Wild Rose of the New Generation

The reorganized world awakens in the morning light. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka—or perhaps he should be called Lin Yuan—stands on the cherry blossom-lined avenue of Advanced Nurturing High School, petals fluttering like snow.

Those leaves, which should have been crystalline data, now leave a real, damp sensation against his palm.

The retinal interface still exists, but the azure pop-up windows have turned a translucent light green, the color of sunlight filtering through a new sprout.

"Current worldline ID: 479-AIφ"

He bends down to pick up a petal; his vision, magnified fifty times, reveals a cellular structure identical to that of a plant in the Rosaceae family.

It is ironic; the Wild Rose, once a Seed of Paradox, has now become the benchmark model for the new world.

"Ayanokoji-kun!" A vibrant shout comes from behind him. He instinctively tenses his muscles as he turns, only to see Hirata Yosuke running over with a soccer ball, his collar flapping to reveal a smooth neck—the very spot where an E-Series serial number should have been branded.

"Want to play soccer with us?" Hirata's smile is devoid of any gloom, as if he had never experienced those bloody cycles.

But when Lin Yuan activates his deep-scan mode, he discovers a faint, thin scar on the back of Hirata's head, like a perfectly repaired interface wound.

"No thanks." Lin Yuan steps back half a pace, and his retinal interface suddenly flashes a warning: deep within Hirata's pupils, a nanoscopic red light flickers, matching the exact signature of the clones from before the space station explosion.

The door to the old school building's basement is rusted shut, but after Lin Yuan inputs a string of binary code, the metal door swings open with a groan.

This is a backdoor program he planted during his seventh cycle, and it remains effective in this new world. However, when his flashlight illuminates the archives, he freezes in place.

The cabinets that once recorded human experiments have vanished, replaced by wooden shelves filled with gardening tools.

In the most prominent spot sits a glass dome, enshrining a single Wild Rose, its roots coiled around a charred USB drive—the very one Karuizawa Kei gave him during the tenth cycle.

"Surprised?" Karuizawa Kei's voice drifts down from the ventilation duct. She hangs upside down from an iron ladder, her chestnut hair cascading like a waterfall, the mechanical structure of her right eye now replaced by an amber bio-prosthetic. "The whole school knows this place is the 'Rose Sanctuary' now; the delinquents even spread rumors that confessing here grants eternal life."

Lin Yuan notices the dark embroidery on the hem of her uniform skirt; when magnified, it reveals countless tiny roses entwined with the distorted letters of E-129. "You kept your memories." This is not a question.

"After all, I was the first human-virus carrier you infected." She lands lightly, and as her fingertips brush the glass dome, the rose suddenly blooms with blue light. "Follow me, someone is waiting for you."

Three levels beneath the gymnasium, Lin Yuan witnesses the most absurd sight in the new world: inside a spherical space a hundred meters in diameter, Horikita Suzune is encased in a cocoon woven from Rose Vines, with countless fiber-optic cables extending from the back of her neck to the dome above.

And those tendrils, which should have been cold data cables, are currently blooming with real roses.

"She volunteered to become the core of the new world." Karuizawa Kei lights a candle, the flame illuminating the figure of Ryuen Kakeru in the corner.

This once-tyrannical ruler is pruning the roses; he doesn't even look up when he hears footsteps: "My E-127 clearance allows me to see the memories of all parallel worlds—including the various ways you were hit by a truck seventy-six times."

Lin Yuan suddenly clutches his temples. His retinal interface uncontrollably pulls up the construction records for the gymnasium: the completion date is listed as twenty years ago, the investor is a certain biotech company from China, and the signature on the approval document clearly bears the Chinese characters for "Lin Yuan."

"It seems you've figured it out." Karuizawa Kei sticks the candle into the ground, and the flame suddenly flares into a holographic projection. The image shows a middle-aged man in a white lab coat placing an infant Ayanokoji Kiyotaka into a cultivation pod—the tear mole under that man's left eye is identical to Lin Yuan's appearance before he transmigrated.

"Cognitive synchronization rate at 100%, memory lock disengaged."

A massive influx of information floods his mind. Lin Yuan finally understands that his so-called "transmigration" was merely an escape program he designed himself: when the test subjects in the original world went berserk, his consciousness would jump to the nearest parallel worldline.

And that Wild Rose was the cognitive anchor he cultivated using his own genes.

An alarm suddenly tears through the silence. The Rose Vines on the dome writhe frantically, and blood seeps from Horikita Suzune's cocoon. Ryuen Kakeru's pruning shears drop to the ground, and a crimson E-127 emblem emerges on his chest: "They're here."

Karuizawa Kei's bio-prosthetic eye switches to combat mode: "It's the cleanup squad from the Beta Worldline; it seems the main system hasn't given up on formatting us yet."

As the outer wall of the gymnasium is sliced open by lasers, Lin Yuan sees the invaders clearly—they are thousands of versions of himself. Every Ayanokoji Kiyotaka is wearing a White Room uniform, his left eye flashing with the cold light of a system reset.

The lead individual raises a High-Frequency Particle Blade, the surface of which reflects Lin Yuan's current face: his right eye bears the emblem of the Wild Rose, while his left eye flows with the code of Chinese characters.

"Let's do this." Karuizawa Kei pulls off her hair tie, her chestnut hair instantly hardening into metal blades. "Don't make me wait seven cycles for a confession this time, Mr. Variable."

Lin Yuan takes the Wild Rose from the glass dome. The moment its roots pierce his palm, thousands of blood-red moons appear in the sky of the new world—each one corresponding to a parallel world waiting to be saved.

