After the flash went out.
The world fell silent for three seconds.
Then—
The emergency lights came on.
Dim red light flickered on, one ceiling lamp after another, splitting the entire memory room into alternating halves of light and shadow.
Jin Feixun stood where she was.
Yan Chuxian was right behind her.
And at the doorway—
The woman with the same face as hers was still standing there.
Long black hair.
A black coat.
A silver watch.
And those eyes—
Eyes Jin Feixun had never seen before, yet somehow found strangely familiar.
Calm.
Exhausted.
Like someone who had already seen the ending.
The knife in her hand hung at her side.
There was no blood dripping from the tip.
Yet it glinted coldly beneath the red light.
“Who are you?”
Jin Feixun asked.
The woman did not answer.
She only looked at her.
For a long while.
Then she gave a soft laugh.
“You really forgot everything.”
Jin Feixun clenched her fists.
“Answer me.”
The woman finally raised her eyes.
“I’m you.”
“No.”
“Then who do you think I am?”
The woman walked into the room one step at a time.
Her high heels struck the floor.
Once.
Then again.
Every step felt like it was landing on Jin Feixun’s heart.
She stopped less than ten feet from Jin Feixun.
“The sixth time,” she said.
“I’m the version of you who stayed behind the sixth time.”
Jin Feixun stared at her.
“What do you mean, ‘stayed behind’?”
“It means—”
She raised her hand and pointed at Jin Feixun.
“You’re the one who was left behind.”
Then she pointed at herself.
“I’m the one who was remembered.”
Jin Feixun froze.
“Remembered what?”
The woman did not answer.
She looked toward Yan Chuxian.
In that instant, the coldness in her eyes vanished, replaced by an utterly deep hatred.
“You brought her back again.”
Yan Chuxian said nothing.
“The fifth time, I already told you.”
The woman looked at her.
“Don’t come back again.”
Yan Chuxian said softly, “I know.”
“Then why did you come back?”
“Because she found me.”
The woman laughed.
“You knew exactly what would happen.”
“I know.”
“You knew she would die.”
Yan Chuxian’s fingers trembled faintly.
“I know that too.”
Jin Feixun looked at Yan Chuxian.
“What do you mean, I’m going to die?”
No one answered.
The woman suddenly threw the knife in her hand onto the floor.
Clang.
The blade spun several times across the floor before coming to a stop.
“Don’t you understand yet?”
She looked at Jin Feixun.
“The Vanished Name was never meant to make Yan Chuxian disappear.”
“It was meant to—”
She reached out and pointed at Jin Feixun.
“Make you take her place.”
Jin Feixun did not move.
“What does that mean?”
“You always thought they wanted to delete Yan Chuxian,” the woman said slowly.
“You were wrong.”
“What they really want to delete is—”
“You.”
The air suddenly fell silent.
Yan Chuxian spoke in a low voice.
“Don’t listen to her.”
The woman laughed.
“You’re still the same.”
“You never dare let her know the truth.”
“That’s enough.”
It was the first time Yan Chuxian had raised her voice.
But the woman ignored her.
“Do you know why you can meet her again every time?”
Jin Feixun did not answer.
“Because you two were never really two people,” the woman said.
“Your memories were part of the same system from the beginning.”
“Every time an experiment ended—”
“Yan Chuxian disappeared.”
“And your memories preserved her in her place.”
“That’s why she came back.”
Jin Feixun’s breathing grew faster and faster.
“If I forget her…”
“She disappears.”
“If I remember her…”
“She appears again.”
The woman nodded.
“That’s right.”
“So—”
She looked toward Yan Chuxian.
“She isn’t your lover.”
“She’s your memory.”
Jin Feixun was stunned.
Yan Chuxian’s eyes reddened.
“No.”
She spoke in a low voice.
“I’m not her memory.”
The woman stared coldly at her.
“Then what are you?”
Yan Chuxian did not answer.
Because she did not know the answer herself.
Suddenly, the screen on the wall lit up.
A recording began playing automatically.
On-screen was B-17, seventeen years earlier.
A young girl stood in front of the camera.
Jin Feixun recognized herself at a glance.
That was her at seventeen.
She stood before a wall covered in names.
There was no fear on her face.
Instead, she looked unnaturally calm.
She was speaking to the camera.
“If you’re watching this recording,”
“the experiment has failed.”
The Jin Feixun on-screen paused.
“Don’t trust any version of me.”
Jin Feixun froze in the room.
The recording continued.
“That includes the me who exists now.”
“And the me from the future.”
“And also—”
She looked beyond the camera.
“Yan Chuxian.”
Yan Chuxian abruptly closed her eyes.
Jin Feixun turned to look at her.
“You knew about this recording?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want you to remember.”
“Why?”
Yan Chuxian fell silent.
But the seventeen-year-old Jin Feixun in the recording continued:
“If I really fell in love with her,”
“that means the experiment has entered its second phase.”
“What’s the second phase?”
The girl on-screen did not answer.
At the very end, she simply picked up a pen.
She wrote a name on the paper.
Yan Chuxian.
Then crossed it out.
She wrote again.
Jin Feixun.
Then crossed that out too.
Finally, she wrote two words.
The Vanished Name.
The screen went black.
“She’s lying,” the other Jin Feixun suddenly said.
“Who?”
“The seventeen-year-old you.”
She looked at Jin Feixun.
“That recording wasn’t meant for you.”
