The corridor didn't resist their return.
If anything, it welcomed them.
The air was still thick with memory—unspoken, unresolved—but something had shifted in its weight.
Where once there was only hesitation…
Now there was curiosity.
Shi Mu walked in first, Fu Yunshen just a step behind.
Neither spoke.
There was no need.
The Archive understood the language of shared presence.
The pedestal stood unchanged.
The lock of hair still rested where she'd left it.But the paper with her message—
"I'm here."
Was no longer beside it.
It had been moved.
Gently.
Deliberately.
Pinned beneath the object.
Like someone had accepted the words.
Fu Yunshen stopped just before the pedestal.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he observed the hair.
He didn't ask what it was.
Didn't comment on the lack of a name.
He simply said, "This is grief that doesn't want to speak for itself."
Shi Mu nodded. "That's why we don't speak for it."
She reached into her pocket and handed him a second piece of paper.
Blank.
He raised a brow.
"You want me to—?"
"I want them to see you too," she said. "Not as me. As you."
He stood silently for a long time.
Then finally wrote a single phrase:
"No one needs to remember alone."
He placed it beside the thread.
And stepped back.
The corridor exhaled.
The shadows didn't vanish—but they folded inwards, softening.
And the pedestal…
responded.
The thread lifted, slightly.The lock of hair unfurled—
One strand detached, curling toward Shi Mu's wrist.
It didn't burn.Didn't bind.
It just… reached.
Like a hand extended beneath water.
[System Notification]
Barrier Partially Lowered – Spirit Response Confirmed
Memory Unseal Phase I Initiated
Emotional Thread Reacting to Dual Anchor
Brotherhood Value +215 (External Trust Accepted – Witnessed Without Demand)
Current Total: 8,835 / 1,000,000
A low whisper filled the air—
soft as dust, but sharp enough to carry:
"You stayed…"
Not a question.
Not quite an answer.
Just the beginning…
Of someone trying to believe they still mattered.
Shi Mu smiled gently.
"We're still here."