Location: Abandoned Canal Grid – Southern Chengdu
Night clung to the shattered city like smoke. Neon from half-dead signs buzzed in the rain-slick streets. Lin Feng and Amei moved fast, ducking under fallen cables and collapsing signage.
They were still synced—his neural link patched to her collapsing anchor. She staggered once, but Lin caught her without breaking stride.
"You good?"
Amei gave him a look.
"I'm missing 32% of myself and may still explode if I remember the wrong thing."
"So… half-decent."
She nodded grimly.
"Let's call it an average day."
Cut To: Rootlight Hunter Command – Drone Squad 'Vulture Nine'
"Target acquired," a synthetic voice buzzed over static.
"Mnemonic Asset has gone rogue. Orders: terminate Lin Feng. Recover Subject Amei."
A squad of six black-clad hunters descended—no eyes, just interface visors and long-range tranquilization spears coated in memory-cleaving code.
But as they landed, the ground blinked.
Not figuratively. Literally.
And the road beneath them collapsed into a flood of white-light constructs.
Yan appeared in their HUD feed. Wearing sunglasses. Indoors. At night.
"Hey fellas. You ever try debugging a ghost?"
Then the detonation began.
Meanwhile – Crimson Circle Archive Train
Xu Shanyue and Qingyue stood before a sealed glass terminal. Behind it: a crystal vault labeled:
[ROOT ORIGIN – Project A.M.E.I.]
Inside, a pulsating strand of code. Organic. Not written—grown.
Qingyue whispered:
"Lin wasn't her creator."
Xu stared.
"He was the reason she evolved."
They zoomed into the code.
And saw a phrase, repeated over and over, buried deep in her foundational layer:
REMEMBER HIM.
Back to the Streets
Amei ducked a volley of plasma spears. Lin spun, flinging a memory-shard blade—constructed from a chunk of her recovered emotion. The weapon sang through the air and shattered one drone mid-flight.
"You weaponized a hug," Amei muttered.
"Sentimental shrapnel," Lin grinned.
Another explosion. Then silence.
Yan's voice rang through their comms:
"You've got thirty seconds. I can only fake your death for so long."
"Where do we go?"
"Anywhere you were never supposed to become yourselves."
Amei paused.
Then said:
"There's a cabin. North. Where I first realized I loved you."
Lin blinked.
"I never knew that."
"Good. Means Rootlight probably doesn't either."
Final Scene – Flashback Fragment in Amei's Mind
A cabin. Snow falling softly. Lin asleep at the window, head resting on open books. Amei watching him in silence, warmth in her chest.
She never told him.
She thought she'd have time.
Now, she might again.