The black raven shot up like a dark arrow, piercing the silent air of the hospital grounds. In its beak, a tattered piece of paper shimmered with a shade of purple—the ink bleeding like the strange feathers on its wings. It circled once in the gray sky, then abruptly changed direction, flying straight towards the ninth-floor VIP room window—where Thanh Truc lay motionless, entangled in a web of IV lines.
The glass door was ajar, just enough for the raven to slip through. It gently dropped the paper in front of Anh Thu, then, quick as a flash, returned to its previous spot on the medicine cabinet. Its blood-red eyes tilted slightly, its sharp gaze fixed on the group of friends, as if waiting for their reaction.
"What is this…?" Anh Thu's hand trembled as she picked up the paper, the scrawled words appearing under the dim light. "This is… a trial document? From what organization?!"
"Let me see it!" Cao Hai snatched the paper, his eyes scanning the lines. Suddenly, he froze, his eyes wide. "A trial... implanting a chip into a human brain?!"
IRON BIRD PROJECT - TRIAL SUMMARY Classification: TOP SECRET / LEVEL 9
Operating Principle: An AI-integrated brain chip optimized to run on a biological microcircuit. Collects & analyzes data from a global knowledge base. Filters out malicious/biased information using the Ethical Guardrails algorithm.
Special Abilities: Brain-to-Brain Communication: Uses Ultra-Wideband Neuro Waves (frequency range 7.83Hz - which matches the Schumann Resonance) to connect users within a 1,200km radius. Knowledge Access: The chip automatically cross-references a cloud database, supporting information recall in 0.003s (82% faster than manual lookup).
Trial Phase: Test Subject: Black Raven - chosen due to its brain having similar mirror neurons to humans.
Result: 97% of test subjects demonstrated the ability to: Understand complex language (equivalent to a 7-year-old child). Transmit images/sounds through the chip to other individuals. Automatically avoid dangers by predicting Markov models. 3% failure: Due to information overload in the brain.
Warning: Potential Risks: If the chip is infected with an Adversarial Attack, it can cause: Collective hallucinations. The spread of negative thoughts through the brainwave connection. In the 3% of failures, the ravens developed 'brain pecking' behavior towards their peers, as if trying to… remove the chip.
"Damn it…" Nhat Nam whispered, his hands clenched tightly on the bed rail. "So this raven didn't just appear... It's a product of the experiment!"
Anh Thu suddenly looked up, her eyes meeting the mysterious gaze of the raven. As if understanding, it swooped down unexpectedly, landing on her shoulder. Its cold talons gripped the paper, placed it on the table, and used its beak to point at a series of smudged characters in the corner of the page.
"Wait a minute…" Luu Thanh leaned forward, his eyes wide, his breath quickening. "These aren't letters… they're some kind of encrypted code! This could be the location of the lab!"
The group fell silent. Nhat Nam frowned, quietly raising a hand to his forehead as if connecting the dots in his mind, then suddenly bolted away without a word. Hai Yen watched him go, and before she could react, she spoke, full of concern: "Just like Anh Thu said earlier! I'm still curious why Thanh Truc's bruises... are exactly the same as the purple marks on that raven?"
The question hung silently in the air, like a smoldering ember in the room. While everyone was still stunned, Nhat Nam returned, holding a dusty, old notebook with frayed edges.
"My sister's diary…" he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. "She once told me that if something ever happened to her, I had to open it. It contains everything: her research, locations, and even… the timelines she went through…"
Anh Thu took the diary, gently flipping through the first pages. The slanted handwriting, in some places, was smudged. The initial pages were mostly scientific notes, nothing special. She began to flip faster, reaching the final pages—where the writing became frantic, rushed, and filled with fear.
Anh Thu's eyes suddenly widened. "She… knew the lab's location beforehand," she said, her voice choked. "The date… the time… the coordinates, everything is clearly recorded. She… drove there alone to investigate? And then, on her way to escape, she had an accident…?"
