Chapter 16: No One to Bear Witness
After five minutes of silence, the operations staff still exchanged no words.
Of course, they were not idly waiting; instead, they passed the issue directly to higher authorities.
The first response came from the Minister of the Information Technology Department, who demonstrated the art of language by conveying a central message through 400 words of empty talk:
Don’t ask me—I don’t know.
Faced with this blatant shirking of responsibility by their own superior, the technical support specialist found himself at a loss for words.
Under the scrutiny of the other staff, sweating profusely, he repeatedly rubbed the fax in his hands and finally managed to speak up: “Well, this nickname doesn’t comply with the main station’s naming conventions. Every employee’s public access name on the main station’s page must be a combination of ‘position’ and ‘name’...”
“Thanks for repeating what everyone already knows.”
The field agent from the External Affairs Department, standing in for the chief commander known as “The Gardener,” responded with irritation—the commander had already rushed to the site to check on the team’s status.
“I thought the tech department could clarify things happening on the network.”
“That’s actually a misunderstanding. The main station falls under the Intelligence Department’s direct control. We handle more... technical operations.”
The field agent kept silent about already knowing this; he simply wanted to retort. But seeing such earnest responses, he found himself at a loss for words.
Though the Bureau was a secret organization, at that moment, even its secret members felt like outsiders.
Who exactly was this “Dump Truck”?
Counting the incident quietly circulated among the upper echelons two days ago, this was already the individual’s second intervention.
Why could this person enter the main station openly and directly intervene in a containment breach?
Why did all department heads avoid discussing this?
Could this person be of a rank higher than their superiors?
Only the Bureau’s most secret upper echelon could possess such authority—no, better not dwell on that.
Still, why would this officer issue orders to an outsider and a CVA without parachuting in to seize command, or contacting the rapid response team and facility security?
Could it be a matter of distrust?
Another chilling suspicion began to form—
Could someone among them have been infiltrated?
The more they thought about it, the colder their blood ran, sensing a terrible shadow looming overhead.
Knowing the meeting would stall if this continued, the head of the Internal Affairs Department stepped forward to sidestep the question:
“Since the verification request sent to the tech department received no clear directive, we’ll put this issue aside for now and await higher orders. There remain many matters to discuss—for example, the handling of anomalies and the revealed shortcomings of relying on a single rapid response team in complex situations.
“The root cause of this entire incident is the failure of the rapid response unit. They lost contact almost at the moment the containment breach occurred. The rapid response team alone cannot suppress a chain containment failure of this scale; they need specialized equipment and more reliable operational guidelines.”
Others silently nodded, agreeing as they set aside that document and picked up the next stack.
---
“This containment breach event is code-named 1099-K4.
“Under the influence of an enhanced herbicide, 1099 reverted to a seed-like state and was sifted from the ruins by Theta-10 ‘Windmill’ at the support site and recontained. Five minutes after the agent was applied, the seeds developed specialized resistance, reducing the available means to suppress 1099.
“Other containment objects scattered by the chain reaction are being recovered; most have not yet entered an active state.
“Since search and excavation operations at Facility 031 are ongoing, the method by which 1099 breached containment remains unclear. Its departure from the juvenile form was much faster than expected, suggesting external factors were involved.
“The bomber assisting in agent deployment took off from Alliance Airport... diplomatic and confidentiality issues related to this will be submitted to the Internal Affairs Department for handling—if only there were a military airport near the facility.
“Nu-2 ‘Hippie’ is pursuing the unknown anomaly that broke containment. Current feedback shows that once immobilized, the anomalous entity self-decomposes, making capture difficult. Analysis of the remains revealed human DNA and numerous unknown substances. Although no infectious properties have appeared, the possibility remains that it is a product of a synergistic reaction between ‘Seeds of Doom’ and the ‘Zombie Virus.’
“The Intelligence Department’s analysis of this anomaly is progressing slowly, with no estimated completion time.
“Facility 031 lies at the boundary between Districts Three and Ten; the anomaly may have crossed regional borders into District Ten.
“Signs indicate the Alliance is mobilizing troops at the border to intercept. The border area is mountainous and densely forested; their efforts are likely futile, but contingency plans must be prepared for anomaly threats to surrounding cities.”
