Chapter 438: Transfer

Damon took three steps up the stairs.

Inside the room, Ester grabbed the back of his clothes.

He stopped.

Did not turn around.

"I already know this feeling."

"Good."

"You’re going to say no."

"No."

Damon finally looked over his shoulder.

"Predictable."

"You just discovered there’s a man who probably spent centuries turning his own body into an extension of the network, and your first reaction was to start walking toward him."

"We don’t know where Sector Zero is."

"That makes it worse."

"I was going upstairs to ask."

"Lie."

"Partially."

Ester pulled him back.

Damon did not resist.

Aurelia watched the scene while still leaning against the side of the open capsule.

"Does she always do that?"

Xue Lian answered before he could.

"Frequently."

"Does it work?"

"Sometimes."

Damon pointed at both of them.

"I’m right here."

"Unfortunately," Ester and Xue Lian answered together.

Xue Mei started laughing.

Even Aurelia smiled.

Vorn only closed his eyes.

"I hate that this is becoming normal."

Aria raised the black plate.

"Maybe everyone can postpone the marital, maternal, or whatever-this-has-become discussion."

Damon looked over.

"You found something."

"Yes."

She placed the plate on the floor.

Observation remained lit.

The three circles belonging to the still-unknown functions were also pulsing.

Another had become much stronger since the synchronization attempt.

Aria pointed.

"That one."

Damon crouched.

"Name?"

"We have one now."

The ancient inscriptions surrounding the circle had rearranged themselves.

RECONSTITUTION.

Vorn opened his eyes.

Aurelia became serious.

Damon looked at her.

"I don’t like that face."

"You shouldn’t."

"Function?"

"Originally?"

"Yes."

"To restore damaged structures when the network itself couldn’t recover them through energy redistribution alone."

Damon thought.

"Reconstruction."

"In essence."

"And what did the Architects do?"

Aurelia exhaled.

"They removed the limitation."

Silence.

Damon waited.

"What limitation?"

"Reconstitution only worked on structures that still existed."

Xue Lian understood.

"The Architects made it rebuild things that no longer existed."

Aurelia nodded.

Damon slowly looked toward the extinguished black symbol on the wall.

"Bodies."

"Yes."

"Dead ones?"

"Yes."

Vorn lifted his head slightly.

"Then Continuity’s method—"

"Didn’t resurrect anyone," Aurelia cut him off. "Continuity preserved pattern. Memory. Intention. Decisions. Reconstitution built something capable of receiving those things."

Damon fell silent.

Aria was writing.

"So they complemented each other."

"They all did," Aurelia replied. "That was the point."

Damon looked at the plate.

Continuity.

Destroyed.

Selection.

Destroyed.

Adaptation.

Redefined.

Dominion.

Redefined.

Observation.

Refusing synchronization.

Reconstitution.

Active.

Three others.

Some dark.

"If the Regent wants to return physically..."

Aurelia finished the thought.

"Reconstitution is the function he needs."

Aria pointed at the circle.

"Then we have a bigger problem."

Damon looked at her.

"Another one?"

"It didn’t answer the synchronization request."

Silence.

Xue Lian approached.

"What?"

"The three unknown functions accepted. Observation refused."

"Yes."

"Reconstitution did neither."

Damon stared at the pulsing circle.

"It’s busy."

The plate answered.

As though it had heard him.

PROCESS IN PROGRESS.

Everyone went still.

Damon closed his eyes.

"Of course."

Ester pointed at him.

"Don’t say anything."

"I didn’t."

Aurelia moved closer with difficulty.

"Ask what process."

Aria touched the symbol.

"Reconstitution. Identify current process."

The answer took time.

TARGET: NOT RECORDED.

Vorn frowned.

"That doesn’t make sense."

"Why?" Xue Mei asked.

"A function doesn’t begin reconstitution without a target."

Aurelia went pale.

"It does if the target was removed from the record."

Damon turned.

"Erased."

"Yes."

He immediately thought of the old wall.

The scraped-away name.

Valcair.

But Aurelia was here.

So it was not her.

"Who else did they erase?"

Xue Lian fell silent.

Damon noticed.

"You know something."

"I don’t know."

"But you remember."

"Fragments."

She closed her eyes.

White appeared again.

A room.

Children.

Shen Liang.

Aurelia, older.

