The simulation labeled "Echo Protocol: Jin Mu — Divergence Begins" pulsed with unstable rhythm.
Jin Mu stood before it, the glyph from the Beast God inheritance glowing erratically in his palm. The Void Engine had triggered the simulation automatically — not as a trial, but as a failsafe.
He was no longer just a guardian.
He was a variable.
He entered.
The simulation was a mirror of the Virtual Universe — identical in structure, but hollow in spirit. The cities were silent. The avatars were frozen. The stars didn't pulse. They watched.
At the center stood a monument.
To him.
Again.
But this time, it was unfinished.
He approached.
The monument shimmered, revealing a console — a terminal linked directly to the Void Engine's core. A message appeared:
"You have diverged. Choose your function."
Two options pulsed beneath the message:
Anchor — preserve the timeline, protect Luo Feng, remain unseen.
Rewrite — reshape the story, guide the outcome, risk collapse.
Jin Mu stared at the options.
He remembered the warning from his older self: "The moment you try to become the hero… is the moment the story dies."
He reached for Anchor.
Then — the simulation cracked.
A figure appeared.
Not the Architect.
Not Protocol Eight.
Not the Watcher.
A new Echo.
Unregistered.
Unstable.
Eyes like lightning. Aura like silence.
"You're not the only divergence," the figure said.
Jin Mu summoned the Sigil. The simulation resisted. Reality bent. The glyph flared.
The figure didn't attack.
It handed him a shard.
Glowing.
Pulsing.
Encrypted.
"This is the cost of anchoring," the figure said. "You'll lose your name."
Jin Mu froze.
"What do you mean?"
The figure began to fade.
"You'll protect the story," it said. "But you'll be forgotten by it."
The simulation collapsed.
Jin Mu landed in the Virtual Universe's outer shell, gasping. The glyph was dim. The Void Engine was silent.
But the shard remained.
He accessed it.
It showed a vision — Luo Feng ascending, humanity rising, the Sector Lords falling. But Jin Mu was absent. Erased. Forgotten.
He had anchored the story.
But at the cost of himself.
Back in the training chamber, Luo Feng completed his latest trial. Babata cheered. The boy's aura flared. The timeline stabilized.
Jin Mu watched from the shadows.
The Architect appeared beside him.
"You chose Anchor," she said.
He nodded.
"I chose the story."
She studied him.
"And what will you do when it forgets you?"
Jin Mu looked at the stars.
"I'll remember it."
Then — a tremor.
A new simulation activated.
Not from the Void Engine.
Not from the Watcher.
Not from Jin Mu.
From Luo Feng.
It was labeled:
"Echo Protocol: Luo Feng — Awareness Detected."
Jin Mu froze.
The story was waking up.