Log 04
Controlled Surface
The night was too quiet.
So clean that even the sound of my own breathing felt excessive.
I thought I was simply tired.
But that night, when I closed my eyes, the world began to change.
The fragrance returned.
Jasmine, white sandalwood, sweet with a hint of bitterness.
It was like someone had gently opened a bottle of perfume beside my pillow.
I knew that scent.
And I knew what it meant.
Someone was trying to enter my dream.
I saw myself walking down an unfamiliar street.
The tall buildings around me were familiar, yet there was no sound.
Neon lights glowed pink. Water pooled on the ground, reflecting my own shadow.
In the distance, someone stood beneath a streetlight.
A black coat.
The face blurred into a mass of light.
I stopped walking.
The figure lifted his head.
His lips moved slightly.
“Loke Tin Kay… you should sleep now.”
I tried to draw my gun, but realized there was nothing in my hand.
Then the light grew closer, brighter—almost painfully bright.
I blinked hard.
The entire world shattered like broken glass—
And in the next second, I was sitting upright in bed, gasping for air.
3:00 a.m.
The room was dark and cold.
My forehead was covered in sweat.
I looked down and saw a small trace of pink powder beside my pillow.
I stayed silent for a full minute.
Then I picked up my phone.
“Mun Tseng. Come to the station now.”
Half an hour later.
MCS conference room.
Mun Tseng arrived wearing a coat, her hair slightly messy, but her mind unusually clear.
“You smelled that fragrance again?”
I nodded.
She took out a device and collected a sample of the powder near my pillow.
“Same compound,” she said quietly. “But stronger.”
I gave a cold laugh.
“So he didn’t just kill her. He’s challenging us.”
Wai Hing had arrived as well. He rubbed his forehead, speaking in a low voice.
“You’re sure it wasn’t a hallucination?”
“Hallucinations don’t leave residue,” I said, pointing to the powder.
Chee Yan tapped rapidly on his keyboard. A new tracking map appeared on the screen.
“Sir, I cross-referenced the residual signals from Solus’s login IP. The VPN exit node is local.”
He paused.
“Inside the police network.”
The room fell silent.
“You mean…” Wai Hing began.
Chee Yan nodded.
“Solus might be inside our system.”
I leaned back in my chair, feeling a chill spread through my chest.
“Someone inside the station is using the MCS operational network to log into the chatroom?”
“Yes. And the time matches exactly after you received that anonymous call.”
Mun Tseng frowned.
“Maybe Solus has known every move we make.”
“Then we change the battlefield,” I said.
At 10:00 a.m., we split up.
Chee Yan traced the server routes.
Wai Hing contacted the intelligence unit.
Mun Tseng and I returned to New City University, hoping to find more research related to E-IX.
When Dr. Lau Zi Him saw us, his expression was clearly tense.
“I’ve already told you everything.”
“Not yet,” I said, stepping closer.
“You didn’t explain why you didn’t report the stolen samples to the police.”
He hesitated. His eyes flickered.
“Because at the time… I was ordered not to.”
“Ordered?”
“The research funding came from a special police bureau fund. Project codename M-9.”
My heart sank.
M-9 was a highly classified internal project within the police department, accessible only to a few senior officials.
“So the drug research was actually connected to the police?”
He nodded.
“It was originally intended for special operations units—creating short-term hypnotic states for interrogation and intelligence extraction. Later the side effects proved too strong, and the project was shelved.”
He paused.
“But… someone didn’t want it to stop.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.” He gave a bitter smile.
“I’m only a scientist.”
I turned to leave when he suddenly said,
“Loke sir, you had a dream last night, didn’t you?”
I stopped.
His gaze was deep.
“E-IX can remain in the air for up to twenty-four hours. Even extremely small exposure can trigger dream induction.”
I said quietly,
“You mean… I’m already being targeted?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he handed me a small data chip.
“This is a backup from our experiment monitoring system. It might contain the answer you’re looking for.”
3:00 p.m., MCS emergency meeting.
Che Yan loaded the chip data.
The screen showed laboratory surveillance footage dated three months ago.
Chen You Ting was operating the equipment.
Standing beside him was a man in a suit.
The image was blurry.
But the man’s silhouette—
I recognized it.
Commissioner Lau Kwok Fan.
My entire body froze.
Wai Hing clenched his teeth.
“So it’s him.”
Chee Yan’s voice trembled.
“That explains everything. The E-IX leak was staged. The ‘leaker’ was simply carrying out orders.”
Mun Tseng spoke softly.
“The voice of command… was the Commissioner’s voice.”
Those words echoed in the room.
Suddenly I remembered the voice in my dream.
“Loke Tin Kay… you should sleep now.”
That voice—
It sounded almost identical to the Commissioner’s.
I took a deep breath, forcing the chill in my chest down.
“No one else can know about this.”
Wai Hing nodded.
“I’ll block the network logs.”
Chee Yan’s face had turned pale.
“Sir… if the Commissioner finds out—”
“He already knows,” I interrupted.
“We’re just late.”
Night fell.
I sat alone on the rooftop of the station, watching the city lights.
The wind carried a faint fragrance.
I thought of that girl again—
Lam Chi Ying.
She had once looked up at the same sky.
My phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Loke Tin Kay.”
The voice was calm and low.
“You’re playing with fire.”
“Commissioner?” I asked quietly.
“You should understand that some dreams are meant to continue.”
“You let her die inside a dream?”
Silence.
Then he laughed softly.
“She was happy. There’s no pain inside a dream.”
“And you?” I said.
“Are you living in a dream too?”
“I only want the world to be quiet,” he replied slowly.
“True order doesn’t rely on law. It relies on control.”
The call ended.
I stared at the phone without speaking.
Thunder rolled in the distance.
The city lights flickered once, as if someone had briefly turned them off.
Suddenly my radio crackled.
It was Chee Yan. His voice was urgent.
“Sir! The Forensic Center exploded—!”
I jumped to my feet.
The night wind swept dust into the air, carrying a faint scent of jasmine.
The fragrance was no longer gentle.
It was sharp—
like a burning dream.
I clenched my fist and whispered,
“Fine. If you want to keep dreaming—”
“Then let me be the one who wakes up.”