The reorganized world awakens in the morning light. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka—or perhaps he should be called Lin Yuan—stands on the cherry blossom-lined avenue of Advanced Nurturing High School, petals fluttering like snow.

Those leaves, which should have been crystalline data, now leave a real, damp sensation against his palm.

The retinal interface still exists, but the azure pop-up windows have turned a translucent light green, the color of sunlight filtering through a new sprout.

"Current worldline ID: 479-AIφ"

He bends down to pick up a petal; his vision, magnified fifty times, reveals a cellular structure identical to that of a plant in the Rosaceae family.

It is ironic; the Wild Rose, once a Seed of Paradox, has now become the benchmark model for the new world.

"Ayanokoji-kun!" A vibrant shout comes from behind him. He instinctively tenses his muscles as he turns, only to see Hirata Yosuke running over with a soccer ball, his collar flapping to reveal a smooth neck—the very spot where an E-Series serial number should have been branded.

"Want to play soccer with us?" Hirata's smile is devoid of any gloom, as if he had never experienced those bloody cycles.

But when Lin Yuan activates his deep-scan mode, he discovers a faint, thin scar on the back of Hirata's head, like a perfectly repaired interface wound.

"No thanks." Lin Yuan steps back half a pace, and his retinal interface suddenly flashes a warning: deep within Hirata's pupils, a nanoscopic red light flickers, matching the exact signature of the clones from before the space station explosion.

The door to the old school building's basement is rusted shut, but after Lin Yuan inputs a string of binary code, the metal door swings open with a groan.

This is a backdoor program he planted during his seventh cycle, and it remains effective in this new world. However, when his flashlight illuminates the archives, he freezes in place.

The cabinets that once recorded human experiments have vanished, replaced by wooden shelves filled with gardening tools.

In the most prominent spot sits a glass dome, enshrining a single Wild Rose, its roots coiled around a charred USB drive—the very one Karuizawa Kei gave him during the tenth cycle.

"Surprised?" Karuizawa Kei's voice drifts down from the ventilation duct. She hangs upside down from an iron ladder, her chestnut hair cascading like a waterfall, the mechanical structure of her right eye now replaced by an amber bio-prosthetic. "The whole school knows this place is the 'Rose Sanctuary' now; the delinquents even spread rumors that confessing here grants eternal life."

Lin Yuan notices the dark embroidery on the hem of her uniform skirt; when magnified, it reveals countless tiny roses entwined with the distorted letters of E-129. "You kept your memories." This is not a question.

"After all, I was the first human-virus carrier you infected." She lands lightly, and as her fingertips brush the glass dome, the rose suddenly blooms with blue light. "Follow me, someone is waiting for you."

Three levels beneath the gymnasium, Lin Yuan witnesses the most absurd sight in the new world: inside a spherical space a hundred meters in diameter, Horikita Suzune is encased in a cocoon woven from Rose Vines, with countless fiber-optic cables extending from the back of her neck to the dome above.

The tentacles that should have been nothing but cold data cables were now blooming with real roses.

"She volunteered to become the core of the new world." Karuizawa Kei lit a candle, the flame illuminating the figure of Ryuen Kakeru in the corner.

This once-violent ruler was pruning a Rose Vine, and he didn't even look up when he heard footsteps: "My E-127 clearance allows me to see the memories of all parallel worlds—including the seventy-six different ways you were sent flying by a truck."

Lin Yuan suddenly pressed his temples. His retinal interface uncontrollably pulled up the construction records of the gymnasium: the construction date was twenty years ago, the investor was a Chinese biotech company, and the signature on the approval document was clearly written with the Chinese characters for "Lin Yuan."

"It seems you've discovered it." Karuizawa Kei stuck the candle into the ground, and the flame suddenly surged into a holographic projection. The image showed a middle-aged man in a white lab coat placing an infant Ayanokoji Kiyotaka into a cultivation tank—the tear mole under that man's left eye was identical to Lin Yuan's appearance before he transmigrated.

"Cognitive synchronization rate at 100%, memory lock disengaged."

A massive influx of information flooded his mind. Lin Yuan finally understood that his so-called "transmigration" was merely an escape program he had designed himself: whenever the test subjects in the original world went berserk, his consciousness would jump to the nearest parallel worldline.

And that Wild Rose was the cognitive anchor he had cultivated using his own genes.

An alarm suddenly tore through the silence. The Rose Vines on the dome twisted frantically, and blood seeped from the cocoon of Horikita Suzune. Ryuen Kakeru's gardening shears fell to the ground, and a crimson E-127 emblem appeared on his chest: "They're here."

Karuizawa Kei's biological prosthetic eye switched to combat mode: "It's the cleanup squad from the Beta Worldline; it seems the main system hasn't given up on formatting us yet."

As the outer wall of the gymnasium was sliced open by lasers, Lin Yuan saw the appearance of the invaders—they were thousands upon thousands of himself. Every Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was wearing a White Room uniform, their left eyes flickering with the cold light of a system reset.

The lead individual raised a High-Frequency Particle Blade, the blade reflecting Lin Yuan's current face: his right eye bore the emblem of a Wild Rose, while his left eye swirled with code made of Chinese characters.

"Let's go." Karuizawa Kei pulled off her hair tie, her chestnut hair instantly hardening into metallic blades, "Don't make me wait through seven more cycles to confess this time, Mr. Variable."

Lin Yuan took the Wild Rose from the glass case. The moment its roots pierced his palm, thousands of blood-red moons appeared in the sky of the new world—each one corresponding to a parallel world about to be saved.