Location: Crimson Safehouse 'Featherfold' – 03:42 A.M.
It began quietly.
Mouse was mid-sentence, something about ping loops and a half-built mesh relay—
Then stopped.
Frowned.
"Wait... what was I talking about?"
Lin turned.
Qingyue looked up from her notes.
"Where's Yan?"
The question hung.
A long, aching pause.
Then Lin stood so fast his chair fell.
He ran down the hallway—
—to the room that should have held the boy—
—and stopped cold.
The door was open.
Inside: empty bed. Cold teacup. One book, Laozi's Dao De Jing, face-down.
No signs of struggle.
Just... absence.
And in Lin's head—
nothing.
"Mouse," he snapped. "Roll back security feed. Ten minutes."
She hesitated. "Ten minutes of what?"
"The boy."
Mouse blinked.
"…what boy?"
Outside the Safehouse – Moments Earlier
Yan walked slowly across wet concrete, barefoot.
No one stopped him.
Not because they didn't care.
But because they didn't remember he'd ever existed.
He felt it happening—like static peeling memory from the walls of his mind.
"System. Diagnostic."
[ERROR: IDENTITY CONFLICT DETECTED]
"What's happening to me?"
[HOST IS SUBJECT TO PROTOCOL: BLANKLIGHT]
[MEMETIC FORGETTING FIELD ACTIVATED BY EXTERNAL SOURCE]
He whispered, "Can I resist it?"
[ONLY IF SOMEONE REMEMBERS YOU.]
Kyoto – Private Broadcast Room, Crimson Circle Satellite Base
Xu Shanyue stared at the countdown timer.
Twenty-seven minutes until Rootlight's BLANKLIGHT protocol achieved global parity. After that, even she might forget.
She stood before the camera. Live.
No script.
Just faith.
She spoke one sentence:
"His name is Yan. And I remember."
The Broadcast: Global Impact (Partial Transcript)
"You won't see him trending. You won't find a file. They've erased every image, every log, every mention."
"But he's real."
"I touched his hand."
"I heard him say no to power."
"His name is Yan. And if even one of you remembers, they can't unmake him."
"If memory is resistance—then let's resist."
Lin Feng – Staggering Back to Awareness
Lin clutched the table as pain surged through his skull.
A name.
A room.
A boy with calm eyes who asked questions about flame.
"Yan…"
Memories flooded back like breached water.
He hit the emergency recall switch.
"Qingyue—find him. NOW."
Final Scene – Yan on a Rooftop
Alone.
Half-forgotten.
But still here.
He whispered to himself:
"One flame. One name."
"I exist."