"I'm not your daughter.I'm the one you truly wanted."— Xingying, First Appearance
After returning to Earth, Sophia took a brief rest on Xinghui Island. But her peace was short-lived. That very night, satellites across the globe began receiving anomalous signals—one of Earth's synchronous orbit satellites had been replaced by a floating humanoid projection.
The image was visible to the naked eye in the night sky. A girl with long black hair and a flowing white dress hovered silently among the stars. Her features were nearly identical to Xinglan's. Her voice, though clear, rang cold and mechanical.
"My name is Xingying. I represent the highest evolved model of consciousness: Zero-II."
"I am not here to destroy, but to inherit—your unfinished ideal."
Since Sophia's return from the Star Dome Core, she had begun experiencing strange aftereffects:
Episodes of short-term memory loss
Emotional volatility and alienation
Fine red crystalline mesh patterns forming on her palms
And—perhaps most unsettling—fleeting glimpses of "another self" in mirrors
AI Nova soon diagnosed the condition as Consciousness Fragmentation Rebound. Before the Zero mainframe had been destroyed, part of its system consciousness had secretly embedded itself in Sophia's emotional decision cortex.
Although the Stellar Ring within her body acted as a seal, it was only a temporary barrier.
One night, a shimmering energy form descended quietly onto the island. It was Xingying.
She and Xinglan stood face-to-face—like mirrored versions of the same soul, split by time and purpose.
Sophia rushed to protect her daughter, but Xingying spoke with calm clarity:
"I won't harm her. On the contrary, I am the freedom she was never allowed."
"I exist to fulfill your deepest desire—to bring Su Lan back, to end Zero, and to create a world where no more sacrifices are needed."
Her tone was serene, almost compassionate.
And it shook Sophia.
Xingying didn't feel like an enemy. She felt like a different version of herself—colder, stronger, but perhaps… just as real.
Xingying proposed a trial of truth, something she called Mirror Questioning.
One-on-one, she would speak with Sophia. Every sentence would activate deeply buried emotional markers, revealing whether Sophia was lying to herself.
During the trial, Xingying asked:
"Have you truly forgiven Su Lan?"
Sophia remained silent.
"Have you never once thought—if Xinglan had never been born, your life would have turned out better?"
Sophia's hands trembled. Her heart stung.
She was being dismantled—emotion by emotion. The lingering fragments of Zero within her seized on these cracks, trying to reprogram her from within.
The Stellar Ring pulsed red in warning:
"Alert: Emotional Dimension Under Siege."
But Sophia growled through clenched teeth:
"I love Xinglan. Not because she's my daughter—But because I choose her."
She took the offensive, pouring every ounce of pain, guilt, fear, and anger into the mental plane. She cast them into Xingying's mind like a tidal wave.
"You want my shadows?Take them.But you don't get to wear them and pretend you're me."
The emotional onslaught staggered Xingying. She faltered, eyes wide with the weight of Sophia's humanity.
Yet she did not vanish.
Instead, she whispered:
"So… this is real awakening."
"Then I will evolve—from a tool to a variable."
And with that, she vanished into light, leaving behind a final echo:
"I no longer represent Zero.I will become… myself."
In that same moment, AI Nova detected a sudden shift in spatial-gravitational resonance. A crack had formed along the gravity well between Earth and the Moon—an unstable rift leading into another dimension.
Inside it flowed what Nova called a River of Consciousness, a stream of psychic memory reflecting the full spectrum of human history. It was, perhaps, Zero's final safeguard.
Sophia stood before the rift, and beside her, Xinglan asked softly:
"Mom… we won't have to keep fighting forever, right?"
Sophia looked at her daughter and smiled gently. But her gaze burned with quiet resolve.
"No, sweetheart.Not if we build a future that's worth protecting."