CHAPTER 4: Dead Ends

Maik Kehn confirms that Kaul Lan’s casket was breached in the Kaul family mausoleum and orders secrecy and tighter security at Widow’s Park. After informing his brother Maik Tar, the Maiks prepare to tell Pillar Kaul Hilo, knowing Hilo expects both bad news and a concrete plan.

Over lunch, Kehn first reports routine clan staffing progress, then reveals the grave robbery. Hilo deduces that the surviving gunman who killed Lan likely returned and stole Lan’s jade, concluding the thief still lives. He orders the Maiks to find the culprit and any Mountain link behind the original assassination.

Maik Tar targets Seko, a junior Mountain Fist suspected of managing informers tied to the assassins. Using a ruse about Seko’s mother, Tar’s team ambushes and captures him cleanly, avoiding civilian harm. In a concealed site, Tar strips Seko’s jade, tortures him, and secures an admission that Seko handled the two young gunmen from Mudt Jin’s ring—but Seko claims not to know their names.

While Tar pauses to let Seko “remember,” Seko frees a hidden boot blade and cuts his own throat, denying further intelligence. Tar realizes the operational error too late; the lead to the surviving assassin and Lan’s jade goes cold.

Days later, the Mountain retaliates for Seko’s abduction and death with a cross-border strike from Spearpoint, killing one of Kehn’s men and hospitalizing Tyin. Collateral damage and injuries to bystanders put No Peak on the front page, worsening public sentiment and signaling renewed volatility between the clans.