The city hummed with quiet energy. Even after Liang Shen's Lotus Mirror had trapped the Deep Circle's sentient nodes, the streets seemed to whisper, as if aware of his presence.
Yan Fei stood beside him on the rooftop, scanning the horizon. "They've gone silent," she said. "Do you think they'll return?"
Liang's eyes narrowed. Silence was never empty. "No. Silence means they're hiding… planning."
His laptop pinged. A secure message appeared, untraceable, unsigned:
Unknown: You've won a battle, Architect, but the game is older than you.
They call it: The First Architect.
Liang frowned. The Deep Circle had always been secretive, but this… this was beyond anything he had known. The First Architect… a name whispered in the archives of old city designs, a ghost who had once controlled an entire metropolis using methods now considered mythical.
"Their leader…" Yan Fei murmured. "They've been holding back… someone far older, far smarter."
Liang's fingers hovered over the keyboard. The Lotus Engine pulsed in his mind, reacting to the unseen threat. He could feel the ghost presence in the city, moving in ways that his sensors could detect but not fully interpret.
"They're testing me," he said quietly. "Not just the city, not just Glass Pulse… me."
Suddenly, a flicker appeared in the mirrored network — a hidden corridor within Lotus Mirror. It wasn't random. It was an invitation. Or a trap.
Liang traced the digital signature. The pulse was ancient, unlike any code he had encountered. "It's like… a memory," he whispered. "The city itself is remembering a power from before I was even born."
Yan Fei's eyes widened. "What do we do?"
Liang exhaled, a determined glint in his eyes. "We follow it. Carefully. The First Architect is moving, and if we don't understand them… they'll rewrite the rules before we even take our next step."
Rain began to fall again, soft and insistent. Liang looked down at the streets, the pulse of the city flowing beneath. The game isn't over. It's just beginning.