Mei's Pov

The door leaped in its frame.

Silence engulfed the room altogether. Even the air felt like it was holding its breath.

I bit my lip so hard it split, filling a copper flavor in my mouth.

A harsh and commanding voice bellowed from the corridor: “On three!”

Jia shifted the projector under the bunk beside the corner of the wall. Xinyi huddled behind the table, shivering. Fen grabbed a stool over. And I sat absolutely motionless, just before the holo wall in front of Rui’s buried corpse, putting my blood-streaked hands into my coat.

“One!”

Our hearts hammered in rhythm.

“Two!”

The lights flickered. Shadows spread like claws.

“Three—”

BAM.

The door detonated open.

The hinges screamed twisted, and the whole slab of metal crashed into the wall with a bone-splitting CRUNCH. Dust burst from the frame in a dirty cloud that stung the back of my throat and a collective gasp ripped through the room.

The wall had to work. If it glitched now, if it flickered even once, if that projection failed—

With rifles raised and sleek barrels humming with hot-charged energy, two soldiers rushed in, breaking up the silence with their boots.

Then, like he owned the place, he strode in and walked right past the middle of the two. Clicking his boots with a particular cutting rhythm, while a small laser pistol dangled loose in one hand.

He stopped dead center pivoting slowly. And then his eyes landed on the quietest part of the room—Xinyi, terrified and curled behind the table.

“You! The one behind the table. Name?”

Xinyi’s head bobbed up with trembling lips. “I… I’m…”

“Oh—my mistake,” he cut her off, flashing a crooked smile. “Allow me to go first.”

He lifted his ID card, lazily waving it from his chest pocket. “Duan Yucheng. That’s Commander Duan Yucheng, sweetheart.”

He took a step closer, turning his voice silkier.

“Unit lead, Mechanized Ground Division, Sky Bastion Command. Big words, I know. Makes me sound important. Now—” He stretched both arms a little. “—Now that I’ve introduced myself like a gentleman, let’s talk. And I politely ask you all… to cooperate.”

“I’m looking for a guy.” He walked in a slow, lazy half-circle, carving anxiety into the floor through his boots.

“Handsome. Probably bleeding. Hawk eyes. Tall. Let’s say… six foot one and a half. You know, the usual fugitive type.” His smirk curled, flicking his gaze back to Xinyi causing her shaking to grow worse; as a soft click of teeth on skin came from her biting her finger too hard.

Commander Duan stepped toward her. One cruel measured step, then another.

BANG.

His palm slammed the table.

Xinyi shrieked, high and sharp—ripping raw the sound of panic.

“What’s got you so scared?” His words dropped to a near-whisper. “Is there perhaps… something you’re not saying? Or are you really just… that scared of me?”

I closed my eyes. Counted my breaths. One. Two. No, no, no—if this keeps going, we’re screwed. I can’t end up in a cell—not where he works. The man who calls himself my father. I can’t stand the thought of seeing him after years, and worse—not as a daughter, but as a criminal accessory.

“Sir!”

My voice cracked through the air as I stomped my foot hard on the floor.

Red laser dots bloomed across my chest, and even the soldiers flinched as their rifles snapped up.

Duan did not flinch. Slowly and smoothly, he lifted one finger signalling them to stand down. They immediately obeyed.

“You got something you want to say?”

I clenched my fists till my nails bit half-moons into my palms. “You barged in here pointing blasters at schoolgirls. Why wouldn’t we be terrified? We’re students.”

A beat of silence.

Duan studied me using up more than enough time for my heart to try and crawl out of my throat. Then, finally, he gave a lazy nod, curling his mouth down.

“Fair point.”

He turned, almost casually, spun on his heel, and took a slow step toward the door. “Nothing here, then. Guess we’ll just let ourselves out…”

But he stopped.

Turned.

His eyes slid toward the wall below the window. The holo wall.

My lungs locked. I became still enough to feel every drop of sweat sliding down my back.

“That wall…” he muttered, not quite quiet enough. “…the other rooms didn’t have a bump-out like that.”

He took a step toward it.

Another.

The floor creaked.

And then—

BANG BANG!

Another slam—at the door this time.

It swung open with fury, crashing back into the frame as Ms. Shen stormed in.

“You’ve had your look!” she snapped. “He’s not here. The girls are shaking like leaves, and you’re still prowling around like this is a battlefield.”

Duan didn’t answer. His jaw worked once, twice. He looked at her, then back at the suspicious wall, then at her again.

A hiss—more breath than word—escaped between his teeth.

“C’mon, boys. Move out.”

The soldiers flowed out of the room.

The door slammed shut behind them.

But Ms. Shen didn’t leave.

She just looked, locking her eyes on mine.

Slowly, with surgical precision, she raised two fingers—pointed at her own eyes—then at me.

SLAM.

The door echoed.

My legs folded under me, and my chest sagged as I fell into the closest chair, letting out the breath I had been holding in one trembling gasp.

I felt my roommates sinking, silently trying to regain what was left of their nerves, but I didn't look.

None of us said a word.

Not for a long minute.

Then, inevitably, Fen broke the silence with the weight of reality dripping from every syllable.

“So… what are we going to do with him now?”

She was sprawled across the mattress, flinging her limbs wide. Her eyes stayed locked on the holo wall. “He doesn’t look okay enough to just leave like this. They’ll definitely catch him and everything we just risked would have been for nothing.”

Jia sat by the window's edge, pressing her knees tightly to her chest and her forehead against the glass, which was still slightly rattled from the soldiers' departure.

“We can’t hide him here for long, not with those soldiers still staking around the building like wolves.”

All eyes fell on me.

I hadn’t moved since the door shut. My shoulders still trembled faintly—dripping adrenaline out of my system. “He’ll need to hide somewhere quiet.”

“Just get me a medical bot, and I’ll be out of here before morning…”

The rough and ragged masculine voice came with a groan.