The photo led her.
It didn't point, speak, or float again.But as Shi Mu held it, the hallway shifted.
The golden light dimmed just slightly—enough for her to notice a path opening on her left.
A doorway.
Small. Arched.
No handle.
Only a whisper:
"Ren Lian."
She stepped through.
Inside was a room that felt… paused.
Not abandoned.
Not haunted.
Just waiting.
A simple desk stood in the center.On it, a stack of papers yellowed with time.A ceramic teacup.A single feather.And, beside it, a school uniform—neatly folded, untouched by dust.
Everything was preserved.
Unclaimed.
Unspoken.
Shi Mu reached for the papers first.
Her fingers skimmed the edges.
Not words.
Drawings.
Pages and pages of quiet sketches: faces, trees, half-formed spirits drifting in and out of focus.
The same girl reappeared again and again in the margins—
Ren Lian.
Or someone trying to draw her from memory.
On the final page, a note was written in soft, looping strokes:
"She sat next to me every day. She hummed when she was nervous. She told me I had soft eyes .But I never told her I loved her."
Shi Mu inhaled slowly.
This wasn't grief held in rage.
It was sorrow soaked in silence.
A bond unfinished.
And a name left unsaid.
[System Notification]
Emotional Thread Activated – Ren Lian Presence Detected Nearby
Memory Echo: Romantic. Suppressed. Year: Unknown.
Status: Spirit unanchored.
Brotherhood Value +180 (Unspoken Love Recovered + Memory Room Entered)
Current Total: 6,720 / 1,000,000
The teacup began to rattle faintly on the desk.
Shi Mu didn't flinch.
She placed her hand over it gently.
"Ren Lian," she whispered. "I don't know who you waited for." "But I'm here now."
The light in the room pulsed once.
A breeze brushed her cheek.
And just above the folded uniform—
dust lifted.
Revealing a name carved faintly into the wood.
Barely visible.
Almost erased.
But still there.