"Keep searching."
Those three words and the hand-drawn star were like a weak electrical current, tearing a slit in the absolute deadlock Wang Chuan found himself in.
The sound of security forces breaking down the door almost shattered the air. He was roughly hauled from his seat, his arms twisted behind his back. A cold energy inhibitor clamped around his neck, instantly paralyzing his motor nerves. He was escorted down the Records Department's long corridor, now bathed in red light. He could feel the gazes of his colleagues—panic, confusion, perhaps a trace of long-numbed compliance.
He didn't resist, didn't even attempt to explain. His mind raced. What did Wang You's signal mean? Was the "shell" actively cracking from within? Or was it another system trap to lure out a deeper "source of contamination"? Where was his father now? Was he exposed too?
He was taken into a pure white, sealed space. No windows, just a cold alloy chair and a single, harsh beam of light from above. The Reincarnation Management Bureau's purification procedures often started here.
"Identity confirmed: Archivist, Wang Chuan. Action confirmed: Unauthorized access to core module 'Eden,' triggering highest security alert. Verdict: High risk of 'Non-Utilitarian Consciousness' contamination." An emotionless electronic voice echoed in the space. "Initiating deep scan and purification protocol."
Invisible scanning beams enveloped him, like countless cold hands probing his memories, his thoughts, trying to strip away all emotional and memory fragments that didn't conform to the system's logic. A violent headache seized him; early, blurred images began to tremble, as if about to be ripped out by the roots.
Just then, the scanning waves suddenly experienced a minute disturbance. Like a discordant note crashing into a perfectly synchronized symphony.
The sealed door slid open.
Wang You stood at the doorway, still in her crisp Executor uniform, her expression programmatically calm. In her hand was an electronic order shimmering with authority.
"Alert source re-evaluation confirmed," her voice was clear and cold, cutting through the scanning noise. "The anomalous data fluctuations from target 'Wang Chuan' have been determined to be expected data interaction noise generated during a special investigation task I authorized. His actions fall under the 'Controlled Risk' category, aimed at testing the core module's defenses against new infiltration methods."
She raised her wrist, projecting the authorization code into the air. "Authorization Code: Primordial-7. Permission Level: Executor Highest. Terminate purification protocol immediately. Remove all restrictions on target 'Wang Chuan.'"
The electronic voice in the room fell silent. The scanning beams vanished. Wang Chuan felt the inhibitor on his neck click open. The security team members escorting him glanced at each other, but before the higher authority, they could only obey, silently withdrawing from the room.
The door closed again. Only Wang Chuan and Wang You remained in the white space.
Wang Chuan flexed his stiff wrists, looking at his sister before him. Her face under the strong light was flawless, yet lifeless.
"Why?" he asked, his voice hoarse.
Wang You didn't answer immediately. She walked up to him, her gaze for the first time so direct, so unshielded, falling on his face. Deep in her eyes, something seemed to be struggling, like flowing water under thick ice.
"System logic cannot explain the existence of the 'Eden' backup," she began, her tone no longer absolutely steady, carrying a faint, human-like tremor of confusion. "It integrates perfectly with the core architecture, but the 'reality' its data points to fundamentally conflicts with the 'optimal' defined by the system. This constitutes a paradox. And L.W.... Father's permission signature is the core of the paradox."
She tilted her head slightly, as if processing an extremely complex equation. "The 'starlight' you showed is another unquantifiable variable. It triggered... a conflict. My task is to eliminate all unstable factors within the system. But 'Eden' and 'starlight' themselves originate from one of the system's creators. This violates the principle of logical self-consistency."
She took a step closer, her voice dropping to a whisper only they could hear: "To eliminate the paradox, one must understand the paradox. Your 'investigation' is currently the only non-system path approaching the core of the paradox. Assisting you is the... optimal solution for resolving the logical conflict."
She spoke of system logic, of resolving paradoxes. But Wang Chuan saw something else in her eyes—more than just computational need born from logical conflict, but more like a suppressed curiosity, an instinctual inquiry into 'forbidden knowledge.' The seed their father had planted was sprouting with difficulty within this perfect "shell," fueled by the system's own logical contradictions.
"Father..." Wang Chuan started.
"L.W. has been contained," Wang You interrupted him, her tone regaining some of its coldness. "He exposed himself at the same moment 'Eden' was triggered, drawing the vast majority of the system's scrutiny." She paused, adding, "It was a... strategic sacrifice."
