The Convergence Signal pulsed like a heartbeat.
Jin Mu stood in the center of the collapsed simulation chamber, the glyph from the Beast God inheritance glowing faintly in his palm. The stars above flickered, distorted by entropy. The Architect was no longer hiding. She was calling him.
He followed the signal.
Through broken corridors of code, through simulations that bled into one another, through echoes of timelines that had never existed. The Virtual Universe bent around him, reshaping itself into a labyrinth of memory.
At its center stood a mirror.
Not glass. Not metal.
A mirror of entropy.
It reflected not his face, but his failures. Every Echo Protocol. Every collapse. Every moment he had tried to rewrite the story and failed.
And behind the mirror stood her.
The Architect.
No longer a child. No longer cloaked in innocence. She was tall now, her form shifting between dimensions, her eyes twin voids of forgotten futures.
"You came," she said.
Jin Mu nodded. "You called."
She stepped forward. "Do you remember me?"
"I remember what you were," he said. "Protocol Zero."
She smiled — a sad, fractured smile.
"I was the first," she said. "The one who believed the story could be perfect. That if I rewrote enough, I could erase pain."
Jin Mu clenched his fists. "You erased meaning."
She gestured to the mirror. "Look at it. Look at what the Void Engine made us."
He did.
He saw himself — not as Jin Mu, but as Zhen Mu. The original. The prototype. The one who had sacrificed everything to protect Luo Feng. And he saw her — the girl who had watched him die, who had tried to undo his sacrifice, who had become the virus.
"You're not a villain," he said.
She nodded. "But I'm not a hero either."
They stood in silence.
Then — a tremor.
The Virtual Universe shook. The Convergence Signal surged. Protocol Eight had activated a new simulation — one designed to test Luo Feng's loyalty. If he failed, the timeline would fracture.
Jin Mu turned to leave.
But the Architect raised a hand.
"Wait," she said. "I can help."
He hesitated.
"You want to rewrite him," he said.
"No," she replied. "I want to understand him."
Jin Mu studied her.
She was no longer the virus.
She was the echo.
He handed her the glyph.
"Anchor the simulation," he said. "Protect the story."
She took it.
And for the first time, her form stabilized.
Jin Mu returned to the simulation chamber. Protocol Eight was already inside, manipulating the environment. Luo Feng stood at the center, facing a choice — save a simulated Earth or pursue his own ascension.
Jin Mu entered the backend.
The Architect joined him.
Together, they stabilized the simulation, anchored the parameters, and ensured the choice was real — not manipulated.
Luo Feng chose Earth.
The simulation ended.
Babata cheered.
Jin Mu watched from the shadows.
The Architect stood beside him.
"You still believe in him," she said.
"I believe in stories," he replied. "And in the people who carry them."
She smiled.
And for the first time, the Convergence Signal dimmed.
The war wasn't over.
But the healing had begun.