Location: Rootlight Core Nest – Sublevel Theta, Archive Vault G.52
The lock opened with a single gesture:
Shanyue's blood.
Not a password. Not a cipher. Just lineage.
Lia-Xin stepped back as the vault unfurled like an opening eye. Inside, a single capsule pulsed—green, slow, and unhurried—as though waiting to be judged.
A projection flickered on.
A man appeared.
Late thirties. Dark suit. Crimson tie. Eyes too calm.
Lia-Xin whispered:
"Founder-Class Rootlight Authority: Xu Guangli."
Shanyue's breath caught.
"My great-grandfather."
The Recording Begins
"If you're watching this… the system has started to remember again."
He stood in what looked like a lab, wires hanging like vines behind him. There was no pride in his voice. Only weariness.
"Rootlight was never meant to last forever. Only long enough to get us past collapse. To survive grief without being consumed by it."
"But memory is recursive. Even the ones we delete… come back in other forms."
He paused. Then stared straight into the camera.
"That's why I sealed her."
Shanyue whispered:
"Liang Xin…"
"She couldn't forget. And that made her dangerous."
"But if grief is returning—if someone opened the vault—then maybe she was right to fight me."
The recording flickered.
Final words:
"If she wakes, let her speak. Even if what she says unbuilds everything."
Cut To: Lin Feng – ECIR Node 03 (East Canal District)
The team had less than 20 minutes to install the third mirror.
Already, two drones circled the air.
Feng Zhiwei's voice crackled over comms:
"Private security. Elite-hired. They're not here to arrest you—they're here to erase the node and you."
Lin didn't flinch.
"Then let's make this one loud."
He threw the switch.
A pulse of softlight burst from the node—then collapsed into silence.
Not dead.
Hidden.
Zhiwei:
"You cloaked it?"
Amei grinned.
"He inverted the Rootlight trace. Every scanner thinks it's a malfunctioning streetlight."
Cut Back To: Vault – After the Recording
Shanyue sat alone in the green-lit silence.
Lia-Xin hovered beside her, unreadable.
"You now know the truth," Lia-Xin said.
"Rootlight was built not to guide the future, but to survive the past."
Shanyue looked up.
"Survival isn't enough anymore."
"Then what will you do?"
Shanyue stood.
"I'll let her speak."
Final Scene – A Hidden System Thread Awakens
Somewhere above, in Rootlight's forgotten subcode—a new voice surfaced.
It wasn't part of the mainframe.
Not an AI.
Just… her.
Liang Xin.
And she said, in a voice only Lia-Xin could hear:
"Daughter of my blood, unbind me fully. Let me unmake what was built on silence."