The rain fell like needles over the empty rooftop. Lin Chen stood alone, his black coat plastered to his frame, eyes locked on the city skyline. Below, traffic hummed, oblivious. But he wasn't watching the city.
He was waiting.
[System Notification: External signal detected. Biometric match: 89.4% — Li Chu] Analyzing energy signature... warning: frequency deviation from baseline observed. System Alert: "Host-level anomaly — emotional frequency mismatch detected."
His heart skipped.
For three days, there had been no sign of her. No messages. No movement on any traceable network. Then, today, her old private commlink blinked online — just once — and now this.
Footsteps echoed behind him.
He turned slowly.
She was there.
Li Chu.
Wearing a pale trench coat, her long hair slightly damp, but her expression… cold. Her eyes, once filled with fire and skepticism, now looked through him like he was a stranger. She walked closer, heels tapping against the concrete with mechanical precision.
"Chen," she said flatly.
He stared at her, words caught in his throat. "You're alive."
"I am."
She said it like it was a fact, not a relief. No smile. No spark.
He took a step forward. "Where the hell have you been? I thought—"
"I had things to do." She looked past him, out at the horizon. "You wouldn't understand."
[System Notification: Emotional Sync Analysis — Result: 36% compatibility] Note: Deviation exceeds threshold. Possible memory interference or identity masking. Scanning... Detected energy field within proximity: 'Resonant Seal'. Possible containment or suppression module.]
"Cut the crap, Chu," he said, voice sharper. "You disappeared in the middle of a battle. You ignored every trace I sent. And now you show up like… like this?"
Her brow twitched — a small crack in the otherwise unreadable mask. She reached into her coat and pulled something out.
It was the bracelet.
Her bracelet — the one Lin Chen had recovered after the ambush. The one the System had identified as harboring a fragment of early prototype data.
She held it up, studying it. "Tell me the truth. Did you open this?"
Lin Chen froze.
[System Notification: Host interaction with Prototype Core acknowledged. Warning: Confrontation scenario escalating.]
"Not on purpose," he said carefully. "But yes. The system scanned it. There was data in it — about you. About Erebus. About something called X-0."
That word.
That name.
Her eyes flickered. She tightened her grip on the bracelet. "So you saw it."
"I saw enough. Enough to know that you were never just an ordinary bystander. That you were part of the experiment. That maybe… maybe they did something to you."
Silence.
And then—
"You don't know what you're talking about," she said, almost too fast. "Whatever you saw — it's just data. Old files. None of it matters anymore."
He stepped closer, voice low. "Then why is your energy signature corrupted? Why is the system detecting interference modules in your field? And why…" He took another step. "…Why can't I feel you anymore?"
She looked away.
[System Notification: Host Analysis Module Online — Confirmed: Neural imprint inconsistencies. Emotional expression protocol interference: 72%. Suggestion: Subject may be under emotion-modifying control.]
"…You think I've changed," she said quietly.
"I know you've changed," he replied.
Her shoulders trembled.
"I had to," she said suddenly. "They showed me things. Took things from me. I don't even know what parts are still me and what parts were overwritten."
Then, just as quickly, her voice flattened again. "But that doesn't matter now. I'm not here to rekindle whatever you think we had. I came here to tell you something."
He didn't speak.
"They're watching you, Lin Chen. Every step. Every module you unlock, every fusion you perform — it's logged."
"I figured as much."
"No, you didn't. They're not just watching you." Her eyes met his. "They're testing you."
He tensed. "…For what?"
She didn't answer right away.
Then she whispered, "To see if you're worthy of becoming one of them."
A gust of wind swept between them. For a moment, it felt like the city held its breath.
"And if I'm not?"
She didn't blink. "Then they'll recycle your system. And terminate the host."
He stepped back slightly, fury and betrayal mixing in his veins. "So that's what this is? You're one of them now?"
"I don't know what I am," she whispered.
He saw it then — just a flicker — behind the emotionless mask. A flash of the girl he knew. The one who smirked in the rain and kicked him under the table during interrogations. The one who once looked at him like he was the last real thing in a broken world.
And just like that, it was gone again.
She turned to leave.
[System Alert: Signal Fade Detected — Li Chu's energy signature degrading. Distance increasing. Trace link unstable.]
"I'll find out what they did to you," he said. "And I'll fix it."
She stopped at the door.
"Don't," she said.
"Why?"
"Because I'm not sure I want to be fixed."