The stars were flickering.
Jin Mu stood in the outer shell of the Virtual Universe, watching the simulation grid pulse with activity. Luo Feng had completed his latest trial — a planetary defense scenario against a Beast Horde — and was now resting, his aura dim but stable.
But something was wrong.
A new simulation had appeared.
Not in the training queue. Not in the archives. Not in the Order's entropy logs.
It was… unclassified.
Jin Mu accessed the backend.
The simulation was labeled "Origin Drift: Unstable Thread."
He ran a scan.
The simulation was built from fragments of collapsed timelines — pieces of Echo Protocols, failed ascensions, corrupted memories. It shouldn't exist. The Void Engine had no record of its creation.
He entered.
The simulation was a city — familiar, but wrong. Buildings twisted at impossible angles. Streets looped into themselves. Time flowed sideways. And at the center stood a monument.
To him.
Jin Mu.
Not as he was — but as he could have been. A hero. A villain. A myth.
He approached.
The monument pulsed.
A voice spoke.
"You are the fracture."
Jin Mu summoned the Sigil. The simulation resisted. Reality bent. The monument cracked.
Then — a figure appeared.
Not the Architect. Not Protocol Eight.
A child.
Silver-eyed. Cloaked in entropy.
But… different.
"You're not her," Jin Mu said.
"No," the child replied. "I'm what she left behind."
Jin Mu frowned. "A fragment?"
The child nodded. "A memory. A regret. A possibility."
The simulation trembled.
The Void Engine was reacting — not with control, but with fear.
Jin Mu accessed the core.
The system was fracturing.
The Architect appeared beside him, her form flickering.
"You found it," she said.
"What is it?"
She hesitated.
"It's the simulation I tried to erase," she said. "The one where I chose redemption."
Jin Mu stared at the child.
"You were her choice."
The child nodded.
"But the Void Engine rejected me."
Jin Mu clenched his fists.
"Then why are you here?"
"To warn you," the child said. "The story is collapsing. Not because of entropy. But because of memory."
Jin Mu accessed the simulation's parameters.
It was built from forgotten choices — moments where the story could have gone differently. And now, those moments were bleeding into reality.
He exited the simulation.
The Architect followed.
Back in the Virtual Universe, Luo Feng stirred. He looked around, sensing something. A ripple. A presence.
He saw Jin Mu.
Not clearly.
But enough.
"You again," he said.
Jin Mu nodded.
"You're part of this," Luo Feng said. "A piece I don't understand."
Jin Mu stepped forward.
"I'm the echo," he said. "The part of the story that remembers what could have gone wrong."
Luo Feng studied him.
Then — nodded.
"I'll trust you," he said. "Until I can't."
Jin Mu smiled.
Fair.
The stars pulsed.
The Void Engine trembled.
And the simulation that shouldn't exist began to rewrite itself.