Shen Xingyao was called into a six-hour closed-door meeting with the Chief after we returned from the Old campus.
I didn't know the details, only that when she came out, her face was paler than usual—not exhaustion-pale, but the white of metal soaked in strong acid, carrying a corroded texture. Her left sleeve was rolled to her forearm, revealing a new silver pattern on her wrist like a tattoo, but on closer look, a scar formed by the spatial mark being forcibly branded into her skin.
"The seventeenth mark—it backfired." Zhou Fang commented, passing by with a medical tray. "Scarlet deflected the mark back, with extra."
"What extra?"
"The 'gaze' of War Authority." He set down the tray, pulling out a bottle of alcohol. "She looked at Captain Shen once, and Shen got contaminated by 0.3% of her Authority."
"0.3%?"
"Yes." He said. "Captain Shen's current sync rate is 18.3%, with 0.3% being Scarlet's color."
"Can it be washed off?"
"It can't." Gu Yan adjusted his glasses. "It's not contamination—it's a 'mark.' Scarlet marked Captain Shen, the same way Captain Shen marked you, just more insane."
"More insane?"
"Captain Shen marks you by anchoring your heart with space." Gu Yan explained. "Scarlet marked Captain Shen by anchoring Shen's 'Existence definition' with War Authority."
"What does that mean?"
"It means." White Gloves emerged from the shadows. "To Scarlet, Captain Shen has shifted from 'enemy' to 'target.' Enemies can be killed. Targets must be obtained."
"Obtained?"
"Obtained." He repeated. "Scarlet wants her, wants her Spatial Authority, wants her abilities, wants her—"
"What part?"
"All of it."
---
21:00, Shen Xingyao's office.
She sat in darkness without turning on the lights, her silver-white pupils the only light source. On the desk was a half-cup of cold coffee, its condensation forming words—not her writing, but Scarlet's:
[Coffee's too bitter. Switch to black tea with milk next time]
She picked up the cup, poured the coffee into the trash, then threw the cup away too. A small explosion came from the bin—the cup shattered into silver-white powder, the compressed remains of a spatial mark.
"She likes managing your life?" I leaned against the doorframe, not entering.
"Not likes." Shen Xingyao's voice held no emotion. "Collecting."
"Collecting?"
"Collecting my habits, my preferences, my weaknesses." She looked up at me, the silver light in her pupils darker than usual. "She says powerful opponents must be studied from life's details."
"Is this war or romance?"
"To her, no difference." She tugged at the corner of her mouth like a smile, but worse than crying. "Her Authority is War, but she understands war as 'conquest.' Conquer everything, including me."
"What about you?"
"Me?" She stood, walked to the window, staring toward the Old campus. "I just want to tear out her throat before she conquers me."
She wasn't joking. Her Oscillating blade stood in the corner, its blade wrapped in silver spatial threads that writhed like living things.
"What's wrong with the blade?"
"Waiting." She said. "Waiting for Scarlet's next appearance. Then I'll use this thread to sew her into space from the conceptual level."
"Sew her in?"
"Yes." She turned back. Silver-white pupils reflected something new—not calm, but madness. "Let her live forever in folded space as my specimen."
---
22:00, my dorm.
Three knocks—three short, one long—B-07's code.
Opening the door, no one was there—only a pen lay on the ground.
A Parker fountain pen, golden, with "ZHANG" engraved on the cap.
It was the pen Captain Shen had pulled from the void when Teacher Zhang's Existence was erased.
I picked it up. The barrel burned hot like holding a coal. The nib wrote automatically in the air, golden characters appearing:
[For Lin Jin. I've received your workbook]
[The handwriting is nice, but the story is weak]
[Next time, write something exciting]
[Like Shen Xingyao's past]
I stared at those lines, a chill running down my spine.
Scarlet was commissioning me through this pen.
Commissioning Shen Xingyao's story.
---
23:00, Briefing Room.
Gu Yan's model produced new results.
"Scarlet's focus on Captain Shen exceeds normal enemy parameters." He switched the projection to a waveform graph. "This is the Authority frequency Scarlet leaves in battle. Every time she has indirect contact with Captain Shen, this frequency gains a harmonic."
"Harmonic?"
