THE REAL PROTEGE

After the Tour — The Glass Office

The city glowed beneath them, neon veins pulsing through the dark. Inside the executive suite, the hum of the building faded to silence. Jack poured two glasses of baijiu — not out of tradition, but condition.

Four Eyes took his without comment, eyes fixed on the skyline.

"The twins weren't supposed to trigger anything," Jack said finally.

"The system's biometric lock is coded to your DNA. And Madam's override. That's it."

Four Eyes didn't look at him and said, "They didn't override. They harmonized."

Jack leaned against the desk, arms crossed.

"Bro, I know you told me many times that your twins are different. But that's not a thing. Not in tech. Not in physics. It is in blood."

Jack exhaled.

"You think it's spiritual? I think it's inconvenient." Four Eyes turned now, his gaze sharp. "They're children. They shouldn't be syncing with predictive architecture or warping holograms with a glance."

Jack hesitated.

"You knew they were different. Different is manageable. This is... inherited resonance. It means the system recognizes them not just as heirs, but as extensions."

Jack's voice dropped.

"Extensions of what?"

Four Eyes didn't answer immediately. He walked to the console and tapped the interface. The AI blinked awake.

"Welcome, Xu Chu Yan. Calibration stable."

He gestured for Jack to step forward.

"Try it."

Jack did. Nothing happened.

"...."

Four Eyes turned back.

"It's not just blood. It's legacy. Ling Li built the future. But the system still remembers its origin. And now it's listening to the next generation."

Jack's jaw tightened.

"That makes them dangerous. It makes them vital."

A long pause.

Then Jack asked,

"Do they know?"

Four Eyes looked out at the city again.

"Not yet. But the system does. And it's already adapting."

Mood Lighting and Mischief — The Twins Test the System

The next morning, Four Eyes and Jack stood in the central atrium of the Xu Conglomerate's tech wing — a cavernous space lined with smart glass, kinetic sculptures, and a ceiling that adjusted its opacity based on ambient emotion data. It was meant to be subtle. Predictive. Elegant.

It was not prepared for Kim Kim and Chin Chin.

The twins had wandered off again — not far, just into the Interactive Lounge, where prototype interfaces were being tested. Chin Chin was pouting. Kim Kim was bored. The building noticed.

The lights dimmed.

Not dramatically — just enough to make Jack squint.

"Did someone mess with the mood settings?" he asked, tapping his tablet.

Four Eyes didn't answer. He was watching Chin Chin, who had crossed her arms and was glaring at a wall panel. The panel blinked. Then it slid open.

"That's a restricted archive," Jack said, alarmed.

"It's a wall," Chin Chin replied.

"It was a wall," Four Eyes consented.

Jack "...."

Kim Kim wandered over to a vending unit labeled Prototype: Emotion-Responsive Snacks. Of course, this project was initiated due to Fatty's insistence. Kim Kim stared at it. It blinked. Then it dispensed a packet labeled "Melancholy Mochi."

Jack blinked.

"!!!!"

"That's not even in production!"

Kim Kim took a bite.

"Tastes like regret. Yuck! Uncle Jack, do you want to taste it?"

Jack "...."

'I definitely don't want to taste regret.'

Four Eyes' mouth twitched.

Jack opened his mouth, but no words came out. Just before he unwillingly reached out his hand to take the mochi...

"Kim Kim, just throw it away if you don't want it," Four Eyes said.

"Oh."

Chin Chin stomped her foot. The ceiling flickered. The kinetic sculpture above them — a floating spiral of light and metal — slowed, then rotated to face her. The temperature shifted. The scent profile adjusted. A soft breeze drifted through the vents, scented faintly with jasmine.

Jack backed up.

"Okay. That's not normal."

Four Eyes rubbed his temples.

"They're syncing again."

Jack pulled up the system diagnostics.

"The building's reading their emotional states as admin-level input. That's not supposed to happen unless —"

"Unless they're the system's emotional anchor," Four Eyes finished.

Kim Kim wandered toward a locked door. It slid open before she touched it.

Jack stared.

Blinked

"!!!!"

"That door requires triple clearance and a retinal scan!"

Kim Kim shrugged.

"It felt curious."

Chin Chin giggled.

"The building likes us."

Four Eyes turned to Jack.

"You said they were dangerous."

Jack nodded.

"I stand by it, but I'm also terrified of grounding them. What if the lights go out? I'd be worried if they got scared," Four Eyes said, looking at the twins with indulgence.

Jack "...."

Jack muttered, half to himself,

"I don't think they'd be scared of the dark. The dark side would probably be scared of them."

Chin Chin twirled gracefully, her movements causing the ceiling to brighten, as if responding to her energy. The intricate sculpture hovering above pulsed softly for a fleeting moment before resuming its languid rotation, casting delicate shadows that danced along the walls. The air shifted once more, now infused with a zesty citrus aroma that felt both lively and mischievous. Beneath her feet, the floor tiles began to warm gently, adjusting to her comfort as if the very ground was attuned to her needs.

"You two, sit down and read the books your mother asked you to finish," Four Eyes said, concerned about how much more trouble they would create.

Kim Kim looked up, her eyes wide with curiosity about what Chin Chin had just done.

"We're not doing anything," she replied, her voice a mix of confusion and intrigue.

Jack hesitated, the silence stretching between them.

"That's what's terrifying," he finally murmured, a hint of dread lacing his words.

Four Eyes let out a weary sigh, the weight of the situation palpable in the air.

"We need to talk to Ling Li," he said, the urgency evident in his tone.

Jack nodded thoughtfully, his expression serious. "And maybe we should consult a priest—and even an exorcist," he added, crossing his fingers in a gesture of hopeful superstition, as if warding off the unknown dangers looming ahead.

"...."

Aftermath — Systems Review and Four Eyes' Directive

Later that afternoon, the executive diagnostics team gathered in the Subsystems Vault — a secure, shielded chamber beneath the tech wing. Jack stood at the head of the table, flanked by Four Eyes and his bodyguards.

The lead engineer, Ms. Zhao, was pale.

"We ran a full sweep. The twins didn't breach anything. But the system... it reclassified them."

Four Eyes raised an eyebrow.

"Reclassified?"

"As primary emotional anchors. Not biometric admins. Not override users. Anchors. The system's predictive architecture is now factoring their moods into environmental adjustments."

Jack muttered,

"That explains the melancholy mochi."

Four Eyes didn't smile.