"We're not here to disrupt order." She held Xia Zichen's bloodstained hand, and the double helix and star pattern merged into a new symbol in the pool of blood. "We're here to prove that order...can be the rings of growth, not a cage of confinement."

The mirror suddenly shattered, and from the fragments flew not darkness, but the "unfinished" things they had left behind in various universes: the unsolved puzzle of Chapter 4, the unspoken vows of Chapter 18, the unsent letter of Chapter 27. These fragments formed a stairway in the air leading to the center of the embryo bank. At the end of the stairs, at the origin of possibility, a beating silver heart hovered, its surface entwined with DNA strands composed of "uncertainty," "perhaps," and "possibility."

Ah Fu picked up a fragment of the mirror. It reflected no longer the mirrored figure, but the young girl from Chapter 1, Lin Yue, squatting by the stream. She was now reaching out to catch a glowing guard. The question mark on the guard's fingertips transformed into a smiley face, which then transformed into a seed in her palm.

Old Zhang tossed a coin toward his heart. The moment it pierced the silver myocardium, ripples spread across the timelines of all universes. Xia Zichen saw a black-robed figure in another time and space smiling as he lowered the Scythe of Entropy. Lin Yue watched the recycling station manager ignite the Flame of Hope with a Molotov cocktail. Ah Fu saw the first guardian's diary complete its last page: When memory learns to embrace the unknown, life emerges in the universe.

And deep within the embryo vault, the eye made of data finally revealed its full form—a part of the World Tree, a remnant of the Authority. Now, with its slitted pupils, it gazed upon the four people ascending the stairs. What flowed in its eyes was no longer cold code, but... curiosity.

(End of Chapter 33)