Before anyone could say anything else, the raven suddenly flew up with a piercing cry, and a faint light, like a projector, emanated from its eyes. A scene appeared before them, as vivid as a memory.
It was lying in a stark white room, cold light illuminating its body. Wires and electronic devices were plugged all over its body. Its eyes opened, scanned the room, then stopped on a figure lurking behind a foggy glass pane. The person's heart rate spiked—the raven could even read that biological index. The person moved closer… and then…
An alarm blared, deafeningly.
A figure rushed in amid the wailing sirens. The professor was knocked out with a single blow. No one expected the intruder to be… a woman.
She didn't say a word, she just quietly pulled each device off the raven's body. When the last wire was removed, she hugged it and ran into the hallway, navigating through a maze of winding corridors. The red lights flickered, and sirens blared.
Outside, she jumped into a sleek black car, its engine roaring like a beast. The security guards shouted into their radios, issuing an emergency alert. They immediately dispatched a helicopter to follow from above, targeting the fleeing car.
The raven struggled, panicked, and cried out: "Quat! Quat!"
"Be quiet!" the woman's voice was a whisper, but full of determination. "I'm saving you!"
She was Thanh Truc.
The car sped towards the town. But they were all too familiar with the terrain—every nook and cranny was in their hands. A truck unexpectedly appeared, blocking the road.
Not wanting to cause chaos among the residents, they staged an accident. Everything happened too fast.
Crash!
The car slammed into the obstacle with a horrifying impact. In that very moment, from a nearby building, a sniper had a clear aim. A bullet was fired—not a regular one, but one containing a special purple serum.
The bullet didn't hit her head, but it lodged directly into Thanh Truc's arm. The poison spread like wildfire, releasing faint purple smoke. She screamed, her entire body shaking. The raven was also affected, its vision blurring, its head spinning.
In the chaos, the fabric of time suddenly fractured.
The poison was too strong. It not only damaged her body, but also blocked her central nervous system, making her consciousness fade. The steering wheel swerved. Everything spun. Her face blurred in panic.
Then… night fell.
The group stood frozen in the hospital room as the raven's purple-tinged eyes slowly glanced at each of them. No one dared to breathe heavily; the air became thick, as if something was about to be revealed.
The raven suddenly… spoke, its voice hoarse but clear: "Hello everyone. I… choose Anh Thu as my owner."
Everyone was speechless.
It slowly spread its wings, flew to the corner of the room, and gently tapped a metal cabinet door. A click sounded as the door swung open, revealing a slender silver bracelet engraved with strange characters. The raven picked up the bracelet with its beak, flew back, and gently placed it in Anh Thu's palm.
"This is a memento. Wear it, and I will be able to connect with your mind…"
Anh Thu was still stunned, her lips trembling slightly: "So… you can talk?! You… are an artificial intelligence?"
The raven tilted its head, its eyes seeming to glow.
"Not a normal kind. I am the first and only result… a neuro-chip directly implanted into a living creature's brain. They call me Project C-Raven. Before me, hundreds of other creatures died. I am the only survivor."
Nhat Nam stepped forward, his face tense: "If you know everything, please… help us save my sister Truc! You know what made her fall into a coma, don't you?!"
The raven nodded. "She was hit by the purple serum. This serum was only tested once—on one person. It locks all motor nerves, pushing the brain into a 'pseudo-death' state—a form of biological coma."
The group held their breath.
It continued, flying to the paper from earlier, kicking over a cup of water next to it and pointing its foot at it.
"The coordinates are written here. That's where I was once dissected. It's also where the only sample of the neutralizing serum that can counteract the purple serum is stored."
Anh Thu took the soaked paper, and the lines of text gradually emerged: coordinates and a strange symbol—the image of a wide-open eye, crossed out.
"We have to go there," Hai Yen said with a determined voice. "Everyone, go home and get ready. Clothes, equipment, flashlights, everything!"
