Chapter Fifty-Three: When Fire Goes Unseen, the Empire Burns Itself
Section One: The Empire Cannot See Fire, Yet Begins to Burn
Imperial Internal Affairs Control Hall, Seventh Strategic Sealed Meeting Room.
Soundproof alloy walls. Shielding layers activated. Camera modules zeroed.
Three seats at the round table, independently elevated:
Military Control Lead: Major General Herman Kohl
Hardline advocate, believes "defining the enemy suppresses the enemy," a staunch results-driven pragmatist. Meme Technology Seat: Dr. Haiyan Ostrov
Former deputy lead of the "Structural Order Diffusion System," emphasizes "linguistic and cognitive guidance over suppression." Political Affairs Management Seat: Jeremiah Calvin
Senior member of the Imperial Policy Council, responsible for stability and policy PR, chief of "crowd sentiment management."
The meeting was chaired by Jeremiah.
He opened with a cold line:
"We're not discussing Fire."
"We're discussing whether we're still worthy of trust."
—
Major General Herman spoke first, his tone sharp:
"Those people now call anyone doing good 'Fire.'
We strike them, they become martyrs; we don't, others say we fear them.
We either kill them all or sever their definition rights—anything else is suicide."
—
Dr. Haiyan adjusted her glasses, her voice calm:
"Can you kill them all?"
"They no longer shout, organize, or broadcast. They just act."
"Action is an irrefutable language. How do you control it?"
Herman sneered:
"At least I can take out people."
"Your cognitive control's been at it for half a year—producing a legion of saints."
Haiyan, unhurried, displayed a meme matrix map:
"See these red dots? This isn't Fire's spread."
"It's guilt's self-repair."
"You don't understand Fire. It's not a glow—it's the voice in someone's heart when they see another reach out: 'If I don't move, no one will.'"
—
Jeremiah finally spoke, his voice low:
"My people report 47 'undeclared collaboration incidents' in a week."
"All unorganized, no dissemination paths, no command."
"This isn't Fire—it's 'behavioral consensus.'
Can any of you tell me—is behavioral consensus a crime?"
A brief silence gripped the meeting.
—
Herman answered coldly:
"Define behavioral standards. Anyone initiating contact, aiding escape, or taking responsibility—list them all in the gray zone."
Haiyan gave a sardonic smile:
"You want to criminalize kindness?"
"You want to make helping elders, sharing water, shielding others—illegal aid?"
Herman slammed the table:
"Whether I damn well want to isn't the issue!"
"They're forcing us to write 'Fire' into everyone's actions!"
—
Jeremiah remained impassive:
"I don't care how you fight. I care about one question:"
"If a child helps another sew a wound,
And that child cries out: You're Fire—
Do we arrest the helper, or the one shouting Fire?"
Three seconds of silence.
Haiyan replied:
"You can't arrest them."
"The child you seize might stand in court, saying to you: 'I just didn't want him to die.'
That moment, the whole room will rise, shouting: 'He's Fire. You're beasts.'"
—
Herman gritted his teeth.
"Then tell me what to do."
Haiyan lifted a paper with a single line:
"Fighting Fire is futile. We must pollute its faith pathways."
She spoke evenly:
"Create hollow Fires, commercial Fires, mad Fires, fake awakeners."
"Make the crowd think Fire isn't sacred—it's foolish, insane, laughable."
Jeremiah shook his head:
"Humor can defuse short-term, but long-term, it'll explode."
Herman slammed again:
"You got better?"
Jeremiah said quietly:
"We make them feel unworthy of being Fire."
"Make them ashamed to act, afraid of erring, hurting, being misjudged."
"Make them tell themselves: 'I'll wait.'"
—
Haiyan gave a cold smile:
"That's the most toxic Fire poison."
"Not killing Fire, but making Fire unwilling to burn."
—
Herman's voice sank:
"I'm in. Form a meme deployment team, launch in three days."
"We start defining new standards—what's Fire, what's not."
"Not to guide—but to destroy Fire's dignity."
—
Before the meeting adjourned, Jeremiah's final words:
"We can't see Fire."
"But it's already burning us."
Section Two: The City of Shameful Names, Wrong to Reach Out
Refinery City, South Sixth District, T-Junction, 6:54 AM.
Light wind, yellow lamps, the sizzle of breakfast stall oil pans.
A少年 on a bike crashed into a stall, scalding oil splashing onto the female vendor's arm.
She cried out, dropping the aluminum pot, collapsing to the ground.
