Mu Chen didn't go anywhere alone after that.
Not to get water.
Not to eat.
Not even to throw something away.
If Lin Lan wasn't with him, Zhou Xiao was. If Zhou Xiao wasn't with him, someone else appeared with an excuse that didn't sound like an excuse.
It would have been almost funny if it wasn't so sharp.
Ye Fan had told them to watch him.
And they listened.
Mu Chen sat at the edge of the ready room in the afternoon, headset on, pretending to review standard guide notes on his tablet. The words blurred. He wasn't reading.
He was listening.
Bootsteps in the hall.
A door opening.
A soft beep.
A voice that stopped when it noticed him.
The base moved around him like a living thing.
Lin Lan walked in and sat across from him. She didn't speak for a minute. Then she slid a packet across the table.
"What's this?" Mu Chen asked.
Lin Lan's voice stayed flat. "Your evaluation prep. Standard answers. Standard limits. What they can ask. What you should refuse."
Mu Chen picked up the packet.
It was simple. Too simple.
Answer only the question.
No extra details.
No stories.
No opinions.
If asked about mental ability, say "I manage through breathing and training."
If asked about linking, say "No linking without permission."
If asked about unusual calm, say "I'm good at staying steady."
Mu Chen nodded. "Thank you."
Lin Lan's eyes flicked up. "You understand why?"
Mu Chen answered quietly. "So I don't give them reasons."
Lin Lan's mouth tightened. "So you don't give them proof."
Mu Chen didn't argue.
Lin Lan looked down again. "They already have footage."
Mu Chen's fingers tightened on the packet. "From the gate."
Lin Lan nodded once. "Stable signal. Clean data. They'll replay it until it becomes a weapon."
Mu Chen stared at the paper in his hands.
In the orphanage, adults used words as weapons.
Here, they used numbers.
Lin Lan stood. "Eat. You need energy."
Mu Chen nodded and stood too.
Zhou Xiao appeared from the hallway like he had been waiting. "I'm going with you."
Mu Chen didn't react. "Okay."
They walked to the meal area.
Ye Fan was there.
He sat alone again, but he wasn't eating. He was staring at the wall screen that displayed gate notices and mission logs.
Mu Chen sat at a table and started eating. Zhou Xiao sat with him, silent.
Mu Chen kept his eyes on his tray.
Still, he could feel Ye Fan's presence.
Not like a normal person in a room.
Like a pressure.
Like a storm held behind a door.
Mu Chen forced himself to chew. Forced himself to swallow.
Zhou Xiao spoke softly, like he didn't want anyone to hear. "He hasn't slept."
Mu Chen didn't answer.
Zhou Xiao continued, almost frustrated. "He's not angry at you. He's angry at them."
Mu Chen kept his voice quiet. "I know."
Zhou Xiao looked at him. "Do you?"
Mu Chen paused. Then he said, "Yes."
Because he did.
Ye Fan's anger wasn't personal.
It was fear with teeth.
After dinner, Mu Chen returned to the unit floor.
He stopped in the hallway near the divider and looked up without meaning to.
A camera on the ceiling shifted slightly.
He felt the hair on his arms rise.
He looked away immediately.
He heard footsteps.
Ye Fan.
Mu Chen turned his head.
Ye Fan stopped in front of him, blocking the narrow hallway.
No witnesses close enough to hear. Only cameras that could see.
Ye Fan's voice was low. "You're going for the assessment tomorrow."
Mu Chen nodded. "Yes."
Ye Fan's eyes were sharp. "Lin Lan escorts."
Mu Chen nodded again.
Ye Fan's jaw flexed. "If they take you somewhere else—"
Mu Chen interrupted softly. "They won't."
Ye Fan's gaze hardened. "You don't know that."
Mu Chen stayed calm. "Neither do you."
For a second, Ye Fan looked like he might snap.
Then he forced his voice down. "If you feel them push into your head, you bite down and don't answer. You don't give them what they want."
Mu Chen watched him. "Have you been through it?"
Ye Fan went still.
His eyes flickered.
Yes, Mu Chen realized.
Ye Fan had been through it.
Maybe not as a guide. But as a sentinel. As a weapon. As a child raised by the military.
Ye Fan's voice came out harsh. "Don't ask."
Mu Chen nodded. "Okay."
A quiet moment stretched between them.
The hallway lights were cold. The air smelled like disinfectant.
Ye Fan spoke again, lower. "I shouldn't have called you that."
Mu Chen blinked. "Called me what?"
Ye Fan's jaw tightened like it hurt to say it. "Orphan."
Mu Chen's chest tightened for a second.
He kept his voice simple. "It's true."
Ye Fan's eyes burned. "It shouldn't be a weapon."
Mu Chen didn't answer.
Because he didn't know what to do with an apology from Ye Fan. It didn't fit.
Ye Fan stepped closer by half a step, then stopped, like he remembered the rule he had given himself.
No linking.
No touching.
No giving the institute more to use.
Ye Fan's voice turned rough. "When you came in… I felt nothing from you."
Mu Chen's stomach tightened.
Ye Fan continued, eyes fixed on Mu Chen's face. "That's not normal. Even weak guides have… something. A smell. A pressure. You had nothing."
Mu Chen kept his face neutral. "Maybe I'm boring."
Ye Fan's mouth twitched, not a smile. "No."
He looked away briefly, then back. "It made me angry."
Mu Chen stayed still.
Ye Fan's voice dropped even lower. "Because it felt like you were already gone."
Mu Chen's throat tightened.
That sentence hit too close.
Mu Chen had learned to be gone when it was safer. To disappear inside himself.
Ye Fan looked at him with something sharp and confused.
Not kindness.
Not desire.
Something he didn't have a name for yet.
A pull you can't name.
Ye Fan's voice came out harsh again, like he hated the softness. "Don't disappear."
Mu Chen met his gaze. "I'm here."
Ye Fan stared at him for a long moment.
Then he stepped back.
"Sleep," Ye Fan said, like it was an order.
Mu Chen nodded. "Yes, Major."
Ye Fan turned and walked away.
Mu Chen stood still until Ye Fan's footsteps were gone.
Then Mu Chen went behind his divider, sat on the bed, and stared at the desk lamp.
Cold light.
Clean walls.
Eyes above.
Tomorrow, the institute would put him under brighter lights and ask him to prove he was small.
Mu Chen closed his eyes.
And for the first time since arriving, he wished he could reach out and take Ye Fan's storm away for good.
Not because Ye Fan was gentle.
Because Ye Fan was the only person here who looked at him like he mattered, even while he tried not to.