The city looked no different from usual—towers rising into the dawn, light traffic weaving through wide avenues, the mechanical hum of urban life ticking like clockwork.
But Lin Chen felt it.
A chill in the air that had nothing to do with temperature.
He stood by the window of his high-rise office, a hand in his pocket, another holding a cup of black coffee. The bitterness on his tongue didn't match the sudden bitterness in his gut.
Then it came.
[System Warning: Abnormal Proximity Detected]Source: Unknown Energy Signature – Codename: Erebus]Danger Level: HighTrajectory: Approaching City Sector 7
His grip on the cup tightened.
"Erebus…" he whispered. The name had flashed across his interface before, during a near-death encounter in Chapter 26, but this time it wasn't just a warning—it was a declaration.
They were moving.
A Memory Fragment Resurfaces
[System Update: Memory Fragment Alpha-02 stirring…]
The room suddenly shimmered, then stilled. Lin blinked hard. Something flickered across his vision—an old hallway, walls painted hospital white, a girl's voice laughing faintly.
And then… screaming.
Lin staggered slightly, placing his cup on the windowsill to avoid dropping it. That sound—too familiar. Not just from his dreams, but from a deeper part of his mind he had sealed off long ago.
A name echoed.
But it wasn't clear.
All he knew was that the laugh… was hers.
Li Chu's Disguise Cracks
It was almost cruel how casual she looked that afternoon.
Li Chu sat across from him in the private lounge, legs crossed, her fingers gently brushing over the rim of her teacup. She wore a soft blue blouse and jeans—simple, innocent even. But Lin couldn't stop staring.
Not because of her beauty. But because every instinct screamed: She knows.
[Emotion Scan Activated: Target - Li Chu]Primary Emotion: Anxiety – 39%Secondary: Longing – 22%Deception Probability: 68%Residual Emotion Signature: Matched – Memory Fragment Alpha-02]
Matched.
The word dropped like a bomb in his head.
The girl from the memory. The scream. The flash of a white lab coat. It was all connected to her. Somehow.
"You're staring," Li Chu said with a half-smile. "Something on my face?"
Lin leaned forward slightly. "Have we met… before?"
The question hung in the air like smoke. Li Chu blinked. Her smile twitched.
"Don't we see each other every few days now?" she replied, evasive.
[Lie Detected – Pulse Spike + Facial Discrepancy = 87% Probability]
Got you.
Lin didn't press further—not yet. But he filed that moment away like a loaded gun. She knew more than she let on. And worse, she might be the link between him and Erebus.
The real question was: Was she trying to protect him… or set him up?
The Shadowed Sector
Later that night, Lin drove alone toward Sector 7.
It wasn't just the system alert that pulled him there—it was something deeper, primal. Like something calling out from the pit of the past. A buried scream in his bones.
He stopped outside an abandoned warehouse compound, part of the city's old biotech district. Shuttered ten years ago after a fire "accidentally" destroyed several research labs.
His system flashed a notification.
[System Alert: Memory Fragment Alpha-02 – Area of Origin Located]Entering High-Risk Zone. Passive Skills Boosted. Emotion Sense Enhanced.New Objective: Trace Resonance Signal – 3 Data Points Remaining]
He stepped inside.
The air was thick with dust, and the scent of rust and burnt plastic lingered. His boots echoed across the cracked concrete floor as he moved past twisted equipment, shattered glass, and blackened walls.
There, near a melted ID scanner, his system pulsed.
[Resonance Point Detected – Processing Fragment…]
Suddenly the world tilted.
He was there again.
Not as an adult—but as a child.
The Fragment: Screams in the Dark
White lights. Blinding. Men in black coats. A girl crying behind glass.
"Let me go! Let me out!"
A cold voice: "Subject X is showing emotional dependency. Transfer her to Chamber Delta."
And him.
Lin Chen—only ten, maybe eleven, watching silently. Mute. Broken. Afraid.
The girl turned.
Wide, terrified eyes.
"Chen-ge! Please—help me—"
Then silence.
A flash. Pain. And everything went black.
Back to the Present
Lin gasped, collapsing to his knees in the dust. His hands trembled.
[Memory Fragment Alpha-02: Integrated 45%]Subject X: Confirmed – Match to Li Chu – 93% Probability]
She was there. She was the girl. And she remembered.
But she hadn't said a word.
He rose slowly, jaw clenched.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he whispered to no one, to everyone, to the ghosts in the walls.
A voice answered.
Not from the system.
But from behind.
"You weren't ready to remember."
The Voice in the Shadows
A figure emerged from the shadows—tall, clad in a matte black coat, face obscured by a tactical mask. But Lin didn't need to see his face.
[System Alert: Energy Signature Match – Codename: Erebus – Rank: C-Level Field Operative]
"Lin Chen," the man said, voice distorted. "You've been quite… noisy."
Lin shifted into a combat stance, instinct taking over.
"What do you want?"
"We want what we've always wanted," the masked man replied. "To finish what was started. You and Subject X—your data sets were the only stable results."
Blood ran cold in Lin's veins.
"You're… the ones who—"
"Erebus is more than just 'them,'" the man interrupted. "We are inevitability. And you—are overdue."
System Trigger: Emergency Response Mode
[Hostile Encounter Detected]Activating Skill: Reflex Boost + Escape Route MappingInitiating Tactical Retreat Protocol – Success Probability: 82%]
The man raised a hand.
A burst of unnatural energy shot toward Lin—like black lightning.
He dodged, barely. The warehouse exploded behind him as he sprinted through the collapsing metal and flames. The system's guidance illuminated a path out through a ventilation shaft, just as the roof caved in.
Outside, Lin panted heavily, heart slamming against his chest.
But he was alive.
And he now knew one terrifying truth:
Li Chu wasn't just someone from his past.
She was the key.
Final System Message Before Chapter End
[System Notification: Special Chapter Triggered]"The Girl Behind the Glass" – Optional Chapter UnlockedMain Storyline Path Fork DetectedProceed with caution. Emotional entanglement may affect mission trajectory.
Lin looked toward the skyline.
And for the first time in a long while, he wasn't sure who to trust.
But he was certain of one thing—
He had to uncover the full truth.
Even if it meant remembering what broke him the first time.