Zhang stirred. First, just her fingers, then her legs, shoulders. She tried to move her head, but it still refused to obey. Lying on the floor, she was breathing heavily, and her eyes, finally alive again, darted rapidly between me, Patel, and the new face.

  Perhaps not new to her, but she now looked at all of us like dangerous strangers.

  Bit by bit, she pushed herself up onto shaky, uneven arms.

  "Don’t try to stand right away. Sit for a bit first, the antidote can cause some brutal nausea." Patel advised calmly, crouching opposite her. His tone was steady, detached, like a doctor or an instructor.

  "Give it a moment and you’ll feel better. You’re safe," he added after a pause. "There’s no immediate danger to you, as long as you don’t do anything reckless."

  Zhang’s eyes narrowed slightly. She could already control her facial muscles again, and she'd clearly made some conclusions. There were more questions than answers, but the first thing that rasped from her throat, hoarse but clear, was:

  "Is he... dead?"

  "Yes." Patel didn’t look away. "And I want to know why you did it."

  "I didn’t..." Zhang’s jaw clenched at the sudden movement, and she wobbled on her hands, barely holding herself upright. She had to stop, catch her breath, adjust her sitting position, and only then she replied. "I didn’t mean to kill him. The discharge was weak. Not even combat-grade. It was... It was like a sp! It wasn’t even supposed to knock him out!"

  "But it did. And more than that," Patel replied evenly. "He had a deadman impnt at the base of his skull. An explosive capsule triggered through the interface. Death was almost instant."

  Zhang’s eyes went wide. She looked at me, then back at Patel, then at the container with the body.

  "Is this... is this some kind of joke?!" Her voice held more disbelief than anything else. "Are those things even legal?"

  That earned a smile, if not a ugh. Patel snorted derisively, Mensah covered his grin with a hand, and I didn’t bother hiding mine.

  "Shit, right! Let’s sue him!" I pointed at the body in the container.

  Zhang gnced warily from one cadet to the next, then frowned.

  "I bloody need to see that body!" she said, pushing herself unsteadily to her feet. "You’re all acting way too casual about a death!"

  "Isn’t that the point?" Mensah asked. "War’s coming. We’ll see a lot more death soon. Best get used to it."

  "The war hasn’t started yet!" Zhang insisted, stepping up to the container.

  She peered inside.

  She looked around suspiciously, trying to read our faces. Then she reached into the container, and turned deathly pale.

  "If you’re gonna puke," I warned, "puke in the container."

  She looked at me like I was a monster. Her body lurched with a spasm, but she held it back.

  "In the container," I reminded her.

  Zhang turned back to the container, and the sight of the body hit her even harder. But she couldn’t see it properly, and immediately turned away.

  "Shit," I muttered, stepped over, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the kitchen sink, where she finally emptied her stomach.

  While she was retching, I stepped over to Patel and whispered: "I don’t think she’s in on it."

  Naturally, Mendoza heard me and corrected: "She might be a pawn. Keep the act going."

  We waited while Zhang emptied everything out and wiped her mouth.

  "Who the fuck are you people?" she asked.

  Patel ignored the question. "What matters is, who are you? That ‘cadet’ was already on his way out. You could have let him pass, and this day would’ve ended with no casualties. But you stopped him. You started the conversation. You activated a technique. You struck him."

  He tilted his head slightly, as if weighing the honesty of her expression. Then he added, almost echoing her earlier words: "Too many suspicious things in too short a time. When that happens, I tend to think it’s not a coincidence."

  Zhang clenched her jaw. "You’re saying I did it on purpose?!" Her voice cracked, the emotion fully exposed.

  "I’m not saying anything," Patel replied, voice ft. "I’m asking questions."

  "I don’t know what the hell is going on!" she shouted, her voice climbing again.

  Patel calmly raised a hand, extended a finger and slowly pointed at the security AI orb, which silently moved its inner lenses, tracking every new point of tension in the room.

  That gesture worked. Like a bucket of cold water.

  Zhang pressed her lips together. Her chest was still rising and falling sharply, but she kept quiet.

  "Fine," she finally said in a near whisper. "Fine. But I wasn’t trying to kill him. I just… I wanted to make him talk. He knew something… and he outright said he knew who killed Soro!"

  Patel raised an eyebrow. "Is that a reason to kill?"

  "I wasn’t trying to kill him!" she snapped, but shot a gnce at the AI orb and lowered her voice, though it still dripped with venom. "And speaking of that! Why the hell are you all so calm? And where the hell is the Order?!"

  Good point. A cadet was dead, and the alert system hadn’t gone off. Looked like the demon had been wrong. Mendoza was in control of far more than she let on.

  "Not the first corpse I’ve seen," Patel shrugged. Mensah nodded in agreement.

  Zhang’s gaze shifted to me.

