Chapter 14: The Mysterious Notification

The sky over Kluang shimmered in golden orange. Their last day in the town felt strange. Not because of the bizarre events a week earlier, but because of what lingered in their hearts.

They had packed everything. The homestay that had served as their investigation base was now quiet. Empty cups, scattered wires, notes and scribbled sketches lay abandoned on the table. Outside, the occasional sound of a passing motorcycle reminded them that the world kept moving.

"So, we go back to Shah Alam and pretend none of this ever happened?" Nico asked, lounging on the couch.

"What if people ask what we did in Kluang?" Zara added. "How do we explain that?"

Liam raised his hand. "Student conference. We joined a communication workshop and climbed Mount Lambak. That’s it."

"Not wrong," Risa said. "Just... incomplete."

Aiman walked in from the kitchen, holding his phone. He looked uneasy.

"Something’s still not right," he said quietly.

They turned to him. This time, it wasn’t another mysterious text.

"I just got an email," Aiman continued. "From… Dr. Mokhtar."

Liam stood up. "Dr. Mokhtar? But he’s…"

"He’s alive," Aiman replied. "And he knows what we did. He said he’s coming to see us. Soon."

Risa stood up. "What does he want?"

"He didn’t say. But his message was short. Just one sentence."

Zara stepped closer. "What did he write?"

Aiman opened his phone screen and read aloud:

"Don’t trust Johan. This was only the first layer of the experiment."

Silence fell. A light breeze blew the thin curtains, as if carrying a warning of something larger to come.

"First layer?" Nico repeated. "You mean there’s more?"

Aiman pocketed his phone.

"It means... we’re not done yet."

And at that very moment, in a place far from Kluang, in a dark room filled with computer screens and the soft hum of machines, a man in a white robe stood before a large map of Peninsular Malaysia. A single red dot glowed on the map, directly over the name: Kuantan.

A lab assistant entered and asked, "Ready for Phase Two, sir?"

The man turned. In his hand, he held a file labelled The Kinrara Protocol.

He gave a thin smile. "Yes. Let them think Kluang is safe."