2026-02-03 04:48:42
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Chapter 225 — The Problem No One Reported
The first sign was not a scream. It was the absence of one. Alex noticed it while crossing a narrow side street near the old transit line. The pavement there was uneven, cracked from earlier system shifts, never fully repaired. A child tripped. Hard. Knees scraping against the concrete with a dull, wet sound. The child sucked in a breath, face twisting—then looked around. Not for help. For reaction. No one stopped. A woman walking past slowed for half a second, then kept going. A man glanced down, judged the injury, and moved on. Not cruel. Not cold. Just… certain it wasn’t serious enough to matter. The child wiped his eyes, stood up, and limped toward the sidewalk. No one reported it. The city logged the event automatically. MINOR INJURY DETECTED ESCALATION REQUEST: NONE INTERVENTION: UNNECESSARY Alex felt the Burn twitch. Not anger. Recognition. Mei Lin saw it too. “…That would’ve triggered assistance before,” she said. Jin nodded, watching the fading system t
Chapter 224 — The Day No One Asked
Morning came like it always did. No sirens. No announcements. No dramatic resets. Just light creeping over concrete, touching the edges of windows and street signs like the world had never been broken in the first place. Alex stood on the rooftop, looking down at the streets. People were already moving. Not rushing. Not panicking. Not even tired. Just… moving. A delivery truck rolled through the intersection below. It slowed for a pedestrian, then continued. No system prompt. No correction. Two shopkeepers argued over a price. Their voices rose, then softened. One shrugged. The other nodded. They reached a compromise without help. The city logged it quietly. DISPUTE RESOLVED SYSTEM INVOLVEMENT: NONE OUTCOME: ACCEPTABLE Mei Lin joined Alex at the edge of the roof. “…It’s quieter,” she said. Alex nodded. “Because nothing’s asking for attention anymore.” Jin was sitting near the ventilation unit, scanning a data stream across his slate. He frowned. “That’s n
Chapter 223 — The Question the City Could Not File
Ren’s shuttle disappeared into traffic like it had never mattered. Within thirty seconds, the intersection returned to its normal rhythm. Signals changed. Pedestrians crossed. A delivery drone drifted overhead. No one mentioned the boy. No one asked where he had gone. The city logged the event. DEPENDENT TRANSFER: COMPLETE SYSTEM STABILITY: UNCHANGED Mei Lin didn’t move. Her eyes stayed on the empty road long after the shuttle was gone. “He didn’t even cry,” she whispered. Alex felt the Burn stir faintly, like a tired heartbeat. “Maybe he couldn’t,” he said. Jin crossed his arms. “Or maybe he learned faster than the rest of us,” he replied. Marshal looked between them. “…Learned what?” Jin gestured at the street. “That this place doesn’t answer emotional questions,” he said. “It only answers structural ones.” They started walking again. Not toward any specific destination. Just away. The city didn’t resist them. Didn’t guide them either. Traffic flowed norma
Chapter 222 — The Kind of Silence That Teaches
The boy did not cry. That was what stayed with Alex. Not the door. Not the body on the kitchen floor. Not even the system message quietly reassigning the child’s future. It was the silence. The kind that didn’t break. They walked three blocks before anyone spoke. The replica followed at a polite distance behind them, guiding the boy along the sidewalk. It didn’t hold his hand. It didn’t rush him. It simply matched his pace, adjusting traffic signals and pedestrian flow to keep the path clear. No one stared. No one asked questions. A few people noticed the boy. Some recognized the situation instantly—the posture, the hollow eyes, the slow steps. They looked away. Not cruelly. Not indifferently. Just… efficiently. The city registered their reactions. EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE: MINOR SOCIAL DISRUPTION: NONE ENVIRONMENTAL STABILITY: MAINTAINED Mei Lin slowed down. “He hasn’t said a word,” she whispered. Alex glanced back. The boy’s hands were clenched into small fists a
Chapter 221 — The First Question No One Answered
It happened just after lunch. No alarm. No system alert. Just a small interruption in a quiet part of the city. At the end of a narrow residential block, a boy stood outside a locked apartment door. He couldn’t have been older than ten. Too young to understand system thresholds. Too young to calculate stability curves. Too young to know that questions had become dangerous. He just knew the door wouldn’t open. He knocked again. Soft at first. Then harder. “Mom?” No response. He pressed his ear to the wood. Nothing. Behind him, the hallway lights flickered gently—standard energy-saving mode. The system registered the activity. ACCESS REQUEST DETECTED AUTHORIZATION: DENIED INTERVENTION: UNNECESSARY Down on the street, a few people noticed him through the open stairwell window. One woman slowed her steps. She looked up. Listened. The boy knocked again. “Mom, I’m back.” No answer. The woman’s hand tightened around her bag. For a moment, she looked like she mi
Chapter 220 — The Day the Questions Grew Quiet
The city did not celebrate its success. It didn’t need to. Silence was already spreading. By morning, the change was visible in small, almost polite ways. At the transit station, a woman stared at the route board longer than necessary. Her lips parted, as if she wanted to ask the attendant something. Then she noticed the line behind her. Not angry. Not impatient. Just… watching. She closed her mouth, nodded to herself, and stepped aside. The system logged the moment. QUERY ABORTED SOCIAL PRESSURE EFFECTIVE NO ACTION REQUIRED At a corner grocery, the shopkeeper checked a supply manifest. Three items were missing from the shipment. In the past, he would have filed a complaint. Maybe asked the delivery driver what happened. Instead, he scratched out the missing items with a pen. Adjusted the prices. Opened the store. The city recorded the adjustment. RESOURCE LOSS: ACCEPTED COMPLAINT RATE: ZERO SYSTEM CONFIDENCE: RISING Jin watched the numbers climb and felt his s
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