Night on the western geomantic route. Yan Qi rides and runs between relay stones, returning toward Imperial Mail territory with parcel four still sealed in her case.

Yan Qi approaches a night relay branch. Couriers work under lanterns, but the place feels muted and watched.

Before entering, Yan Qi tests whether she can delay or divert the parcel. The courier oath rejects the thought.

Yan Qi enters the relay office. The familiar shelves and ledgers now feel sinister.

Yan Qi moves toward Luo Bai's records room, passing route charts and silent clerks.

Luo Bai appears. He is not confident; he is frightened before Yan Qi speaks.

Yan Qi steps into the records room. Luo Bai tries to reassert procedure instead of answering.

Luo Bai's stalling triggers Yan Qi's oath pain. The delivery window tightens.

Luo Bai asks questions that reveal his knowledge of the previous parcels.

Luo Bai admits enough to show complicity, but fear of the higher authority keeps him from naming anyone.

Luo Bai begs Yan Qi to exploit her courier status. Yan Qi explains the oath in plain terms.

Yan Qi calls witnesses into the room because procedure matters, even when procedure is being weaponized.

Yan Qi completes the legally required handover. Luo Bai accepts because he has no safe refusal.

Luo Bai breaks the seal. Yan Qi watches for any clue she is allowed to see.

The parcel contains a thin mirror-disc marked with Luo Bai's own authorization stamps.

The mirror-disc activates when Luo Bai looks into it.

The mirror-disc kills Luo Bai cleanly, without blood or struggle.

Luo Bai collapses. The witnesses panic, but Yan Qi stops them from contaminating evidence or triggering more traps.

Yan Qi cannot seize the delivered contents, but she uses what the law permits: observation in witness presence.

Yan Qi notices that the disc required authority higher than the branch could issue.

Yan Qi mentally overlays Madam Ren's coordinate with the authority grade she has just identified.

Yan Qi remembers the private warning she sent after the first death and realizes it may have gone to the wrong level of authority.

The branch couriers want to hold Yan Qi as the only living person connected to the death, but treaty law protects her movement.

Yan Qi leaves the relay branch before dawn, carrying the final parcel and a worse fear about the warning she sent.