Qian Wei read the system notification twice.
[Compatible System-energy source detected within Project Dawn.]
[Source: Unauthorized fragment.]
The energy came from the Black Box.
That was useful and dangerous in equal measure. The system had only four units remaining, but approaching the fragment might allow the reunification protocol to connect with her consciousness.
"Can you absorb energy from the Black Box without connecting to its fragment?" she asked inwardly.
[Current distance is too great for energy transfer.]
"That means I would have to approach it."
[Affirmative.]
"What would happen if the reunification protocol succeeded?"
[Outcome remains unknown.]
Qian Wei decided that restoring the system’s energy could wait. She would not gamble with her consciousness merely to unlock a few functions.
Professor Song was still waiting for an answer about how Basic Control had changed her body.
"My temperature increased slightly after I completed the mission, and suppressing the hunger became easier," Qian Wei explained. "The reward did not remove the craving, but it gave me more control over whether I acted on it."
Professor Song considered the description. "Have you been treating the missions and rewards as if they were parts of a game?"
"That was the closest comparison I had. The system gives me an objective, displays a countdown and distributes a reward after I succeed."
"What if the reward is not an artificial number?" Professor Song asked. "A ten-percent increase in control may represent a measurable biological change. The system could be regulating your mutation directly."
Qian Wei became still.
She had assumed the rewards were abilities placed on top of her existing body. If Professor Song was right, the system was changing her cells whenever she completed a mission.
"That would explain why my body became warmer," she said. "It might also explain why I could retract the changes in my teeth."
Professor Song’s attention sharpened. "What changes occurred in your teeth?"
Qian Wei realized she had revealed something new. "My canines lengthened when the hunger became intense, but they returned to normal after I completed the mission."
"I would like to record that response during controlled testing."
"You may record it if the hunger occurs naturally. I am not deliberately forcing my teeth to change until we understand whether I can reverse it every time."
Professor Song looked disappointed but did not argue.
Shen Luo leaned back. "Then we are facing two immediate problems. The first is an extinction-level disaster beginning in less than three months. The second is a mutation developing inside you without a predictable final state."
Qian Wei raised her eyebrows. "Only two? I thought the Black Box attempting to enter my consciousness deserved its own place on the list."
Someone at the far end of the table laughed before quickly covering it with a cough.
Even Shen Luo’s expression softened. "The Black Box will remain isolated until we understand the risk. For now, its activity forms part of the second problem."
"Then we should find a way to solve both," Qian Wei said, although her confidence faded before the sentence ended.
How could anyone solve an apocalypse that had defeated humanity for more than two hundred years?
No one mocked her.
Shen Luo studied her for a moment. "Why did you come to Project Dawn?"
Qian Wei frowned. "I have already explained that the system warned me about the apocalypse and that my mutation could endanger other people."
"That explains the threat, but it does not explain your choice. You could have hidden the system, used its rewards to prepare alone and increased your own chance of survival. Instead, you entered a government facility knowing we might restrict your freedom."
Qian Wei fell silent.
Her oath as a police officer had influenced the decision. So had the responsibility of carrying information that could save billions of people.
However, those reasons did not explain everything.
She remembered waking in the hospital and learning that three hundred years had passed. Her mother would never serve the weekend dinner she promised to attend. Her father would never tease her for arriving late, and her younger brother would never steal food from her plate again.
She could not return to them.
That loss had left an emptiness nothing in this era could fill.
Qian Wei met Shen Luo’s gaze.
"I know what it feels like to wake up and discover that everyone you love is gone. My family waited for me to come home, but I died before I could say goodbye to them."
Her voice wavered, but she continued.
"I cannot save my mother, father or brother. Three centuries have already taken that choice from me. However, I may still be able to save someone else’s mother, someone else’s father and the families waiting for people to return home."
The room became quiet.
"If revealing the system gives billions of people a better chance, then protecting my privacy cannot be more important than their lives. I will not surrender every right I possess, and I will not allow anyone to treat me as an object, but I will do everything I reasonably can to prevent that future."
Professor Song lowered her gaze.
Lin Mei’s expression softened behind Qian Wei.
Shen Luo rose from his chair.
Everyone else around the table followed him.
Qian Wei looked between them, uncertain about what had changed.
"Officer Qian Wei, Project Dawn formally accepts your cooperation," Shen Luo said before raising one hand in a military salute. "On behalf of every person who inherited this responsibility before us, I welcome Variable One to Project Dawn."
The others saluted with him.
Qian Wei stood instinctively and returned the gesture.
After everyone resumed their seats, Shen Luo opened a secure command panel.
"Project Dawn will enter Phase Zero effective immediately. Preparations scheduled for the final sixty days will begin in advance. Strategic reserves, food production, medical manufacturing, emergency infrastructure and independent energy systems must all be accelerated. Military readiness will begin within twenty days."
Several people reacted.
A senior official rose. "Director Shen, Phase Zero requires executive authorization. If we activate national preparations without presenting sufficient evidence, every unexplained transfer and military movement will attract attention."
"I will request authorization from the executive council today."
"What evidence will you present? The Black Box has warned us for centuries, but the council has repeatedly refused to disrupt the national economy without a confirmed date."
Shen Luo looked toward Qian Wei. "Variable One has arrived and independently confirmed that the apocalypse will begin in three months. The Black Box also activated at the moment of her awakening."
The official remained concerned. "Will the council accept her testimony without proof they can examine?"
"Professor Song will document the mutation, while the temporal division will compare the Zombie System’s information with the Black Box records. We will provide enough evidence to justify preparation without exposing details that could cause panic."
The official returned to his seat. "Then I will begin drafting the resource proposals while you seek authorization."
Qian Wei listened before asking, "Why does everyone keep calling me Variable One? The system used a similar term, but it never explained why."
Shen Luo changed the holographic display.
A damaged document appeared.
Most of its information remained corrupted, but several lines were readable.
[TEMPORAL TRANSFER PROTOCOL.]
[PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: ALTER EXTINCTION OUTCOME.]
A damaged section followed.
Then her name appeared in bold letters.
[VARIABLE ONE: QIAN WEI.]
Beneath it, only part of another sentence had survived.
[...must never become fully...]
Qian Wei leaned closer.
"Fully what?"
"We do not know," Shen Luo admitted. "The remaining text could refer to your mutation, system integration or something Project Dawn has not yet discovered."
Qian Wei stared at the incomplete warning.
The future host had sent her back after she died from a zombie bite. If the sentence referred to her mutation, it might have warned Project Dawn that she must never become fully infected.
The system chimed before she could ask.
Ding!
[Restricted future data detected.]
[Timeline deviation increased.]
Qian Wei’s expression changed.
"What caused the deviation?"
[Multiple historical events no longer match archived records.]
"Does that improve humanity’s chance of survival?"
[Outcome cannot yet be calculated.]
The panel flashed red.
[Unknown Variable detected.]
Qian Wei’s body became tense. "Where is it?"
[Unknown Variable is approaching Project Dawn.]
She looked toward Shen Luo. "The system has detected something moving toward this facility. It calls it an unknown variable."
Every person in the room became alert.
Shen Luo immediately opened the security network. "Could the system identify whether this variable is a person, object or biological threat?"
Qian Wei passed the question along.
The answer appeared slowly.
[Temporal signal detected.]
[Origin: Future timeline.]
[Estimated arrival: Sixty seconds.]
The floor beneath them began to tremble.
Qian Wei stared at the countdown.
Something else had travelled back from humanity’s doomed future.
And it was about to arrive inside Project Dawn.