Another figure.

Very tall.

Not a child.

A man kneeling before the tree.

The same faceless man from her mother’s memories.

Except in that memory...

Blood was running from his eyes.

Xue Lian opened hers.

"Him."

Damon became serious.

"The Regent."

"Maybe."

Aurelia turned sharply.

"What did he look like?"

"I can’t see his face."

"Clothes?"

"Light-colored."

"Height?"

Xue Lian indicated it.

Aurelia lost all color.

"Shit."

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"You know how to swear too. Good sign."

She ignored him.

"Reconstitution isn’t creating a new body."

"Then what?"

"It’s restoring the old one."

Silence.

Damon looked at the plate.

PROCESS IN PROGRESS.

"How far?"

Aria asked immediately.

"Reconstitution. Progress."

No answer.

Damon crouched.

"Observation."

The corresponding circle lit up.

PRESENT.

"Can you see Reconstitution?"

YES.

"Progress."

Pause.

87%.

No one spoke.

Damon rubbed his face.

"Why is everything eighty-something percent lately?"

Ester did not answer.

Aurelia looked horrified.

"How much time?"

Observation answered.

VARIABLE RATE.

Damon narrowed his eyes.

"What accelerates it?"

ACCESS TO THE NETWORK.

Everyone went quiet.

Xue Lian understood first.

"When we restored the network..."

"It started receiving more energy," Aria finished.

Damon stared at the symbol.

"So it was me."

Xue Lian turned.

"No."

"I restored—"

"We restored a network that was supposed to exist."

Aurelia nodded.

"Reconstitution is exploiting that. It doesn’t mean restoring the network was wrong."

Damon remained quiet.

Ester watched him for a moment.

"Don’t start."

"I wasn’t."

"You were."

"A little."

She crossed her arms.

"You don’t get to turn fixing one thing into guilt because someone is using that correction to do something else wrong."

Damon looked at her.

"That was surprisingly elaborate."

"I spend too much time around you."

Aria tapped the plate with the end of her pencil.

"Can we cut off access?"

Xue Lian answered.

"Maybe."

Damon immediately looked at her.

"How?"

"If the true network recognizes Reconstitution as a divergent artificial structure..."

"It can refuse it."

"Possibly."

Aurelia shook her head.

"It won’t be that simple."

"Why?"

"Because Reconstitution began as a legitimate function."

Damon understood.

"So the network may recognize part of it."

"Yes."

"We need to separate its original objective from the Architect objective."

"Exactly."

Vorn laughed quietly.

Damon looked at him.

"What?"

"You’ve turned destroying cores into some kind of therapy."

Damon thought about it.

"You’re not wrong."

Ester pointed at Vorn.

"You are the last person allowed to comment on therapy."

"Fair."

Aria returned to the plate.

"Observation."

PRESENT.

"Location of Reconstitution."

NOT AVAILABLE.

Damon frowned.

"You can observe it but not locate it?"

CORRECT.

"That’s irritating."

RECORDED.

Damon went still.

Xue Mei started laughing.

"She’s learning from you."

"That would be terrible."

Aria continued.

"Why is the location unavailable?"

The answer came.

TARGET OUTSIDE THE NETWORK.

Damon became serious.

"Sector Zero."

Aurelia nodded.

"Probably."

"Then Reconstitution is there."

"Or connected to it."

Damon stood.

This time Ester did not stop him.

Yet.

"We need to find the entrance."

Aurelia rested one hand against the wall.

"I know one."

Everyone looked at her.

Vorn was first.

"You said Sector Zero was north."

"It is."

"Then how do you know the entrance?"

"Because there wasn’t one."

Damon closed his eyes.

"I hate answers like that."

Aurelia explained.

"Sector Zero wasn’t built in ordinary territory. It was separated."

"A fold."

"More than that."

Xue Lian became attentive.

Aurelia pointed toward the lines of the true network.

"When the Regent began turning his own body into a region, a problem of definition appeared."

Damon disliked that sentence again.

"A person cannot occupy the same functional place as a region without altering the routes around them."

"So?"

"They removed Sector Zero from geography."

Silence.

Aria stopped writing.

"That’s possible?"

Vorn answered.

"Theoretically."

Damon looked at him.

"You tried?"

"Obviously."

"Of course."

Aurelia continued.

