Location: Rootlight Deep-Vault Omega – "Eidolon Program Chamber"
It was cold.
Not the cold of winter or steel—but the cold of absence. A place that had never been touched by a name.
A sealed vault. Beyond even the Chrono Lens.
There, in stasis: a woman.
Still, silent.
Unaged.
Forgotten.
The technician read from the tablet, voice shaking.
> "Target: Codename Amei."
> "Relation to Lin Feng: emotionally bonded. Timeline suppressed twelve years ago under Project SCISSORTHREAD."
The High Monitor gave a single nod.
> "Awaken her."
> "And point her at him."
---
Meanwhile – Crimson Circle Node "Thicket"
Xu Shanyue stared at the rising metrics. Across the world, people weren't just watching—they were remembering.
Uploading voice memos.
Photos.
Fragments.
> "Memory as resistance," Qingyue said beside her. "It's beautiful."
But then a spike hit the network. A pulse not from within—but from the Vaults.
Xu Shanyue's face paled.
> "They've brought back a ghost."
---
Cut To: Lin Feng – Near Chengdu, Temporal Displacement Zone
Lin moved like a man half-dreaming, half-waking.
Yan walked beside him, silent for once.
Then—
A presence.
Not hostile.
Not yet.
He turned—and there she stood.
Rain in her hair.
A face half-forgotten, but carved beneath his ribs like a name he never dared speak aloud.
> "...Amei?"
She blinked slowly. Her eyes scanned him.
Recognition flickered.
Then pain.
> "I was deleted for you," she said softly.
> "And now they've restored me to end you."
---
Flashback (Bleed Memory): Lin Feng, Age 17
A rooftop.
Smoke in the air.
Amei, laughing. Stealing half his lunch.
Saying: "You'll either change the world or burn it. Just let me know which, so I pack accordingly."
Then silence.
Then white.
Then nothing.
---
Back to Present
> "I didn't know," Lin whispered.
Amei smiled—a small, cruel thing.
> "Of course you didn't. That's what makes it a good erasure."
She raised her hand.
And the world shimmered.
She wasn't just real.
She was anchored by the Vaults.
Rootlight's first and only Mnemonic Weapon.
---
Final Moments – Clash of Names
> "You don't have to do this," Lin said.
> "They rebuilt me for this."
> "But you weren't built," he said softly. "You were real."
The rain fell harder.
Behind them, Yan's system screamed warnings.
Reality began to bend.
And between them—Amei hesitated.
A breath.
A tear.
Then—
Black fade.
---