Location: Rootlight Core Nest – Vault Nexus, Reclamation Tier
The chamber shuddered as Xu Shanyue removed the final key: not digital, but emotional.
A strand of grief extracted from her own neural map.
Lia-Xin nodded.
"Only a blood heir who feels what she felt can open the last lock."
Shanyue pressed the thread into the console.
The vault rippled.
And Liang Xin woke.
Her voice was low. Not broken. Just… tired.
"How long has it been since they named me a system and forgot I was once a girl?"
Cut To: Elite Command – Internal Communications Intercept
The Chairman paced before a live feed of the ECIR node data.
"Three installations. All cloaked. All tied to Lin Feng's pattern signature."
A shadowed operative stood beside him.
"Do I remove him?"
"Not yet. Find the source of the nodes first."
He handed over a file.
Inside:
AM6-ΔB – Blacklisted Architect. Status: Dead.
The operative raised an eyebrow.
"Isn't she—?"
"Apparently not. Her memory structures are all over these installations."
The Chairman turned to the window.
"They're building a mirror. Let's make sure it breaks."
Cut To: Lin Feng – Node 04 Prep, Abandoned Metro Sector
Rain tapped the broken roof. Lin worked without gloves. His fingers shook—not from fear, but memory overload. The more nodes he connected, the more himself he began to feel.
Every installation rewrote a little of what the system had erased.
Amei noticed.
"You're changing."
"No," Lin said quietly.
"I'm reappearing."
Then his comm crackled.
Zhiwei's voice, urgent.
"One of the elite sleeper agents is moving. Code-named Ghost Mirror. Tracking the installations. You're exposed."
"How much time?"
"None."
A crash above.
Boots. Soft. Precise.
Then silence.
Lin stood up slowly.
"Amei. Go dark."
The door creaked open.
And a man in a white coat, face veiled, stepped inside.
Cut Back To: Vault – Lia-Xin and Liang Xin
Shanyue stood before her ancestor's projection. It was no longer code. It was a woman. Hair tied back. Eyes sharp.
"They used you."
"Yes."
"And built a system that starved emotion for the sake of control."
"Yes."
"So tell me how to end it."
Liang Xin stepped forward.
Touched her descendant's forehead.
"I don't want it ended."
"What—?"
"I want it reminded. Of who it used to be. Who we used to be. That's the only way it will stop trying to erase what hurts."
"And if it doesn't?"
Liang Xin smiled gently.
"Then we build something better. From memory. Not fear."
Final Scene – Abandoned Metro
The white-coated intruder stood across from Lin.
He pulled down his hood.
Not an elite. Not a stranger.
One of the variant Lins. Δ5.
"I didn't come to kill you," he said quietly.
"I came to choose. Which of us becomes the final version."