  Under other circumstances, I might’ve offed him myself, but saying that now would only raise more questions, so I simply shrugged.

  Zhang mirrored the gesture.

  "What’s that supposed to mean?" she asked.

  "Enough. Let’s end the farce," I said. "Everyone’s said their piece. Time to stop pointing fingers."

  I waited for Mendoza to intervene, but she stayed silent.

  Patel looked at me and gave a curt nod. Zhang didn’t. She stared, unblinking, waiting for someone to say something stupid again. I started slowly, choosing my words with care:

  "That cadet," I gestured toward the container, "was part of an... unofficial organisation. A criminal group. They’ve been around for years. And they’re dangerous."

  "That expins nothing," Zhang said sharply, but there was less fire in her tone now, more self-defence than accusation.

  "Soro," I continued more gently, "got on their trail and made the mistake of standing out. That’s why she was eliminated."

  Zhang’s eyes flicked back and forth between me and the body in the container. Every new fact just multiplied the questions, and I wasn’t about to stop.

  "Master Mendoza and her disciples are trying to expose the group. Gather evidence. Neutralise them. Quietly, and preferably without unnecessary colteral."

  I gave her a few seconds to absorb that.

  I was ready for the usual dumb questions and prepared to say she didn’t need to know more, but instead, she asked something unexpected. And retively harmless.

  "So, what is it? Some secret lodge or a criminal gang?"

  "It’s a secret criminal organization that operates for personal gain."

  "Inside the school? And they recruit first-years?" The scepticism was so thick you could slice it.

  I lifted my hands, mirroring the gesture the dead demon had used.

  "I’ve already said too much. Let’s leave it at that."

  "One st question. How do you know so much about them?"

  After a brief moment of thought, and no instructions from Mendoza, I decided to answer truthfully.

  "I’ve dealt with them before. At Bck Lotus."

  Zhang pressed her lips together. Quick inhale. Slow exhale. I saw the information settling in her mind, cracking her previous worldview. She tried to read my face, and those of Patel and Mensah.

  The fact that none of us ughed or denied it helped.

  "Fuck me," Zhang muttered. She dropped her head and shook it. "We’ve got an invasion coming, demons threatening humanity, and people still can’t stop cwing for a bigger slice of pie."

  We exchanged looks. If this was an act, it was a damn good one.

  Even Mendoza seemed convinced.

  "Okay," she said. "She’s nearly convinced me. Patel, brief her on keeping her mouth shut. I’ll expect you in the b, with the body."

  I had a feeling she was about to cut the connection, so I jumped in, turning to Patel, though the question wasn’t for him.

  "We are accounting for the fact she’s now in real, mortal, danger, right?"

  Mendoza sounded like she’d been waiting for that.

  "What do you suggest? We can’t spare anyone else to guard her."

  Patel, staying in character, echoed her words aloud.

  I looked at Zhang. Her eyes flitted tiredly between us, but she wasn’t stupid, she was following. She’d get it if I said too much.

  In some ways, her situation reminded me of my own early days on Verdis. She was destined to be bait. I felt bad for her. Still, it had worked out for me, maybe it would for her too. The only thing I could offer:

  "Beacon?"

  They’d be monitoring her anyway. If she had a beacon like mine, maybe she’d have some influence over her own fate.

  "Not right away," Mendoza replied. "We’ll need to discuss it. Patel, finish the briefing. Be retively honest."

  Patel shrugged, turned to Zhang, and without raising his voice, began:

  "Right. From this moment on, you’re in it up to your neck. This isn’t a joke, a drill, a sim, or some dumb prank." He pointed again at the corpse. Zhang paled once more, wrinkling her nose and clutching her stomach, but didn’t throw up again.

  "This is real," he continued. "And you won’t like it.

  "You can’t go to your master. You can’t go to The Hall of Order. You can’t message your parents, friends, or instructors. You can’t even hint something’s wrong. Because we don’t know who’s involved."

  She wanted to say something but held it back. Her eyes narrowed, not from anger, but focus. Clearly, she had a hundred questions, but kept them to herself.

  Patel noticed she was listening and softened slightly.

  "What happened today might’ve been coincidence. Or it might’ve been a move to get to us through you. Think about whether you really came here on your own, or if it was a series of events that led you here, right on cue.

  "Either way, from now on, every step you take might be watched. Every word checked. By us too. If we’re wrong about you and you warn someone, we’ll know. If you’re innocent, you’ll need to be even more careful. Any slip-up could get you killed."

  "We’ll consider the distress beacon for you. For now, go home and stay there until further instructions. If needed, contact me directly."

  Patel turned to the container, shut the lid, grabbed the handles. Mensah mirrored him, and together they carried the body out.

  Zhang clearly wanted to stay and ask more questions, but I ushered her out.

  A few hints about the AI system helped do it without force.

  MaksymPachesiuk