”

“So what if Bai Xue went to Kami no Ha?”

“Went to—what do you mean?”

“Maybe he went to try to make a deal with them. Maybe he went to get protection. He offers the territory without a fight, and Kami no Ha gives him a place to stay.”

“Damn it.” Xingyu slid his hand into Weiran’s and pulled him toward the parking lot.

“Do you think they’ll take a deal?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never met anyone from there. Liu Baiyan always said that they were too dangerous and intelligent for me to deal with yet. But I think I know how to get in contact with them.”

THE BARTENDER’S NAME was Wang Li. In the two months since Liu Xingyu had first arrived at this airport at which she was employed, Wang Li had not accomplished much, but she was fine with that. She liked being an unassuming employee—the kind her boss could depend on but wouldn’t think of in times of an emergency. She did as she was told, she arrived and left on time, she never went above and beyond, she never got reprimanded. She had found a golden area to exist as an employee, and she intended to remain in that golden area.