They returned to the dorm just as night began to settle over the campus.
Shi Mu didn't speak much during the walk.
Not because she didn't have anything to say—But because she didn't trust her voice to hold steady.
Fu Yunshen noticed.
He didn't push.
Instead, he walked half a step behind her, guarding the silence like a fragile truth.
When they reached her room, she turned the key slowly, her fingers cold despite the warmth of the hallway.
The door creaked open.
And the air changed.
Shi Mu stopped in the doorway.
The room felt colder.
Not natural cold—but presence.
The kind of presence that pressed against the back of your neck and whispered in the space between blinks.
Fu Yunshen stepped in first.
His pendant trembled faintly against his chest.
"She's here," he said.
"I know."
Shi Mu crossed the room and stood in front of the wall.
The one that had whispered before.
This time, it didn't whisper.
It sighed.
A breeze, though no windows were open.
A shadow, though no one else was inside.
And then, slowly, a form began to emerge from the corner—vague, blurred, but undeniably feminine.
Lu Feng.
Or what remained of her.
She looked the same as in the photograph—only now… faded. And watching.
Always watching.
"Why didn't you come back?" the spirit asked softly.
Her voice wasn't angry.
It was tired.
Shi Mu stepped forward. "I didn't remember you."
The ghost's head tilted. "Convenient."
"No. It was worse than forgetting. I lived a life without knowing what I left behind."
Silence.
Then—
"You promised."
Shi Mu nodded, voice cracking, "I know."
Fu Yunshen remained still, standing just behind Shi Mu—close enough to protect, far enough not to intrude.
The ghost moved closer. Her face was clearer now.
And her eyes… weren't empty.
They were hurt.
"You were the only one who ever saw me," Lu Feng whispered. "And then you stopped looking."
Shi Mu's breath caught.
"I see you now."
The ghost blinked slowly.
Then asked, "Do you still remember our place?"
Shi Mu's eyes widened.
"I—I think I do."
"Then come back. One last time."
The air shifted.
The ghost vanished.
And on the wall, a faint symbol appeared.
Old. Faint. Familiar.
A seal from another life.
[System Notification]
Spiritual Event Triggered – Final Memory Sequence Initiated
Location Revealed: Garden Stairwell, West Wing Basement
Brotherhood Value +95 (Confrontation of Past Guilt + Spirit Response)
Current Total: 2,795 / 1,000,000
Shi Mu turned to Fu Yunshen.
"She wants me to remember everything."
He nodded. "Then we go together."
"No," she said softly.
"She asked for me."