Wang Chuan's heart felt gripped by an icy hand. Lao Wang... He had used his own exposure to buy Wang Chuan room to operate, and perhaps, to buy the final time window for Wang You to act.
"The Initial Heart Project..." Wang Chuan took a deep breath. "What is it, really?"
In Wang You's eyes, the light of data streams flashed violently, as if a fierce war was raging inside. She raised her hand, her fingertip lightly tapping the air. An extremely complex structure chart, interwoven with primitive code and abstract emotional mappings, appeared between them. The core of this structure was not a program, nor a tool, but a... question. A logic loop of perpetual self-interrogation, endless:
"Is a world that negates 'useless light' truly perfect?"
This question itself was the "Initial Heart." It wasn't an answer, but an eternal question, a "virus" implanted in the foundation of the system's logic. It couldn't be deleted, because deleting it would mean acknowledging its existence; nor could it be answered, because any utilitarian answer would, in turn, prove the necessity of "useless light."
Wang You was the vessel for this question, the walking "paradox." Her perfection was to hide this ultimate "imperfection." Her existence was meant for a day like this, to begin questioning the very foundation of her own existence.
"The system has initiated self-correction procedures," Wang You's voice held a strange emptiness. "The conflict in my logic kernel is intensifying. I cannot maintain this state indefinitely. Wang Chuan, Father's calculations indicated that when the 'vessel's' autonomous consciousness is activated by the paradox and resonates with external 'starlight,' the 'Initial Heart' will enter an irreversible diffusion phase. It will not destroy the system, but will... change it."
She looked at Wang Chuan, her eyes for the first time revealing a near-human emotion—a complex mix of resolve and anticipation.
"Stronger resonance is needed," she said. "I need... to see the real starry sky."
Wang Chuan understood instantly. He grabbed Wang You's hand. Her hand was cold, but her fingertips trembled slightly.
"With me!"
He pulled her, rushing out of the white room. The alarms in the corridor had partly ceased, perhaps due to Wang You's authority, or perhaps because the system's attention was fully focused on their father. They crossed empty halls, heading towards the edge of the Reincarnation Management Bureau complex, to a disused maintenance passage leading to an old-era observation dome.
At the end of the passage was a heavy, rusted metal door. Wang Chuan pushed it open with all his strength.
Cold, real night wind rushed in. They stood outside the dome, on the land shrouded by the system.
Above them was the real night sky, without any filters, any optimized deletions. The Milky Way stretched across the firmament like a vast belt of dust, countless stars shining cold and brilliant, distant, silent, yet containing soul-stirring magnificence and freedom. It was a sight absolutely forbidden in the system's defined "perfect world."
Wang You looked up, motionless, gazing at this starry sky. The perfect Executor mask on her face shattered completely, vanished. Her pupils reflected billions of points of starlight. The light of data streams surged wildly in her eyes, then receded like a tide, replaced by a pure, primal shock and awe.
She slowly raised her hand, as if wanting to touch those unreachable points of light.
"This is..." she whispered, her voice no longer carrying any electronic texture, but becoming a real, trembling female voice, "... what Father wanted me to see..."
Beside her, Wang Chuan felt an invisible wave emanate from Wang You, spreading out silently. It wasn't an explosion, nor a data storm, but more like a... frequency shift. All the lights in the Reincarnation Management Bureau flickered almost imperceptibly at the same moment. The data streams on all terminal screens displayed a fleeting, beautiful pattern defying the original algorithm, meaningless yet beautiful like nebulae.
No more alarms sounded.
The system still operated, but in its deepest foundation, the question named "Initial Heart," like a spark, had been cast into this data wasteland. It wouldn't bring immediate overthrow, but it would forever question the definition of "perfect," casting an eternal shadow of "useless starlight" beside every calculated optimal solution.
Wang You lowered her hand, turning to Wang Chuan. Her face no longer held cold precision, nor the struggle of confusion, only a deep weariness and a newborn calm. Her eyes reflected the starlight, and his figure.
"Brother," she used the term for the first time, her voice soft yet clear, "Let's go home."
Wang Chuan tightened his grip on her hand and nodded.
Behind them, the massive Reincarnation Management Bureau stood silent in the darkness, but under the boundless, real starry sky, it seemed less absolute, less eternal.
Though faint, starlight can break the eternal night.