Rena must not have had a proper conversation with anyone for many years, Lin Sanjiu thought as she looked at the photos.
When Rena had first appeared, her demeanor carried a hint of cold detachment, almost mocking the world in silence. But as she gradually spoke about Reno and their past, it was as if she temporarily forgot her current identity, her present life. Borrowing Lin Sanjiu's presence, a connection had formed across the gulf of time, linking her back to the girl she used to be.
Her head tilted slightly, and deep within her eyes, the light of years long gone flickered faintly.
"Who would've thought that a floating brain wasn't a ghost but a person!" Rena laughed, pointing at one of the photos. "You have no idea how ridiculous you looked back then, do you?"
Lin Sanjiu held the photo up and couldn't help but chuckle as well.
Of course, the stack of photos in her hands hadn't been taken back at Kisaragi Station. Who would have thought of taking pictures in a place like that? According to Rena, shortly after they parted ways with Lin Sanjiu, they encountered a memory photographer, someone capable of turning the unreliable, ever-changing nature of human memories into frozen, unalterable snapshots. Even if a scene had been misremembered, the photos would depict exactly what had been.
For example, Lin Sanjiu had always believed that she had been an ordinary-looking brain back then. While it wasn't common for brains to fly solo, she figured she was a typical brain in every sense, plain and unremarkable. But now, seeing the photos, she had to admit that the grayish-white mass looked eerily ghostly, with its grooves and ridges, as if some sinister plot might ooze out with each pulse.
Was that really her? No wonder those two kids attacked her as soon as they saw her.
The photos weren't just from Kisaragi Station. In the years following their separation, Rena had occasionally captured scattered memories in this way. She explained that as their status and influence grew, more and more people sought to curry favor with her and her brother. Someone had learned of their past use of memory photographers and arranged for a whole line of them to cater to their whims.
It was thanks to one of these attempts to flatter them that Lin Sanjiu now saw a photograph of Reno as a young adult.
He was tall and lanky, like a thin bamboo shoot freshly sprouted. Even through the photo, it was evident that he hadn't yet figured out how to handle his newly elongated limbs. The mischievous energy he used to exude had mellowed significantly, replaced by a clear, distant expression. Only when he turned to look at his sister did a faint trace of emotion break through the fog on his face, like sunlight piercing through an early morning mist.
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How different he was from the Reno she had recalled in the Brain in a Vat.
As Lin Sanjiu gazed at the photo of Reno, Rena turned her head away, her eyes fixed on the cold, unyielding light reflecting off the intricate machinery lining the alley.
Over the years, whenever Lin Sanjiu thought about the two siblings, she instinctively imagined them still together, looking out for one another. It seemed like the very fact of their sibling bond should guarantee that they wouldn't be separated.
She silently handed the photo back.
"The doomsday world is too vast..." she said quietly.
It was the only hollow, uninspired thing she could think to say. After all, hadn't she experienced the same herself? Every farewell was like being swept into a whirlpool, carried far away into the dark, uncharted seas. The sheer expanse of the doomsday world, with its possible edges and limits, had long exceeded human comprehension. To even try to grasp its scope would leave one's very spirit lost in the infinite stretch of it.
Too many of her friends had disappeared without a trace after their partings—Qing Jiuliu, Polva, Maxin, Hai Tianqing... But she couldn't bring herself to use this as comfort for Rena, because those missing friends weren't Reno. ṟÀΝȏʙÊȘ
She thought of Cyrus. The subtle tremor in his voice and the faint flicker in his expression when he mentioned the missing Irezumi had struck her deeply. In that moment, a sharp fear had gripped her, as though she were looking at the corpse of a fallen traveler on the road ahead, powerless to change her own path forward. All she could do was pray that it wouldn't be her turn next.
"He's probably already dead," Rena said, calmly gathering up the photos.
