The Debtor System: Starting with a debt of 1 billion

Chapter 38 Mirror Maze

Link established.

Lin Mo felt like a drop of water falling into the deep sea, instantly swallowed by a vast, cold void. There was no sky, no earth, only an endless expanse of grayish-white mist and countless irregularly shaped mirror fragments suspended in mid-air.

This is the serene depths of consciousness.

Each piece of mirror trembled slightly, like a pair of tightly closed, broken eyes. Lin Mo walked forward cautiously, his reflection distorted and elongated among the fragments, appearing particularly eerie.

"Suya!" he shouted, his voice echoing in the empty mirrored space, but there was no response.

Suddenly, a gentle breeze blew by, and several of the nearest mirrors began to spin. Lin Mo abruptly stopped, his pupils contracting sharply.

The reflection in the mirror wasn't of his present appearance, but of his past.

The first mirror shows the "Eden" laboratory. Young Lin Mo (B-02) stands indifferently in the corner, watching a group of children about his age being injected with drugs and dying painfully. At his feet, little Su Ya clings tightly to his clothes, her eyes vacant, like a soulless doll.

"This isn't real..." Lin Mo closed his eyes in anguish. These were altered memories, a fabrication implanted by the organization to create the "Butcher."

He then walked toward another piece of debris.

The mirror reflected a scene from their escape. Suya, protecting him, was struck by "The Hunter's" bullet. But this time, Suya in the mirror didn't fall. Instead, she turned around, looking at Lin Mo with an extremely cold, flawless smile, and said, "Brother, weakness is a genetic defect that needs to be eliminated."

Lin Mo shuddered. That smile was so unfamiliar, so perfect as if it had been meticulously calculated, devoid of any human emotion.

"Who are you?" he roared at the mirror.

The "elegant" figure in the mirror slowly raised her hand, her fingertips piercing through the lens and gently touching Lin Mo's face. It was a touch devoid of warmth.

"I am the real one," a voice echoed from the mirror. "I am the 'perfect substitute' designed for her by the Doctor. As for that cowardly, crybaby, and always-hold-back Suya, she should have died long ago."

Lin Mo suddenly swung his fist and smashed the mirror, sending shards flying everywhere.

"Shut up! You're not her!"

He turned and ran, weaving through countless fragments of mirrored reflections. Each mirror was like a knife, cutting into his nerves, displaying his distorted past, trying to disorient him.

"elder brother……"

Just then, a faint, tearful voice came from the deepest part of the maze.

Lin Mo suddenly looked up and saw it through the layers of mirrored barriers.

At the very center of the consciousness space, there was a massive, prismatic cage composed of countless mirrors. And in the deepest part of that cage, the real Suya was curled up, trembling. Her body was translucent, as if she might vanish at any moment.

Outside the cage, the "perfect" Suya stood gracefully, holding transparent threads that connected her to the real Suya inside. She was like a puppeteer manipulating puppets, slowly drawing away the real Suya's consciousness.

"You've finally arrived, 'Guardian'." Perfect elegance turned around, a formulaic smile on her face. "You're too late. Her self-awareness is about to dissipate, and soon, I will become the sole master of this body."

"Don't even think about it!" Lin Mo rushed towards the cage, only to find that his body passed through the mirror, but he couldn't touch Su Ya inside.

"It's no use." Perfect elegance chuckled lightly. "This is a cage built by her subconscious. Only she herself can get out, or... I can allow her to get out."

She looked down at the trembling body in the cage, her tone tinged with pity and cruelty: "Look how pitiful she is. She feels like a monster, like she killed her 'brothers and sisters' with her own hands, like she doesn't deserve to live. She willingly locked herself up here, even begging me to take her place, to love her brother in her place, to fight in her place."

Lin Mo looked at the small, helpless figure in the cage, his heart aching. He understood that Su Ya had created this "perfect version" of herself in her subconscious to take the blame for her sins because she couldn't forgive herself.

"Suya!" Lin Mo roared into the mirror, "Listen! Whatever you've done, it's not your fault! Those so-called 'brothers and sisters' were forced sacrifices, the organization's crimes! You did nothing wrong!"

Suya, inside the cage, slightly raised her head, her eyes unfocused. She seemed to hear his voice, yet dared not believe it.

"Don't listen to him," Perfect Elegance interrupted coldly. "He's just trying to comfort you. You're a burden, a mistake."

"I am not wrong!" Lin Mo suddenly burst out. He closed his eyes and forcibly mobilized the power of the "Emperor's Eye" within his body. Golden light instantly ignited on his consciousness.

"If this is your subconscious, then I'll break it!"

Lin Mo suddenly opened his eyes, and a golden beam of light shot directly at the mirrored cage. With a loud bang, cracks began to appear on the once indestructible mirror.

"Are you crazy! This will destroy her memory!" Wanmei Suya panicked. She didn't expect Lin Mo to dare to use such destructive power in Suya's consciousness.

"Memories can be reconstructed, but people cannot die!"

Lin Mo relentlessly rammed into the cage. Cracks multiplied, and finally, with a crisp shattering sound, the mirror cage collapsed.

"No—!" Perfect elegance screamed as her body began to dissipate like sand. "You destroyed her...you destroyed yourself too..."

As the cage shattered, the "perfect" elegance transformed into countless specks of light, dissipating into the air.

Lin Mo rushed into the ruins and hugged the real Suya who was about to disappear.

"Brother... Brother?" Su Ya weakly opened her eyes, looking at Lin Mo who was covered in tears, as if she were dreaming. "Where... Where am I?"

"We're in your mind." Lin Mo hugged her tightly, as if she were a lost treasure that had been found again. "Don't be afraid, I've already smashed that fake. Now, come home with me."

He took Suya's hand and led her step by step out of the shattered mirror maze.

In the real world, Suya, who had kept her eyes tightly closed, finally opened them slowly. The terrifying crystalline patterns on her neck were gradually fading, turning into starlight and dissipating in the morning breeze.