The plane descended quietly into the night, landing on the outskirts of a rainforest near Mandalay, Myanmar. Far from the noise of the city, this place concealed the final traces of Sophia Harrison's mother before her mysterious disappearance.
Sophia stepped down the gangway, the humid air thick with the scent of earth and rain. Dressed in a fitted tactical outfit, she carried a black military backpack strapped securely to her back—inside were the ancient map and the crystal detector she'd recovered from the hidden compartment.
Zhou Yuchen was already waiting beside a camouflaged off-road vehicle. His eyes were cautious and grim.
"We're near the heart of the coordinates," he said. "But it used to be an abandoned jade mine."
Sophia flipped the map open. "It was a private mine—one my mother secretly funded to excavate the so-called Blue Lotus Stone. She believed that only someone with a truly pure spiritual resonance could locate the first core of the Stone of Destiny."
The night was as dark as ink. They trekked through dense forest and overgrown mining tunnels until they reached a collapsed corridor, where a copper door stood sealed at the end. Embossed upon it was a symbol Sophia knew too well—a lotus etched in sapphire.
Sophia stared at it, feeling the echo of her mother's voice whispering through time.
The pendant around her neck pulsed with a faint blue glow.
"The door responds to mental resonance," came Chen Mo's voice through the earpiece.
Sophia closed her eyes and focused, syncing her consciousness with the rhythm of the pendant. After a tense moment, the copper door rumbled open. A cool blue corridor stretched before them, glimmering like the interior of a sleeping crystal palace.
The moment they stepped inside, a wave of scorching air surged toward them.
"Is this... fire?" Zhou Yuchen instinctively drew his dagger—but the flames didn't burn. Instead, they flickered like mirages, a psychic defense designed to test one's soul memory.
Within the flames, a familiar figure began to materialize—Sulan, her mother.
She wore a military-green lab coat, cradling a newborn Sophia in her arms.
"This is... a memory from before I was born?" Sophia whispered.
In the vision, Sulan's voice was gentle. "You must choose. Move forward and awaken the memory within the stone, or turn back and preserve the moment as it is."
Sophia's expression hardened. "I choose to move forward."
She stepped into the fire. The flames dissolved into thousands of radiant shards, encircling her body. At the same time, deep within the ruins, a crystalized stone embedded with sapphire fragments slowly rose from the ground.
Stone of Destiny — First Fragment:"Memories of the Stargazer"
Sophia picked it up, and her vision blurred. Waves of memory flooded her consciousness—she saw her mother working alongside Chen Mo and Bai Yunshuang at the Polaris Research Institute, saw Lu Zhentian dealing in secret with Polaris, and glimpsed the brutal truth behind the night she died in her past life…
"She… betrayed you." Sophia trembled as the realization hit.
"Who?" Zhou Yuchen asked sharply.
Sophia looked up, her gaze like a blade. "Bai Yunshuang—the woman my mother trusted most. She was one of the original founders of Polaris."
BOOM!
The entire cavern trembled violently.
"They detonated the entrance!" Zhou Yuchen shouted, pulling Sophia toward the wall for cover.
"They followed us here," Sophia said grimly.
Above them, a black-clad assault team descended rapidly. At the forefront was a face that twisted her stomach—
Marcus Lu.
He smirked. "Sophia. It's been a while."
Sophia met his gaze, her eyes sharp as ice. "What a coincidence. Since you're here, why don't you try the power of this stone?"
She pressed the fragment into her pendant. A surge of sapphire light exploded outward, forming a repulsive force field. Marcus and his team were flung backward as the cave began to collapse.
Zhou Yuchen grabbed Sophia's hand. They sprinted through a side passage as boulders crashed behind them. Explosions roared overhead. The last glimpse Sophia caught was Marcus disappearing beneath a rockslide—his fate uncertain.
At dawn, the two stood atop a mountain ridge, watching the burning ruins below. The pendant at Sophia's chest slowly dimmed.
"The first fragment... found," she whispered.
Zhou Yuchen looked at her. "You said you saw how you died in your past life?"
Sophia nodded, her voice low. "It was her—the one I trusted without question—who handed me over to Polaris."
Her eyes were calm, cold as a glacier:
"I want her to hand me the second stone. In person."