Location: Crimson Circle Mobile Command – Moving Train, Somewhere in Sichuan
Xu Shanyue stood over a flickering holomap. Dozens of red dots glowed across continents—nodes where people remembered Yan.
Each one a spark.
Each one a threat to Rootlight's illusion.
"We don't need armies," she said. "We need anchors."
Her aide looked up. "Anchors?"
Xu's eyes gleamed.
"People whose memories are strong enough to defy the rewrite. We link them. We amplify them."
She tapped the map.
"They're rewriting the past."
"So we'll write truth."
Cut To: Rootlight Data Purge Division – Beijing Black Vault
The halls were cold and sterile. Words were forbidden here.
Instead, archivists in silence erased names from records. Erased events from timelines. Sculpted history into obedience.
At the center of it all: the Chrono Lens — a machine capable of projecting retroactive reality alignment.
Its goal: rewrite not just perception, but cause.
Tonight, its target was Lin Feng.
If they could sever his story, Yan would become a myth.
Meanwhile – Lin and Yan, On the Move
They rode in a battered Crimson transport, hidden among fruit crates and signal jammers. Lin watched the road. Yan sat beside him, silent.
"They'll come for you again," Lin said.
"No," Yan replied. "They'll come for you."
Lin turned, confused.
Yan met his eyes.
"They've stopped targeting me. They've started targeting my origin."
Elsewhere – Xu's Broadcast (Part Two)
Live.
Across fractured channels.
Xu stood before a black background, no logos, no signal mask.
"You want to know the truth about Yan?"
"He's not a ghost."
"He was raised by people you erased. Trained by names you buried. Protected by a man they're trying to unmake."
She held up a photo: Lin Feng, in profile, rooftop light behind him.
"This is the man they fear."
"Because he remembers."
Rootlight High Sanctum – Emergency Meeting
The High Monitor crushed the glass of his communion cup.
"Initiate FINAL DUSK."
The chamber fell silent.
Then a priest-coder whispered, terrified:
"You mean… edit the cause itself?"
"Yes."
"But the metaphysics—"
"I no longer care about metaphysics. I care about control."
Final Scene – Yan's Mind
As the world twisted beneath digital edits, Yan sat with closed eyes.
"System," he whispered.
"Am I still real?"
[YES. YOU ARE REMEMBERED.]
"By who?"
[BY ENOUGH.]