The door to Cheng's memory room closed behind her without a sound.
Shi Mu didn't look back.
Some doors should only be walked through once.
She held nothing in her hands now.
The ribbon had stayed.The ring had stayed.The sorrow had stayed—but only inside the Archive.
It did not follow her.
As she stepped back into the corridor, the Archive responded.
The golden torches pulsed, one by one.
Welcoming her return.
And then—
The shelves began to move.
Not chaotically. Not blindly.
The walls breathed, expanding as if they'd waited for her to understand something before opening further.
Where there had once been a single hallway, three more now extended in opposite directions.
Each one marked not by doors—
But by sound.
The first hummed like wind chimes in a winter breeze.
The second echoed with footsteps that didn't touch stone.
And the third… was silent. Utterly, unnaturally still.
The system's voice, calm as ever, spoke in her mind.
[Archive Depth Unlocked – Tier II Complete]
Access to Tier III: Initiated
Next Assignment Will Be Chosen by Oathbearer
Select Entry Path: Sound, Echo, or Silence
Shi Mu stood at the crossroads.
Each path pulled her in a different way.
The wind chimes felt familiar—gentle, almost kind.
The echo stirred something instinctive—curiosity, maybe memory.
But the silence?
It waited like a void.
Not threatening.
But deep.
Fu Yunshen's voice echoed faintly in her thoughts:
"Silence doesn't mean peace. Sometimes it's just where pain goes to hide."
She took a slow breath.
And stepped toward the third path—
Silence.
The moment her foot crossed the threshold, the Archive responded.
No sound.
No warning.
Just—
stillness.
Complete.
[System Notification]
Path Selected: Silence – Tier III Initiation Confirmed
Next Memory Object Loading…
Thread Type: Suppressed Trauma – Identity Masked
Brotherhood Value +200 (Tier Expansion Unlocked + High-Risk Path Chosen)
Current Total: 8,075 / 1,000,000
Shi Mu didn't hesitate.
Not because she was fearless.
But because silence doesn't scare those who've already remembered what others forgot.