The West Wing basement was sealed off for a reason.
Not because it was unsafe.
But because it remembered.
Shi Mu stood alone at the edge of the rusted stairwell, where moss crept like veins along the crumbling stone and the air held the weight of unshed memories. A broken sign above read:
"Garden Storage – Access Restricted."
But this wasn't about storage.
This was about history.
And penance.
She held the charm Fu Yunshen had given her earlier—just in case—and stepped downward.
Each stair groaned under her weight.
The deeper she went, the colder it became—not the chill of weather, but the kind of cold that settled into bones.
Halfway down, she paused.
"This is where she waited," the Gu whispered."Until her name faded."
Shi Mu gripped the railing tighter.
At the base of the stairwell was a rusted gate, slightly ajar.
Beyond it, the overgrown remains of what had once been a garden—a secret one. Hidden. Forgotten.
And at its center: the crumbling base of a bench.
There, the ghost waited.
Lu Feng.
She didn't smile.
Didn't speak.
Just turned and looked at Shi Mu the way someone looks at a place they once loved.
Then she pointed.
To the bench.
Shi Mu stepped forward.
The closer she got, the clearer it all became.
Flashes.
Laughter.
A promise.
A girl with her face saying, "I'll come back for you. Just wait."
And the other girl—Lu Feng—nodding. Trusting.
But no one ever returned.
Not until now.
"I remember," Shi Mu said softly, standing before the broken bench.
"I made you wait."
Lu Feng stared.
Then whispered, "You always came here when you were sad."
Shi Mu nodded.
"And I followed you, even after."
Another nod.
"You weren't supposed to follow."
"I didn't know how not to."
The spirit stepped closer.
Her voice cracked.
"I didn't want to haunt you."
Shi Mu's throat tightened.
"I know."
"I just wanted to be remembered."
"You are."
[System Notification]
Karmic Cycle Nearing Closure – Spirit's Final Request Fulfilled
Memory Integrity: Restored
Brotherhood Value +105 (Solo Journey of Atonement Completed)
Current Total: 2,900 / 1,000,000
Lu Feng smiled.
Not a wide smile.
A small, exhausted one.
Then she reached forward—fingers barely grazing Shi Mu's—before fading into the early light of dawn seeping through the cracks above.
Shi Mu stood there, alone in the ruins of what once was, her heart heavy… but still.
Whole, somehow.
She whispered, "You waited long enough."
And for the first time in years, no one waited anymore.