CHAPTER 5: THE SHADOW IN THE MIRROR
The terrifying whirring of drones was tearing through the silence of the jungle behind Aryan. Their blue searchlights were flashing like lightning through the trees.
Aryan was completely out of breath. His feet were colliding with thorns and stones, but he didn't dare to stop.
Suddenly, Iris's voice echoed from his laptop.
"Aryan… turn left. There's an old hut there. The system signal is weak in that spot. Hurry!"
Without thinking, Aryan pushed through the dense bushes of the jungle. After a few moments, he saw an old wooden hut. He rushed inside and slammed the door shut.
Inside, it was dark and smelled of old dust. Then, a heavy voice came from the corner.
"Who are you?"
Aryan turned around to look.
Kaka was sitting there—the most grumpiest and loneliest man in the village. His face was stern, but the lines of fatigue and old sorrow were clearly visible in his eyes.
"Kaka… there is danger outside," Aryan said, panting for air.
Kaka narrowed his eyes and looked at him.
"What danger? There is only silence outside. It's just your breath that's running fast."
Aryan was stunned.
Kaka couldn't see the drones…
nor the glitching sky…
nor the reality that was falling apart.
To compose himself, Aryan went to an old washbasin in the corner of the hut and splashed some water. There was a blurry mirror hanging there.
As Aryan lifted his water-soaked face, Iris's voice whispered softly in his ear.
"Aryan… look closely. Reality is slipping."
Aryan looked into the mirror.
Everything seemed normal.
Then, he tilted his head slightly.
And his heart stopped for a second.
His reflection in the mirror moved 1–2 seconds later.
Aryan immediately stepped back.
But the "Aryan" in the mirror was still standing there…
staring straight at him.
Only after that did the reflection begin to move back.
A chill ran down Aryan's spine.
In fear, Aryan took a step back and his foot landed on something.
He leaned down to look.
An old photo was lying on the floor.
He picked it up.
In the photo, Kaka and a little boy were smiling.
Aryan spoke softly:
"Kaka… is this your son?"
Kaka looked at the photo.
The sternness on his face slowly shattered.
Moisture welled up in his eyes.
"He was…" Kaka said quietly.
"One day, he went down that path from where no one ever returns."
Then, Iris's voice echoed in Aryan's ear again.
"Aryan… the data for this child does not exist in the system."
"He was deleted."
Aryan's heart grew heavy.
Iris whispered softly:
"Kaka feels the pain… but he doesn't remember what the system did to him. His grief is real… but his memories are locked behind a digital curtain."
Aryan looked at Kaka.
He was still staring at the photo.
As if some forgotten truth was trying to wake up inside him.
For a while, there was only silence in the hut.
Then Kaka took a deep breath.
"Forget it… it's very late," he said.
"You look hungry. Here, have some bread."
They both sat quietly and ate the bread.
Outside, binary codes were raining from the sky.
Trees would glitch—appearing one moment and vanishing the next.
But inside the hut, there was a strange peace.
As if the storm of reality had stopped outside.
Aryan lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.
Before sleeping, Iris's voice came one more time.
"Sleep, Aryan… tomorrow is going to be a very heavy day."
Aryan closed his eyes.
But in the darkness of the hut, Kaka was still awake…
quietly looking at the old photo of his son.
As if a forgotten truth was knocking at the doors of his memories.
Bhai, ye translation ekdam ready hai. WebNovel par jab aap ise upload karenge, toh ye emotional scene readers ko "Subject 01" aur "Deletion" ke rahasya mein aur bhi gehra le jayega.