I will burn books and slay gods.

When Chen Ye woke up, he found himself lying on a hospital bed in the medical room, while Lin Su was in the next bed, still fast asleep.

Memories surge back like a tide—a resonant ritual, a reconstruction of the cognitive blueprint, and finally, that explosive fragment of memory.

He was "Experiment 07" cultivated by the cult.

This realization was like a block of ice, deep within his consciousness, chilling him to the bone.

All self-awareness—the student who sought answers in books, the youth who chose to become a night watchman, Chen Ye who strived to protect others—is now questioned.

Who is he?

Is his will real, or is it programmed?

Was his choice free, or was it predetermined?

The door to the medical room opened gently.

Old Li walked in, holding a cup of hot tea, and handed it to him.

Chen Ye took the cup but didn't drink it; he just watched the steam rising from it.

"Ask whatever you want," Old Li said, sitting down on a chair by the bed.

"You knew all along," Chen Ye said, his voice calm, eerily calm.

"I know part of it."

Old Li admitted, "When I first examined your cognitive structure, I noticed something unusual—it was too 'standard'."

"The cognitive characteristics that are naturally awakened will have many personal and irrational quirks in their structure."

"Your blueprint was like a meticulously designed building, with each part having a specific function. But at the time, I was just skeptical."

"Why don't you say so?"

"Because there is no evidence, and also because..." Old Li sighed.

He continued, "Because you are truly protecting. Regardless of where you come from or why you have the ability, the choices you make are genuine."

"The people you saved, the karmic burdens you bear, the trust you have in your companions—none of these can be 'programmed'."

Chen Ye remained silent.

Old Li is right, the feelings in those moments were real.

The sense of accomplishment when rescuing medical staff in the cafeteria, the tacit understanding when fighting side by side with Lin Su in the planetarium, the resolute determination when desperately destroying the core at the signal center—these emotions could not be fake.

But the problem still exists.

"The file says 'escape,'" Chen Ye asked. "Where did I escape from? When?"

"Eight years ago." Instructor Gui's voice came from the doorway.

She walked into the medical room, holding an encrypted document in her hand, "a top-secret record just retrieved from headquarters' intelligence station."

"Eight years ago, an accident occurred at a private biotechnology laboratory in a neighboring city, resulting in a leak of conceptual contamination that caused collective cognitive confusion among people in the surrounding three blocks. When we sent people to handle the situation, we discovered that it was actually a secret experimental base of the cult."

She handed the document to Chen Ye.

Inside are the investigation report from back then, photos of the burned-down laboratory, and... a child-sized straitjacket with the number 07 on it.

"The core area of ​​the laboratory was burned down, and most of the data was lost. However, evidence at the scene indicates that an 'experimental subject' broke a culture tank, triggering the self-destruct system, and then escaped."

The instructor continued, "We investigated for six months, but the test subject seemed to have vanished into thin air. Until three years ago, Morning Star Hospital admitted a college student who could 'see' abnormalities..."

She looked at Chen Ye.

Chen Ye looked at the restraints in the photo.

Eight years ago, he was ten years old.

But in his memory, when he was ten years old, he was in an orphanage and was isolated by the other children because he always said "strange things".

Could those memories be...?

"It was implanted," Old Li said. "The cult likely implanted false childhood memories in you to cover up the traces of the experiment. But those memory programs may have been damaged in the lab accident, which is why you later 'saw' the anomaly and were sent to Morning Star."

Everything makes sense now.

Why is his cognitive compatibility so unique? Why is his ability growing so fast? Why is "Short Circuit" particularly interested in him? Because he is the cult's "creation," their most successful experimental subject.

"Then... what exactly am I?" Chen Ye asked, his voice finally trembling slightly.

"You are Chen Ye," Lin Su's voice rang out.

Chen Ye turned his head and saw that she was already awake, sitting on the bed looking at him. Her eyes were firm, like a burning flame.

"I saw fragments of your memories," Lin Su said. "Not just those from the cult. I also saw your focused concentration when you were reading late at night, the smile when you first rescued someone, the tension when you cared about your companions... In those moments, the person who chose to protect was Chen Ye. Not Experiment 07."

She paused, her tone softening further: "And if the cult truly has complete control over their 'works,' you should be on their side now, instead of repeatedly sabotaging their plans."

Chen Ye was stunned.

Lin Su is right.

If he is a programmed tool, why would he rebel against the programmer? Why would he choose to stand against the cult?

"Cognitive awakening is irreversible," Lao Li said. "Once a consciousness truly 'awakens,' possessing self-awareness and self-will, it can never return to a state of being manipulated. The cult trained you back then to create obedient super weapons. But they underestimated one thing—true cognitive ability inevitably leads to true thinking. And thinking leads to questioning and choice."

He looked at Chen Ye: "You escaped the lab not because of a programming error, but because you 'awakened'."

"You chose freedom. Now, you've chosen to protect. These choices define who you are."

Chen Ye closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

My chaotic thoughts gradually became clear.

Yes. The past cannot be changed, and the origins cannot be changed.

But who he is, what kind of person he wants to become, and what path he wants to take—these are all decisions he makes himself.

He opened his eyes, his gaze regaining its resolve.

"The cult trained me to become their weapon."

He said, "Then I will use this power to do the opposite—to be a shield to protect others, and a sword to cut off their plans."

Old Li laughed and patted him on the shoulder: "That's more like it."

The instructor checked the time: "The thunderstorm will reach its peak in fourteen hours. We need a plan."

An hour later, in the operations room.

Besides Chen Ye, Lin Su, Wang Xiaoming, and Instructor Gui Chi, there were several new faces—night watchmen who came from surrounding cities to provide support.

"This is the 'Solid Shield,' and its ability is [Regional Concept Solidification], which can strengthen the reality membrane within a certain range and resist concept erosion."

The instructor introduced a burly, middle-aged man.

"This is 'Echo,' the [Information Tracer], who excels at reconstructing the course of events from conceptual remnants."

A girl wearing headphones, who looked like a college student, raised her hand to indicate her presence.

"There's also 'web weaving,' the 'connection architect,' which can establish multi-person conceptual connections and enhance team collaboration."

He was a tall, thin man who always had a ball of glowing thread in his hand.

Including the headquarters' Gui Chi, Chen Ye's team, Lu Yuan, and the "Blinds" on the periphery, there are a total of nine people.

This is all the combat power that can be mobilized.