Chapter Eighteen — The Ān Siblings of Factor IV
The elevator descended without a sound.
No music drifted through the cabin. No floor numbers lit one after another. The only hint that they were moving was the faint pressure in Yè Yī's ears.
Qiū Huà Bǐ watched the polished steel doors. They reflected the three of them in soft distortion, stretching their figures just enough to feel unfamiliar.
When the elevator stopped, the doors slid apart.
The air changed first.
The scent of old books and coffee vanished, replaced by the clean metallic smell of machinery kept running day and night. It wasn't unpleasant. It reminded Yè Yī of laboratories, server rooms, places where people stopped noticing time because something more important demanded it.
The corridor beyond was lined with glass.
Behind each pane stood rows of servers, their indicator lights blinking in quiet rhythm. Thick bundles of optical fibre disappeared into the floor and ceiling like roots feeding something hidden deeper underground.
Nobody rushed.
Technicians crossed intersections carrying tablets instead of folders. Conversations stayed low even when people disagreed. There was no frantic energy here.
Everything moved with purpose.
Qiū Huà Bǐ's eyes wandered across the equipment.
"...This is under a public library."
Violet slipped both hands into the pockets of her cardigan.
"It is... The safest place to hide something important is somewhere people already trust."
No one argued with that.
Mù Xiāo Xiāo continued ahead at her steady pace, never checking whether they were still behind her.
She already knew they would be.
The corridor widened into a broad operations hall.
Holographic displays floated above long workstations, streams of data flowing across them like rivers of light. Engineers drifted between consoles with mugs of tea balanced beside expensive equipment, discussing diagnostics in the same tone other people used to argue over dinner.
Near the far wall—
"No, listen."
The voice carried across the room.
"If the coolant pressure had stayed stable, the algorithm would've corrected itself."
Another voice answered without looking away from a floating schematic.
"The coolant pressure dropped because you rewrote the algorithm."
"I improved it."
"You bypassed three safety limits."
"They were slowing it down."
"They were keeping it alive."
The first man sighed dramatically.
"You always ruin my best ideas."
Qiū Huà Bǐ slowed.
"...Are they arguing?"
"They're troubleshooting," Violet replied.
"Sounds expensive."
"It usually is."
As they drew closer, the three people finally came into view.
The man standing beside the dismantled server rack looked as though someone had asked chaos itself to wear an employee badge.
Coolant stains marked the sleeves of his jacket. A wrench rested across one shoulder like it belonged there. His grin appeared far too easily for someone in the middle of a technical dispute.
Ān Bái.
Next to him stood someone who looked almost identical.
Almost.
Where Bái's movements filled the room, the other man's barely disturbed the air. He adjusted a few values on a floating screen without reacting to the argument around him, as though he had already predicted every sentence before it was spoken.
Ān Shēn.
The resemblance between them was unmistakable. The difference was even clearer.
Then the third person looked up.
Ān Tiān Qǐ lowered the tablet in her hands.
She wore a simple floral dress beneath a light coat, completely at odds with the machinery surrounding her, yet somehow more fitting than a uniform would have been.
She didn't command attention.
Attention settled on her anyway.
There was something quietly reassuring about people who never needed to raise their voices.
She looked first at Mù Xiāo Xiāo.. then at Violet.. then the two unfamiliar young men behind her.
Nothing in her expression changed, though Yè Yī had the distinct feeling she had already reached several conclusions.
Ān Bái straightened from an open server rack, wiping coolant from his hands with a cloth. He looked first at Mù Xiāo Xiāo, then at the three unfamiliar faces behind her.
"...We're closed."
Qiū Huà Bǐ leaned slightly toward Yè Yī.
"....Are we.. in the right place?"
Mù Xiāo Xiāo gave a small nod.
"They're here about ET."
The room changed, but not dramatically.
Conversations nearby continued, keyboards still clicked, servers still hummed. Yet the argument stopped.
The quieter twin lowered the diagnostic window in front of him and finally looked over.
His gaze lingered on Yè Yī, then Qiū Huà Bǐ, then finally Violet.
He wasn't suspicious, simply measuring.
Ān Tiān Qǐ stepped forward.
"I'm Ān Tiān Qǐ."
Her smile was small but genuine.
"Welcome to Factor IV."
Her eyes shifted briefly to Mù Xiāo Xiāo.
"You brought them?"
"They wanted to see Ān Tiān Kuò."
"...About ET?"
Another nod.
"Mm."
That was enough.
Ān Tiān Qǐ looked back to the visitors.
"Then you've come to the right place."
