The morning after the lab break-in, Zahra woke to find a manila envelope slipped under her dorm door.
No name. No return address. Inside: a photograph, scorched at the edges, and a typed note in Mandarin.
The photo showed a group of students in white coats standing before a building that no longer existed. Its entrance sign barely legible: "International Medical Integration Institute." In the back row stood a young Dr. Liang, arms folded beside two familiar faces.
Her father. And Elijah's uncle.
The note read: "Truth burns. But sometimes, fire reveals what the darkness hides. Liang was not the monster. He was the key. Look where he died."
Zahra's hands trembled.
"Elijah," she texted immediately. "I think our families were friends. Maybe even allies."
They met at a quiet tea shop off campus. Zahra showed him the photo. He stared at it for a long time before replying.
"I've seen that building. What's left of it. It burned down in the 90s. Some say it was arson. Others say… it was silenced."
"Silenced?"
He nodded. "After the scandal, the university erased everything. But my uncle kept a diary. My aunt gave it to me before I came here. I didn't read it all, but there's a location mentioned several times. Somewhere called Hǔshān Village. Northwest, near the mountains."
"What's there?" Zahra asked.
"A retreat for trial subjects," Elijah said. "A place they were sent when symptoms worsened. That's where Liang supposedly died. And maybe where our answers are buried."
Zahra felt a thrill of fear and purpose coil inside her. They couldn't go to the authorities. They couldn't trust the university. But they had each other, and now, they had a path. A journey that would take them far from the neon lights of Beijing into the heart of China's rural shadows, where the mountains whispered secrets and old ghosts waited to be remembered.
She packed her bag that night, warm clothes, a solar charger, Elijah's flash drive, and a notebook filled with everything they had learned. Before dawn, they boarded a train out of the city. Neither of them noticed the figure in the black coat watching from the far end of the platform.