Lin Yue was still awake when it happened.
He'd been sitting with his back against the door for longer than he meant to, one hand resting near the shared wall without quite touching it, listening to nothing at all. The humming from Ye Xian's side had stopped some time ago. The Hall outside had gone as quiet as it ever got — the low mechanical breath of the ventilation, the occasional distant creak of someone else's insomnia.
Then the light changed.
Not flickered. Not dimmed the way a failing bulb dimmed, uneven and stuttering. Every light in his room dropped in unison, smooth and deliberate, as though someone somewhere had reached out and turned a single dial connected to the whole building at once.
Lin Yue was on his feet before he'd finished deciding to stand.
Gold text bled into the air above his desk, then along the wall, then across the ceiling — the same words appearing everywhere at once, patient and absolute.
[GLOBAL SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT]
