Lia sat on the bench, her phone warm in her hand. The screenshot she had fought so hard to capture was still stuck at single-digit shares. The comment section was nearly empty, and the few replies carried mocking tones:
"AI-generated? That angle is way too fake."
She stared at the comment for a long time, her chest tight as if something was lodged inside. In the end, she quietly exited the social app.
She reopened the hidden Replay folder. The dissatisfaction and confusion inside her grew like wild weeds. She had to know—what exactly was hidden in that unplayable footage?
A strange filename caught her eye:
Error_log_SYS-703.recover
She had never seen a format like this before. Replay is usually only stored in the .brk playback files. Error logs were supposed to auto-delete. But this one—it not only remained, it had the suffix "recover," like a fragment deliberately rescued by some force.
Holding her breath, she tapped it open.
The screen flickered. No familiar playback interface. Just a black background and a line of slowly appearing white text:
[High-Level Interference Log]
You are attempting to access a reality that was never confirmed.
Current system level: Lv. 2
Interfered level: Lv. 4
Please note:
The perspective you have entered has been altered by a higher-level system. Some information has been deliberately blurred or removed. To restore full playback, upgrade your system level or acquire an authorization code.
Lia's heartbeat spiked. Her pupils contracted.
She'd always known she was just a Lv.2 user—nothing more than an ordinary observer.
But this message confirmed it: someone at Lv.4 had interfered. Two full tiers above her.
Replay has tiers? And higher levels can directly alter someone else's playback?
A chill ran down her spine.
Those sudden blurs, those endless system popups, the bizarre "errors"—they weren't glitches.
Someone was covering something up.
She abruptly exited the log, but Replay—as if expecting her reaction—immediately popped up a new prompt:
Would you like to request a system-level upgrade?
Available credentials: 1 (Screenshot with system interference tag)
Lia froze.
She stared at the prompt, fragments of past moments flashing through her mind, every time she tried to dig deeper into Replay and hit a "Permission Denied" wall.
Now, the door… had opened on its own.
Her throat dry, she hesitated only a moment, then tapped Yes.
No fingerprint scan. No tedious security questions.
The screen instantly went blank—a silent void, as if she had fallen into a place without sound or light.
Then, a user ID appeared, no avatar, just floating text:
USER_0417 [Lv.4]: So, you finally see me.
Lia's heart clenched tight.
She quickly typed: "Who are you? Are you using Replay too?"
The screen was silent for a few seconds, as if considering.
Then lines of cold, unsettling text appeared:
USER_0417: We don't use Replay.
USER_0417: We are part of it.
USER_0417: Only what is seen holds weight in this system.
USER_0417: And we decide what gets seen.
Lia could barely believe her eyes.
Replay was supposed to be a neutral recording tool. But these words hit her like a hammer, shattering that belief.
If they could choose what people saw, then Replay wasn't a recorder.
It was a judge of reality.
More messages followed:
USER_0417: The "event" you're trying to reconstruct doesn't meet the minimum observation threshold.
USER_0417: You won't find the child. You won't find proof.
USER_0417: Not unless you make more people see him.
Her breathing quickened. Fingers are ice cold.
The child… she remembered him crying, struggling. That face, etched into her memory.
But Replay claimed he "didn't exist"—as if he had never been there at all.
The screen went black.
Then, the Replay livestream interface appeared. At the top, in bold:
You have been granted a Temporary Global Broadcast
Duration: 5 minutes
⚠️ Warning: Your location and system ID will be visible
She froze.
This was the trade—she had to let herself be seen, to let the child be remembered.
She stared at the "Start" button, her fingers trembling. Her pale face reflected on the screen, but her gaze slowly hardened.
She knew—this was her battlefield.
She pressed the button.
Broadcasting (Global Access)
Live viewers: 2,437
System observers: 3,689
Location: Madison Square
The countdown began.
No script. No rehearsals. She simply opened the screenshot. Her voice trembled, but was clear:
"This boy disappeared from Madison Square this morning. Replay… failed to record him. If you're watching, remember this image. Screenshot it. Share it. Not for clout—but so he exists."
She choked slightly on the last words, eyes glistening.
The live chat exploded:
[I see him]
[Is this real?]
[I was just nearby—there was a kid!][He had a bear in his hand!]
[Holy crap… I've seen that man!]
In that moment, Lia felt a resonance she hadn't felt in ages.
She wasn't bearing the weight of memory alone anymore. Others saw it—they were all helping reality take shape.
The timer hit zero.
As the livestream ended, Replay automatically prompted:
2025-05-31_0738_REPLAY.brk playback file successfully restored
Archive completeness: 84%
Validity threshold met
She stared at the screen, hands still shaking.
But she took a deep breath.
She knew—the real fight had only just begun. And the boy's image, within the light and shadows of her screenshot, was waiting quietly to be remembered again by the world.
---
Chapter 4 Mini Skit
USER_0417: She actually clicked "Yes."
USER_0083: You were just waiting for her to take the bait, huh? Next time, can you not make the log file so obvious?
USER_0417: What? I didn't do anything. The system "recovered" it on its own.
USER_0001 (cold system prompt): Unauthorized interference will be logged.
USER_0083 (muttering): Ugh, you always say that... scary as hell.
USER_0417: Still, that livestream... I almost thought she'd make it to Lv.3.
USER_0001: Access surveillance activated. Target ID: Lia.
[The camera zooms out. On the screen, a line of text slowly appears:]
[Under Lv.5 Observation]: Let her continue. The story is just beginning.