---
After surviving the Crimson Trial, I expected silence.
But in this school, silence only meant the monsters were watching from the shadows.
And one of those monsters had a name.
Professor Kairo Vale.
He made his first appearance that morning—tall, broad-shouldered, dressed in sharp black, with silver-rimmed glasses and ink-dark eyes that scanned the lecture hall like a hawk.
He wasn't listed in any student directory. No introduction. No department.
He just walked into our classroom as if it was built for him.
---
"Today," he said, "we discuss infiltration through identity dissonance."
He looked straight at me.
I felt my breath catch.
"In simpler terms… pretending to be something you're not."
His voice was soft. Lethal.
Liam leaned toward me from his seat beside mine. "Why does he look like he can read your browser history and kill you with it?"
I didn't laugh. Couldn't.
Because Kairo Vale wasn't normal. I could feel it.
He wasn't just a teacher.
He was testing me.
---
After class, I slipped out quickly, hoping to vanish into the crowd.
No such luck.
"Mr. Vane."
That low voice stopped me cold.
I turned. "Yes, Professor?"
He stepped closer. Too close. "You're remarkably well trained for a scholarship student. Where did you learn evasive stances used by agents of the Eastern Coalition?"
I froze. My mind raced.
"My uncle was ex-military," I lied smoothly.
He tilted his head. "Hmm. Either you're lying... or your uncle trained assassins."
He smiled. "Both interest me."
Then walked away.
---
By lunch, the rest of the university buzzed with whispers. Not about me—but about Professor Vale.
Some said he was a retired international spy. Others claimed he ran the school's black-ops program.
But Mikhail?
He approached me in the hall and said only, "Don't trust him. Even we answer to him."
We.
The Crimson Council.
And suddenly, my victory in the trial felt hollow.
---
Later that day, I received a black envelope tucked into my locker.
> "Solo Operation: File 003. Target: Student Kian Aves. Suspected data leak. Interrogate. Extract confession. No public exposure. Due in 48 hours."
Signed with the crimson serpent.
No guide. No partner.
Just a name.
And a deadline.
---
Kian Aves was a third-year tech prodigy with dead eyes and hands that never stopped typing. Quiet. Paranoid. Lived in the abandoned north wing of the dorms.
Perfect place to hide secrets.
At 2 a.m., I crept through the hallway like a shadow. Dressed in black. Wire in my ear. Dagger at my thigh.
I picked his lock. Easy.
Slipped inside. Silent.
Until—
"Didn't your mother teach you not to sneak into boys' rooms?"
A voice behind me.
I turned.
Kian stood barefoot, staring at me with tired amusement.
"I don't have a mother," I said coldly.
He snorted. "Then who taught you to lie?"
---
He lunged.
I ducked, kicked his knee, pinned him against the wall.
"Who are you working for?" I hissed.
"I'm not leaking anything!"
"Then why the ghost servers on your account?"
Kian growled. "Because I was spying on Vale. That man isn't just a teacher—he's running private trials on select students. I caught glimpses. Files. All redacted. But you—you're on the list."
My blood ran cold.
"I'm on what?"
"His special targets. Red tagged."
---
Suddenly, the room's wall beeped.
A screen flickered to life.
A camera.
I looked at the lens.
It wasn't the school's security system.
It was his.
Vale was watching us.
---
I grabbed the chip from Kian's hand and bolted.
Two floors down, I plugged it into a decrypted tablet I carried.
Redacted files appeared.
All labeled with code names.
Codename: FOX — Status: Monitored. Suspected Identity Fraud.
Codename: WOLF — Status: Armed. High-risk.
Codename: CROW — Status: Infiltration complete.
Codename: SIREN — Status: Hidden. Unknown gender. Watch Closely.
That last one was me.
He knew.
Professor Kairo Vale suspected I wasn't a boy.
---
Back in my room, I sat still.
Pulse racing.
My cover was slipping. The Crimson Council was assigning deadly tasks. And now… a professor with eyes like obsidian had placed me under a microscope.
Was I the hunter here?
Or just another lab rat in a school full of predators?
---
End of Chapter 15
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