"Sector Zero exists linked to the network, but not inside it. It has no fixed coordinates. Only relationships."

Damon understood.

"That’s why Observation said north instead of giving a location."

"Yes."

"How do we enter?"

Aurelia looked at him.

"Through a function that still recognizes the Regent."

Everyone looked at the plate.

Three had accepted synchronization.

Damon slowly smiled.

Ester saw it.

"No."

"You don’t even know the plan."

"Your face."

"You all need to stop using my face as evidence."

"When it stops confessing before your mouth does, I will."

Aria pointed at the three circles.

"If one of them accepted Central Authority, it has a route."

Aurelia nodded.

"Yes."

Damon crossed his arms.

"Then we find the easiest one."

"Easy?"

"Least dangerous."

"That still isn’t easy."

"Details."

Aria examined the inscriptions.

"One is almost illegible."

"Another?"

"No complete translation."

"And the third?"

She turned the plate.

The symbol was slowly revealing the name.

Letters appeared.

One by one.

Aurelia saw it first.

And became serious.

TRANSFER.

Damon lost his smile.

So did Xue Lian.

"We thought it was unavailable," Aria said.

Aurelia looked at her.

"For Selection."

Damon understood.

"Not destroyed."

"No."

Vorn stood despite Ester.

This time she let him.

"If Transfer is active and accepted synchronization..."

"It has direct access to Sector Zero," Aurelia finished.

Damon looked at the circle.

Finally, a route.

Then the message came.

TRANSFER: REQUEST RECEIVED.

Damon frowned.

"I didn’t request anything."

Aurelia went pale.

"It wasn’t you."

The plate vibrated.

ORIGIN: SECTOR ZERO.

Silence.

Then:

DESTINATION: ARVEN.

Ester stood.

Xue Lian turned toward the stairs.

Damon drew his sword.

"He isn’t waiting for us."

The floor trembled.

The plate shone.

TRANSFER AUTHORIZED.

Aurelia shouted.

"Get out of here!"

Space folded above them.

Not in the chamber.

In the laboratory.

Something had just arrived.

Damon was already running up the stairs.

Ester followed.

Xue Lian and Xue Mei came right behind.

Vorn tried to follow.

Aurelia grabbed his arm.

"Slowly."

"There’s something in my laboratory."

"You lost the right to call it yours."

"Not the time."

Aria grabbed the plate and ran.

When Damon reached the level of the tree, everything was silent.

Too silent.

The Adaptation tree remained stable.

White and black.

The network lines crossed the floor.

At the center of the room...

There was a man.

Naked.

Kneeling.

Very long black hair covered part of his back.

Skin almost translucent.

Far too thin.

His entire body bore marks of reconstruction.

Ribs visible beneath the skin.

Incomplete spiritual lines.

One hand still missing two fingers.

His face pointed toward the floor.

Damon stopped.

Ester appeared beside him.

"Don’t get close."

"I wasn’t going to."

Xue Lian arrived.

Saw the man.

Stopped breathing.

Aurelia appeared behind them several seconds later.

And froze.

"No."

Damon looked at her.

"Him?"

Aurelia could not answer.

The man moved one hand.

A finger touched the floor.

The white network recoiled.

Not by command.

By recognition of incompatibility.

The plate in Aria’s hands began producing messages.

RECONSTITUTION: 88%.

The man breathed.

89%.

Damon narrowed his eyes.

"It isn’t the Regent."

Aurelia looked at him.

"How do you know?"

"He’s still being rebuilt."

Damon pointed at the incomplete body.

"This is something else."

Xue Lian went pale.

Then a memory returned.

Not the faceless man.

Another.

Kneeling.

Always kneeling.

Behind the Regent.

A shadow.

A person who never spoke.

"I remember."

Damon looked at her.

"Who?"

Xue Lian stared at the man.

"He stayed beside Shen Liang."

Aurelia slowly recognized him.

"No."

Vorn reached the entrance.

"Who is he?"

Aurelia answered.

"The one who carried out the transfers."

The man raised his face.

His eyes opened.

No irises.

Entirely black.

The plate answered.

TRANSFER: BEARER CONFIRMED.

Damon tightened his grip on the sword.

The man looked directly at him.

And smiled.

"Adaptable vessel."

Damon sighed.

"I really need a new title."