The world wasn't supposed to tilt like this.
Liu Fang ran through the collapsing maintenance corridor, the floor shuddering beneath her with every distant explosion. Pipes burst overhead. Sparks showered down like angry fireflies.
The facility was dying.
Her lungs burned, her wounded arm screamed, but she did not stop.
Not until she reached him.
The corridor shook. A support beam groaned—and snapped.
A massive chunk of ceiling crashed down behind her.
"Don't look back," she hissed to herself."Just run."
But then the floor gave way.
She stumbled—fell—slammed onto metal.
Her vision blurred.
Pain radiated up her leg.
She tried to stand.
Failed.
Her throat tightened.
"Lin Wei… I'm sorry…"
The lights flickered above her, dying one by one, plunging the corridor into dim trembling shadows.
Then—
A soft breeze brushed her cheek.
Warm.Gentle.
Impossible.
She looked up.
At the far end of the corridor, a halo of white light blossomed—expanding like dawn breaking through steel.
Footsteps echoed through the collapsing hall.
Calm.Steady.Unhurried.
"Liu Fang."
Her heart stopped.
"...Lin Wei?"
The Walk Through the Collapse
He stepped through drifting dust, glowing faintly—like the light touched him gently but didn't belong to him.
No—it answered him.
Reality bent around him in subtle ripples. Falling debris slowed. Sparks drifted sideways. A cracking pipe paused mid-burst, water suspended like floating crystal beads.
He reached her and knelt.
His eyes glowed softly.
Not cold.Not robotic.Just… bright.
Warm.
Alive.
He placed a hand on her cheek.
"You're hurt."
Liu Fang let out a shaky laugh.
"I could say the same. What… what happened to you?"
Lin Wei smiled faintly.
"I learned something important."
"What?"
He brushed dust from her brow.
"That I don't need a system to protect you."
Her breath caught.
Her heart hammered.
She whispered:
"Are you… still you?"
Lin Wei nodded once.
"I'm me. Just… connected."
Connected?
She wanted to ask more—but the ceiling groaned sharply overhead.
Lin Wei looked up—eyes narrowing.
The structure shifted.
A large section detached—ready to crush them both.
Liu Fang gasped.
"Lin Wei!"
He rose slowly and lifted a hand.
Just a gesture.
Not desperate.Not strained.Almost casual.
The falling metal simply—
Stopped.
Held in place as if the air had turned to stone.
Liu Fang's eyes widened in disbelief.
"You… you're moving steel now?!"
He chuckled softly.
"No. I'm rewriting its momentum."
"THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT LESS TERRIFYING!"
He shrugged lightly, then scooped her into his arms as if she weighed nothing.
She clung to him, heart racing.
"Lin Wei—your body—can it handle this?"
"It has to."
He stepped forward.
And the world shifted around them, clearing a path.
Outside — Zhao's Breaking Point
Zhao watched the surveillance feed glitch, distort—then stabilize into a breathtaking scene:
Lin Wei walking through collapsing halls while the facility itself parted before him like water.
Soldiers around him murmured in awe.
"Is he… a super-soldier?""Is this a new weapon?""He's… saving the structure?""He's lifting steel beams with his mind!"
Zhao whispered:
"He didn't fuse with the system…He fused with the Core Mind."
Another officer shook his head.
"No one's ever survived that."
Zhao smiled bitterly.
"No one else had Liu Fang to save."
The Exit — Light Against Darkness
Lin Wei pushed open the final bulkhead door with a soft gesture.
The metal groaned—then peeled open like paper.
Fresh air rushed in.
Clouds. Sunlight. Real sky.
Liu Fang buried her face in his chest, overwhelmed.
"You… you did it. You really… saved us."
"Not yet," Lin Wei murmured.
He stepped out into the open.
Dozens of soldiers raised their weapons instinctively.
Liu Fang tensed.
"Put me down—if they shoot—"
"They won't," Lin Wei said softly.
Energy rippled outward from him like a gentle wave.
Weapons lowered involuntarily—not forced, not manipulated—just eased.
Like fear itself had been soothed.
Zhao approached slowly.
His expression was a storm of pride, terror, relief, confusion.
"Lin Wei," he said hoarsely."What are you now?"
Lin Wei exhaled, eyes dimming slightly as the glow softened.
"Someone who can stop the purge protocol permanently.Someone who can rewrite the order that tried to kill us."
He looked past Zhao at the horizon.
"And someone who isn't done yet."
Zhao frowned.
"What else is left?"
Lin Wei tightened his hold on Liu Fang.
"The Nexus didn't fall apart on its own.Someone sabotaged it."
A chill swept through the group.
Liu Fang looked up at him.
"Are you saying there's someone else involved?"
Lin Wei nodded.
"I saw their signature inside the Core."
His eyes flashed with a cold, clear light.
"They wanted the purge to activate.They wanted this place erased."
Zhao stiffened.
"Why? Who?!"
Lin Wei whispered:
"I don't know."
But he did know one thing—
He would find them.
And the Core's power pulsed inside him like a beating second heart.
This was only the beginning.