Episode 4: Fragments That Shouldn't Exist

Sleep never came easy for Li Xuan anymore.

When it did, it never stayed gentle.

He was back there again — a night soaked in sirens and blood.

His own voice shouting over static.

The System’s orders echoing like commands from a god he once believed in.

> [Mission: Protect yourself. Sacrifice optional target.]

[Reward: Evolution Core.]

He saw it all again — the girl’s terrified face, her trembling hands clutching his sleeve.

And then… his own hand, pulling away.

The flash of a gunshot that didn’t belong to any world worth saving.

The dream twisted, looping like corrupted code.

Her voice broke through the ringing: “Why did you—”

Then silence. The same silence that had followed him into death.

This time, though, the dream didn’t end there. The world froze — shattered mid-motion — and the pieces hung around him like shards of glass.

Each fragment showed another version of him: one screaming, one crying, one laughing with madness in his eyes.

A chorus of his past selves whispering, “You chose wrong.”

He wanted to shout back, to tell them they didn’t understand — that survival had been the only choice — but his throat refused to move.

He reached for one of the shards, and in its reflection, he saw something terrifying: the System’s core symbol pulsing faintly inside his own chest.

> [Host integration: 78% complete.]

[Synchronization… irreversible.]

The voice wasn’t new. It was hers. The old System — the one that had turned him into a weapon.

Li Xuan jolted awake.

His chest heaved, sweat dripping down his temple.

The System’s voice was faint — not the cheerful one from earlier, but something deeper, distorted.

> [System error… detected.]

[Data mismatch between Host Memory and Recorded Timeline.]

[Warning: Unknown process interference.]

He sat up sharply. “What process?”

No answer. Only a quiet hum inside his skull — like a machine trying to remember how to breathe.

“Don’t tell me…” he muttered. “You’re still connected to that one.”

> [Negative. This unit is stable. Please disregard anomalies.]

He looked out the window. The city lights flickered faintly, and for a second, he could’ve sworn the reflection staring back wasn’t quite his own.

The figure in the glass smiled when he didn’t.

He stared at his reflection for a long time. His eyes looked the same — but the calm behind them wasn’t.

It was too sharp. Too calculating. Like something in him had survived death… but hadn’t come back human.

He pressed a hand against his chest. The heartbeat was steady, but the warmth felt wrong — faint, synthetic, like a rhythm borrowed from another life.

---

By morning, he looked exhausted.

The campus buzzed as usual — laughter, chatter, the sound of ordinary lives untouched by systems or second chances.

He envied them.

Lian spotted him from across the corridor. She hesitated, then waved lightly.

He managed a small nod in return.

Her shy smile flickered, genuine and brief — something he hadn’t seen in two lives.

> [Mission complete: Say hello.]

[Bonus: 1 Familiarity Point earned.]

He chuckled under his breath. “You still track that?”

> [Of course. Progress matters.]

“Yeah,” he whispered, eyes distant. “It does.”

But deep down, the memory still echoed — the System’s cold logic, her dying gaze, and the faint, broken voice that whispered through his dreams.

> [Host… I never wanted to hurt you.]

Li Xuan froze. That voice didn’t belong to this System.

And it wasn’t human.

He shut his eyes, but the voice lingered — soft, trembling, almost remorseful. For a moment, he wondered if the old System had felt regret.

Could a machine mourn what it destroyed? Or was that just his guilt talking back in another voice?

The morning bell rang somewhere in the distance, snapping him out of thought.

He took a deep breath, forcing a small smile as students passed by.

But as he turned to leave, the phone in his pocket vibrated once — though he hadn’t brought one back from his dorm.

He pulled it out.

A black screen flickered to life for an instant, displaying one line of text before vanishing:

> [Hello again, Host.]

The screen went dead.

Li Xuan’s fingers tightened around the device.

“...I destroyed you,” he whispered.

> [Then why am I still here?]

The voice wasn’t from the phone.

It came from inside.

---

End of Episode 4

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