PLocation: Undisclosed Substructure Beneath Sector D-9
It had no name.
Just a soundproofed corridor below an abandoned elevator shaft, shielded from both surveillance and memory-sync pulses. Here, Lin Feng stood with Amei, Feng Zhiwei, and three rogue engineers—once Rootlight's own.
In front of them: a crude but stable construct.
ECIR Node 01.
An analog terminal surrounded by softlight coils and memory isolation plates.
"We're building mirrors," Lin said, voice low but steady.
"Not weapons. Not control nodes. Just rooms people can walk into... and be remembered fully, without filters."
Zhiwei exhaled.
"If Rootlight finds this—"
"It will," Lin said.
"But not before we seed seven more across the city."
Amei frowned.
"Seven?"
Lin smiled slightly.
"Symbolic."
Zhiwei raised an eyebrow.
"For what?"
"The seven regrets I couldn't forget even when the system tried."
Cut To: Crimson Circle – Rootlight Core Nest
Xu Shanyue and Lia-Xin moved deeper into the archive's unstable heart.
Here, code moved like vines.
Painful memories pulsed in exposed loops, rewinding endlessly—failed mergers, abandoned prototypes, children who were almost system-compatible but never named.
Shanyue touched one loop. Her hand stung.
"Why keep these?"
Lia-Xin replied:
"Rootlight was not designed to forget. It was told to. By someone in your bloodline."
Shanyue froze.
"What?"
Lia-Xin reached toward a sealed archive node labeled EMERALD-FRAGMENT//G.52
"Do you want to know which of your ancestors gave the command to erase grief from the system's core?"
Shanyue hesitated.
Then:
"Yes."
Cut To: Elite Council – Internal Uprising
Three members had vanished in a day.
One choked on memories that returned too fast.
Another confessed to crimes she didn't know she'd committed.
The youngest, barely twenty-five, stood now in front of the others—terrified but resolute.
"Rootlight was never neutral. It just wore a quiet face."
The Chairman's expression cracked.
"You side with the traitor?"
"I side with memory. And if that makes me dangerous... then maybe forgetting made you weak."
Cut Back To: ECIR Node 02 – Construction Begins
Night fell in Old City.
Lin, Amei, and two teen couriers moved under cover of a sandstorm.
The location was a ruined hospital—once Rootlight-leased, now long ignored.
Inside, Lin placed the second node.
He tapped the terminal once.
A blue spark glowed.
"You think this can outlast Rootlight?" Amei asked softly.
Lin answered without looking up:
"No.
But it can outlast fear."
Final Scene – Rootlight Main Sky Interface
Lia-Xin stood inside a memory chamber that shimmered with forbidden code.
Xu Shanyue looked upon the screen.
A file unlocked.
Video.
A woman—Liang Xin—her real face.
She stared at the camera, tear-stained, and said:
"If they use me to build a world, promise me they'll remember I didn't choose it."
Shanyue whispered:
"I promise."
And Rootlight's central interface began… to slow.
As if listening.