Chapter 174

The deep night was cold and silent. At the manor perched halfway up the mountain, that sense of emptiness felt even sharper. The cool wind carried the damp scent of rain, seeping through clothes and into the skin, like someone blowing cold air straight beneath your shirt—it was hard not to shiver.

Rain, rare for the night, fell on the protective netting over the villa’s second-floor terrace. The raised, arched glass dome covered almost every corner of the broad balcony.

On such a rare rainy night, Lin Mo lounged lazily on a recliner, gazing up at the heavens. The chill wind outside was kept at bay by the dome, while raindrops pattered on the glass above, streaking fine rivulets across the surface. The pitter-patter rang like an abrupt symphony—restless, yet never grating. His heart drifted with the falling rain into the depths of night, growing calm, and in that calm came drowsiness.