The bureau was in an uproar.
The thunderous crash in the auxiliary archives had drawn half the staff running. Dust still floated in the hallway air. A support beam lay shattered on the floor. And Lin Wei stood between it and Liu Fang, protecting her with a severity the others had never seen in him.
Master Yu arrived first, heart pounding.
"Lin Wei! Fang! Are you hurt?"
"We're fine," Liu Fang managed, though her voice trembled.Lin Wei stayed silent—eyes sharp, jaw tight, scanning every face in the gathering crowd for a long coat.
Director Li pushed through next.
"What on earth happened here?!"
Lin Wei answered quietly, but with a weight that froze the room:
"Someone triggered the beam on purpose."
Gasps rippled.Several workers backed away instinctively, glancing at the ceiling.
Director Li's face drained of color.
"Everyone OUT. Clear the floor. Now!"
The hallway emptied in seconds.
Only Lin Wei, Liu Fang, Master Yu, Director Li, and Senior Engineer Zhao remained.
And Liu Yan—standing quietly near the exit, notebook in hand, eyes lowered.
Lin Wei didn't miss the way she lingered.
A Closed-Door Crisis
They relocated to Director Li's office, shutting the door behind them.
The air inside felt dense, heavy with the weight of unspoken suspicion.
Director Li braced his hands on the desk.
"Explain. All of it."
Lin Wei didn't soften a single detail.
The man in the long coat.His appearance in the archives.The deliberate triggering of the support beam.His words.
Master Yu's fists tightened until his knuckles whitened.
"That madman again…"
Lin Wei blinked."You've seen him before?"
Master Yu exhaled hard, as if releasing a secret that had been choking him for years.
"He was active when I was a junior engineer—twenty years ago. Sudden failures. Strange accidents. A shadow in the reports." He rubbed his brow. "We called him 'the wandering evaluator.' A myth. A ghost story."
"And you never reported it?" Liu Fang asked, incredulous.
"We did," Master Yu said bitterly. "But without proof, all we had were patterns and paranoia."
Director Li sat heavily.
"This is worse than sabotage. It's systemic infiltration. Philosophical corruption."
Lin Wei frowned."Philosophical?"
Master Yu nodded.
"He preached something. Not directly to us—but through letters, stolen notes, messages left at collapse sites."
Lin Wei tensed.
"What ideology?"
Master Yu looked straight at him.
"He believed that structural failure exposes truth—and that only those who can predict or prevent collapse deserve to shape the future."
Lin Wei's breath hitched.
The man's words echoed in his mind:
"Pressure reveals potential."
Director Li stared at Lin Wei intently.
"And he's chosen you, hasn't he?"
Liu Fang's hand went rigid at her side.
Lin Wei didn't answer—but his silence confirmed it.
Internal Investigation Initiated
Director Li rose with newfound steel in his posture.
"Effective immediately," he declared, "we're launching a Level 2 internal investigation. Few have clearance. Even fewer have immunity."
His gaze slid briefly to Liu Yan.
"We must assume the infiltrator has sympathizers."
Liu Yan lowered her eyes even further.
Master Yu nodded solemnly.
"We lock down the archives. Increase night patrols. Secure all structural models. And…"He looked at Lin Wei."…we assign you a protective detail."
Lin Wei frowned.
"I don't need protection."
"You do," Liu Fang said quietly, voice cracking."And I do too."
Lin Wei froze.
Director Li cut in firmly.
"For now, you two NEVER work alone. Understood?"
Both nodded.
Senior Engineer Zhao scribbled notes viciously.
"I'll prepare new access lists. Only vetted personnel can—"
But Lin Wei interrupted—not rudely, but gravely.
"It won't be enough."
The room fell silent.
"Locks don't stop him. Patrols won't catch him. Reports won't trace him."Lin Wei stared at his own shaking hands."He moves with purpose. He appears and vanishes. He knows our patterns. He picks targets perfectly."
Master Yu swallowed.
"You're saying he's… above us?"
"No," Lin Wei said softly."He's ahead of us."
Liu Yan Speaks Up
Finally, Liu Yan lifted her head.
Her voice was gentle, but her words cut sharply:
"Then perhaps we should ask a different question."
Everyone looked at her.
Liu Yan folded her hands calmly.
"If this man values collapse and risk…why hasn't he killed anyone?"
Lin Wei stiffened.
Director Li frowned."What are you implying?"
Liu Yan met Lin Wei's gaze directly for the first time.
"I think he doesn't want to destroy the bureau."She paused."I think he wants to transform it."
Master Yu scoffed."And you know that how?"
Liu Yan answered without hesitation:
"Because he left a report in the old archives.One that only someone with higher clearance would know about."
Lin Wei's heart stopped.
"Report…?" he echoed.
Liu Yan nodded.
"Thirty-seven pages. A manifesto disguised as an engineering critique. I found it years ago. Buried in misfiled documents. Nobody else believed it mattered."
She took a breath.
"He wrote about teaching through pressure.About finding disciples.About testing those who understand collapse."
Liu Fang went cold.
"So you knew this whole time?"
"No."Liu Yan's voice cracked slightly."I didn't know he was still alive."
Lin Wei saw the tremor in her fingers.She wasn't lying.
But she wasn't telling everything either.
Returning to the Courtyard: A Quiet Moment Before the Storm
When Lin Wei and Liu Fang finally returned home that evening, the siheyuan felt strangely calm.
As if the world outside was spiraling—but this small courtyard refused to acknowledge chaos.
Auntie Zhang was sweeping.Uncle Chen tinkered with a broken kettle.Children played tag around the apricot tree.
Life went on.
Lin Wei watched quietly.
Liu Fang touched his arm.
"We'll get through this," she said softly.
He nodded, though his mind raced.
The man in the long coat.The manifesto.The tests.The shadow observing his every decision.
Liu Fang hesitated.
"Lin Wei… what if he doesn't want to kill you—what if he wants you to become him?"
Lin Wei looked at her.
Really looked.
Her fear.Her worry.Her determination to stay by his side.
"No," Lin Wei said firmly.
"I'm not him.And I never will be."
But deep in his mind—
[System Alert][Trajectory Conflict Detected][Unknown Entity Attempts to Influence Host Development][Countermeasures Pending…]
For the first time, the system sounded troubled.
Lin Wei exhaled.
"This is only the beginning," he murmured.
And somewhere far away, in the quiet of another building—
A man in a long coat smiled faintly at the night sky.
"The boy chooses caution," he whispered."But pressure…will change him."