INT. FACTOR IV — Meeting Room III
The drinks arrived without ceremony.
Tea for Yè Yī.
Hot water with lemon for Violet.
Qiū Huà Bǐ accepted whatever had been placed in front of him without asking what it was. His hands remained wrapped around the warm cup, though he hadn't taken a sip.
The room settled into a quieter rhythm.
Beyond the glass wall, technicians moved between server racks, monitors washing their faces in shifting blue light. Somewhere deeper inside the facility, cooling systems breathed in slow, mechanical intervals.
Ān Tiān Qǐ folded the tablet in her hands.
"We've been watching ET's movements."
Her voice wasn't loud. It didn't need to be.
"They've become more active over the last few months. Recently they've started probing places with very little background activity. Quiet districts. Old properties. Places people stopped paying attention to."
Yè Yī listened without interrupting.
There was a habit among people like her.
They rarely said everything they knew.
Qiū Huà Bǐ remained silent as well.
His eyes wandered from one monitor to another, never resting long. He looked less like a guest than an animal deciding whether a room was safe enough to stay inside.
Ān Bái leaned back in his chair.
"I still think the best solution is to let them chase ghosts."
He grinned.
"Build a few fake nodes, leak some fake traffic, waste their time. Good theatre."
Ān Shēn pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I call that gambling with a live database."
"It's called confidence."
"It's called paperwork after everything explodes."
A technician reached behind one of the racks.
An amber indicator turned green.
The faint smell of solder drifted through the room before disappearing beneath the scent of tea.
Ān Tiān Qǐ looked at her cousin.
"Your showmanship is not the same thing as operational security."
Ān Bái spread his hands.
"Operational security is boring."
"I know."
"I prefer interesting security."
A small sigh escaped her.
"We'll test controlled noise first."
She looked directly at him.
"In a sandbox."
Then, after the smallest pause—
"And no stunts."
Ān Bái rolled his eyes toward the ceiling with enough drama to deserve applause, but let the argument die.
The servers continued humming.
Code flowed across the monitors like illuminated windows in a city that never slept.
Ān Shēn finally turned toward the three visitors.
"You've introduced yourselves as strangers."
His gaze moved from one face to another.
"But strangers usually have names."
Violet answered first.
"I'm..."
She paused just long enough to make it deliberate.
"...a visitor."
Yè Yī looked at him evenly.
"A student."
Qiū Huà Bǐ was the last to speak.
"...Curious."
For some reason, that answer earned the smallest smile from Ān Tiān Qǐ.
Then Violet placed her cup on the table.
The sound was quiet yet it still drew everyone's attention.
"Now..."
Her expression lost its usual playfulness.
"...to be serious."
She looked directly at Ān Tiān Qǐ.
"I am Violet."
A beat passed.
"You already know Yè Yī."
Silence.
"You've been keeping tabs on him."
No one moved.
"The hidden cameras."
She tilted her head.
"The CCTV around the Yè ancestral home."
The room seemed colder.
Ān Bái rubbed his nose before letting out a sudden sneeze.
Ān Shēn frowned.
"...Why did it suddenly get cold?"
Neither Ān Tiān Qǐ nor Mù Xiāo Xiāo reacted due to their grounding Earth Arm.
Xiāo Xiāo remained exactly where she'd been since entering the room, standing beside the small aquarium near the wall.
The tiny fish drifting lazily through the water seemed to hold more of her attention than the conversation did.
Violet nudged Yè Yī gently with her elbow.
"But hey... We're talking about your great-grandfather."
Her voice softened.
"One of the most respected Specialists of his generation."
She looked back toward the others.
"Now that he's gone... what he left behind was always going to attract people."
She didn't finish the sentence. She didn't have to.
Then she glanced sideways at Yè Yī.
"...Don't be mad, okay?"
Ān Tiān Qǐ let out a slow breath.
"Factor IV watches."
She chose every word carefully.
"But we don't interfere unless we have reason to."
She lowered her eyes briefly.
"If our methods crossed a line... then I'm sorry."
Yè Yī met her gaze.
She wore a simple floral dress beneath her white coat. Her chestnut hair framed a face that carried more patience than certainty.
She looked reassuring.
That somehow made the conversation harder.
"ET's methods are..."
She searched for the right word.
"...direct. They're interested in relics. Old systems. Bloodlines connected to them."
She folded her hands together.
"When we began monitoring the Yè residence, every report suggested it had been abandoned. No one had seen a descendant in years. We believed no one lived there anymore. So we watched."
Yè Yī finally spoke.
"...But."
The room became quiet again.
Ān Tiān Qǐ's expression darkened.
Before she could answer— Ān Bái scratched the back of his head, his voice lower but more serious.
"Someone thought the job was so good and easy..."
He sighed dramatically.
"...he decided to take a nap."
Nobody laughed, even Ān Bái's grin had faded.
A technician projected security footage onto the main screen.
Timestamps. Camera angles.
The attack on the Yè residence unfolded without sound.
Ān Shēn studied it closely.
"They moved faster than their profile suggests."
His eyes narrowed.
"Disciplined."
Ān Tiān Qǐ nodded once.
"Or someone guided them."
No name was spoken.
It lingered in the room anyway.
Ān Bái leaned forward.
"What were they looking for?"
"They left without taking anything."
Silence answered him.
Violet's eyes darted to the pocket of Yè Yī's coat. The plaque rested there. Hidden and heavy.
She spoke without looking up.
"Whatever it was... it mattered enough to start paper wars."
No one asked what she meant.
Some things were obvious once they were said aloud.
Ān Bái clapped his hands together once.
"Well, if we're fighting paper wars... I volunteer for the pyrotechnics department."
Every eye in the room turned toward him.
Ān Shēn didn't even look surprised.
"You'd make everything visible."
He paused.
"Very loudly... and very badly."
Ān Bái shrugged.
"I like visibility."
"We noticed."
He reached into his toolkit, produced a small handheld device and flipped a switch.
It emitted a nervous electronic hum before settling into a steady tone.
Ān Tiān Qǐ stood.
"You're welcome to stay."
She looked at the three of them.
"Watch how we work."
A small smile appeared.
"But don't touch the servers. If you don't know where the line is.... you'll find the alarm instead."
Violet inclined her head once.
"Understood."
Above them, people wandered quietly through shelves of books.
A mother read to her daughter near the children's corner.
University students argued over citations.
Someone searched for a novel they couldn't remember by name.
Life continued exactly as it should.
Below those ordinary floors, engineers, archivists, analysts and Specialists quietly prepared for a war most of the city would never know had almost reached them.
Ān Tiān Qǐ's attention shifted toward the quiet young man sitting beside Yè Yī.
"And him?"
Violet looked toward Qiū Huà Bǐ.
A faint smile returned to her face.
"Him... Qiū Huà Bǐ."