A timer appeared beneath the red point marking Donghai.
[Remaining signal duration: 00:02:17.]
Qian Wei’s expression changed. "The temporal signal will disappear in slightly more than two minutes. I need someone to record the coordinates before the system loses it."
"Read them aloud, and Lin Mei will enter them into Project Dawn’s network," Shen Luo instructed.
Qian Wei repeated the long sequence displayed on the panel.
Lin Mei transferred the coordinates into the conference controls, and a satellite image appeared above the table.
The location was a large industrial complex near the coast. Several connected buildings stood behind reinforced walls, while freight vehicles entered through automated security checkpoints.
A silver symbol resembling a double helix marked the tallest building.
Professor Song became serious. "The coordinates lead directly to Helix Biotech’s primary research complex."
Qian Wei looked at her. "You said Project Dawn investigated the company nine years ago. What exactly does Helix do?"
"Helix is the largest private biological-research corporation in the Eastern Federation. It manufactures nearly forty percent of the country’s advanced medicines and controls several important cellular-repair patents."
Professor Song enlarged the image.
"The company’s public research focuses on organ regeneration, genetic treatment and extending healthy human life. Its work has saved millions of people."
Qian Wei heard the caution beneath her praise. "What part of its work is not public?"
"Helix has always pushed against legal limits. Project Dawn found evidence that several internal laboratories were researching artificial cellular adaptation, but the company denied conducting illegal human trials."
Shen Luo watched Professor Song closely. "You mentioned that Project Dawn cooperated with Helix in the past. How much information did we give them?"
Professor Song hesitated before answering, "Thirty-two years ago, Helix assisted with a cellular-regeneration model. The official project used synthetic data and did not include any material recovered from Apartment 3-17."
"The word official is carrying too much weight in that answer," Qian Wei observed.
Professor Song looked toward the preserved-sample image. "Helix never received the zombie tissue through an authorized Project Dawn program. However, a temporal signal has now appeared inside its facility, so I cannot guarantee that someone did not leak information or remove a sample."
The atmosphere in the room became colder.
Qian Wei had assumed Project Dawn’s secrecy made its archives impenetrable. Three hundred years was a long time, however. Generations of scientists, officers and officials had entered the organization. It would only require one greedy or compromised person to share something dangerous.
Shen Luo turned toward a thin man wearing a dark-blue suit. "Deputy Director Xu, I want a complete audit of every person who accessed the biological sample or its research records during the past fifty years."
Deputy Director Xu straightened. "That investigation will involve thousands of personnel, family connections and external contacts. It may take weeks to complete properly."
"Begin with anyone connected to Helix Biotech, then expand the investigation. Review financial records, unexplained promotions, private research contracts and communication outside Project Dawn."
Xu’s expression tightened. "Are you suggesting that one of our people betrayed the organization?"
"I am ordering you to determine whether a betrayal occurred. Do not begin with a conclusion, and do not protect anyone because of rank or reputation."
"I understand. I will form a restricted team and report directly to you."
"No one connected to Helix should know they are being investigated until we secure the Donghai facility."
Deputy Director Xu nodded. "I will keep the audit outside the ordinary security network."
Qian Wei studied the satellite image.
Helix Biotech might not be the unknown variable. The source could be one scientist, a stolen sample or an illegal experiment conducted beneath the company’s official laboratories.
What she could not understand was why biological research would create a temporal signal.
The countdown reached zero.
The red point vanished.
[Temporal signal lost.]
"The system can no longer detect the anomaly," Qian Wei reported. "We still have the coordinates, but the active signal has disappeared."
Shen Luo looked toward her. "Could the Analysis Module recover more information from the trace?"
Qian Wei asked the system.
[Analysis Module level is insufficient.]
[Current System Energy: Two units.]
"It cannot analyze the signal at Level One, and the trace consumed most of its remaining energy."
Professor Song leaned forward. "If the module has levels, it can probably be upgraded. Do you know what the next level would allow it to examine?"
