Chapter 26: Notice

On the ninety-first day of living together, Yin Qi was still observing that spotted dove.

She had been curled up on the couch watching it for almost two hours.

The dove had also been perched on the neighboring air conditioner’s outdoor unit the entire time.

Every few seconds, it would coo once.

Then a few seconds later, it would coo again.

Yin Qi was so absorbed in watching that she didn’t even notice her phone screen had gone dark.

So when Lin Xia came out of the bedroom, what she saw was a bizarre and somewhat hilarious scene.

Yin Qi was curled into the corner of the couch, her chin resting on her knees.

Her eyes were fixed unblinkingly on the silly bird outside the window.

“What exactly are you looking at?”

Lin Xia walked over and followed her gaze.

“A spotted dove.”

“…Don’t tell me this is still the same one from yesterday?”

“I think so.”

Yin Qi said, “It looks exactly like the one from yesterday. It’s been here for a day and a half already.”

Lin Xia glanced at the bird again and fell silent.

She genuinely couldn’t see what was so interesting about it.

But she remembered something Su Xin had mentioned a few days ago…

Something bad might be about to emerge.

That vague sense of concern drifted through her mind again.

“You’re not secretly planning something huge while pretending to watch this bird, are you?”

Yin Qi finally turned her head and looked at her.

Her expression remained calm.

“No.”

“I’m literally just watching a bird. Don’t you think this kind of bird is pretty cute? They’re all round and fluffy.”

“…So when you’ve been staring out the window these past two days, you’ve actually been watching it the whole time?”

“Passing the time.”

“Don’t you usually have plenty of other ways to pass the time?”

Lin Xia sat down beside her.

“I haven’t exactly been idle.”

***

After a while, Yin Qi changed positions.

She went from curling up to leaning back.

Her shoulder brushed against Lin Xia’s shoulder.

Even through their jackets, the slight contact was impossible to ignore.

Lin Xia’s back tensed instinctively.

Then she relaxed again.

Ever since Lin Xia had been injured last time, these silent forms of physical contact between them had become increasingly common.

Sometimes Yin Qi would lean over.

Sometimes Lin Xia would sit a little closer than usual.

Neither of them had ever brought it up.

“…That bird still hasn’t left today.”

Lin Xia said, “Is it planning to build a nest here?”

“It has a mate.”

“That one went out looking for food.”

“In a little while, its mate should come back to check on it, then fly away again.”

“How do you even know about a bird’s private life?”

“I used to…”

Yin Qi stopped halfway through the sentence.

Lin Xia sensed it immediately.

It seemed to be something difficult for her to talk about, so she didn’t press further.

“Anyway, I just know.”

Yin Qi added.

Her tone was flat, but the ending dragged slightly, as though she had swallowed the rest of her words.

A memory brought from somewhere else.

Lin Xia remembered what Yin Qi had told her that day.

After that, Yin Qi had never mentioned it again.

But Lin Xia had never forgotten.

The back of her hand accidentally brushed against Yin Qi’s fingers.

Yin Qi’s body temperature wasn’t very warm.

She was also wearing rings, making her fingers feel cool.

Lin Xia didn’t move her hand away.

Yin Qi didn’t seem to care.

The bird let out one final coo.

Then it flapped its wings and flew away.

After that, the spotted dove never appeared again.

Yin Qi’s object of observation changed to Lin Xia.

Whenever Lin Xia worked at the table, Yin Qi would sit nearby and watch her.

She could stare for an entire afternoon.

Lin Xia pretended not to notice.

***

That evening, the branch office suddenly sent out a brief internal notice.

It wasn’t a mission deployment.

Nor was it a meeting announcement.

It was simply a single line of text:

[Notice: All units are to monitor abnormal signal fluctuations within their jurisdictions. Any anomalies must be reported immediately.]

There was no explanation.

Nor did it specify what kind of signals.

Lin Xia read it twice.

She intended to message Chen Feng for confirmation.

Chen Feng said he wasn’t entirely sure either.

Lin Xia didn’t ask further.

She repeated the notice to Yin Qi.

Yin Qi was teasing a cat with a cat wand she had somehow acquired.

When she heard it, her hand paused for half a second.

Then it continued moving.

“…Where did that cat come from?!”

“It’s the one downstairs that always comes around for free food.”

“I carried it up here.”

Yin Qi kept her head lowered, waiting for the cat to pounce.

“When did you…”

“Let’s talk about the important part first.”

“Now even your organization has noticed the anomaly.”

“So it’s probably getting close.”

“Getting close to what?”

“Nobody knows yet.”

“But it definitely won’t be anything good.”

“It’s better to warn people early than late.”

Lin Xia crouched beside her and reached out to pet the cat.

The cat turned its head to look at her.

Then it rolled over and exposed its belly.

Lin Xia scratched it casually.

The cat began purring contentedly.

“Su Xin.”

She kept her head lowered as she spoke.

“If something bad really is coming, will you tell me?”

The cat wand swayed again.

The cat leaped out of Lin Xia’s hands and missed.

“I will.”

Yin Qi said, “I’ll tell you everything I’m allowed to tell.”

“…What do you mean by ‘allowed’?”

“The things that won’t scare you to death.”

Yin Qi said it naturally.

As though she were stating a simple fact.

