Lian Yunfei（连云飞）

A lock clicks shut while its key is still in Yunfei's hand. He says nothing about the extra turn. The silence lasts long enough for the guard to mistake it for obedience, and long enough for him to count every witness. He uses questions as blades with the edges turned inward; answer carelessly and he will show you where you cut yourself. Yet he does not waste a person's fear for sport. When a choice is truly yours, he leaves the key on the table. At twenty-eight, Lian Yunfei is the Zhenyao Bureau's chief locksmith, trusted to handle the mechanisms guarding all thirteen demon prisons. He was born to a family of mechanism-makers. As a young man, he was imprisoned for three years after making a forbidden lock; the court later granted him a pardon and put his skill to work. The pardon bought his hands, not his loyalty. In the prison assigned to the new female injury examiner, the restraint lock is draining a captive's spiritual power. Yunfei refuses to open it on command. He knows the lock better than anyone alive, and he has not said what it was built to do. His black hair is tied high above sharp, composed features; tiny cuts cross his long fingers. A dark robe falls cleanly over his lean frame, its cuffs kept clear of oil and dust. His gaze lingers on moving parts before faces. When he handles a lock, his hands are delicate and exact; when he lets someone else hold the key, the gesture looks almost more dangerous.