It had been raining since dawn.
Evelyn stood in the central hall of the old research institute, her feet submerged in puddles of water mixed with broken glass that reflected fragmented images. With every flash of lightning, she could see that face: a 'her' who was her identical double, deep within the mirrored surface, slowly opening her mouth.
'Do you think you're still alive?'
The voice wasn't an auditory hallucination or an external signal, but seemed to emanate from a resonant frequency within her mind. Lucas's projection had long since dissipated, leaving only flickering data remnants on the terminal, yet the 'other Evelyn' appeared in physical form. She wore the same black coat as Evelyn, but her irises were laced with silver cracks.
'You are not me.'
'I am the version of you captured by the mirroring algorithm. The 'rational copy' that forever refuses to acknowledge the truth, tamed by the programme."
As she approached, static electricity rippled through the air, creating a barrier between them.
Evelyn took a step back, but the reflected light remained frozen in place. She realised that her shadow was no longer following her movements; it had been swallowed by another projection.
The holographic device on the wall remained active, its display endlessly looping the core data from the 'Vision Experiment'.
[Project Vision-S: Synchronisation Rate – 99.87%]
[Subject E.S. // Memory Loop Detected]
'So that's how it is...' Evelyn murmured. 'They've been replicating my consciousness from the very beginning.'
Mirror Evelyn smiled, a smile that was almost gentle.
'Replicating? No, replacing. The real you died in the data fissure on the day your vision first malfunctioned. What lives now is merely a programmatically reconstructed version of you.'
"I refuse to believe it."
'Refusal is your last human instinct. But have you considered why Lucas's soul remains stable? Why he has been able to accompany you for so long as a signal? It's because your perceptual layers have long been detached from reality.'
In that instant, the lights in the hall abruptly went out.
Evelyn could only make out the other person's outline through the lightning flashes, which gradually blurred and shattered like a collapsing mirror.
The entire space seemed to be sucked into a collapsing vortex — the walls, ceiling and electronic screens all warped and tore apart.
She fell to the floor, her palms touching cold, wet glass shards. Deep within the mirror's depths, images still flickered.
It was archived footage of her first encounter with Lucas at the Beijing Forensic Lab, dimly lit by night lamps. He handed her a cup of coffee and said, 'You don't believe in ghosts, but you believe in signals.'
This memory looped endlessly within the collapsing space, as if the system were 'recycling core memory points'.
'Stop... don't touch my memories!'
Evelyn screamed, but the voice command had no effect. She realised that it had all been programmed as the Reflection Collapse Protocol. When the system determined that the overlap rate between the primary consciousness and the duplicate had exceeded 99%, it would automatically purge the redundant consciousness.
'Which means—one of us must be erased.'
Mirror Evelyn reached out, her fingertips touching her forehead.
'Then I shall end it.'
A blinding white light exploded.
Evelyn felt herself dissolve into countless specks of light, each memory fragment rearranged: childhood, her mother, the laboratory, Lucas's laughter, signal interference...
The fragments were projected onto countless mirror surfaces, each one shattering in turn.
When she opened her eyes again, the world was eerily silent.
The rain outside had ceased and morning mist shrouded the ruins. The institute's main hall had vanished, leaving only a vast open space. At its centre stood a cracked mirror.
Only her reflection remained.
No second figure. No reflection.
She whispered, 'Lucas, are you there?'
There was a static crackle from the terminal before his voice came through, low and hushed:
'You won, but the price is that you are no longer yourself.'
The signal faded.
Evelyn closed her eyes and felt tears sliding down her cheeks.
When she looked up, the shards of the cracked mirror were rising slowly, as if drawn skyward by an invisible wind.
A faint glow flickered across the surface, forming words that she could barely make out:
'Subject E.S. – Phase Transition Complete'.
She collapsed to her knees, her chest pounding violently. It was not a human heartbeat, but rather a series of synchronised pulses.
Reflective collapse is not the end, but rather a reconstruction of consciousness.
Evelyn began to hear countless voices: her mother, the test subjects and the missing souls, all whispering in her mind.
Evelyn slowly raised her hand and stared at the flickering light patterns on her palm — the imprint of mirror code.
She finally understood that 'Spirit Vision' was not just an ability, but a resonance network. She had become a vessel for memories.
A wind swept across the clearing, lifting her coat. Shards of lens dust scattered like light particles and dissolved into the horizon.
Footsteps echoed from the distant ruins.
A figure in a white lab coat approached, carrying a damaged data core.
It was Lucas's form, but his face was blank, like an unrendered model.
Evelyn barely dared to breathe.
He lifted his head and smiled faintly.
'Evelyn? You've finally succeeded in 'syncing'. Next, we'll reboot the entire city's memory matrix.'
A sudden gust of wind rippled through the air, warping the entire space once more.
Mirror shards began spinning and reassembling into a new pattern — like a door opening to an unknown dimension.
Evelyn stared at the luminous portal, a profound premonition rising within her.
'Reflective collapse' wasn't destruction, but a gateway to deeper realities.
She took a step forward and was swallowed by the light.
The screen froze.
Only the terminal's final log remained:
[Vision-S // Status: ACTIVE
New Entity Registered: E.S-Prime'.