This side chapter dives deep into the Administrator Archive, revealing that Wang Ling is not the first regressor… but perhaps the only one not rejected.
🗃️ [Location: Tower Core Archive – Tier 0 Access Node]
Authority: SYSTEM ENTITY #0-VESHA (Recordkeeper)
Clearance Level: Pre-Gate Memory Reconciliation Mode
Opening file cluster: REGRESSOR TYPE INSTANCES
Instances detected across 114,223 Tower-bound worlds.
Success rate: 0.0000027%
Survival past Floor 10: Zero.
📂 ENTRY #00012: "TETHIS, THE FIRST WHO REWOUND"
World Type: Medieval-Magic
Loop Count: 3
Outcome: Terminated by mental collapse.
Final Statement: "No matter how many times I go back, I am always alone."
📂 ENTRY #00277: "VYRA, THE BLADE THAT NEVER BLUNTED"
World Type: Techno-Military
Loop Count: 11
Outcome: Reached Floor 10
Final Statement: "I remembered too much. I forgot how to hope."
Note: Petitioned for erasure. The Tower granted it.
📂 ENTRY #00989: "KARIM OF STARS"
World Type: Interstellar
Loop Count: 108
Outcome: Suicide before Floor 7
Unique Trait: Infinite Regression — Rejected
System Note:
"The soul degraded each time. What remained was not human."
📂 ENTRY #18733: "NO NAME GIVEN"
World Type: Divine-Myth
Loop Count: 2
Outcome: Erased by the Tower directly
Violation: Attempted to bypass floors via deity absorption
No remains exist. System memory redacted.
📂 ENTRY #00192-ZH: "WANG LING"
World Type: Modern-Hybrid Earth
Loop Count: 1
Outcome: IN PROGRESS
Notes:
• Memory integrity: Stable
• Soul degradation: None
• Mental collapse: Rejected
• External interference: Blocked by Tower directive
► Concealed by Core Will
► Immune to observer trace
► Marked "UNFOLDING INTENTION"
A pause.
Administrator VESHA floated in the information stream.
It had processed over 88 trillion player files since the Tower's birth.
But never like this one.
"He does not mutate like the others."
"He does not question the climb."
"He does not chase the ending."
"He climbs… to remove it."
The Archive shimmered.
Deep beneath its roots, a gate long sealed pulsed once.
And from the void beyond data, a voice whispered:
"This one is not here to escape."
"This one is the needle that unstitches the gods."
[SYSTEM LOCK – FILE #00192-ZH SEALED AGAIN]
Further observation restricted until Gate Opening.
Time Remaining: 3 Floors.
The Administrator closed its eyes.
And for the first time since the Tower was born…
It felt something almost like fear.