Truth is not the destination; merely the other side of the reflection."
After that day, Beijing's skies hung heavy as iron pressed down.
For three full days, the news made no mention of the explosion. No one spoke of Vision Division, nor did anyone mention Lucas again.
It was as if it had never happened.
But I knew that wasn't true.
Because whenever I closed my eyes, I could see that light—
His smile within it.
---
[Departure]
I left the city.
Seated on the southbound train, I watched the city's outline gradually swallowed by mist.
The sky hung leaden grey. The scenery outside reflected on the windowpane, creating two layers of the world: one real, one mirrored.
In the reflection, I saw myself.
That face—colder than before, yet calmer too.
I wasn't sure if it was me.
The train announcement sounded: next stop, Yunshui.
A name that sounded clean.
I thought, perhaps there I could start afresh.
In my bag lay only a tattered investigation notebook, an old camera, and that shattered lens.
It no longer glowed, yet each time night fell, I could feel its faint pulsation—
like a heartbeat.
Like some fragment of "him" still clinging to life.
---
[The Silent City]
Yunshui was a quiet place.
No cold neon lights like Beijing's, only damp air and long street lamps.
I stayed at an old hotel. The landlady was a taciturn woman who scarcely looked up.
Handing me the key, she said only: "Stay as long as you like. Just don't look in the mirrors."
I paused, startled: "Why?"
She smiled, revealing an almost imperceptible expression: "There are many mirrors in this place. Sometimes they watch you longer than you watch them."
I asked no more.
I merely returned to my room and placed the mirror lens upon the table.
The night wind blew in, stirring the curtains.
The light reflected by the lens danced across the ceiling, like an unsettled eye.
---
[003: The Message He Left]
That night, I dreamt of Lucas again.
He stood upon an endless expanse of water, its surface reflecting countless images.
He gazed at me, his voice echoing as though from afar:
> "Evelyn, your Vision Sense has not ended.
You have merely entered the next layer."
I tried to approach him, but my feet slipped—
The water shattered into countless flickering symbols.
I recognised them: code segments from the mirror system.
In the dream, they assembled into a sentence:
> 「AFTERIMAGE PROTOCOL: REBOOT SEQUENCE INITIATED.」
I jolted awake.
My fingers were ice-cold.
The lenses on the table glowed faintly.
---
[New Signal]
The next morning, the hotel television suddenly came to life, its screen blanketed in snowy static.
I tapped the remote control several times. The screen flickered, then displayed a line of text:
> 「Test Subject ID: C-03 / Status: Synchronising」
I sucked in my breath.
This wasn't an illusion.
Not a dream.
The system had rebooted.
And there was a new "Test Subject".
I tried to switch off the television, but it suddenly emitted a voice—
a childish, breathy girl's voice.
> "Evelyn... can you hear me?"
I froze.
The voice sounded as though it were inside my own head.
I scanned the room. No one was there.
The static on the screen began to coalesce, blurrily forming a face—
it was my own.
But it wasn't the present me.
It was my mirror image, eyes vacant, lips trembling slightly.
She was smiling.
> "We're not finished yet."
---
[The Fissure]
I lunged forward to unplug the TV, only to discover it had no socket.
The hum of electricity grew louder as the walls began to glow faintly—
just like the day the lab collapsed.
Reaching for the lens, I found it had fused into the tabletop, pulsing blue.
At the light's core, new text emerged:
> 「Afterimage Protocol — Phase II」
「Supervisor: E.S-02」
Supervisor.
Overseer.
I froze.
This meant I'd become the next phase's experiment administrator.
But I never consented.
The wind outside the window sounded like a whisper.
I thought I heard Lucas's voice coming from the lens:
> "You can't escape, Evelyn.
The system has identified you as the core.
Your clairvoyance is the gateway to Afterimage."
---
[Afterimage]
At night, I gazed into the lenses once more.
What reflected back was not me.
But countless versions of "me".
They moved through different scenes, different times—
Some still in police uniforms, some barefoot amidst ruins, some smiling at a mirror.
I heard my own voice, layered within the reflections:
> "Truth has no end.
I am merely a delayed reflection."
The mirror began to crack.
Light spilled through the fissures, projecting onto the ceiling, walls, and my face.
I reached out and touched the light.
It was cold, yet it pulsed faintly beneath my fingertips—as if welcoming me.
I whispered, "Lucas... is this the world you left behind?"
There was no reply.
Only the light, slowly engulfing me.
---
[Epilogue]
The next morning, the hotel room stood empty.
Only the shattered mirror remained on the table, its surface flickering with faint light.
A woman in a white coat stood by the door.
She wore a metal identification card bearing a new designation:
> 「Vision Division / Project: AFTERIMAGE」
「Lead: Dr. Mei Rong」
She bent slightly, plucking a droplet of solidified light from the shard.
"Initiate," she murmured. "C-03 ready."
The shard flickered, displaying a line of text:
> 「Subject Online」
「Welcome, Evelyn Song.」
---
[End of Chapter 10 — Afterimage Protocol]
---