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When Lin Sanjiu's expression abruptly shifted, Rena remained calm, her smile unchanging. "Don't look at me like that. I'm no longer a teenage girl. I've seen the true face of this world. Whether Reno is dead or lost somewhere he can never return from, it doesn't surprise me anymore. It's just... it's a question I'll never have an answer to."
She paused, guiding Lin Sanjiu around a corner, and then suddenly added, "Sometimes, I hope he's dead. Other times, I hope I'll never know."
Without experiencing Rena's torment and pain firsthand, one might never understand that statement. Even Lin Sanjiu could only vaguely grasp its meaning.
It felt as if even sighing would be too light and inappropriate. As Lin Sanjiu struggled to find something to say, Rena continued, "In any case... what you see of the Shark Nexus today, and what we're currently doing, all stems from my brother."
"Oh?" Lin Sanjiu was taken aback, realizing the answer she'd been waiting for was finally coming. "Why?"
Rena abruptly stopped walking, turning to look at her. "I told you before that everything you experienced in the Brain in a Vat is something that could actually come true, right?"
Lin Sanjiu frowned, still harboring doubts. "When you say it could come true, are you referring to—"
Before Lin Sanjiu could finish, Rena seemed to understand her question and shook her head. "No. The reunion with your friends, or what they do or don't do, is all up to you and them. The future I speak of doesn't infringe on anyone's personal will. All I can do is provide an opportunity, a foundation for such a future to exist. Let me ask you: if you long so much to reunite with your loved ones, why hasn't it happened yet?"
"Why hasn't it...?" Lin Sanjiu was genuinely puzzled. "Isn't it obvious? We haven't had the chance to reunite yet. Even if such an opportunity arises, staying together would only be temporary—"
"What is that opportunity?" Rena interrupted.
"Everyone being teleported to the same world. That's something beyond our control," Lin Sanjiu replied, unsure why Rena was asking such an obvious question. "Even if we're lucky enough to reunite with someone, the Great Deluge or another teleportation can just separate us again."
She gave a bitter smile, adding, "Besides, the doomsday world has caused everyone their own unique problems... problems I still don't know how to solve. The time I experienced in the Brain in a Vat could never happen in reality."
Rena nodded thoughtfully.
She fell silent, her expression unreadable, and gestured for Lin Sanjiu to follow. The two of them walked quietly through the alley, eventually arriving back at the same corridor they had started in.
By now, hours had passed, yet the group in biohazard suits was still in the same spot, staring intently at their screens. Just as Lin Sanjiu and Rena reentered the corridor, something on the screens seemed to catch the group's attention, and they erupted into deafening cheers. Their joy was so raw and unrestrained that it startled Lin Sanjiu.
In an instant, the grown adults seemed to transform into children. One of them jumped repeatedly in place, their heavy boots thudding loudly against the ground, unable and unwilling to stop. Another clapped and cheered with their colleagues, then, in a fit of ecstatic excitement, pounded on the screen, the machinery, the walls, and even their own thighs. A third ripped off their helmet, revealing a haggard, stubbled face, crouched down, and sobbed into their hands.
"We did it! No, we're about to succeed!" Another figure, also helmetless, turned and spotted Rena. They ran up to her, laughing and shouting, entirely forgetting her status as anything other than someone to share joy with. "All five groups made it through—five groups! Not a single person was stopped by the pocket dimension!"
Rena froze in place, her eyes glimmering faintly, like a rain-slick pond disturbed by falling droplets. A fragile, almost tearful smile spread across her face.
"Really?" she murmured in disbelief. "All five groups...?"
Lin Sanjiu thought back to the confusing scenes she had witnessed in the factory earlier. Unable to hold back her curiosity, she finally asked, "What are you so happy about? What's about to succeed? What is this factory even doing?"
One of the women in a biohazard suit glanced at Lin Sanjiu as if she had just arrived from another planet. After Rena nodded, granting her permission, the woman erupted with celebratory laughter and clapped Lin Sanjiu on the shoulder.
"Of course, it's the vaccine for teleportation and the Great Deluge! With the vaccine, we'll never have to suffer from teleportation again!"
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