Chapter Two: The Error Enters Reality

Gu froze. Her ponytail was coming apart and exhaustion bruised the skin beneath her eyes. Instead of embracing him, she threw down the paddles and punched his shoulder. “Your EEG was flat for eleven minutes,” she said, voice trembling. “Corpses are easier to locate than you.” Emergency lights blinked across the lab. Dozens of other pods stood open, their testers evacuated. Beyond the glass, Haicheng still glittered, but every giant Ascension billboard displayed the same gray ring: UPGRADE SUSPENDED. Lin sat up. A red line floated across Gu's chest. 【Gu Wanqing. Current failure condition: Believe Lin Zhou has returned.】 His relief vanished. “How long was I gone?”