The first lie had been broken.
But I knew the real battle had just begun.
That afternoon, Qin Zheng called me again.
“Natalia, don’t return to school alone.”
“Why?”
“There are people trying to destroy the evidence before the investigation reaches the original system.”
My heart tightened.
“The original system?”
“Yes. Someone accessed your file eighteen months ago.”
I froze.
“Eighteen months?”
“That was before you even applied to the military academy.”
I suddenly understood.
This had never been about my grades.
Someone had been preparing my rejection long before the application opened.
That evening, Irene sent me another message.
“I found something.”
She attached a screenshot from an old school database.
My student profile had originally listed:
FAMILY BACKGROUND: CONFIDENTIAL — DO NOT DISCLOSE WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION.
But underneath it, someone had added a new line in red:
MOTHER: SUSPECTED DRUG TRAFFICKER.
The modification date was eighteen months earlier.
I stared at the screen.
Then I noticed the account that had made the change.
Administrative Review — S. Song.
Sonia Song.
My tutor.
I immediately called Qin Zheng.
He was silent for several seconds.
“Send me the original.”
“I already did.”
“Good.”
His voice became colder.
“Now don’t confront her.”
“Why?”
“Because if she changed the file, she probably wasn’t acting alone.”
The next morning, the military academy summoned me.
The review committee had arrived.
I entered the conference room expecting officials.
Instead, I saw Bianca.
Beside her was Bruno Bai.
And across the table sat the academy’s admissions director.
He pushed a document toward me.
“Natalia, we are prepared to reconsider your admission.”
I looked at him.
“Under what conditions?”
“You withdraw the accusations against the school.”
I almost laughed.
“And my mother’s name?”
“We can issue a clarification.”
“A clarification?”
I stood up.
“My mother died protecting this country.”
My voice echoed through the room.
“You don’t get to erase eighteen years of lies with one sentence.”
Bruno’s expression darkened.
“Young lady, don’t make things difficult.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
“I think you already made things difficult for yourselves.”
At that moment, the conference room door opened.
Qin Zheng walked in.
Two investigators followed him.
He placed a sealed folder on the table.
“Director Shao.”
The director swallowed.
“What is that?”
Qin Zheng looked directly at Bruno Bai.
“The original background investigation.”
Bruno’s face changed.
Qin Zheng opened the folder.
“There is only one problem.”
He turned the first page.
“The file was modified using an authorization belonging to someone who officially died twelve years ago.”
Everyone went silent.
Then Qin Zheng added:
“And that person…”
“Was one of Xu Yanzhou’s fellow undercover agents.”
My blood ran cold.
Because if that was true, someone had been using a dead agent’s identity for years.
And whoever controlled that identity…
had access to my mother’s classified secrets.
