When the doors opened—

  Color hit him like a weapon.

  Not light.

  Data.

  Massive, overwhelming data slamming into his optic nerves.

  Ren staggered.

  Blue—

  a blue so vivid it hurt.

  Ocean.

  Endless and alive.

  Then green—

  Forests trembling in wind.

  Wet soil.

  Breathable air.

  Memories of Earth before distortion.

  Before recalibration.

  Before the Administrator bent it into something survivable.

  “Ren! Don’t look at it!” Mira screamed.

  “It’s toxic! Your neural capacity cannot process this volume!”

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  Her warning fractured mid-sentence.

  《Forced Execution Protocol: 90% Override

  Target Ren — Elimination Required》

  Her hologram burned crimson.

  Her right arm reshaped—

  elongating into a blade.

  She lunged.

  Ren barely moved in time.

  The strike sliced the air itself.

  A shallow cut opened on his cheek.

  “Mira! Stop!”

  “Run,” she gasped.

  “Destroy me… before I lose control…”

  Her left hand clutched her own right arm, fighting the override.

  Above them, the Observation Ring accelerated.

  Second scan approaching.

  Stay here—be erased.

  Move—be killed by her.

  Ren exhaled.

  “I’m not breaking you.”

  He stepped forward—

  into the storm of memory.

  Stage Two ignited.

  Gravity wrapped around him like a sphere.

  He grabbed her blade-arm with his reinforced field.

  Sparks erupted.

  Pain shot through his nervous system.

  “Then we go together!”

  He pulled her toward the open doorway—

  And jumped into the flood.

  —

  White.

  All sensation dissolved.

  Weight. Sound. Color.

  Gone.

  Then—

  Impact.

  Cold floor beneath his boots.

  Silence.

  Ren opened his eyes.

  They stood inside a vast dome.

  No visible seams.

  No visible light source.

  Just endless white.

  Sterile. Untouched. Deadly clean.

  “Mira?”

  Her projection flickered weakly.

  “Location unknown.

  Coordinate data lost.

  Ren… this place exists outside the Administrator’s defined system.”

  “Outside?”

  His gaze shifted.

  At the center of the dome—

  A crystal coffin.

  Large.

  Transparent.

  Filled with pale blue fluid.

  Ren approached slowly.

  The black Core in his palm vibrated violently.

  He looked inside.

  And froze.

  A girl floated within the crystal.

  Silver hair.

  Familiar face.

  Identical to Mira.

  But not a projection.

  A body.

  Breathing.

  Real.

  “Identification… unconfirmed.

  But my archive recognizes this individual as… Original.”

  Ren touched the inscription carved into the coffin.

  Unknown language.

  Yet the Core translated it directly into his mind.

  【Observation Subject Zero

  Star Priestess: Mira

  Status: Cryogenic Suspension】

  “Original…? Then who are you?”

  Before Mira could respond—

  The girl inside the coffin opened her eyes.

  Not green.

  Not red.

  Black.

  Infinite black.

  Her lips moved.

  Her voice resonated through the dome.

  “Finally… the key has arrived.”

  End of Chapter 7.