Chapter 10: Resonance This week's training glitches didn't just hit Class E3.
"Our sim crashed mid-fight. The whole map collapsed—almost crushed someone."
"Ours tried to load an E-Class danger zone out of nowhere."
Upstairs in the cafeteria, students from several classes huddled around tables, voices low.
"I heard it's just a bug in the core system."
"No way. Someone said it's tied to a Memory Armament."
"For real?"
"I heard E3 has someone bound to an illegal weapon."
All eyes flicked briefly toward Nie Shi.
He didn't react—just calmly drank his water.
Xie Ping rolled his eyes. "What, now being good-looking makes you dangerous?"
"Maybe he's illegally handsome," Chu Qing added, grinning.
The tension lightened, but didn't quite vanish.
Su Xu muttered, "It wasn't a glitch. That was a full data backlash."
Lin Kui said nothing, absently tracing the edge of her tray with a fingertip.
At a nearby table, Meng Yao bit her straw, eyes fixed on Nie Shi's group.
There was no smile in her gaze. That afternoon's training was self-directed.
Zhong Lan had been called away, and the system granted autonomous access. "Armament proficiency check. Proceed individually." Lin Kui chose a quiet chamber on the edge of the training wing. The system confirmed her sync clearance.
She summoned her water mirror, attempting a second-tier expansion. "Expand mirror. Form shift." Ripples shimmered across the surface. The mirror stretched like unfolding wings.
She held her breath, focusing her will.
Then—
The mirror began to tremble. [WARNING: Emotional Anchor Unstable.]
[System Imbalance Detected.] A transparent pulse burst outward like an invisible shockwave.
In the next room, two students froze mid-motion, faces draining of color.
"Did you… remember something just now?"
"I don't know. I just saw… a shadow—"
"Disconnect. Now!"
Lin Kui dropped the mirror. It shattered into droplets across the floor.
She collapsed backward, forehead damp with sweat.
"I… I didn't mean to."
The door slid open.
Nie Shi stood there.
He didn't speak—just stepped inside.
"I'm fine," she said quickly, sitting up. "You didn't have to check on me."
"I wasn't checking. Just passing by."
"…Oh."
Silence followed. She lowered her head. "Thanks, though."
Then—
The black spear stirred.
Nie Shi paused, sensing it.
He turned toward her, eyes narrowing.
Their gazes met—and for a heartbeat, everything stilled.
The spear shimmered. A thread of mental flow slipped from his body toward her. [WARNING: Unauthorized Resonance Pathway Activated.]
[Forced Interception Initiated…] He saw something.
A child curled beneath a piano in the dark, humming softly to herself.
Muffled shouting echoed from beyond the room.
She didn't cry. Just stayed there—small, quiet—trying to hold a melody in her throat.
That feeling:
Suppressed. Lonely. Still wanting to sing.
It matched the same emotion he'd felt when Void first answered.
Then it was gone.
Nie Shi blinked hard.
Lin Kui looked dazed. "You—" Her voice was barely audible. "Did you… see anything?"
He shook his head. "No. Just felt… lightheaded."
She didn't press. Only nodded slightly.
"You always show up when something happens to me."
"…It's not intentional."
"But you still show up."
A pause.
Then he said quietly, "I heard you crying."
She froze. Color bloomed in her cheeks.
"I was not—!"
She turned away fast. "You should go. I need to try again."
He didn't argue. Just murmured, "Okay." Outside the training wing, at a remote system terminal—
Meng Yao stood watching lines of data scroll past.
Her lips curled slightly, though her eyes were ice-cold. [Memory Armament Resonance · Unauthorized Connection]
[Source: Class E3]
[Linked Users: Lin Kui / Nie Shi]
[Sync Parameters: Irregular Drift] She whispered, "So it's finally begun."
"Just like he said."
She tapped her portable device, transmitting the logs. [UNAUTHORIZED LINK · FROM UNKNOWN ORIGIN]
[DATA SENT: ARMAMENT RESONANCE · EMOTIONAL ANCHOR LOGS]
[TRANSFER COMPLETE] She shut the terminal and walked away like nothing had happened. Deep within the hidden system layers, red text began to scroll. [It's not their fault.]
[It's the memory system.]
[It's starting to slip.]q