The red warning above the security terminal expanded.
[Abnormal body temperature detected.]
[Current reading: 34.1 degrees Celsius.]
The security officer examined the result twice before looking at Qian Wei.
"The second scan found the same low temperature as the first. A normal person would show clear signs of hypothermia at this level, but you do not appear confused or physically impaired. Have you recently undergone any treatment that might explain the reading?"
Qian Wei kept her expression calm. "I was discharged from the hospital yesterday after collapsing at work. The doctor performed several examinations, but he did not mention an ongoing problem with my temperature."
That was technically true.
Lin Mei stepped closer to the terminal. "Did the scanner detect anything else that would prevent her from entering the facility?"
"No foreign devices, biological contaminants or unauthorized materials were detected. Her temperature is the only abnormal result."
Qian Wei released a silent breath.
The system had concealed the mutation, although it had failed to make her body appear completely normal.
[Mutation data successfully concealed.]
[System Energy remaining: Four units.]
Qian Wei resisted the urge to frown.
"Why didn’t you correct my temperature as well?" she asked inwardly.
[Increasing Host temperature without altering biological functions would have created additional inconsistencies.]
That explanation made sense, although she wished the system had warned her before consuming more than half its remaining energy.
Lin Mei looked at Qian Wei for several seconds. Her team had already obtained the hospital’s original readings, so the temperature did not surprise her.
"Record the anomaly and allow us to proceed," she told the security officer. "Director Shen has authorized Officer Qian’s entry, and Professor Song can examine the reading later if necessary."
The officer completed the record before deactivating the scanner. "You may continue, but the medical department will receive an automatic notification."
Qian Wei followed Lin Mei deeper into the facility.
The passage ended in front of two enormous doors. Silver lines moved across their surface before they opened soundlessly, revealing a large conference room.
Seven people waited inside.
Qian Wei stopped near the entrance and studied them.
Their clothing and posture revealed different backgrounds. Two were clearly senior military officers, one appeared to be a scientist, and several wore formal suits associated with high-ranking government positions.
Her research allowed her to recognize some of their faces. Ordinary citizens would have seen them during national announcements, scientific conferences and important military events.
The man seated at the head of the table was unfamiliar.
Silver streaks ran through his black hair, and although he appeared relaxed, his gaze was sharp enough to make Qian Wei feel as if every movement had been noticed.
"Officer Qian Wei, thank you for coming voluntarily," he said. "Please take a seat so we can discuss why you requested this meeting."
Qian Wei was not surprised that he knew her name. Project Dawn had already monitored her movements and medical records.
She crossed the room and took the empty chair facing him.
Lin Mei remained standing behind her, confirming Qian Wei’s suspicion that everyone seated at the table possessed greater authority.
The silver-haired man rested his hands on the table.
"My name is Shen Luo, and I am the director of Project Dawn. Lin Mei informed me that you would only disclose your information to the person holding the highest authority in the organization."
Qian Wei nodded. "Then I have reached the right person. Before I begin, I need to know whether everyone in this room has been cleared to hear information concerning a possible extinction-level emergency."
Several people exchanged glances.
Shen Luo did not appear offended by the question. "Everyone here is a senior member of Project Dawn and has undergone the highest level of security verification. You may speak freely."
Qian Wei looked around the table once more.
This was the point beyond which she could no longer reclaim her former privacy.
Once she revealed the system, Project Dawn might restrict her movements, demand examinations or place her under permanent observation. Some people in the room might regard her as an asset rather than a person.
She might regret coming.
Then she remembered the peaceful neighborhood outside her villa and the little girl laughing on her father’s shoulders.
She remembered the system’s final population record.
Eighty-seven humans, followed by complete extinction.
If Qian Wei remained silent merely to protect herself, she would betray the oath she had taken as a police officer.
She met Shen Luo’s gaze.
"The world will begin ending three months from now."
Silence filled the conference room.
No one laughed.
No one accused her of being confused after her collapse or asked whether she had watched too many disaster films.