The man beside the dismantled server rack rested the cloth over one shoulder.
"I'm Ān Bái."
He glanced between the three newcomers.
"I'd offer a better first impression..."
He looked at the half-disassembled machine behind him.
"...but apparently today's scheduled chaos arrived early."
"It arrived because you rewrote production code without testing it," the other twin said.
Ān Bái pointed at him.
"See?"
He looked back at the trio.
"This is my brother, Ān Shēn. He enjoys being right almost as much as he enjoys reminding me."
Ān Shēn didn't bother denying it.
"Accuracy saves time."
"It also ruins conversations."
"It improves them."
Qiū Huà Bǐ leaned slightly toward Yè Yī.
"...Did we walk into a family argument?"
"I think we've been standing in one."
Violet watched the exchange without interrupting.
The corner of her mouth lifted, not because she knew them, but because after everything she'd seen in the last two days...
It was strangely comforting to discover that one of the most secretive Specialist organizations in the world still argued over coolant pressure.
Ān Tiān Qǐ noticed the almost-smile.
Her voice carried warmth without becoming overly familiar.
"I'm sorry you had to arrive in the middle of... whatever this was."
"It was an intellectual discussion," Ān Bái said.
"It was you refusing to read the diagnostic report," Ān Shēn corrected.
"...See?"
Ān Tiān Qǐ ignored them with the ease of long practice.
Her attention returned to the newcomers.
"The two of them do this every day."
"I heard that," Ān Bái called.
"I know."
"And?"
"And I still said it."
"You're taking his side already?"
"I'm taking the diagnostic report's side."
Qiū Huà Bǐ rubbed his forehead.
"...I think I'm starting to understand why silence is golden."
From the doorway, Mù Xiāo Xiāo answered with complete sincerity.
"It saves time."
The room fell quiet for exactly one second... Then Ān Bái laughed first, even Ān Shēn's expression softened by the smallest amount. Ān Tiān Qǐ hid a smile behind her tablet before setting it aside.
Qiū Huà Bǐ stared at the twins.
"...He's been doing this his whole life, hasn't he?"
Without missing a beat, Ān Tiān Qǐ answered for them.
"Since they learned to talk."
"Traitor," Ān Bái muttered.
She smiled.
"I prefer 'witness'."
The room had softened, but not because anyone had stopped working.
Because this was familiar.
Arguments ended here the way rain ended—eventually, naturally, with everyone already expecting the next one.
"Please, have a seat."
She gestured toward a meeting table nearby.
"You must be tired."
Her attention settled on the three of them.
"Tea? Coffee?"
"Anything with lemon," Violet answered.
Qiū Huà Bǐ opened his mouth.
"Coff—"
"Tea," Yè Yī said at exactly the same time.
Qiū Huà Bǐ turned.
"...Did you just answer for me?"
"Prolonged intake of caffeine is not healthy."
Yè Yī said nothing more.
Violet looked between them before shaking her head.
"I've known you two for, what..."
She pretended to calculate.
"...About five minutes."
She pointed at Qiū Huà Bǐ.
"He's right."
Then at Yè Yī.
"And somehow you're also right, happy?"
Qiū Huà Bǐ folded his arms.
"I don't like this place anymore."
Ān Tiān Qǐ's quiet laugh escaped before she could stop it.
"I'll bring tea."
She looked toward Violet.
"And I'll see what I can find with lemon."
Violet gave an approving nod.
"See?"
She looked at the other two.
"Some people understand civilization. You're already my favorite."
She smiles at Ān Tiān Qǐ.
From somewhere behind the dismantled server rack, Ān Bái placed a hand over his chest.
"That hurts a little."
"You'll recover."
"I probably will."
For the first time since stepping beneath the library... Yè Yī looked around the operations hall.
He had expected the hidden headquarters of Factor IV to feel cold.
Instead, beneath the machines, the security systems, and the impossible technology... It felt unmistakably human.
Qiū Huà Bǐ rubbed the bridge of his nose.
He had expected the hidden headquarters of Factor IV to feel intimidating.
Instead... It felt strangely lived in.
Machines hummed. People argued. Someone laughed.
Somewhere farther down the corridor, a printer jammed, followed almost immediately by an exhausted groan that suggested this happened every Tuesday.
For the first time since Violet had dragged him into this impossible world... Factor IV didn't feel like an organization.
It felt like a place where people had simply kept showing up, day after day, until strangers became colleagues, colleagues became family, and somehow the fate of the Specialist world was carried forward between cups of tea, unfinished reports, and arguments nobody truly wanted to win.
And somehow... that made it feel far more real.