The atmosphere in the conference room grew heavy. Some stifled coughs, others unconsciously rearranged their documents.
The Internal Affairs head was about to continue when he suddenly tilted his head, pressed the earpiece, listened carefully for a while, occasionally frowning and nodding, then looked at everyone.
“The preliminary interrogation of CVA-D-9013 is complete. It mentioned the presence of a facility employee—a man who appeared in the control room and attacked a surviving temporary worker near the facility’s exit.
“The temporary worker has not yet recovered from the queuing effect and cannot confirm this account.
“According to the description, this person is Bjorn, the deputy supervisor of Facility 031.”
The meeting assistant projected an ID photo onto the conference room’s large screen.
“Bjorn submitted over twenty transfer and promotion requests within five years after his promotion to deputy supervisor. Due to his strong intent to leave frontline duties, the Internal Affairs Department rejected his transfer applications and placed him on the ‘Loyalty Risk’ list.
“He is scheduled for a loyalty test in ten days and is a potential defector.
“Neither ‘Windmill’ nor the shallow ruins yielded his remains or the described suitcase.
“Currently, his whereabouts are unknown.”
---
Shi Rang waited at his computer for a long time.
When his mouth went dry and he had to get up for water, passing through the living room, he noticed from the sun-shaped clock that he had been sitting still for half an hour.
Since issuing his last order, Robin had sent no messages back.
Shi Rang was uncertain whether this meant the other party had failed in the operation, his command had caused the game to end, or that they had successfully escaped.
On the activity page, the timer counting the rapid response team’s arrival ticked down by the second until it reached zero.
After a long wait, he refreshed the page and, with a heavy heart, accepted the reality.
The other party would probably never respond again.
---
A game that began fervently ended bleakly, like a class reunion’s aftermath—the mess of scattered glasses and plates, a disordered room, and endless silence. Only this time, no one would peck at his face, smiling, saying, “Let’s start cleaning up,” and leading the charge to restore the room.
...If lively moments only serve to drain the few traces of warmth here, leaving loneliness to thrive, it would have been better not to start at all.
He listlessly read through several project pages, glanced at the search box in the webpage corner, and typed “Facility 031,” retrieving the event page that had already been hidden from the main site’s homepage.
The event had ended; the red alert box was gone, and the facility map lay dimmed.
Scrolling down, Shi Rang found additional event epilogues and a summary in the form of an “Accident Report.”
He skimmed several rapid response team code names, his eyes gradually lighting up.
[...During the recontainment of CVA-D-9013, twelve Kappa-3 team members and one E-class personnel were found alive on the ground. Survivors are currently affected by cognitive hazards and temporarily unable to be interrogated.
[All activated shelter facilities functioned perfectly. Evacuees will undergo a week-long psychological evaluation followed by a recovery period.
[The External Affairs Department will conduct internal discussions on whether to establish a multi-team coordination model for complex containment breach operations.
[The reconstruction plan for Facility 031 has not yet received approval from the Facility Committee.
[In response to this incident, all facilities will conduct risk assessments. Before June this year, all rapid response teams will complete new formation training.
[Until the containment alarm is lifted, all on-duty internal staff and external operational members in District Three must be on alert 24/7 and immediately report any findings related to ‘escaped individuals.’
[We express our deepest condolences for the 45 rapid response team members, 75 security personnel, 37 administrative staff, and 12 active researchers who perished in this containment breach.]
So this was how the event’s conclusion was announced.
Shi Rang carefully searched this completion record for Robin’s name and finally found that the other party was probably categorized among the “E-class personnel,” without being listed separately.
Did the other rapid response members and civilians mentioned in the report each have their own storyline?
Was the “escaped individual” a hint for subsequent battle plots?
Shi Rang realized how little he truly knew about the Bureau’s main station.
Unconsciously, night fell. Reflecting on this strange weekend, he was about to shut down and return to reality when a familiar webpage tab flashed a notification.
No matter what the other party’s invitation was—whether a game replay or a proposal for next time—Shi Rang would have to deal with it after dinner; he was hungry.
However, the message was not from Robin, but from a stranger.
Shi Rang clicked into the new chat window.
[Who are you?]