Lin Xia didn’t reply.

She felt there was a lot hidden beneath Yin Qi’s words.

But for now, she had no intention of digging deeper.

She simply nodded.

“Okay.”

“Then I won’t ask anything else.”

Yin Qi turned her head and glanced at her.

She said nothing.

Setting the cat wand on the coffee table, she stood up and brushed the cat fur from her skirt.

***

That night, after returning to her room, Lin Xia decided to review how Su Xin’s recent behavior differed from before.

She looked back through the observation logs she had written.

The records had become increasingly sloppy.

Descriptions like “No abnormalities observed” had appeared continuously for three months.

But over the last few days, her entries seemed noticeably longer.

For example, yesterday’s entry:

[15:10 — Subject observed watching someone downstairs walking a dog.]

[17:45 — Subject voluntarily closed the window. Possible reason: weather becoming slightly cool.]

[20:12 — Subject was humming a song.]

Has she become more active lately?

And there was something Yin Qi had said today that lingered in her mind.

“The corridor to the right of your office floor downstairs.”

“It looks like they moved some kind of equipment in there today.”

At the time, Lin Xia had just come out of the shower.

Her hair was still wet.

She froze when she heard it.

“You sensed it again?”

“The emotions over there were extremely agitated.”

Yin Qi said, “It was obvious. It felt like they were moving some kind of instrument.”

Right in front of her, Lin Xia called Chen Feng to verify it.

There was a brief pause on Chen Feng’s end.

He sounded somewhat surprised.

“There is something like that.”

“A monitoring terminal is being temporarily deployed at the end of the corridor.”

“It was installed this afternoon.”

“The official notice hasn’t gone out yet.”

“Did someone tell you?”

“No.”

Lin Xia glanced at Yin Qi.

“I saw it while coming upstairs.”

After hanging up, she looked at Yin Qi without speaking.

“You’re giving me that look again.”

Yin Qi shrank deeper into the couch.

“Su Xin.”

Lin Xia sat across from her.

“How far can that ability of yours actually sense things?”

“That depends on the intensity of the emotions.”

“And human emotions are a little different from meme emotions.”

“Then… what’s the actual mechanism?”

“Human emotions.”

“If they’re especially obvious and fluctuate strongly, I can sense them from over 10 kilometers away.”

Yin Qi said,

“But it’s not accurate every time.”

“And it isn’t anything particularly amazing.”

Lin Xia fell silent.

“…Not particularly amazing?”

Her tone remained calm.

But she spoke very seriously.

“Do you realize what would happen if our organization discovered that an E-Class Meme could do something like that?”

“I’d probably be reevaluated.”

“Maybe transferred to headquarters.”

“Then I wouldn’t be able to live with you anymore.”

Yin Qi finished the sentence for her.

“…I didn’t say the last part.”

“Then what did you mean?”

“What I mean is that if people notice that ability of yours, it’ll attract a lot of attention.”

Lin Xia said, “…And it won’t necessarily be good attention.”

Yin Qi looked at her for a while.

There was no way to tell what she was thinking.

“Then are you going to report it?”

She asked.

Lin Xia didn’t answer immediately.

She looked down at the tea in her hands.

It had already gone cold.

Her fingers traced the rim of the cup twice.

Then she placed it on the table and stood up.

“Do you want to know the answer?”

“Yes.”

“…No.”

After saying that, Lin Xia told Yin Qi she was returning to her room.

“Oh.”

Yin Qi leaned against the couch and watched her back.

“Then go ahead.”

Lin Xia stopped halfway there.

She wanted to say something.

But when she turned around and met Yin Qi’s gaze, she realized Yin Qi had been watching her the whole time.

Her expression was unusually serious.

Yin Qi spoke first.

“Thank you for protecting me like this.”

The words were spoken with complete sincerity.

Nothing like her usual self.

Lin Xia stood there in a daze for a moment.

Her mouth opened and closed several times.

Finally, she said stiffly,

“…Who’s protecting you?”

Yin Qi narrowed her eyes and sniffed.

As though her ability somehow operated through her sense of smell.

“Hmm…”

“The feeling you’re giving off right now is…”

“‘Embarrassment.'”

“Or maybe…”

“‘Shyness?'”

Lin Xia closed the door and went into her room.

***

The next morning, the branch office released an official announcement.

[Announcement]

[Meme activity frequency within the city and surrounding areas has increased significantly.]

[The cause remains unclear. An investigation is underway.]

[All units are to strengthen routine monitoring and pay close attention to overlapping anomalies and signal fluctuations within their jurisdictions.]

The wording was extremely restrained.

But Lin Xia knew that whenever official GMRA language included phrases like “cause remains unclear,” the situation was probably already becoming serious.

Reports about meme activity weren’t written casually.

Looking at the briefing on her screen, the first thing she thought of was something Yin Qi had said several nights ago.

At the time, she had said,

“Something bad is probably about to emerge.”

Now the branch office announcement seemed to be delivering the same warning.

After reading the announcement from beginning to end three times, Lin Xia shut down her computer.

She walked into the living room and sat beside Yin Qi.

This time, Yin Qi wasn’t looking out the window.

Her phone lay face down on her knees.

It seemed as though she had been waiting for her.

“Your organization finally issued a notice.”

She said.