"OK," Nhat Nam nodded. "Let's meet at the base tonight."
Luu Thanh folded his arms, saying casually: "You guys get ready. I don't need anything. I—and my laptop—are always ready."
The group left the hospital, a cold feeling in their hearts. Behind them, the raven stood silently on the windowsill, its eyes watching them, like a guardian of souls.
The sky was gradually changing colors. It had been gloomy before, but now the sun's rays were seeping through the thick clouds. Dawn seemed to return, but hidden behind that peaceful facade, the wind still carried a vague sense of unease.
Just a few hours later, the group had fully assembled. In Cao Hai's black car, Anh Thu sat in the passenger seat, while the black raven—a half-machine, half-living creature—perched silently on the windshield, its eyes scanning the terrain ahead like infrared goggles.
Three cars followed one another, speeding down the cold asphalt road. The wind howled through the withered trees on the city's outskirts. The farther they went, the more desolate the landscape became. Then, as if severed from the civilized world, the convoy plunged into a wasteland—where the coordinates on the paper led.
Cao Hai was the first to stop his car. The others followed suit, turning off their engines and opening their doors. Everyone got out, unable to hide their astonishment.
Before them was a parched desert—the ground cracked, the trees nothing but twisted, leafless branches. The air here was heavy, as if something invisible was hanging, making it hard to breathe.
"This used to be a dense forest… Why is it like a dead zone now?" Hai Yen whispered, her eyes wide.
Luu Thanh said nothing. He quickly opened his equipment case, attached the radar antenna to the top of the car, and typed continuously on the screen. A 3D map appeared, radar waves sweeping the area, detecting a depression below the ground.
"There's a signal!" Luu Thanh shouted. "But… the radiation level here is too high. It seems that after Thanh Truc's break-in, they destroyed the entire research facility to erase the evidence."
"What…?" Nhat Nam whispered. He walked slowly forward, looking at the vast emptiness—where only a few rusted metal frames and deep burn marks remained on the ground.
Then suddenly, Nhat Nam punched the ground, yelling: "Damn it! If I had read my sister's diary sooner… if I had trusted her… I could have saved her now! It's my fault!!!"
He broke down crying. His choked sobs tore through the deadly silence around them.
Hai Yen walked over, gently putting a hand on his shoulder: "No one blames you, Nam. It's because we believe now that we are here."
She then pulled Nhat Nam along and moved towards the desolate base, where the black raven had just landed, signaling them to follow.
The group followed, their feet crunching on the thick gray dust. Their footsteps echoed in the deathly silence. In the air, the pungent smell of chemicals still lingered somewhere, making everyone feel a chill.
Inside the ruins of the base, it was a chilling darkness. Some areas had electrical leaks, with wires sparking and burning, creating a faint blue-green light. One room still had a strong smell of decay—where forgotten corpses lay among the horrifying experiments.
"Get out of the way!" Cao Hai pushed open the door to the command room.
The spacious control room now only had a broken machine frame, a collapsed filing cabinet, and papers burned into ashes and dust. They rummaged through every drawer, every secret wall—in vain.
"There's nothing here!" Nhat Nam sighed in disappointment.
The black raven landed on the shattered control table, its eyes flickering with data.
"No more serum… no more equipment. Everything has been wiped clean." Luu Thanh wiped the sweat from his brow, silently staring at the radar. "They didn't just destroy it, they… also covered this whole area with radiation so no one would dare to come near."
The group stood there, silent. A heavy sense of disappointment weighed on their shoulders like a boulder.
Outside, the sun began to set. The last ray of sunlight fell upon the dead land, like a drop of blood soaking into the dry soil. The black raven gently folded its wings, turning its head to look at Anh Thu.
"We… cannot stop here. If there is no more serum… I am forced to backtrack: find the one who created it."
Its eyes lit up like scanning lights, displaying a symbol: "A-Ring 7".
"I remember… there is a parallel lab—where the original sample of the serum was researched. There… might be one last chance."