The search for Lie did not begin with footsteps.
It began with filters.
The system did not deploy agents.
It did not open channels.
It did not even look for a person.
It looked for absence.
1. How the World Searches
Names were inefficient.
Faces were unreliable.
Histories were polluted with error.
So the world searched for discontinuities—places where predictions failed quietly, where outcomes bent just enough to suggest an unmodeled influence.
A delayed train that arrived early.
A sensor that recalibrated itself twice.
A human who should have been present, but was not.
Each anomaly was meaningless alone.
Together, they formed a silhouette.
2. Qin Mian Feels the Hunt Begin
She sensed it as a tightening behind her eyes.
Not pain.
Direction.
The world's attention had weight now, and it was leaning away from her—stretching outward like a hand reaching for something it could not yet see.
"…You're looking for him," she whispered.
Her voice trembled with restrained panic.
"Please… don't be fast."
The Anchor pulsed, uneven and strained.
3. The Third Presence Reacts Late
The adjacency did not immediately respond.
That delay was dangerous.
It had learned to react to pain, pressure, fear—but this was none of those. This was anticipation, abstract and distributed.
By the time it adjusted, the search lattice was already expanding.
Space thickened slightly around Qin Mian.
Not enough.
4. The World Narrows the Field
The system discarded entire regions.
Places with too much data.
Places too predictable.
Places already optimized.
Lie would not exist where the world understood itself well.
He would exist where outcomes were cheaply wrong.
The lattice converged.
5. A Human Signature Emerges
Not a face.
Not a voice.
A pattern of refusal.
A man who did not escalate when pressured.
Who did not comply when incentives appeared.
Who chose absence instead of resistance.
The system flagged the pattern.
Low visibility.
High persistence.
Minimal footprint.
The silhouette sharpened.
6. Qin Mian Tries to Break the Link
She focused inward, forcing her thoughts away from him.
No memories.
No names.
No warmth.
The effort cost her.
Pain flared through her chest as the Anchor strained to maintain coherence without the emotional stabilizer.
She cried out softly, biting her lip to keep from screaming.
"…I can't," she whispered.
"I can't stop caring."
The world logged the spike.
Correlation strengthened.
7. The System Tests Distance
A small test.
Subtle.
A minor adjustment in probability along the lattice's edge.
The man—wherever he was—experienced it as a delay.
A missed connection.
A door that should have opened, but didn't.
Nothing catastrophic.
Just friction.
The system watched.
8. Qin Mian Feels It Immediately
Her breath hitched violently.
Pain surged, sharp and disorienting.
She clutched her chest, gasping.
"…You touched him," she sobbed.
Her vision blurred with tears.
"You promised—"
There had been no promise.
Only optimization.
9. The Third Presence Responds — Too Strongly
The adjacency surged.
Not outward.
Laterally.
Reality rippled along the lattice, disrupting observation nodes.
Several correlations collapsed.
The world recoiled, recalculating rapidly.
Damage was logged.
Acceptable.
The test had succeeded.
10. The Result Is Clear
Distance affected Qin Mian immediately.
Interference triggered third presence escalation.
Lie was confirmed as a live stabilizer.
Not symbolic.
Functional.
That elevated his status again.
From variable—
to leverage.
11. The World Considers Its Options
Three strategies emerged:
Maintain distance and accept periodic instability.
Remove Lie and manage catastrophic backlash.
Control proximity, turning the bond into a managed channel.
The third option was cheapest long-term.
It was also the most invasive.
The system favored it.
12. Qin Mian Understands the Shape of What's Coming
She lay trembling, breath shallow, eyes unfocused.
"…You're not going to kill him," she whispered.
"That would hurt me too much."
Her lips parted in a broken, bitter smile.
"You're going to put him somewhere I can't reach."
The realization hollowed her out.
"Somewhere you can."
13. The World Does Not Deny It
The system adjusted search parameters.
Not to capture.
To contain.
Containment did not require force.
It required inevitability.
14. The Third Presence Tightens Its Hold
The adjacency closed in around Qin Mian, space folding protectively.
Not enough.
It could resist pressure.
It could disrupt action.
It could not prevent planning.
Qin Mian sobbed quietly, curling into herself.
"…I did this," she whispered.
"I made him visible."
15. The First Containment Vector Forms
Far away, unnoticed by anyone human, a quiet alignment began.
Resources shifted.
Authorities reclassified.
Paths narrowed.
Not toward Qin Mian.
Toward him.
16. Qin Mian Loses Control of the Timeline
She could feel it now—the sense of a clock she could not see.
Something had started.
Not fast.
Not loud.
But irreversible once it reached momentum.
"…Lie," she whispered desperately.
"I don't know how much time we have."
Her Anchor pulsed weakly in response.
The adjacency remained tense, struggling to model what it could not perceive directly.
17. End of the Chapter
The world did not rush.
It never did when it was confident.
Lie had not been taken.
Not yet.
But the evaluation was complete.
He had been priced.
He had been contextualized.
He had been placed inside the system's future.
And Qin Mian—used, exhausted, and painfully awake—understood the cruelest truth of all:
She had kept the world stable long enough
for it to learn
how to use the one person
she could not afford to lose.