Location: Yunzhou – One of the Four Lantern Net Cities
Codename: THREAD-02
Yunzhou wasn't a city so much as a reflection—a perfect grid of mirrored skyscrapers and concealed fiber-optic veins. Beneath its polished surface, something else stirred: silent algorithms, biometric street cameras, and minds that weren't entirely their own.
Lan Ke's warning had been clear: "THREAD-02 is where she buried the first cooperative successor. Not a weapon—an architect. His codename is Silk Mind."
And now Lin Feng was here, alone.
No Mouse. No Qingyue.
Only a false identity—and a countdown.
Yunzhou – Administrative Archives, Floor B7
He posed as an urban systems engineer—credentials forged by Mouse to pass biometric validation. As he passed through scanner gates and retinal checks, the lights didn't flicker. The system didn't reject him.
Which was exactly what worried him.
Then, a voice: "You came earlier than expected."
He turned.
The young man standing across the terminal wore a white shirt, sleeves rolled up. No visible weapons. No fear. Just eyes too sharp, too clear.
"My name's Ji Yun. But I assume you know me better as Silk Mind."
Elsewhere – Orchid Root's Control Chamber
Orchid traced her fingers along an antique data map of Yunzhou, each glowing node a life, a choice, a variable.
Guo Yuwei's defection had cost her time. But Ji Yun—Silk Mind—was the contingency.
She smiled to herself.
"Let Lin Feng see the beauty of obedience refined. Let him understand what he never agreed to be."
She opened a live feed to THREAD-02.
Yunzhou Archives – Conversation Between Mirrors
Ji Yun poured two cups of tea. "You came expecting a monster. I came expecting a brother."
"I'm not your brother," Lin said coldly.
"Wrong," Ji Yun replied. "We are born of the same hypothesis. You were the outlier. I am the pattern."
He gestured to the window behind them—glass looking out over the perfectly synchronized Yunzhou skyline.
"Don't you see it? No war. No crime. No rebellion. This is what Orchid meant when she spoke of governance beyond consent."
"You call this peace?"
Ji Yun smiled. "I call it completion."
And with a snap of his fingers—every screen in the building shifted.
Footage. Of Lin Feng's entry. His forged identity. Mouse's fingerprint. Qingyue's face.
"You're already compromised," Ji Yun said. "The net isn't just wires. It's you. It's me. You're inside it already."
But Lin Feng only smiled back.
"You made one mistake," he said.
"What's that?"
"I don't need to escape the net," Lin said. "I came to short-circuit it."
And he pressed a button on his watch.
Outside – Power Surge Across Yunzhou Grid
Every third node surged.
Mouse's code, buried in a simple identity tag, spread like fire. Backup generators kicked in—but the smart grid had been fed a paradox:
"Destroy any node that detects contradiction in human behavior."
The city, obedient to its logic, began to erase itself.
Inside the Archives
Ji Yun froze, watching as lights blinked red.
"You… corrupted it."
"No," Lin said. "I reminded it that no mind is perfectly obedient. Not even yours."
Ji Yun staggered.
His perfect world flickered.
But he didn't fall.
Instead, he whispered, "Then we'll rebuild… stronger."
And vanished.
Back in Longhai – Crimson Circle HQ
Lan Ke watched the signal collapse from Yunzhou.
Xu Shanyue asked quietly, "Was that the first blow?"
Lan Ke nodded.
And said:
"One city down. Three to go."