The morning light of Asgaria streamed through the enormous glass walls of the Amber Tower, casting a thin, cold layer of gold over the "Silence" suite. Isabella had been almost entirely sleepless, her eyes carrying faint dark circles, yet she felt no drowsiness. The brand-new flexible-screen tablet lay at her side, its screen dark, like a silent piece of obsidian, yet emitting an invisible, unsettling pull.
The fleeting anomaly of the status indicator last night, like a tiny stone thrown into still water, had sent ripples across the already calm lake of her heart—ripples that were far from settling.
A malfunction?
Almost certainly not. Such a precise, expensive device, provided directly by the Kane Corporation, had an infinitesimal chance of displaying such a basic error.
A trap?
Alexander Kane was meticulous and ruthless. It was highly possible that he was using this nearly insulting method to test whether she still harbored curiosity, whether she would react to any anomaly. Should she display any investigatory intent, what awaited her might be a more complete lockdown and stricter control.
Reason shouted at her: ignore it, forget it, continue to play the role of the numb, obedient canary. That was the safest, most realistic choice.
But…
That faint light, that blink of illogical frequency, was like a sharp thorn piercing the shell of despair she had painstakingly constructed, exposing the molten defiance beneath. It was her instinct, impossible to completely erase—a top scholar, a person accustomed to finding logic and truth in codes and data.
What if…?
What about a one-in-a-million, or even one-in-ten-million possibility?
She drew a deep breath and, with fingers slightly trembling, touched the screen. The screen lit up, still showing the vast starry wallpaper. She did not immediately open the deep space exploration simulation software. Instead, as she had done in previous days, she aimlessly browsed the allowed science videos and articles first, managing her expression flawlessly, as if she had fully accepted this preordained "scope of interest."
But the corner of her eye never left the time in the upper right of the screen.
She was waiting.
Waiting for a pattern that might not even exist.
Freeport City, Zebra City.
Unlike the cold, orderly dawn of Asgaria, the morning in Zebra City was suffused with a lazy, chaotic haze, as if the city were still hungover. The "Rusty Bolt" bar appeared even more decrepit in daylight, the air lingering with the strange mix of last night's cheap alcohol and pheromone regulators.
Leo woke in a cramped, filthy backroom of the bar, his head throbbing. He fumbled for the half-empty bottle of alcohol left over from last night and gulped it down. The burning sting of the cheap whiskey barely suppressed the discomfort in his throat. His clouded eyes glanced at the small terminal by the bedside, flickering with a faint red light.
A new encrypted message.
He shot upright, dizziness hitting him from the sudden movement. Eagerly, he opened the message—it was from the anonymous bounty poster.
The message was short: "'Canary at the Top of the Glass Tower,' 30% prepayment has been sent to the designated crypto wallet. We need more details: time frame, possible characteristics, information source. Further reward depends on the value of the information. — 'Night Owl'"
Leo's heart pounded with excitement and alcohol. The prepayment had really arrived! He quickly logged into his crypto wallet and saw the sum—not astronomical, but enough to squander for a while or to buy a ticket on a black ship out of Zebra City. A crooked smile spread across his face, revealing teeth yellowed from smoke and liquor.
A way in!
He rubbed his hands, straining to dredge memories muddled by alcohol. About the "Canary at the Top of the Glass Tower," he had only overheard a few scattered remarks between two senior security supervisors in a restroom, by pure chance.
"…The one on the top floor, recently more moody than usual…"
"Shh… keep it down! It's all because of that new 'canary,' like a precious little thing, no one's allowed to see her."
"…I heard the medical team had to run several times? So delicate?"
"Who knows… anyway, she was brought in three months ago, guarded like an iron barrel…"
At the time, he had thought it was just some high-level executive's romance and hadn't paid much attention. Soon after, he was dismissed due to his own trouble. Now, looking back, every detail seemed unusual.
Three months ago, tight security, frequent medical intervention, Kane's extraordinary attention… even… nervousness?
Leo licked his chapped lips, his eyes glinting with greed. He quickly replied to the message: "Time: approximately three months ago, late summer. Characteristics unknown, but seems physically weak, requiring special medical supervision. Information sourced from overheard senior security conversations. Further digging will require more resources and entails risks. — Leo"
He deliberately obscured the source and exaggerated the difficulty, attempting to raise the price. He sent the message and waited anxiously. He knew he was playing with fire. The other party was anonymous, their motives unclear, and if the Kane Corporation discovered him selling such information, death would be too mild a punishment. Yet the desperate life in Zebra City had long accustomed him to taking risks.
