Ruoxi awoke in the library.
The scent of old paper, rosewood shelves, and dust filled her lungs. Her fingertips rested on the edge of a journal she didn't remember opening. The clock on the wall ticked too quietly. Outside the window, dawn painted the sky gold.
The problem was simple: she had gone to bed hours ago.
And the last thing she remembered… was brushing her teeth.
She sat up slowly, blinking at the page before her.
"Subject: Lin Lei. Emotional Anchor Failed. Scheduled for Erasure."
Ruoxi's hand began to tremble. She didn't know the name. Or didn't think she did.
But her body knew. Her pulse spiked. Her breath shortened.
Some part of her remembered this girl.
And whoever Lin Lei had been… Ruoxi had loved her.
In the kitchen, Zeyan stood by the espresso machine, scrolling through a tablet.
Encrypted access attempts. Four of them.
Each using Ruoxi's biometric ID.
Each from a location she hadn't been to.
"What the hell…" he whispered.
He turned to find her standing in the doorway, eyes clouded.
"Ruoxi. Did you try logging into the Foundation's archive from outside?"
She shook her head slowly.
"I've been here all night."
He stepped closer, gently lifting her chin. "Then someone is using your pattern."
"Or I am," she whispered. "When I'm not awake."
They reviewed the security footage.
It confirmed the impossible.
At 3:12 a.m., Ruoxi had risen from her bed, walked barefoot to the library, opened the hidden cabinet, and pulled out an old encrypted research file.
No emotion. No awareness. Eyes blank.
When the screen paused, Ruoxi covered her mouth with her hand.
"That's not me."
Zeyan whispered, "It's her."
"Prototype Zero?" she asked, voice cracking.
"She's merging," he said grimly. "Through your neural sync. She's using your mind as a backdoor."
Ruoxi backed away from the screen. "Then what happens when she wants full control?"
Zeyan didn't answer.
That night, Ruoxi sat alone on the terrace, wrapped in a blanket.
A soft wind blew through the trees, and stars shimmered above the hills like whispers of light.
She stared at her reflection in the windowpane.
It moved.
She hadn't.
She turned sharply.
No one was behind her.
She stood, moving toward the glass. The reflection now mimicked her. But for a moment—it hadn't.
A voice echoed faintly inside her skull.
"You survived. I was erased. We were meant to be one."
Ruoxi touched the glass.
"I didn't choose this."
"Neither did I."
The next morning, Lin Qian burst into the study holding a drawing from their childhood box.
"I found something," she said breathlessly.
Ruoxi and Zeyan gathered around her.
The paper showed three girls — hand in hand. Crayons. Scribbled names.
Qian. Xi. Lei.
Lin Qian pointed. "I don't remember her. But I drew her. We both did."
Zeyan looked up sharply. "Lei. Lin Lei?"
Ruoxi whispered, "Lin Lei was the original emotional anchor. She wasn't supposed to be erased."
Zeyan turned to the system.
"If Prototype Zero accessed that memory, then Ruoxi may have absorbed it during the sync. It's not a takeover—it's a reconvergence."
Ruoxi's breath quickened.
"She's trying to finish what she started."
Later that evening, Ruoxi sat at the vanity, running a comb through her hair slowly.
Her hand froze midway.
Her own voice whispered inside her mind again.
"If I hadn't been erased, would we have been friends?"
Ruoxi replied aloud, softly: "We were friends."
A flicker of warmth passed through her chest, a strange ache of affection and grief.
She remembered small hands. Braiding hair. Humming lullabies.
But she also remembered screams. Needles. Cold metal restraints.
"You kept me alive," she said, barely audible.
"I didn't mean to stay hidden. I just didn't want to die alone."
Tears slid down Ruoxi's cheeks.
She whispered: "Then let's live together. As one."
Zeyan returned to find Ruoxi asleep on the couch, the firelight dancing across her face.
He leaned down to brush her hair back gently—and froze.
On her wrist was a mark he hadn't seen before. Small. Circular. Like a biometric tag.
He scanned it with his device.
Access Code: A-0X-LEIStatus: Active Sync Loop
He sat down beside her, stunned.
"She's not just merging memories," he whispered. "She's rebooting the original bond."
Hours later, Ruoxi dreamed of water.
A dark tank. Wires on her body.
Beside her—Prototype Zero.
She opened her eyes in the dream.
Zero smiled faintly.
"Do you forgive me?"
Ruoxi reached for her hand.
"You were me… before I knew how to be."
The moment their fingers touched, a surge of energy pulsed through them both.
Ruoxi awoke with a start.
And for the first time, she knew everything.
Zeyan was already awake, reading Mo Qinghua's decrypted files.
He looked up as Ruoxi entered.
But something in her was different.
Calmer.
Clearer.
She smiled gently. "She's not gone. But she's not alone anymore."
Zeyan rose slowly. "What do you mean?"
Ruoxi stepped into the light.
"I've accepted her."
Zeyan's eyes searched hers. "And who are you now?"
Ruoxi took his hand.
"I'm the girl who survived. The one who loved, lost, and remembered."
She paused.
"And I'm the one who was erased… who learned to feel again because you believed in me."
Their foreheads touched.
Zeyan whispered, "Then I'm never letting you go."