The city did not raise its voice.
It changed the rules underneath it.
1. The Withdrawal Was Not Retreat
The darkness ahead thickened.
Not naturally.
It felt layered—like someone had stacked multiple absences on top of each other. Sound faded first. Then depth. Then the sense of distance.
Kai took a step forward and stopped.
"…This space is thinning," she said.
"Not collapsing. Being simplified."
Qin Mian felt it too.
The tunnel felt less like a place
and more like a function.
2. Emotion Is Treated as Noise
Her chest tightened suddenly.
Not pain.
Pressure.
The Anchor pulsed sharply—and then something pressed back.
Not suppression.
Filtering.
Fear dulled.
Urgency softened.
Grief blurred at the edges.
Qin Mian gasped.
"They're… reducing intensity," she whispered.
"Like turning down a volume."
Kai swore.
"They're stripping emotional variance," she said.
"Because emotion makes you unpredictable."
3. Yin Lie Is Not Filtered
Yin Lie convulsed.
Hard.
Ice burst along his ribs in jagged lines, tearing skin, freezing blood in place.
"…Rejected," he whispered hoarsely.
The boundary spasmed violently, warping the simplified space around him.
Qin Mian felt it instantly.
"They can't do it to him," she said, breathless.
"He doesn't run on emotion anymore."
Kai's voice was grim.
"He's already post-human in their model."
4. The City Tests Removal
The pressure returned—focused now.
Not on Qin Mian's body.
On her identity.
Her thoughts slowed strangely. Not foggy—ordered. Memories reorganized themselves by relevance, not feeling.
Names became labels.
Moments became data points.
She staggered.
"Don't let them flatten you," Kai said sharply.
"Hold onto something meaningless."
Something meaningless.
Qin Mian squeezed her eyes shut.
She thought of the way Yin Lie's coat smelled—burnt ice and metal. The sound he made when he tried not to groan. The way his hand always tightened just a little before letting go.
The pressure wavered.
5. The First Piece Is Taken
Her voice came out wrong.
Too calm.
"Something is missing," she said.
Kai's heart skipped.
"What?"
Qin Mian touched her chest.
"…I can't feel how scared I was."
The Anchor pulsed—steady, efficient.
Approved.
Kai felt cold.
"They didn't take fear," she said.
"They took your access to it."
6. The Offer Returns — Without Words
The environment stabilized again.
Clear. Safe. Neutral.
The path ahead reopened—same corridor as before. Same reinforced walls. Same absence of threat.
The choice was back.
But thinner.
Cleaner.
Easier.
Qin Mian stared at it.
"They're offering me a version of myself," she whispered.
"One that fits."
Kai nodded.
"One that won't fight."
7. Yin Lie Breaks the Model
Yin Lie's hand clenched violently.
Ice screamed outward, cracking the simplified space like glass.
"…Invalid structure," he whispered.
His heart rate spiked.
Blood spilled freely now.
Qin Mian screamed his name.
The boundary surged—unstable, furious, tearing against the city's reduction field.
For the first time—
the city staggered.
8. The City Responds With Distance
The pressure lifted abruptly.
Too abruptly.
The environment lost cohesion. The tunnel walls blurred, depth warping like a bad projection.
Kai stumbled.
"They're disengaging," she said.
Qin Mian shook.
"No," she whispered.
"They're isolating me again."
9. Qin Mian Makes a Dangerous Choice
She stepped forward—into the unstable space.
Kai shouted, "Don't!"
But Qin Mian had already reached inward.
Not to the Anchor.
To herself.
"I'm not a function," she said aloud.
"I'm not a layer you can remove."
Pain exploded through her chest as the Anchor reacted violently.
She screamed.
But the pressure broke.
10. The City Learns the Cost of Simplification
Above, systems flagged cascading anomalies.
SUBJECT QIN MIAN: IDENTITY RESISTANCE CONFIRMED
ANCHOR COMPLIANCE: DEGRADED
HOST YIN LIE: ESCALATING INSTABILITY
The city paused.
Not long.
But long enough to reassess.
11. What Remains After Reduction
Qin Mian collapsed to her knees, shaking, sobbing—not calmly, not neatly.
Messy.
Human.
Kai knelt beside her, gripping her shoulders.
"You're still you," she said fiercely.
"That's the win."
Yin Lie's breathing slowed slightly.
His hand twitched.
"…Here," he whispered.
Still with her.
End of the Chapter
The city attempted to remove the human layer.
It failed.
But not without cost.
Qin Mian felt thinner—edges raw, emotions uneven, something forever changed.
Yin Lie bled quietly, holding a boundary together with a body that should not be standing.
And the world, finally frustrated, prepared to stop negotiating with minds—
and start editing reality itself.