The darkness did not fade.
Instead—
it grew deeper.
As though the entire world had stopped breathing, waiting for something that should never have awakened to open its eyes.
Lin Wan stood within the void.
Before her was the "shadow" wearing her face.
Behind her was Captain Zhang, whose consciousness had finally awakened.
And beyond them—
the entire Observation Layer was trembling.
Not because the space itself was shaking.
But because the rules were afraid.
---
"She has awakened."
The System's voice continued repeating.
Cold.
Mechanical.
Yet for the first time, it had lost its absolute calm.
"She has awakened…"
"She has awakened…"
"She has—"
Suddenly.
Every sound stopped.
The entire world fell silent.
Lin Wan raised her head.
For the first time, she heard something else.
A faint sound.
Very far away.
As though someone were crying behind countless layers of walls.
"...Mommy…"
Lin Wan's pupils contracted.
Not because the voice was frightening.
But because—
she knew that voice.
It was her own voice.
From childhood.
---
"Don't listen."
Captain Zhang's voice came from behind her.
Lin Wan suddenly turned.
Captain Zhang's body still did not exist.
Only the fractured, overlapping shadow floated within the void.
But this time—
the shadow belonging to him was trembling violently.
"Lin Wan."
"It isn't calling you."
"It is calling the you from the past."
---
Lin Wan didn't answer.
She slowly closed her eyes.
The next moment—
she saw a room.
Small.
Old.
Faded children's stickers covered the walls.
A tiny bed.
An old stuffed rabbit.
And a mirror.
A seven-year-old girl stood in front of it.
Lin Wan.
The little girl lowered her head.
She was clutching the damaged rabbit tightly in her arms.
But the Lin Wan inside the mirror wasn't looking down.
The girl in the mirror—
was staring directly at Lin Wan.
Then—
she smiled.
---
"You finally remembered."
The girl inside the mirror spoke.
Lin Wan's entire body turned cold.
"Who are you?"
The little girl didn't answer.
She simply raised her hand.
And gently knocked against the mirror.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
The moment the third knock sounded—
the lights in the room suddenly went out.
From the darkness came a woman's terrified scream.
"Don't let her see the mirror!"
"Cover it! Hurry!"
"It's too late!"
---
The scene flickered violently.
Lin Wan saw her younger self being carried away.
She saw the woman desperately covering the mirror.
She saw countless black lines hidden behind the walls.
They weren't electrical wires.
They were—
shadows.
They stretched from deep inside the walls.
Connecting to the mirror.
Connecting to the little girl.
And connecting to something buried even deeper.
---
"So that's it…"
Lin Wan whispered.
"The first thing I saw wasn't a ghost."
"It was the System."
Captain Zhang was silent for a moment.
"No."
His voice became extremely grave.
"The first thing you saw…"
"was something outside the System."
Lin Wan suddenly turned toward him.
"What do you mean?"
Captain Zhang didn't answer.
Because the shadow beneath him suddenly split open.
A black crack extended from the center of his shadow into the depths of the void.
From inside that crack—
came a third voice.
Not Lin Wan.
Not Captain Zhang.
Not the System.
The voice was young.
Almost childlike.
"You finally found me."
---
Lin Wan's body instantly froze.
The voice continued:
"I've been waiting for you…"
"For a very long time."
---
The next second—
every cell in the Observation Layer opened simultaneously.
Click.
The first door.
Click.
The second.
Click-click-click-click—
Countless doors opened at once.
The archived "Lin Wans" inside slowly raised their heads.
They didn't scream.
They didn't struggle.
They simply turned toward the same direction.
Then—
one step.
Another.
They walked out of their cells.
---
Captain Zhang's consciousness trembled violently.
"Lin Wan…"
"What are they doing?"
Lin Wan stared at the countless versions of herself.
Then she suddenly realized something.
Those failed Lin Wans weren't walking toward them.
They were walking toward—
the core of the System.
---
"They aren't attacking us."
Lin Wan's voice was cold.
"They're…"
She suddenly stopped.
Because every single "Lin Wan" raised their hands simultaneously.
In the center of every palm—
an eye appeared.
Crimson.
Cold.
Identical to the giant eye they had encountered before.
Captain Zhang suddenly understood.
"They're…"
Lin Wan slowly finished his thought.
"Watching the System."
---
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion erupted from deep within the Observation Layer.
Countless white walls suddenly cracked.
For the first time, the System issued a genuine emergency alert.
"Unauthorized consciousness aggregation detected."
"Permission conflict."
"Archived entities are escaping control."
"Immediate execution—"
The voice suddenly glitched.
Then—
the strange child's voice softly laughed.
"You can't execute it."
The System fell silent.
The child continued:
"Because now…"
"the rules here no longer belong to you."
---
Lin Wan raised her head.
And finally—
she saw it.
At the deepest point beyond the countless cells—
there was a door.
A door that had never appeared in any archive.
No number.
No lock.
Only three words were written upon it:
ORIGINAL SPECIMEN.
Lin Wan's heart sank.
She slowly walked toward it.
With every step she took—
all the other "Lin Wans" stepped backward.
As though they were clearing a path for her.
Captain Zhang hurriedly shouted:
"Don't go in!"
Lin Wan stopped.
"Why?"
For the first time—
Captain Zhang's voice contained genuine fear.
"Because if you go inside…"
"You might discover…"
He paused.
"You've always believed you were Lin Wan."
"But…"
"You may only be a part of her."
---
From behind the door—
footsteps suddenly sounded.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Someone was walking toward them.
Lin Wan stared at the door.
Black liquid slowly seeped from beneath it.
Like blood.
But there was no smell of blood.
The black liquid slowly gathered.
Then formed four words.
WELCOME BACK.
Lin Wan's breathing stopped.
Because she recognized the handwriting.
It was identical to the handwriting she had used as a child.
---
The door—
slowly opened.
There was no monster.
No corpse.
No darkness.
Only a chair.
A little girl sat upon it.
Seven years old.
Wearing a white nightdress.
Clutching the same damaged rabbit toy.
Her head was lowered.
Her face couldn't be seen.
Lin Wan slowly approached.
"Little girl…"
The child slowly raised her head.
That face—
was Lin Wan's childhood face.
She smiled.
"Sister."
Lin Wan froze.
The girl whispered:
"You finally came back for me."
"I've been waiting for you for so long."
Lin Wan's throat tightened.
"You…"
The girl raised one finger.
Placing it gently against her lips.
"Shh."
"Don't tell them."
Her smile slowly became more unsettling.
"Actually…"
"The person trapped by the System…"
"was never you."
Lin Wan's pupils contracted.
The girl slowly pointed behind her.
Toward the endless rows of cells.
Then—
toward Captain Zhang.
"It was him."
---
Captain Zhang's shadow suddenly twisted violently.
"Lin Wan—!"
But the girl only smiled wider.
Then she spoke a name that caused every System process to freeze simultaneously.
"Because ever since the first time you met Captain Zhang…"
"The man standing beside you…"
"has never been Captain Zhang."
---
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Lin Wan slowly turned around.
She looked at Captain Zhang.
And his overlapping shadow—
slowly began to separate.
One layer belonged to Captain Zhang.
The other…
slowly rose to its feet.
The shadow had no face.
Yet within the darkness—
it slowly raised its hand toward Lin Wan.
Then, using Captain Zhang's voice, it whispered:
"Long time no see."
—
End of Chapter 29