Fragments of Dreams

At the dilapidated "Old Demise Research Institute," Rin and Ye Xue encountered one of the amnesiac "Founders." Rin tried to extract more truth about the "Demise Project" and the "Mother System" from him, but the old man's memories were shattered, yielding only fragments of information. Rin knew that to truly understand and dismantle the system that warped their fates, they needed a deeper breakthrough.

As Rin focused on finding a way to restore the "Founder's" memories, Ye Xue's condition grew peculiar. She began to frequently fall into a unique kind of dream—not ordinary sleep, but more like a passive reception of vast amounts of information, an "awareness download."

In these dreams, Ye Xue saw countless unfamiliar faces and fragments of life. There was the innocence of children laughing in the sun, the tenderness of young lovers embracing under starry skies, the warmth of families gathered by a hearth, but also the sorrow of farewells, and even the despair of nearing death… These images were filled with humanity's richest emotions, yet they were emotional memories Ye Xue had never experienced.

Each time she awoke from such a dream, she felt an inexplicable emptiness and heaviness, as if those emotions, not her own, had left an imprint deep within her consciousness.

"Rin… I… I keep dreaming strange scenes," Ye Xue's face was pale, her eyes filled with confusion and unease. "Those emotions… so real, yet so foreign. I've never experienced them, but it feels like… I've felt them countless times."

Rin's heart stirred. He immediately realized this was no ordinary dream. In the "mother system's" internal consciousness space, although Ye Xue had broken free from its control, her unique constitution as the "restart system key" might still be unconsciously linking to some residual data from the "Demise Project."

He led Ye Xue to another simple, still-functional data analysis unit in the institute. Using his high sensitivity to data as the past-life "Blade of Demise" and his intuitive understanding of "Demise Power" as a "re-emergent," Rin began to monitor and interpret Ye Xue's brainwaves and consciousness fluctuations in real-time.

As the data analysis deepened, a shocking truth gradually surfaced.

Rin's brow furrowed further, and his expression grew increasingly grim. The "unfamiliar emotional memories" in her dreams weren't random fragments; they possessed a certain intrinsic connection.

"Ye Xue…" Rin's voice held a complex mix of heartache and anger. He pointed to the intricate data patterns on the analysis unit's screen, explaining in a low voice, "These are memories of 'other Ye Xues.'"

Ye Xue's body stiffened abruptly, her eyes wide with disbelief. Other Ye Xues?

"The data indicates…" Rin continued, interpreting the flickering characters, "that in the early stages of the 'Demise Project,' in order to 'perfect' and 'optimize' the compatibility and stability of 'Cold Moon' (YX-17) as the 'restart system key,' the Organization subjected her to 'multi-personality simulation.'"

A shiver ran down Ye Xue's spine. "Multi-personality simulation"?

"Yes," Rin's eyes burned with fury. "To find the most 'stable' 'emotional carrier,' they forcibly injected the memories of dozens of 'failed individuals' with 'outstanding emotional talent' into your body or data core for 'simulation' and 'fusion.' Every unfamiliar face you dream of could be a once vibrant life, their emotional memories cruelly stripped, then treated as 'data' and injected into your 'blueprint.'"

Ye Xue's breathing quickened, and she felt a wave of nausea, as if her body had become a vessel carrying the pain of others.

"You are an emotional container that collected the memories of dozens of 'failed individuals,'" Rin concluded, his voice filled with tenderness and indignation. "The Organization attempted to refine what they considered 'perfect' 'emotional modules' this way, to better control you, and through you, to 'guide' me."

This meant that the suffering Ye Xue endured was far more than just being "re-molded" into a "Terminator." Her body and soul had been used by the Organization as a vast "emotional laboratory," mercilessly loading, simulating, and fusing the emotions and dying moments of countless individuals!

Those strange yet real emotional memories were the silent screams of dozens of vibrant lives, robbed of their freedom and used as test subjects!

Tears welled in Ye Xue's eyes, but this time, they weren't for herself, but for those innocent "failed individuals." She felt an unprecedented rage, enraged at the Organization's contempt for life and its blasphemy of emotion.

"They… they actually did such a thing…" Ye Xue's voice trembled, but soon, her eyes grew remarkably firm. "They wanted to extract 'perfect emotions' to control us?!"

Rin tightly clasped Ye Xue's hand; he could feel her anger and resolve.

"So, our fight isn't just for ourselves," Rin's gaze sharpened. "It's also for these 'emotional containers' they used and destroyed. We must end this system, so that all their sacrifices are not meaningless."

Ye Xue nodded heavily, her confusion replaced by fierce anger. She was no longer merely the "restart system key," nor just the guide for the "Blade of Demise." She was a vessel carrying the laments of countless souls, a warrior fighting for all "uncontrollable emotional individuals."

"'Fragments of Dreams'…" Ye Xue murmured to herself, a blazing fire igniting in her eyes. "I will make it… the beginning of their nightmare!"

What they now faced was not just a "judgment system" attempting to "repair human errors," but a vast and cruel experimental machine built upon the suffering of countless individuals. And they, manufactured by this machine, possessed the "love" and "emotions" that the machine could not comprehend, making them its most dangerous "products."