The name lingered in Shi Mu's mind all night.
Lin Xue.
A name she hadn't spoken in years.A name that shouldn't have meant anything.But did.
And she couldn't explain why.
She dug through her old belongings—files, notebooks, system-synced logs from her first year.
Nothing.
No record.
No memory trigger.
No proof that Lin Xue ever existed.
But the feeling remained.
Like a shadow pressed softly against her back.
"Did you check the memory-locked files?" Fu Yunshen asked when she told him.
She shook her head. "They're sealed. I'd need a level three override."
"I have it," he said quietly.
She blinked. "You… what?"
"I didn't always use it. But I have it."
He hesitated before continuing.
"I'll unlock them—if you want me to."
That choice weighed heavier than she expected.
What if unlocking the file confirmed what she feared?
That she'd forgotten someone—
on purpose.
She nodded.
He tapped into the encrypted system and retrieved the file.
It was short.
One page.
One image.
And one sentence that cut her breath in half:
"Subject: Lin Xue – Companion class. Assigned to observe and stabilize Host: Shi Mu (early integration phase)."
She staggered back.
"No," she whispered. "She wasn't just a system shadow. She was real."
"She was both," Fu Yunshen said gently. "A student. A companion. And a safeguard."
"And I forgot her."
"Because the system made you forget."
Shi Mu shook her head. "That doesn't change what it cost her."
A new message flashed on her interface.
[Memory Suppression Protocol Triggered – Manual Override Engaged]Do you wish to recover suppressed interactions with Lin Xue?
Her fingers hovered.
Then tapped:
Yes.
The rush came fast.
Memories, once buried, now returned in fragments.
A smile at a shared joke.
A cold hand pulling hers during a thunderstorm.
A girl who always sat beside her…
Until she didn't.
Until one day, her seat was just empty.
And no one noticed.
Not even her.
Shi Mu sank to the floor, hand over her mouth.
Fu Yunshen knelt beside her, not speaking.
Just waiting.
Just present.
[System Notification]
Memory Reinstatement Complete – Emotional Link Restored
Spirit Lin Xue – Awakening Progressed (Stage II)
Brotherhood Value +120 (Memory Recovery + Emotional Fallout Witnessed)
Current Total: 3,725 / 1,000,000
"She waited all this time," Shi Mu whispered, voice hoarse."For me to remember her."
Fu Yunshen said nothing.
But his hand gently touched hers.
And this time—
She didn't pull away.