Location: Reality Scar Zone – Western Outskirts of Chengdu
Lightning split a violet sky, but the air was still.
Lin Feng stood five feet from Amei.
His past, brought back as a weapon.
Her expression was unreadable—trained that way. Rootlight had molded her body, rebuilt her neural threads, but they couldn't erase everything. A crack of emotion kept surfacing.
And Lin saw it.
> "You once said you'd follow me into the storm."
Amei's eye twitched.
> "That memory was deemed irrelevant."
> "Then why did it survive the rewrite?"
She didn't answer.
---
Meanwhile – Crimson Node "Thicket"
Xu Shanyue paced fast. Too fast.
Qingyue pulled up Amei's file. What little was left.
> "She was listed as 'Deleted by Request.'"
Xu narrowed her eyes.
> "Whose request?"
They scrolled to the bottom.
It didn't say Lin Feng.
It said:
Initiator: SYSTEM/PRIME-LF
Xu whispered, stunned:
> "Lin… ordered her erasure?"
Qingyue's voice cracked. "Why?"
Xu's jaw clenched.
> "Not to forget her. To protect her."
> "They just found a way to weaponize that love."
---
Back at the Scar Zone
Amei moved.
Fast.
She struck—three clean blows. Lin blocked two, deflected the third. Her technique was his own, mirrored and stripped of emotion.
> "Do you hate me?" he asked as their blades clashed.
> "I don't feel hate."
> "Do you remember me?"
She faltered.
Just once.
That was all he needed.
Lin dropped his blade.
Stood straight.
Vulnerable.
> "Then cut me. Right here."
He tapped his heart.
"If there's nothing left, you'll finish the mission. If there's anything of Amei still in you—you won't."
Amei froze.
Rain ran down the side of her face.
Then—
> She lowered the knife.
> Whispered:
"Damn you."
> "You were always too good at believing in people."
---
Elsewhere – Rootlight Sanctum, High Tower
The High Monitor watched the feed.
Fury trembled in his hands.
> "She's broken protocol."
> "Engage Collapse Order?"
> "No," he growled.
> "Engage her fail-safe."
---
Final Scene – Amei's Collapse
She gasped.
Grabbed her skull.
> "No—no—nononono—"
Lin caught her before she fell.
> "What is it?"
Amei's eyes flickered, glitching between blue and gray.
> "They built a—code lock. If I defect—"
Blood from her nose. Static in her voice.
> "They'll turn me into a living paradox."
> "Lin—run."
> "I won't leave you."
> "You already did once."
She smiled—weak, real.
Then convulsed.