152 Where should he even begin!?

"I should return," Liu Suye dawdled while he glared at a chess game laid out before him, "New Years and all should be celebrated with family. My little brother is finally coming back."

The room around him was dark, much like the rest of the city. 

Xinlie never regained any of its rumored sprawling life. It was drawl, vacant and mostly covered with cloudy darkness. The roads were still contaminated with the poisonous fumes that the cultivators used to assault the inner city. Most of it still wasn't that safe, which was why the few residents only remained in the main fortress tower along the wall. There was still a huge chunk missing out of the curved rooftop but Siran didn't care and thought the idea of an open rooftop room wasn't a bad one.

But it was winter now, so they had retreated from the howling winds, but the cold still penetrated the walls and their breaths would fog in front of their faces.