White Night, Sealed Away

We seal criminal records, thinking we’ve sealed away the crimes themselves.

We were wrong. All we did was seal away the eyes that could see them.

My name is Chen Mo, the “memory tailor” at the National Archives Administration.

I’ve seen too many people trade five years of innocence for a ticket to be reborn.

Until I met “Raven,” who spent seven years stitching himself into a flawless, law-abiding citizen.

I pressed Confirm and sealed away his past.

I also signed my own passport to hell.

The truth behind my father’s death in the line of duty, ghosts within the System, white blood flowing across the border... Every clue twisted together into a noose.

And the other end of that noose was tied around my mother’s neck.

They told me: The System is a fortress built to protect you.

But when bullets are fired from inside the fortress, who are you supposed to surrender to?

Now my ally is the demon I personally set loose upon the world.

My weapon is a fragment of data the System has declared nonexistent.

My battlefield lies in every altered record and every loophole in the rules that someone has exploited.

This is a war fought for “memory.”

And the first rule is: Forget that you’re a good person.