Chapter 27: The End, or just start
The training wing's broadcast lights flickered to life, casting sharp beams through the morning haze. A row of system messages appeared across the students' terminals. [Class E3 Lockdown Lifted.]
[Permission Restoration In Progress — Current Level: Partial Sync Access.]
[Please return to primary system instruction this morning.]
Within moments, the empty hallway buzzed with footsteps and low murmurs.
"For real? They actually let us out?"
"I just tried summoning—got a flicker of my Armament's glow, nothing solid."
"Watch it be a surprise test next…"
"Shut up. I just want a class where I don't have to sit on the floor like a prisoner."
Su Xu leaned against the wall, clutching her terminal. "Finally. I was starting to forget what fresh air felt like."
Lu Jingxing snorted beside her. "System caused a damn earthquake and not one formal explanation?"
"Why don't you ask the system?" Su Xu quipped.
"Sure. While I'm at it, maybe I'll ask if I can beat the crap outta whoever released those freaks into our last simulation." He spoke casually, but his eyes flicked toward Nie Shi.
No one answered him.
Because this time, Nie Shi wasn't just the silent one in the corner—he was standing there quietly fastening his terminal strap, saying nothing. Lin Kui stood beside him, equally silent.
And this time, the looks from their classmates weren't rejection or scorn.
They were… complicated.
The simulation had ended days ago, but its weight still lingered. The vision of Nie Shi standing at the breach's edge, holding his weapon, breaking the rift apart—that image hadn't faded.
He was no longer just the "Memoryless."
He was the one who brought them back alive.
First period: System Theory. The instructor—one of the academy's structure analysts—stood at the front, crisp uniform, expression sharp. She gestured and the system's projection unfolded midair.
"Today's topic: Emotional Resonance between Armaments."
The class collectively raised their heads.
"Normally, your Armament responds only to your own memory's emotional state. But in rare cases, when two users share a particularly strong emotional link, their Armaments can—"
She paused.
"—resonate with each other."
A quiet ripple moved through the classroom.
"No way. That's possible?" someone whispered.
A few students leaned forward, intrigued.
In the back row, Lin Kui slowly turned her head.
She looked at Nie Shi.
She didn't speak. But the moment her gaze touched him— Void trembled. Not violently. Not reactively.
Just… a faint shiver. Like a still lake touched by wind.
Nie Shi's breath caught.
In his mind, the black spear shifted ever so slightly, as if responding—not to danger, but to recognition.
He turned his head toward her.
Lin Kui met his eyes.
"…You felt it?" he asked quietly.
She didn't nod at first. She simply looked at him—calm, unwavering, like someone who saw what others didn't.
Then she whispered, "It's quiet. Like it wants to speak, but doesn't know how."
Her voice was soft. Like something remembered, not spoken.
Nie Shi said nothing.
But in that moment, the weight of Void felt just a little lighter.
Lin Kui returned to her notebook, like nothing had happened.
But her fingers, resting on the desk, inched ever so slightly forward—just close enough to brush the edge of his terminal.
—Not a confession. Not sympathy.
Just a quiet closeness. After class. At the far end of the hallway, Luo Jia stood in a patch of light.
She wore the E3 uniform, every button perfectly aligned. Her posture was relaxed but composed, left hand holding her terminal, right hand casually turning a silver ring around her finger—slow, rhythmic, almost hypnotic.
Before the screen dimmed, a system line had flickered across it: [Secure link: M-03 node established]
She glanced up.
Right on cue, Nie Shi and Lin Kui passed the hallway's end. Calm steps. Quiet pace. Measured.
Luo Jia smiled slightly, then took a step forward.
"Do you have a minute?" she asked, voice soft, almost polite.
Lin Kui gave her a look, didn't speak, and said quietly to Nie Shi, "I'll wait for you."
She turned and left, her footsteps silent.
Nie Shi stopped.
Luo Jia didn't press closer. She simply adjusted her sleeve and spoke as if commenting on the weather.
"First day in Class E3. Not bad, honestly."
Nie Shi didn't answer.
She twirled her ring again. "I heard you did something pretty unique in the last simulation."
"You want to test me?"
"Not test," she said lightly. "I just think we might have overlapping interests."
She met his gaze. "You don't trust the system. Neither do I."
"And that weapon of yours… I'm curious about it. Not here to take it, just want to know where it comes from."
Nie Shi didn't speak right away.
He looked at her for a long second.
Too smooth. Too calm. Too well-informed.
Someone like this should never be trusted.
But if she really was one of the system's blind spots—then she was worth keeping close.
"…Fine," he said at last. "Cooperation. On the surface."
Luo Jia's smile deepened, but didn't gloat.
"My favorite kind."
She turned to go, leaving only a soft voice behind her:
"Let's start next class… side by side."
Meanwhile. Instructor Zhong Lan stood in the academy's deepest data wing, her eyes fixed on a locked system interface.
She typed a bypass code—an old clearance string no longer used by standard staff.
The screen blinked. [External access granted.]
[Connecting to Y-09 / Off-site storage node / Memory fragment cache]
[Requesting permission sync—] She didn't turn around.
"I know you're watching me," she muttered. "How long you keep watching depends on how much time I let you have."
She pressed Confirm.
On the other end was an old contact—someone who once helped build the system's first version, now flagged as "gray list." Officially retired. Unofficially… still remembering what others had chosen to forget.
And Zhong Lan?
She was one of the last still trying to protect her students. Elsewhere, beneath the training wing. Meng Yao closed his terminal and didn't move.
His eyes, usually smiling, were unreadable now.
"That last move was too loud," he murmured. "System stabilized faster than expected."
He wasn't talking to anyone visible.
"But Luo Jia's in position now. We wait for her signal." Somewhere on the rooftop. Lu Jingxing stood in the wind, his terminal projecting streams of broken code.
He was combing through fragments from the last simulation—
An irregular data burst caught his attention. [Source: Unknown]
[Command Type: Unauthorized Override / Forced Access / Non-Academy Tag]
[Trace: MirrorSource (suspected)] He stared at the word, eyes narrowing.
"MirrorSource… huh?"
He closed the terminal.
And headed back downstairs.