“It was meant for me.”
Jin Feixun froze.
“Why?”
“Because she knew the sixth version of me would come back.”
“So…”
“So she left me instructions in advance.”
The woman walked to the screen and pressed pause.
“The sixth time,” she said softly.
“The only experiment where the memories weren’t erased.”
Jin Feixun looked at her.
“Then why didn’t you disappear?”
The woman smiled.
“Because someone disappeared in my place.”
She looked toward Yan Chuxian.
Jin Feixun’s heart suddenly clenched.
Yan Chuxian lowered her head.
“It was me,” the woman said.
“The fifth time.”
“She gave her existence to Yan Chuxian.”
“That’s why Yan Chuxian survived until now.”
Jin Feixun could no longer understand any of it.
“What do you mean, she gave her existence to her?”
The woman moved closer.
“Have you ever noticed something?”
“What?”
“Every time you saw Yan Chuxian—”
“she was different from the time before.”
Jin Feixun froze.
The woman continued:
“The first time, she had no name.”
“The second time, she had no past.”
“The third time, she had no identity.”
“The fourth time, she had no memories.”
“The fifth time…”
She looked toward Yan Chuxian.
“She did not die.”
“And the sixth time—”
The woman’s voice gradually lowered.
“She had you.”
Jin Feixun’s pupils contracted sharply.
“Stop.”
Yan Chuxian spoke in a low voice.
But the woman did not stop.
“Her memories now.”
“Her habits now.”
“What she likes now.”
“Even the reason she loves you.”
“It all came from—”
She pointed at Jin Feixun.
“You.”
Jin Feixun looked toward Yan Chuxian.
“Is it true?”
Yan Chuxian did not answer.
Tears fell from her eyes.
“Is it true?”
Jin Feixun asked again.
Finally, Yan Chuxian nodded.
“Part of it.”
“Which part?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I only know that—”
She walked over to Jin Feixun.
“When I opened my eyes for the first time—”
“there was already a name in my mind.”
“What name?”
Yan Chuxian looked at her.
“Jin Feixun.”
Jin Feixun’s eyes instantly reddened.
“So…”
“So I don’t know who I am,” Yan Chuxian said softly.
“But I do know this.”
“I have to find you.”
Suddenly, all of B-17 began to shake violently.
The lights on the walls burst one after another.
The alarm blared again.
Red words appeared on the screen:
System anomaly detected.
Two individuals with identical identities are present simultaneously.
Beginning forced normalization.
The other Jin Feixun’s expression changed drastically.
“Damn it.”
“What?”
“They found us.”
“Who?”
“Not Shen Wen.”
She looked up at the ceiling.
“It’s B-17.”
Jin Feixun frowned.
“B-17 is a system?”
“It’s not a system,” the woman said.
“It’s a person.”
“Who?”
She did not answer.
A voice suddenly rang out through the entire room.
Very softly.
Like a woman speaking from far away.
“Welcome back.”
Yan Chuxian’s face instantly went deathly pale.
She took a step back.
“No…”
Jin Feixun looked at her.
“You recognize that voice?”
Yan Chuxian did not answer.
The voice sounded again.
“Seventeen years.”
“You finally brought her back.”
“Yan Chuxian.”
“You should know.”
“This time—”
“I won’t let you escape again.”
Jin Feixun looked up sharply.
On the ceiling—
Every security camera turned toward them at once.
Red indicator lights came on.
One.
Two.
Three.
Dozens.
The entire room seemed to suddenly possess countless eyes.
And on the final screen—
A photograph appeared.
The woman in the photograph was sitting on a hospital bed.
Her hair had gone white.
Her face was haggard.
Yet the contours of her youth were still recognizable.
Jin Feixun stopped breathing.
“Mom…”
Yan Chuxian looked up as well.
For the first time, genuine fear appeared in her eyes.
A line of text slowly appeared beneath the screen:
B-17 First Experimental Subject: Lin Lan.
Status: Alive.
Current Location: B-17 Core Area.
Jin Feixun’s entire body went rigid.
She had always believed her mother was dead.
She had always believed her mother was merely the first victim of the Vanished Name Project.
But now—
She was still alive.
And she was right here.
The other Jin Feixun slowly backed away.
“Your mother wasn’t a victim.”
Jin Feixun turned around.
“Then what was she?”
The woman was silent for a moment.
Then she said,
“She was the one who created B-17.”
Jin Feixun’s expression changed completely.
The next second, the final line appeared on the screen:
“Core Area Open.”
“True Purpose of the Sixth Experiment: Retrieve Jin Feixun.”
The countdown continued.
69:32:14
And the door leading to the Core Area—
slowly opened.
There were no lights beyond it.
Only a corridor stretching so far its end could not be seen.
Yan Chuxian took Jin Feixun’s hand.
This time, she did not tell her to run.
She only said softly,
“We’re going to meet your mother.”
Jin Feixun stared into the depths of the darkness.
Then she tightened her grip on Yan Chuxian’s hand.
“Okay.”
The two of them walked in side by side.
Behind them, the door slowly closed.
The other Jin Feixun remained where she was, watching them leave.
She lowered her head and picked up the knife from the floor.
Then she said softly,
“The sixth time…”
“You finally made it here.”
She raised her eyes.
There was no fear in them.
Only words so quiet they were almost inaudible.
“But—”
“The ending of the sixth time was never about rescuing her.”