I’m still not over the fact that I accidentally texted the creator of the talking soup.
But you know what I did do right after?
I said “yes.”
To what?
To Meha.
Meha, our data systems queen. Wears all black. Has three backup drives on her at all times. Once crashed the library printer by trying to print a meme in .exe format.
I told her I found something called “Project ZEERA.”
Her exact response:
> “Meet me in AV Room 4. Don’t breathe till then.”
I went. Because I’m a coward in denial and I thought maybe she had snacks.
The AV room — let’s be honest — smells like someone microwaved a dead mouse and then taught it Photoshop. The projector makes a noise like it’s struggling with generational trauma, and the chairs collapse if you look at them too quickly.
I entered.
She was already there.
Hood up. Flash drive in hand. Eyes like “I’ve seen things and none of them were under 1080p.”
Me: “What is Salvo?”
She opened her laptop. Clicked a file.
Project Salvo.mp4
(Why is every file in this university named like an unreleased Marvel movie?)
The video?
A rat. Wearing a vest.
A red button.
Dr. Elroy’s voice saying: “Initiating neural impulse.”
Then the rat stood up…
SALUTED.
Did push-ups.
Then SNEEZED.
AND EXPLODED.
Me: “Did that rat just… Michael Bay itself?”
Meha: “Phase 2 involved humans. They were testing influence tech disguised as sensory learning enhancement. That’s what ZEERA was. Salvo is the mainframe.”
Me: “…They used Rasam to brainwash people???”
She looked me dead in the eyes.
> “Zayn. The mess is ground zero.”
I screamed internally in Pav Bhaji.
We heard something.
Clink.
The sound of a metal key dropping outside the AV door.
Me: “What if they’re here?”
Meha: “They’re here.”
Me: “Okay. New plan. Let’s pretend to be chairs.”
Too late. The red light on the camera in the top corner was ON.
Recording.
Meha: “They’ll trace this to us. We gotta wipe the system.”
Now here’s where it spirals like a corrupt internship certificate:
We sprinted to the media server under the old stage. Meha somehow has a master key (??) because she once did sound tech for a dance group that got disqualified for using live chickens.
She jacks into the server using her phone, muttering about "backdoor proxies" and "file corruption as activism."
Outside, Dr. Elroy and Bald Henchman #1 are entering the auditorium.
They’re talking.
> Elroy: “Someone accessed AV4. Wipe it. And if they copied anything—”
Bald Guy: “There are… rumors. Someone said the soup mocked them.”
We didn’t breathe.
But Meha’s phone did.
It blinked a final time and died.
1ttery.
Gone.
Like my dignity.
Then — THE CRATE FELL.
A whole prop crate from 2012’s "Romeo + Wifi" fell on top of us, knocking over a rusty tripod, which hit a hanging stage light, which FELL…
AND SHORT-CIRCUITED THE AUDITORIUM MAIN LIGHTS.
Boom. Blackout.
Screams from somewhere.
I was holding a foam sword.
Meha was choking on glitter dust.
My brain was dropping error codes like “ZAYN.EXE STOPPED RESPONDING.”
We escaped through the back door — coughing, running, borderline hallucinating.
Now here’s where it becomes Final Destination: Canteen Edition.
As we sprinted to the hostel: Pigeon flies in. Slams into notice board. Triggers the glass to fall.
Glass hits fire extinguisher.
Fire extinguisher sprays across the mess queue.
Students panic. Slip on dosa oil. Riot breaks out.
All while we’re just trying to delete a soup video.
We make it back to our room.
Aadek is inside. Eating raw oats like cereal. Watching anime on mute.
I scream: “POST THIS VIDEO. NOW.”
He doesn’t blink.
> “Add red tint? Static noise? Caption it like ‘government can’t see this.’ People love cursed content.”
He slaps together a video in 6 minutes with horror filter and grainy audio.
Captions it:
> “REAL FOOTAGE: V-Tech Soup AI Project. Mind Control Masala?? 🤯🔥 (Watch before it’s removed!!)”
He posts it on:
Reddit
Insta reel burner
A YouTube playlist called “soup that changed history”
A fake account named @spicywhistleblower
Within 7 minutes:
The mess is locked down
The student council issues a memo saying “soup will be paused until further notice”
The Wi-Fi gets throttled so hard even Google doesn’t open
And then — my phone buzzes.
> From: V-Tech Faculty Broadcast
“Zayn Rial. Report to Admin Block. Room 3B. Urgently.”
…
They found me.
I turn to Aadek.
Me: “If I die, delete my drafts.”
Him: “Send me your Paytm balance too. Just in case.”
Let me know if you’re ready for Part 3 — the message that starts the final explosion of chaos.
We’ve got:
Secret agent dosa vendor
An accidental livestream
Project SALVO going full viral
A campus lockdown that ends in a… goat?
Want me to unleash it?
And just when I thought it couldn’t get worse… I sent one last message.
To the wrong group.
And everything exploded — again.
React
