Chapter 20: The Balloon Girl Doesn’t Blink

Scene: Living Room – Sunrise

The little girl stepped inside holding her red balloon. Her tiny shoes made no sound.

Yun Fei stared. She was the exact replica of a girl from his past—his little sister who died in an accident when he was fourteen.

Lin Xiya gasped softly.

> "No… that can't be—"

The girl turned her head, smiling wider.

> "Hello, big brother. Hello, big sister. And hello, Yun Xi…"

Yun Xi didn't respond. He sat stiff, staring at the girl like she was a puzzle he was solving piece by piece.

Yun Fei's hands clenched.

> "You're not her."

> "I never claimed to be," she said softly, tilting her head. "But I do wear the memories you buried."

---

System Notification (Private to Yun Xi):

> Incoming Weaver Challenge: Level 2 — Emotional Displacement Trial

Rule: No physical harm allowed.

Objective: Maintain core self-awareness for 30 minutes.

---

Scene: The Test Begins

The balloon girl clapped once.

The apartment dissolved.

Yun Xi blinked—and found himself standing in a vast garden. A beautiful manor loomed nearby. Birds chirped. The air smelled like fresh strawberries.

His parents were there. Happy. Laughing.

He was older—maybe seventeen—and holding an award in his hands.

> "National Time-Tech Inventor of the Year."

> "This… isn't real," he muttered.

> "But it can be," the girl's voice echoed in the sky. "All you have to do is accept it. Stop fighting fate. Let us shape you into who you were meant to be."

The vision shifted.

He saw his family wealthy, safe, respected—his mother running a hospital, his father a professor again. He even had friends. Real ones.

Yun Xi's chest hurt.

> What if this was what they deserved?

---

Scene: Lin Xiya's Illusion

Lin Xiya found herself in a warm hospital room, holding a newborn.

A nurse smiled. "Congratulations, Dr. Lin. It's a girl this time."

Yun Fei was beside her. "Now our family is complete."

Tears stung Lin Xiya's eyes.

But she clenched her fists.

> "This isn't real. My son is in danger right now."

The nurse blinked. "But don't you deserve peace?"

Lin Xiya's expression hardened.

> "Only if he's free to find his own."

With that, the illusion cracked.

---

Scene: Yun Fei's Illusion

He sat at a desk, Nobel Medal on the shelf.

The university dean clapped his back. "Thanks to your work, time decay is cured. You saved humanity."

In the corner… his sister. Smiling, alive.

> "Come home, Fei," she whispered. "Stay here where the world is kind."

Yun Fei looked at her for a long time.

Then whispered, "You were brave. But you're gone."

The girl vanished like dust.

---

Back in Reality – Time Remaining: 3 Minutes

Yun Xi stood in the false garden. Everything was perfect.

Too perfect.

He knelt, touching the grass.

It didn't bend.

He stood, raising a hand—and pulled out the black feather from his chest.

It hummed softly.

> "I don't want this lie," he said aloud.

> "You will," the girl said, appearing beside him. "Because the truth will hurt more than this fantasy ever could."

Yun Xi turned to her.

> "If the truth hurts, then I'll grow strong enough to carry it."

He threw the feather into the sky.

It exploded.

The world shattered.

---

Scene: Back in Apartment – Timer Ends

The balloon girl blinked for the first time.

She looked sad.

Not angry.

Sad.

> "Only one other Echo ever passed this test," she whispered. "He lost himself later anyway."

Yun Fei stepped between her and Yun Xi.

> "Tell your Council. We don't need your false paradises."

She nodded slowly.

> "I wasn't here to kill him. Just to offer a deal. You said no. The Council will not be pleased."

She dropped the balloon.

It popped silently.

And she vanished.

---

Scene: Later That Day

Yun Xi sat at the balcony with his parents.

The air felt clearer.

"I saw what we could have had," he murmured.

"So did we," Lin Xiya replied. "But you chose this. Reality. Freedom."

Yun Fei put a hand on his son's shoulder.

> "Now we fight for the right to make our own future."

Yun Xi nodded.

"I'm ready."

But deep inside, a whisper remained—

> "Only one other Echo ever passed this test…"

Who was it?

And where was he now?