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Waking Up Jiang

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Chapter 6: The Enemy Within

Two days after the ceremony, I was summoned to the administrative wing again—this time by internal security.

Not General Jiang. Not the academy staff.

Internal. The people who investigate quiet problems without leaving paperwork behind.

“Sit,” the officer said. His badge was plain. His voice wasn’t.

I sat.

He dropped a file onto the metal table in front of me.

“You accessed this.”

I kept my face still. “That’s my file.”

“And yet it was opened from a restricted terminal in Sector D. Not by you.”

I looked down at the file. I recognized the page on top—my medical report. The same one I had seen, hidden in my mattress. Someone had copied it. Accessed the backup version from inside the academy.

“Who has clearance for Sector D?” I asked.

“That’s not your concern.”

“It is if someone’s trying to expose or destroy me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why would someone do that?”

Good question.

Someone’s Looking for Cracks

After the meeting, I didn’t go back to my dorm.

I went to the surveillance office—under the excuse of reviewing combat footage.

Lieutenant Fang, who ran the room, owed me a favor after I covered for him during a failed simulation last month. He let me scroll through login activity in Sector D. I didn’t ask how he had access.

Three names came up.

Two were instructors.

The third?

Tan Wei.

My roommate.

Of course.

Confrontation

I returned to the dorm late. Tan Wei was brushing her hair by the bunk.

“You’re quiet today,” she said, watching me in the mirror. “No lectures? No tactics? No special visits from your captain-fiancé?”

I leaned against the doorframe. “You’ve been busy.”

She froze.

“You were in Sector D,” I said.

She turned, face calm. “Why would I be in Sector D?”

“To read my file.”

“And what would I find? That you’re not who you say you are?”

We stared at each other. Silence pressing in.

Then she smiled.

“You don’t even deny it.”

“I don’t need to.”

“You should.” Her voice lowered. “People are watching you. People who want the General’s family kept clean.”

“You work for them?”

“I watch. I report. You’re a threat.”

“Because I’m smarter than they expected?”

She moved closer, voice a whisper. “Because you weren’t supposed to survive that fall.”

Message from Zeyuan

That night, a secure envelope was slipped under my door.

Inside: one printed sentence on a plain white card.

If they’re turning on you inside the academy, someone higher up gave permission.

At the bottom was a red wax seal. Lu Zeyuan’s.

He hadn’t signed it. But he didn’t have to.

He was watching too.

Power Shift

The next morning, I didn’t report to physical training.

I walked straight into the tactical command building and requested private access to the logistics files of student movements.

The staff officer tried to deny me.

I dropped the engagement ID card on his desk.

Rank opened doors. Even fake ones.

Ten minutes later, I had what I needed—logs of everyone Tan Wei had met with over the last two months. Late-night visits. Unusual instructors. A list of subtle moves.

She wasn’t just watching me.

She was building a case.

Maybe for the academy. Maybe for my father.

Either way, she was a problem.

Another Memory – A Name

Later that evening, while alone, it came again—clearer this time.

I remembered my mother’s voice.

And a name she whispered, over tea, while I sat coloring with shaking hands.

“If anything happens, find Colonel Yan. He’s the only one I ever trusted.”

The name seared into my memory like a brand.

Colonel Yan.

I didn’t know where he was.