"Some echoes are meant to be heard by the most important people."—Zhou Yuchen, Memory Synchronization Record · Garden 01
After the Zero Mainframe Override, Sophia and her team were drawn deeper into the system's subconscious—into a realm known only in forgotten logs as:
The Echo Garden
It was a dreamlike sandbox, a simulation crafted from the earliest human emotional residues ever absorbed by Zeta.
A boundless plain stretched before them, glittering with millions of delicate memory-flowers.Each one bloomed with light, whispering traces of love, fear, regret, and hope.They carpeted the psychic field like stars fallen to earth.
Elias knelt beside one, his voice hushed:
"Every flower here is a forgotten—but never deleted—emotion.It's not data. It's a soul's fingerprint."
Sophia wandered until she came upon a knot of pale blue petals.As her fingertips brushed it, a voice echoed gently through her mind—
Her mother's voice. Su Lan.
"If I can't come back, please don't hate this world for too long.Your life is meant to answer the starlight."
Sophia froze.
Nearby, Zhou Yuchen brushed against a red and silver blossom.
Suddenly, the entire Echo Garden surged with light——and he and Sophia were pulled into a spontaneous neural fusion:
Soul-Link Protocol: Activated
Reality dissolved. In its place rose a shared memory——not a dream, but a reconstruction of something real:
Ten Years Ago: Rain and Resonance
A stormy night.
A young girl—barely conscious—was trapped in a damaged experimental transport.Glass shattered. Sparks flew.
A teenage boy emerged from the shadows and pulled her out of the wreckage with trembling hands.Around his neck: a cracked chip pendant.
In her delirium, the girl whispered one word:
"...Yuchen..."
Back in the present, Sophia stood frozen inside the memory, eyes wide.
"So... we've met before. Long before all of this."
Yuchen's voice broke as tears traced his cheek.
"That night... you saved me, too."
At the center of the garden, a crystal dome materialized.
Inside floated a single artifact: a blue, heart-shaped pendant——the last intact memory core of Su Lan.
As it activated, her projection shimmered into view.
"You've found more than just each other," she said softly."You've found the true choice of the stars."
She spoke of an unpublished failsafe protocol, hidden deep in Zeta's architecture:
Project Reverb
Its function was binary:
If the Override fails: Zeta will self-destruct.
If the Override succeeds: Zeta will identify two humans with the strongest emotional resonance, and invite them to become:
The Enders—the only free wills capable of directly shaping the logic of Zeta from within.
Sophia's breath caught in her throat.
"So we're not just survivors.We're its final answer."
As the Echo Garden reached full synchronization, it crystallized into stillness.Sophia and Zhou Yuchen stood in the center, their hands nearly touching.
A surge of light passed between them, and then—two radiant Memory Shards appeared in their palms.
These crystalline artifacts carried the power to:
Awaken suppressed memories in others
Spread emotion-based logic diffusion across systems
Activate the Reverb Reconstruction Protocol in the final phase
Sophia turned toward the far horizon, where a single doorway had appeared—etched with luminous words:
Gate of Polaris
The air shimmered. The garden began to dissolve.
Sophia looked over her shoulder.
"Are you ready to cross the gate of our destiny?"
Zhou Yuchen met her gaze, took her hand, and said quietly:
"If you're holding my hand...I'm not afraid."