"Lin An, Reboot doesn't mean resurrection. It resets your progress. Only you retain your memories, but part of you will merge into the mission."
"Lin An, we actually saw a flash when we were downstairs."
"That ghost has been following us all along! Every photo it took was from behind us!"
"The photos taken earlier and later seem to have been shot differently."
For a long while, there was dead silence.
Lin An went rigid. Trembling like a machine, he picked up the camera that had fallen to the ground, his mind completely blank.
The mystery seemed solved, but the truth was unbearable.
He had vaguely sensed something was wrong after the Reboot. He simply hadn't imagined the truth-or hadn't dared to.
He had seen himself, the Blue Armor, and even God Archer.
But they couldn't see him.
Once all the clues connected, a cruel, unimaginably terrifying truth finally surfaced.
The shock was so overwhelming that Lin An dropped the steel rod in his hand. He simply cradled the camera in both hands as though holding a human head, an unintelligible sound rising from his throat.
"I..."
"Died..."
"I'm already dead!"
Swaying, Lin An slowly closed his eyes, barely able to accept it.
He had taken the photos. He had caused the flash. No one could see him, and his countdown was gone. That meant the version of him outside who hadn't died could only be the missing ghost Lin An had been speculating about all along.
"So it might not be that the Ghost Skull stops appearing once our understanding is complete."
"It's because I'm already dead. I've already merged into the mission..."
"Have I already gone through one Reboot?"
"How many times have I died?"
*"Am I already completely dead, just oblivious to it, still thinking this is