Walking Against the Light: The Beginning of a Suicide

Thought is a resource. Uniqueness is fuel. Beneath the eternal radiance of the Sacred Vault, everyone's “thought” becomes a visible feather. Its color represents its value, and its shape determines its fate. Pope Tiao Zhonghua guards the “Flame of Civilization,” which devours feathers to keep the light alive. Ascension is a glory, but also a ritual that purifies the soul into fuel. Qing Yuan can “hear” the screams of dusk. Her feather is an untimely “weed.” The System prices her as a rare fuel; the rebels draw near, seeing in her a spark of hope. And she is about to discover that the truth of her birth may be a desperate curse this glorious civilization laid upon itself as it slid toward ultimate silence. This is a war over “soul energy.” Does every glimmer of civilization we celebrate mean that somewhere, a flame of thought has been extinguished forever?