"No, but the system usually unlocks functions after I complete a relevant mission."
"What type of mission would qualify?"
Qian Wei looked at the panel. "System, tell me what I need to accomplish to upgrade the Analysis Module."
No response appeared.
She waited several seconds.
"You cannot tell me that completing relevant missions will unlock it and then refuse to identify those missions."
The system remained silent.
Qian Wei closed her eyes briefly. "I am beginning to think you enjoy frustrating me."
Ding!
[Emergency mission generated.]
Qian Wei opened her eyes.
[Mission: Investigate the First Deviation.]
[Objective One: Reach the source of the anomalous temporal signal.]
[Objective Two: Identify the Unknown Variable.]
[Objective Three: Recover any future-origin object or biological material.]
[Time limit: Seventy-two hours.]
[Reward: Analysis Module upgrade.]
[Reward: System Authority increased by one level.]
[Additional reward will depend on completion speed and recovered information.]
[Failure consequence: Unknown Variable remains unmonitored.]
Qian Wei read the mission again.
The Analysis Module upgrade would be useful, but System Authority mattered even more. It might unlock the information hidden behind the system’s most irritating response.
"I received an emergency mission connected to Donghai," she announced. "It requires me to reach the source of the signal, identify the unknown variable and recover anything that originated from the future."
Professor Song’s eyes brightened. "Will completing it upgrade the Analysis Module?"
"Yes, and it will increase my System Authority."
"Then we may finally access part of the restricted database."
Qian Wei gave her a sidelong look. "I am the one entering a suspicious facility, but you sound more excited about the reward than I do."
"You should be excited. Every increase in authority may reveal information capable of saving millions of lives."
"That does not make the mission less dangerous."
Shen Luo enlarged the Helix facility map. "You will go to Donghai because the system is our only method of detecting future-origin material. However, you will not enter the complex alone."
Qian Wei raised an eyebrow. "You decided quickly."
"We have seventy-two hours, and the signal has already disappeared. Delaying the decision will not make the operation safer."
He turned toward Professor Song. "You will accompany Officer Qian as the biological specialist. Your priority is identifying any material connected to the Apartment 3-17 sample."
Professor Song smiled at Qian Wei. "I look forward to working with you."
For some reason, that smile made Qian Wei more nervous than the thought of entering an illegal laboratory.
Shen Luo continued, "Lin Mei will lead security. I will also assign two tactical officers and a technical specialist capable of accessing Helix’s internal network."
Qian Wei studied the map. "What explanation will you give the local police? A government team entering the region without coordination could create unnecessary problems."
"They will be informed that Project Dawn is conducting a classified national-security inspection. General Cao will provide the authorization."
"Wouldn’t the inspection alert Helix before we reach the laboratory?"
Shen Luo looked toward the exact coordinates.
"Helix already knows something happened inside its facility. We must assume it detected the temporal signal before we did."
Professor Song expanded the building records. "The coordinates point toward Research Sector Nine, but Helix officially decommissioned that section six years ago."
"Could the signal have come from equipment left behind?" Lin Mei asked.
"No. The sector’s energy consumption has increased steadily for the past eight months, although the company continues reporting it as inactive."
Qian Wei frowned. "Then Helix has been conducting hidden research long before I awakened."
Shen Luo nodded. "And if the system did not detect that research in its archived history, something recently changed the experiment."
A secure alert appeared on the conference screen.
[Donghai Observation Unit: Sector Nine entered emergency lockdown thirty seconds after the temporal signal ended.]
Lin Mei read the accompanying message. "Helix has sealed every entrance and activated internal biological-containment procedures. The company is telling employees that a chemical leak occurred."
Qian Wei looked at the building filled with thousands of workers.
"What happens if it was not a chemical leak?"
No one answered.
The system panel flashed.
[Mission timer: 71:53:44.]
Then another warning appeared.
[Unknown biological response detected at signal origin.]
Whatever Helix had created inside Sector Nine was already awake.