That lack of disbelief unsettled Qian Wei more than mockery would have.
Shen Luo leaned forward. "Please tell us what will happen in three months and how you obtained that information."
Qian Wei studied his expression. "You believe me?"
"I believe you came here because you possess information that frightened you enough to risk your freedom. Whether every detail is correct will be determined after we hear it."
His answer was careful, but the other people’s reactions revealed more. Some appeared tense, while others looked as though Qian Wei had confirmed something they already feared.
She changed the explanation she had prepared.
"Before I tell you more, I need to understand what Project Dawn is. Your organization has been watching me, you know about Apartment 3-17, and you called me Variable One before I mentioned the system’s designation. None of that can be a coincidence."
The scientist wearing a white coat turned sharply toward Shen Luo when she mentioned the designation.
Shen Luo remained calm. "How did you hear Lin Mei use the name Variable One?"
"My hearing has become unusually sensitive since I awakened. I heard the conversation through her earpiece."
Lin Mei’s posture stiffened behind her.
Qian Wei continued, "You expected me to appear, yet I had never heard of Project Dawn before today. I need to know what your organization has been preparing for before I place everything I possess in your hands."
Shen Luo considered her request.
"You are asking the correct question, but the answer may be more disturbing than you expect."
A holographic screen rose above the center of the table.
The room darkened slightly as an old image appeared.
Qian Wei froze.
It showed the living room inside Apartment 3-17.
Broken furniture covered the floor. Dark blood stained the walls, and the same grey-skinned creature stood near the center of the room.
Qian Wei could never mistake it.
She remembered its cloudy eyes, cold hands and teeth tearing into her arm.
Her chair scraped against the floor as she stood.
"Where did you obtain that image?"
Shen Luo watched her reaction carefully. "Do you recognize the location?"
"I was sent there after a neighbor reported banging noises. The creature in that photograph attacked me after I entered the apartment."
The people around the table became still.
One of the military officers asked, "When did that attack occur from your perspective?"
Qian Wei looked at him. "In the year 2026. It happened on my first day as a police officer."
The scientist removed his glasses and stared at her.
Shen Luo raised one hand before anyone could ask another question. "Officer Qian, this photograph has remained inside Project Dawn’s highest-classified archive for two hundred and ninety-eight years."
Qian Wei’s thoughts raced.
Project Dawn had obtained the image two years after the original incident.
"How could anyone photograph that apartment after almost three centuries? The building should have disappeared long before this organization was created."
"Project Dawn was created because of what happened there," Shen Luo replied. "Our founders received evidence connected to Apartment 3-17 two years after the incident occurred."
"What kind of evidence?"
"Biological samples, visual records and a damaged object containing information from a future that had not yet happened."
Qian Wei slowly sat down.
The system had told her the timeline had deviated from its archived history. Project Dawn’s existence might be one of those deviations.
Shen Luo enlarged the image. A date and reference code appeared beneath it.
"You believe you arrived unexpectedly in a future that knew nothing about you," he continued. "That is not entirely true. Every director of Project Dawn inherited instructions concerning your name, the apartment and the signs we should watch for."
Qian Wei looked around the room. "Are you saying that people have known I would appear for almost three centuries?"
"We knew someone named Qian Wei would become connected to the temporal anomaly. We did not know when she would awaken, what condition she would be in or whether she would remain human."
The last words made her fingers tighten.
"Why would you question whether I remained human?"
Shen Luo’s gaze moved briefly toward the medical reading from the checkpoint.
"Because one of the samples sent to Project Dawn contained grey, necrotic cells that remained biologically active. The records identified them with a single term."
Qian Wei already knew the word before he spoke.
"Zombie."
The people around the table watched her carefully.
Shen Luo’s voice became quieter. "Officer Qian Wei, Project Dawn has waited almost three hundred years for you to arrive. Now that you are here, we need to know whether you came to prevent the apocalypse...or whether you brought it with you."