The sound in the sealed chamber echoed like whispers.
Tống Dực did not appear.
Only his voice—layered and drifting from all directions.
"I used to think you were the only one who never betrayed me, Vũ."
"But I forgot… loyalty has an expiration date."
Khả Vũ tightened his grip on the gun, eyes unblinking.
"If you trusted me so much, why did you watch me for five years?"
"Because you were the last good part left in me," Tống Dực replied.
"And I wanted to see if that part could survive the collapse."
A door slid open.
Inside: a control console, three chairs.
The screen lit up:
"Activate Blue Rose Protocol – Requires 2 of 3 original keys."
An Thư froze.
"This is…"
Khả Vũ nodded.
"The three of us created Blue Rose years ago, as a surveillance net against underground syndicates.
Now he wants to activate it—to control that world."
"And we are two of the remaining keys."
On the screen appeared three choices:
Authorize – Activate the system.
Reject – Erase all data.
Abstain – Let the system decide.
Tống Dực laughed.
"She betrayed me once.
And you… are about to betray yourself."
An Thư turned to Khả Vũ.
"I agreed with him, once.
But only to buy time—to find a way to destroy this from the inside."
He said nothing.
"You don't believe me?"
"I do."
"I just don't have enough left to forgive."
Khả Vũ stepped forward.
He didn't look at her.
He didn't look at Tống Dực.
He looked at the chair—
The same chair he had sat in seven years ago, when the three of them were still a team.
He placed his hand on the screen.
A soft beep echoed.
"I authorize."
"But to end it."
The screen flickered.
A counter-protocol initiated—code he had embedded long ago.
Blue Rose began to collapse.
Tống Dực's voice screamed through the speakers.
"You… you chose to destroy the last memory we shared!"
"No," Khả Vũ replied.
"I chose not to keep anything built on lies."