A few minutes later, a reply arrived: "Continue. Focus: type of medical team, anomalies in supply procurement lists, any clues pointing to origin. Reward doubled."
Leo let out an excited low growl—reward doubled! He could almost see the dawn of leaving this wretched place. He needed to find a way to contact old "friends" still working in the lower levels of Kane Corporation, prying them open with whiskey and cryptocurrency…
Amber Tower, "Silence" Suite
Isabella maintained a surface calm throughout the entire morning and afternoon. She even forced herself to eat some of the lunch David had brought, though it tasted like cardboard.
Her mind, however, was completely immersed in a silent inner storm. She repeatedly recalled the anomalously blinking icon, trying to find any related knowledge or experience in her memory. She remembered a deep space network protocol research project she had participated in during her university years, recalling discussions in those obscure documents about anomalies in underlying data stream checksums…
Time ticked by, approaching evening.
Isabella's heart rate quickened. If… if that was neither a malfunction nor a trap, but rather an extremely covert attempt at communication, then it might follow a temporal pattern—perhaps using a brief window when a specific deep space network satellite passed overhead or when a ground station calibration occurred!
She opened the deep space exploration simulation software again. The complex star charts and interface unfolded. She seemingly moved the probe models at random, adjusting parameters, but her gaze remained locked on the tiny status indicator that normally went unnoticed.
Her breathing unconsciously softened, and all her senses were heightened, catching the slightest fluctuation on the screen.
Five minutes passed…
Ten minutes passed…
Nothing changed.
Just as Isabella was about to conclude that it was indeed her imagination or over-interpretation, and that the faint hope in her heart was about to extinguish again—
The icon blinked again, extremely faint, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, yet rapidly! The frequency and duration were nearly identical to the flash from last night!
This time, Isabella saw it clearly! Her pupils contracted sharply, and blood seemed to surge to her head in an instant before rapidly cooling! A shiver ran up her spine, leaving her fingers icy cold!
Not a malfunction!
Much less a trap! No trap would be set so subtly and with such a clear temporal pattern!
This was more likely… a signal! An extremely faint, extremely daring signal, trying to pierce through a tightly guarded firewall!
Who?
Who is attempting to communicate in this way?
For what purpose?
Countless questions flooded her mind, almost overwhelming her capacity to think. The tremendous shock and the improbable hope hit her like a tsunami! She bit her lower lip to suppress a shout of astonishment, forcing herself to maintain a blank expression, even deliberately yawning and rubbing her eyes, as if she were merely tired from staring at the screen for too long.
But her other hand, resting on her knee, had already clenched into a tight fist. Her nails dug deep into her palm, sending sharp pains that barely helped her maintain a semblance of composure.
She didn't dare take any action immediately; she didn't know whether she was still being monitored, and any abnormal movement could expose this faint glimmer of hope.
She forced down her wildly beating heart and chaotic thoughts, continuing to seemingly manipulate the simulation software casually, even deliberately making a few operational mistakes, letting the probe crash into virtual asteroids, appearing clumsy and ignorant.
It wasn't until David brought her dinner that she felt a sense of relief, quickly turning off the screen, as if she had finally lost interest in the "toy."
But inside her, a massive storm had already risen.
The faint light in the crack was not an illusion!
It truly existed! And it had appeared again!
Although she still did not know where this light was coming from, whether it was benevolent or malevolent, or what its purpose was, it was enough to prove that this seemingly flawless Amber Tower was not as airtight as she had imagined!
Something—or someone—was outside, in a way she could not comprehend, attempting to touch this prison!
Hope, like the most resilient wild grass, had once again struggled to sprout a tender shoot amid the ruins of despair.
Meanwhile, in the distant and chaotic Zebra City, Leo was using his filthy terminal, trying to pry open the tiniest crevices of the Kane Empire's fortress at its lowest level, greedily peering into the secrets of the "Canary."
Two completely different undercurrents, in different dimensions, were quietly converging toward the Amber Tower.
The faint light atop the tower and the dark current outside the city, in corners unknown to anyone, formed a strange kind of resonance.
Isabella knew she had to be even more careful, even more patient. She needed to observe, to wait, and to figure out the pattern of this signal, trying to understand its possible significance.