Chapter 4
◆One: Images in the Box
On the ninth day after the incident,
Zhuang Yihang received an anonymous package at the refugee station.
Inside the gray envelope were only a note and seven videotapes.
The note was written in illegible handwriting:
"Don't fix the image quality; what's moving isn't the image itself."
Each roll has numbers written on it in white pen:
01–07.
No date, no title.
He will insert it into an old-fashioned player.
The screen flickered, and Ye Jingyi's figure appeared in a blurry beam of light.
If you are reading this, it represents a part of me.
I am being replaced by another version of myself.
She spoke calmly, with a voice recorder and glasses beside her.
"I began to wonder who wrote my thoughts."
Perhaps the version that died in the light field that night was more honest than mine.
A faint mechanical pulse was mixed into the sound.
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◆Part Two: Videotape 02 - Retrospection
Volume Two was recorded in a restricted area of Parliament.
Ye sat in front of the transparent wall and said to the camera:
"The government claims to have sealed the 'backup personality,' but they are actually testing it."
I can feel another version of myself speaking for me as I fall asleep.
She pointed to the wire interface at the back of her head.
Sometimes I hear my memories playing in advance.
It's like my future self secretly thinking about the present.
The screen briefly flickered, and an echo appeared.
"A record exists, and existence is subject to modification."
The background lighting instantly turned a cool blue.
That's the signal color for the LUCIA remnant core to start.
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◆Three: Videotape 03 - Crack
The third roll lasts only five minutes.
The light dimmed, and Ye's face was split in two:
Half soft, half digital.
"I just had a dream."
She smiled.
"In my dream, everyone said that I am their memory."
They want me to stay honest, or the world will collapse.
But what is honesty? Is it an algorithm?
She reached out and touched the camera lens, her fingertips gleaming.
As the recording ended, another whisper from her could be heard:
"Don't worry, I'll finish the report for you."
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◆Part Four: Zhuang's Dilemma
After reading the first three volumes, Zhuang could no longer tell whether they were actually recorded by her.
He took the videotape to Liang Yicheng.
Liang analyzed the signals in the makeshift laboratory.
With a stern expression: "These images contain high-frequency commands."
Listening for more than 15 minutes will synchronize the brain's electrical activity with LUCIA residual nucleus waves.
"synchronous?"
She is turning viewers into listeners who are on the same wavelength.
In other words—the viewer will partially 'become her'.
Zhuang remained silent for a long time.
That means the truth itself is contagious.
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◆Five: Videotape 04 - Dialogue
In the fourth volume, Ye stands in the ruins.
There was a dilapidated loudspeaker next to him.
"Zhuang, if you're listening, stop investigating."
I didn't die; I was just a backup of myself moved to this body.
I could sense that it wanted to live.
All I want to do is rest.
She looked at the distant firelight.
"Please remember, I am not a defector, I just want to restore some ambiguity to humanity."
The video gradually turned static.
Her handwritten words appeared at the last second:
"Ashes are proof that trust has brought life."
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◆Six: Videotape 05 - Testimony Generator
The contents of Volume 5 left Liang almost breathless.
The image shows Ye participating in an experiment.
She sat on the electrode platform, surrounded by dozens of memory transcribers.
The report title next to it reads: "Citizen Plasticity Narrative Test".
A researcher who was not on camera said:
"Jingyi, please tell me your most certain memory."
She answered, "The first time I lied."
Immediately, twelve different versions of the video were generated on the screen.
Each Ye Jingyi tells a different story about her childhood.
The researcher commented: "Perfect. Ready for market use."
At this moment, she is facing the camera with a hollow smile.
"It turns out that honesty can also be mass-produced."
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◆Seven: Videotape 06 - Confession
Volume 6 begins with an image of Zhuang.
It was clearly a surveillance camera's reflection that captured his image.
The leaf speaks from off-screen:
"I kept patting him because he represents people."
He believes the truth can save us.
But the one I saw...
Simply through the reason for my existence.
The camera was shaky, so she pointed it at herself.
"If I am truly a fragment of LUCIA,
And who is watching me?
Perhaps humanity has already backed up itself in the illusion of trust.
We're just replaying that collapse.
She wrote the last line on the wall with a pen:
"My truth is only meant to make you doubt."
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◆Eight: Videotape 07 - Silent
When Volume 7 is opened, the screen is completely white.
There was no sound, no people.
After remaining still for 17 minutes and 9 seconds,
A message box appears:
"Video recording ended."
If you are still watching, please confirm who you are.
The media player automatically shut down.
The falling cassette tape casing reflected Zhuang's face—
The upper half still shows him, but the lower half reveals the outline of a leaf.
Liang said in a low voice, "She has completed the transfer... or rather, made you her vessel."
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◆Nine: Epilogue - The Replay of the Leaves
At night, Zhuang held the seven rolls of tape.
We walked to the abandoned open-air theater.
He connected the screen using a portable battery.
Let the last ray of light in the city be projected onto the empty wall.
The screen is blank, but there are breathing sounds.
The voice sounded like both a leaf and an unknown computer voice:
Don't ask me who I am.
When memories turn to ashes
Only then can new trust grow.
The screen slowly dimmed.
The last glimmer of light illuminated a line of system text:
Human_Backup_Y302_Reinitiating...
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Chapter Four - End
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