"Yes." He said. "Harmonic means she's 'resonating.' War Authority and Spatial Authority are both 'domain' type abilities—one conquers, one governs. When two domains collide, resonance occurs."
"What does resonance do?"
"Resonance makes both parties' abilities briefly 'shared.'" He pulled up a simulation animation. Two spheres collided, their edges merging. "During the last exam hall confrontation, when Captain Shen unleashed Spatial sovereignty, the intensity of Scarlet's War Labyrinth increased by 0.7%."
"She stole Captain Shen's ability?"
"No." He said. "She 'learned.' Through resonance, she understood the underlying logic of Spatial sovereignty."
"What about Captain Shen?"
"Captain Shen also understood her." White Gloves interjected. "That's why the seventeenth mark backfired—it's a side effect of resonance. The two of them are invading each other's Authorities."
"What does that count as?"
"Counts as... romance on the Authority level." Zhou Fang chuckled. "All lovey-dovey, tangled together—with knives."
"Shut up." Shen Xingyao's voice came through the communicator. "I'm disgusted."
"Disgusted doesn't change facts." Gu Yan said. "Scarlet didn't send a declaration of war. She sent a love letter."
He projected a document onto the screen—the complete version of last night's golden text. But at the end, an extra encrypted line appeared. Decrypted, it read:
[Shen Xingyao, your space is beautiful]
[I want to hang it in my war museum]
[Would you be willing to be my collection?]
[If not, I'll take it by force]
"Is this... a confession?" I froze.
"This is a declaration of war." Shen Xingyao said. "But her tone of declaring war sounds like a marriage proposal."
---
00:00, my dorm.
Another knock—three short, one long.
This time someone stood outside.
Not Scarlet, not Imitation, but Chen Lan.
"I've come to retrieve the pen." She reached out for the Parker fountain pen.
"Why?"
"Because the pen contains Scarlet's 'invitation.'" She said. "She's inviting you to her war museum as a docent."
"Docent?"
"Yes." She said. "To tell Shen Xingyao's story."
"I'm not going."
"If you don't go, she'll come to the school and invite you personally."
"Let her come."
"If she comes, she'll bring a copy of Scarlet Christmas." Chen Lan's voice was unprecedentedly grave. "In 1998, she was sixteen. In that copy, she killed forty-one Administration personnel. Now she's nineteen. Stronger."
"What about Captain Shen..."
"Captain Shen has already gone." She said. "To your chemistry lab for the meeting."
"What?"
"She took your specialized derivative training, set seventeen. For question 17, she filled in an answer." Chen Lan handed me a photo. In it, Shen Xingyao stood at the lab door. The seal on the door was torn. She held her Oscillating blade, its blade wrapped in silver thread.
The thread's other end disappeared into the doorway.
"She's using herself as the admission ticket." Chen Lan said. "To meet Scarlet."
"Is she crazy?"
"Not crazy." Chen Lan said. "She just doesn't want you to go."
---
01:00, Old campus laboratory.
When I rushed in, Shen Xingyao was already there.
She wasn't wearing tactical gear—just a white shirt and jeans, like a teacher who'd just finished class.
"What are you doing here?" She didn't turn around. "Didn't I tell you not to come?"
"If you come, I come." I said. "B-07 rule: when the captain charges, the squad follows."
"I'm not charging." She said. "I'm surrendering."
She raised her hand. The silver pattern on her wrist glowed like shackles.
"Scarlet gave me two choices: either I give her the core of Spatial sovereignty, or she turns you into the protagonist of her story."
"Which did you choose?"
"I chose C." She said. "Knock you unconscious, carry you back, and fill in question 53 myself."
"What's question 53?"
"It's 'What happens when a Spatial Authority holder is completely resonated by War Authority?'" She said. "The answer: They become the new War Authority holder."
She turned. For the first time, her silver-white pupils reflected golden light.
"She planted 0.3% War Authority in my brain." She said. "This 0.3% is spreading."
"What happens if it spreads?"
"It will slowly turn me into her." She smiled. "It will make me fall in love with you too."
"What?"
"Fall in love with your story, your ability, your Existence." She said. "Then she wants to fall in love with you through me."
"Who falls in love with me?"
"Scarlet."
She spat it word by word:
"Scarlet wants me to love you for her."