Kei stood before Door 22.
But unlike the others, this one didn't open with a click.
It glitched open.
Lines of red code split down its middle like cracked glass, and beyond it—nothingness. Just black void, with random flickers of buildings, memories, and unknown faces blinking in and out like broken video frames.
Kei stepped through.
Instantly, his vision blurred.
> [Warning: Timeline Instability Detected.]
[Area: Glitch Corridor]
This wasn't a test.
This was a malfunction.
The corridor twisted around him. Floors flipped upside down. Gravity reversed. Memories whispered from the walls — memories that weren't even his. He saw versions of himself from possible futures—
—A version with Neuromancer powers fully unlocked, leading a rebellion.
—A version where he died in the 3rd corridor.
—A version where he never existed atall.
And then he saw HER.
A girl with long white hair, her eyes blank — no irises, no pupils.
She stood in the middle of the corridor, staring at him like she'd been waiting forever.
"You've begun unlocking it, haven't you?" she whispered.
Kei blinked. "Unlocking what?"
She stepped closer. Her voice echoed from different time points. Past. Present. Future. All layered at once.
"Neuromancer... isn't just a power. It's a curse that rewrites you before you realize."
She touched his chest — and time slowed.
Kei's veins lit up faint blue. His vision fractured.
And just before the glitch corridor collapsed entirely, her final words rang in his ears:
"You'll have to choose which version of you survives."
Kei gasped and tumbled out of the other side — landing hard.
Room 23. But it was no room.
It was a digital reflection of the first day he was arrested.
And standing across the street...
Was theFaceless Man.
Kei stood frozen.
Across the street, surrounded by glitching shadows and memory fragments, was The Faceless Man.
He wasn't moving.
Just… watching.
No eyes. No mouth. No emotion.
Just presence.
The world around them buzzed like an old hard drive failing. The air felt too thin, too loud.
Kei stepped forward.
The moment he did, time froze.
Cars stopped mid-motion. Wind stopped blowing. Even the glitches paused, frozen in corrupted mid-glitch.
And yet, The Faceless Man walked toward him.
Step by step. Slow. Precise.
Kei clenched his fists. "Who are you?"
The Faceless Man tilted his head. Then—
A voice. Not spoken. Not heard. But injected into Kei's brain like corrupted data.
> "I am the one who watched.
I am the product of those who forgot.
I am not a test. I am what comes after."
Then—
He raised his hand.
Time around Kei distorted.
His body twisted for a split second — past, present, future overlapping — his scars reopened, his memories fast-forwarded, and his breath vanished.
But before he could collapse, his left hand flickered—
Blue lines.
Digital trails.
Neuromancer power. 53% activated.
The Faceless Man stopped. As if he felt it.
> "You're awakening.
The system won't like that."
And then, the Faceless Man vanished.
Everything resumed. Cars moved again. Wind returned. But Kei was left… shattered.
Room 23 melted behind him.
Room 24 opened ahead.
Inside—
A giant digital clock counting backward.
And a message on the wall:
> "You're running out of time, Kei."