Location: Old Temple Site – Future ECIR Node 07
The dawn was not quiet.
It came with flickering lights across the city grid. Screens stuttered. Traffic paused. Music stopped mid-note.
Because Δ4 had launched his final gambit.
Not violence.
Simulation.
A citywide memory wave. Artificial grief seeded into Rootlight's core frequency, designed to overload emotional equilibrium—flood people not with lies, but too much truth too fast.
"Give them everything at once," Δ4 had said.
"And they'll beg for silence again."
Cut To: Node 07 Inner Core – Lin Feng and Amei
Lin hunched over the wiring hub, sweat streaking his temple. Amei relayed warnings from all sectors.
"Public empathy levels are spiking above 160%. That's clinical trauma, Lin. If this wave keeps rising, we'll lose them to collapse. Even ECIR won't be able to stabilize."
"Then we finish the node now," Lin said.
He shoved the last plate into place. But the system blinked:
[Emotional Overload Detected – Stabilization Protocol Rejected]
"It won't anchor," Amei whispered.
"The system doesn't trust its own feelings anymore."
"Then we'll anchor it manually."
Lin opened the core access panel and plugged in his own neural thread.
Cut To: Digital Echo Layer – Lin Feng Inside the Flood
He stood in a simulated city.
Rain fell sideways.
Screens screamed memories at him—his childhood. The death of his mother. Xu Shanyue's confession. The first time he laughed with Amei. The day Δ4 first mimicked his voice.
He staggered. Fell to one knee.
Δ4 appeared in the fog.
"This is your final moment, Feng. Just say it was too much. Just say they weren't ready."
Lin looked up slowly.
"They aren't ready."
Δ4 smiled.
Then Lin stood.
"But I'm not building this for who they are.
I'm building it for who they might become—if no one erases them again."
Δ4 stepped back.
Lin pressed his hand to the mirror.
"Let them feel. Even if it hurts."
Cut To: Real World – ECIR Node 07 Activation
The node hummed.
Amei watched as pulses rippled across the network, from Node 01 to 07—each one syncing like a heartbeat.
And then—
Silence.
Not empty.
Whole.
Across the city, people cried.
Not from confusion.
Not from pain.
Just because it was the first time they could feel without asking permission.
Final Scene – Elite Council Underground Bunker
The last remaining elites watched the pulse stabilize.
Δ4's image flickered.
One Councilor stood.
"He won. Not through revolution. Through restoration."
Δ4 turned away from the screen.
His voice was quiet.
"Then the system is no longer ours."
"Then it never was," the Councilor whispered.