He likes to think he's gotten better at reading Lan Wangji, though his brother has a great deal more experience at it. Even so, it's not hard to tell the news is a shock to him, and Wei Wuxian rest a hand lightly on his bicep, offering a small measure of comfort.

"Mm, he's fine," he says again, as if repetition might make the news easier to hear, "that's why I wanted to go with him, so we could be sure nothing more would happen."

He could only imagine if they'd tried to use those same wires they'd stuffed into March's head on Lan Xichen. Even if his paper form wouldn't have been able to do much, at least they would know what happened.

"I saw a few things, yeah. Not a lot I could make sense of. There were two people working, they called each-other Walrus and Carpenter. Do those names mean anything to you?"