"What do you want to tell me about Unknown Z?" Eva asked.
Dongo’s voice came through the phone.
"There is something I need to tell you. Can you meet me?"
Eva stopped moving.
For a moment, she said nothing.
Znuma, who was standing nearby, watched her with curiosity.
"Ma’am? What happened?" she asked. "Why are you talking to that useless man for so long?"
Eva ignored her.
She brought the phone closer to her ear.
"Hah... Has the sun really risen in the west today?"
Dongo remained silent for a moment.
"Everyone in the city knows you as Cyber Eye. And now you’re asking me to meet you."
That alone was enough to make her suspicious.
Dongo finally spoke.
"Then come to Crimosa Lake tomorrow morning. Ten o’clock."
Eva’s expression hardened.
"You keep dreaming. I’m never coming."
"Eva..."
She ended the call.
Znuma stepped closer.
"Then why are you still worried? If you don’t want to meet him, don’t meet him."
Eva stared at the phone in her hand.
"He wants to talk about Unknown Z."
Znuma’s playful expression disappeared.
"So?"
Eva looked at the glass sitting on the table in front of her.
Her hand closed around it.
Crack!
She threw it against the wall.
The glass shattered across the floor.
Znuma flinched.
"Please calm down a little."
Eva turned toward her.
"You heard him."
"Yes."
"He wants to talk about Unknown Z."
Znuma remained silent.
Eva walked toward the broken glass.
"Dongo wouldn’t call me for something ordinary ."
She stopped.
Dongo had already taken an interest in Unknown Z.
Dr. Xen was investigating the strange evidence from the Hevix Vortex.
And now Dongo wanted to meet her.
Three different pieces were moving toward the same mystery.
Eva looked back at Znuma.
"If he knows something about Unknown Z..."
She left the sentence unfinished.
Znuma understood.
Eva tightened her grip on the phone.
"Then I need to know what he’s hiding."
College
The next morning, students slowly began arriving at college.
Sakura stood near the entrance with a small mirror in her hand.
She checked her hair, then adjusted her makeup.
She had just put the mirror away when someone stopped beside her.
Vion opened his umbrella over her.
"You’re taking care of your skin, but you’re walking under the sun. You’ll regret it later."
Sakura looked up at him.
Her expression made it clear she hadn’t asked for his help.
"I can manage."
Vion kept holding the umbrella.
"I’m only helping."
Sakura stepped away.
Then she spotted another umbrella ahead.
Yemir.
Her expression changed immediately.
She hurried toward him.
"Hey, Yemir!"
Yemir turned.
Sakura smiled and pointed at his umbrella.
"Can I walk with you?"
Yemir looked at her for a second.
"No."
He continued walking.
Sakura stood there.
Vion watched the scene from behind.
"What is wrong with him?"
He looked at Sakura.
"What am I missing? Why does he keep ignoring me?"
Sakura didn’t answer.
She simply walked toward the college building.
Inside the classroom, students were taking their usual seats.
Casia arrived early enough to claim the seat beside Yemir.
She quietly sat down and congratulated herself.
I finally got here before everyone else.
Yemir was already reading his Dracula comic.
Casia leaned toward him.
"Hey, you’re already at the final arc?"
Yemir looked at the comic.
"Yeah."
"I’m reading it too. Great. Let’s enjoy it together."
Casia opened her own copy.
A few seats behind them, Sakura watched.
Her fingers curled around her pen.
How did casia manage to sit beside Yemir again?
She looked at the clock.
I need to arrive earlier tomorrow
The classroom door opened.
Hiya Mam entered with a stack of papers.
"Everyone, today you’ll have a laboratory class."
The students began gathering their notebooks and equipment.
"Don’t forget your lab records," she added. "You’ll need them."
The class moved toward the Biology Lab.
Yemir looked through the microscope.
He didn’t rush.
He checked the sample, adjusted the focus, and moved to the next section.
Within moments, he had a clear view.
"Cocci."
Hiya Mam smiled slightly.
"You’re always fast."
He quickly recorded the name and began drawing its structure.
Vion is already moving fast. I need to surpass him
Across the room, Vion called out his result.
"Bacillus."
Hiya Mam checked his sample.
"That’s correct."
Vion smiled.
Karin, who was working with him, checked the sample again.
Their team moved to the next sample.
Casia looked through her microscope.
"Vibrio!"
At almost the same moment, Sakura said,
"Vibrio!"
Both girls looked at each other.
Casia blinked.
Sakura frowned.
Hiya Mam immediately looked over.
"Only one of you can take that answer. The other needs to find another one."
Sakura returned to her microscope.
Casia did the same.
Yemir was already working.
His fingers moved steadily across the page as he drew the structure.
Casia glanced at him.
He’s already finished?
Sakura also noticed.
