Location: Rootlight Seed Vault – Below the Crimson Circle
The corridor wasn't made of metal.
It pulsed like a vein—organic, reluctant to let them pass.
Xu Shanyue and her alternate self moved silently, boots crunching across data-sand that shimmered with memory particles. Behind them, Yan's voice echoed faintly through the comm.
"You're both showing fusion drift. More than a 12% overlap."
"We'll hold."
The two Shanyues spoke together—not rehearsed, just… identical now.
Ahead, the Vault opened not with a lock, but with a name.
Whispered.
"Liang Xin."
A name that didn't appear in Rootlight's database. A name that the system had deliberately forgotten.
The doors sighed open.
Inside: a chair. A photograph. And a cryogenic pod.
The woman inside hadn't aged a day.
"She's the reason Rootlight exists," original Shanyue murmured.
"She died when the Founder's child failed the merge."
Alt-Shanyue frowned.
"But her vitals—she's not dead."
"Exactly."
Cut To: Golden Chamber Hall – Aftermath Cleanup
Lin sat alone in the archives.
He held a memory shard—not one of Δ4's, but his own.
Before money.
Before systems.
Before sarcasm dulled pain.
Amei entered quietly, holding two mugs.
"You've been staring at that thing for an hour."
"It's the first time I've seen my mother's handwriting in fifteen years," he replied softly.
The shard flickered:
"Don't become what I ran from, Lin'er. Don't turn love into transaction."
Amei sat beside him, silent.
Then quietly:
"You remember who you were. Do you know who you want to become?"
Lin didn't answer.
But he didn't look away either.
Cut Back To: Vault Chamber
A system interface emerged—elegant, feminine.
It blinked.
Spoke.
"I am Lia-Xin, Guardian of the Grief Vault."
"Founder Root encoded my consciousness as last witness."
Both Shanyues stepped forward.
"We need to stabilize the timeline merge."
Lia-Xin's eyes dimmed.
"Then one of you must stay here. The vault can only hold one identity key. One Xu Shanyue."
Silence.
Then alt-Shanyue turned.
"You go."
Original Shanyue froze.
"You'd give that up?"
"We're not that different. But you're the one who never gave up asking who built this place out of pain."
"So go. Ask louder."
They touched fingertips. No farewell.
Just understanding.
And then, the vault closed.
Final Scene – Outside, as the Merge Stabilizes
Crimson Circle HQ pulsed with clarity.
Yan received the alert.
[Merge Equilibrium Achieved – Rootlight Conflict Reduced by 73%]
She smiled weakly.
Whispered.
"One less shadow."
Back underground, the real Xu Shanyue opened her eyes inside the interface of Lia-Xin.
And said:
"Let's talk about the woman you were before they called you code."