She bit the inside of her cheek and returned to her work.
A few minutes later, another student called out,
"Bacillus!"
Hiya Mam checked the sample.
"Correct."
The other students continued working.
Vini suddenly raised his hand.
"Spi—"
Before he could finish, Casia quickly called out,
"Spirillum!"
Vini stopped.
He looked toward Casia.
"Spirillum?"
Hiya Mam checked her sample.
She smiled.
"Correct."
Casia immediately began drawing the structure.
Vini lowered his hand.
Yemir finished his drawing and placed his paper on the teacher’s desk.
Hiya Mam checked the three structures.
"Yemir’s team is first."
Casia smiled.
"Yes!"
Sakura forced a small smile.
She had wanted to impress Yemir.
Instead, the task had ended with another reminder of how quickly he could finish something she had struggled with.
After the laboratory class, the students returned to the dressing room.
Sakura walked in without saying anything.
She opened her cupboard and pulled out her jacket.
Casia entered a few seconds later, still smiling from the result.
She removed her apron and folded it.
Then she looked at Sakura.
"Why do you look so upset?"
Sakura placed her lab coat inside the cupboard.
"I’m fine."
Casia leaned against the nearby locker.
"Are you sure?"
Sakura turned.
Her expression hardened.
"Do you think Yemir saved you with his notes?"
Casia frowned.
"What?"
"You heard me."
Sakura closed her cupboard.
"He helped the whole team. Don’t act like you were special."
Casia’s smile disappeared.
"I never said I was special."
Sakura stepped closer.
"How much do you actually know about Yemir?"
Casia stared at her.
Sakura continued.
"You’ve known him for some time, but you still don’t understand him."
She picked up her bag.
"It’s better if you stay away from him."
Casia crossed her arms.
"Why are you telling me that?"
Sakura’s hand tightened around her bag.
For a moment, she looked ready to say something else.
Instead, she turned away.
Casia watched her leave.
Dr. Xen’s Laboratory
At the same time, far from the college, Dr. Xen remained inside his laboratory.
The room was quiet except for the low hum of the machines.
The strange nail fragment from the Hevix Vortex sat inside a sealed examination container.
Dr. Xen had already spent hours studying it.
Today, he was examining its genetic traces.
His assistant stood beside him, watching the monitor.
The machine completed its analysis.
A series of results appeared across the screen.
Dr. Xen leaned closer.
"Run it again."
His assistant looked at him.
"Doctor?"
"Run the DNA analysis again."
The assistant entered the command.
The machine processed the sample once more.
Dr. Xen waited.
The result appeared.
He stared at it.
"This is strange."
His assistant stepped closer.
"What did you find?"
Dr. Xen pointed toward the screen.
"The blood contains DNA from multiple individuals."
The assistant looked confused.
"Multiple people?"
"Yes."
He enlarged the result.
"There are several different genetic profiles mixed into the blood."
The assistant frowned.
"But the nail itself..."
Dr. Xen switched to another result.
"The nail isn’t giving me what I expected."
He studied the genetic sequence.
"There should be a clear connection if this belonged to a pure bat."
His assistant looked at the screen.
"You mean there is no pure bat DNA?"
"Correct."
Dr. Xen leaned back.
"That doesn’t mean the nail has nothing to do with a bat."
He looked toward the sealed fragment.
"The physical structure is still unusual."
His assistant remained silent.
Dr. Xen continued examining the data.
"The problem is the blood."
"Because it’s from different people?"
"Yes."
He tapped the screen.
"One sample has one genetic profile. Another has a different one. Then another."
His assistant asked,
"Could the blood have come from several people who touched the same object?"
Dr. Xen paused.
"That is possible."
He looked at the nail again.
"But why would all those samples be on the same fragment?"
The assistant had no answer.
Dr. Xen opened the previous files from the Hevix Vortex investigation.
The images appeared one after another.
The strange nail.
The unusual marks.
The traces found at the scene.
Unknown Z.
Dr. Xen stared at the screen.
"If this belonged to an ordinary animal, the results would be easier to explain."
His assistant asked,
"Then what do you think it is?"
Dr. Xen didn’t answer immediately.
He looked at the genetic data again.
"I don’t know yet."
He zoomed in on the results.
"But I know one thing."
"What?"
Dr. Xen’s eyes remained fixed on the screen.
"This sample contains traces from more than one person."
The assistant frowned.
"And that means?"
Dr. Xen closed the file.
"It means we’re looking at something we haven’t identified yet."
The laboratory became quiet again.
Dr. Xen looked through the glass toward the sealed nail fragment.
"Keep the original sample untouched."
His assistant nodded.
"Yes, Doctor."
Dr. Xen turned back to the monitor.
Unknown Z had already left too many questions behind.
Now, even the blood on a single nail was refusing to give him a simple answer.