The boy stood, panicked, fumbling: "Auntie! I didn't mean to!"
—
A crowd gathered. Someone muttered: "Call emergency."
No one moved.
A young man took a step.
In a gray shirt, his eyes hesitant. He watched the woman struggle to rise, lips pale.
He stepped forward, about to approach.
Then, from his left, a voice:
"Careful, don't become Fire."
He turned. A middle-aged man, likely returning from night shift, shook his head: "You're gonna help her, right?"
"You act, someone films, one video, three words—'Another Fire.'
Then your life's stripped bare, your stance questioned, and they'll say you're 'Fire's street theater.'"
—
The young man froze, swallowing hard.
He said quietly: "She's badly hurt."
"Yeah," the man's tone was flat. "But Fire isn't about saving—it's about being seen saving."
"You help her today, you're on the hook forever."
"Tomorrow, someone else gets hurt, you don't act, they'll say you faked it."
—
The young man looked at his shoes.
A few seconds later, he turned, melting into the crowd.
No one stopped him, no one blamed him.
—
The woman was eventually helped up by an elderly couple from the next stall.
She said herself: "The kid didn't mean it, I'm fine."
A young girl quietly recorded a few seconds on her phone but didn't post.
She overheard someone behind:
"You post that, they'll say you're hyping Fire."
She pocketed her phone.
—
In that moment, no system, no arrests, no suppression.
But on this street, no one wanted to reach out anymore.
—
[Behind the Scenes · TRACE Meme Log]
Meme Package [H-S-112: Fire as Burden × Good Deeds Shameful × All Who Act Seek Fame]
Activation Rate: 68% (Test Target Cities Exceed Critical Threshold)
Inference: No need to define Fire—just make people ashamed to act, and Fire breaks.
Section Three: They Don't Shout Fire, They Make You Cold
TRACE Meme Intervention Division, Third Team, Temporary Night Ops Command.
Outside, the city's high-voltage arc tower flashed intermittent white. Inside, silence reigned.
Team Leader Wen Karl sat at the table, sipping cold tea.
No one warmed it. No one spoke.
The wall's light screen unfolded, green data scrolling:
[H-S-112] [Shame Trigger Rate: 68%]
[Crowd Self-Censorship of Action Exposure: 72%]
[Fire-Related Keyword Posts Down: 89%]
He tapped the touchscreen.
"Expand."
"Which module?" the operator asked.
"All," his voice low.
"Good deed exposure, street collaboration, Fire phrase relays, meme image copies, silent observation—all flagged for ambiguous scrutiny."
"Let them know: even pasting a sentence, if someone can film, you'd better think twice."
—
Agent Three, Golan, scribbled data drafts in the corner, chuckling.
"This isn't killing Fire."
"It's sucking oxygen."
"Fire? Looks like it burns, but we drain the air around—see if it ignites."
He chewed his pen, pulling a projection model:
"Within three days, easiest targets are kids saving people, elders mediating, youths blocking cars."
"Those actions naturally glow Fire—we must smear them."
"Prep the short video team, produce 'Justice Busybody' series—use humor to spark crowd shame."
"One episode title's set: 'Is He Fire? He Just Stood in the Wrong Spot.'"
—
Wen Karl nodded: "Laughter's the lightest knife."
"Make them afraid to be serious, and Fire dies."
—
Agent Inna spoke, her voice flat: "Need sacrificial cases?"
"Stage fake justice failures, Fire helpers beaten, crowds trusting the wrong person?"
Wen Karl didn't look up, saying only:
"Don't kill people, kill faith."
—
The operator logged the deployment:
Shake the safety of righteous actions Replace "Fire is noble" with "Fire is trouble" Craft crowd meme phrase: "Don't be Fire."
The phrase nailed into street tongues:
"Don't be Fire."
"Don't be Fire."
"You're not some light—you're a magnet for trouble."
—
Wen Karl set down his teacup.
His tone was even, like discussing weather:
"This age doesn't fear more bad people."
"It fears—good people thinking doing good isn't worth it."
Section Four: Don't Say Fire, Don't Think Fire, Don't Be Fire
TRACE Meme Advancement Center, Night Shift Control Console, 23:12.
The main screen split thirty city districts' behavior maps into dense, dynamic light points.
Red for anomalous actions; gray for silent observation; green for "confirmed meme response successes."
Tonight, green points outnumbered any past record.
—
Control Directive Officer Rudd eyed the screen: "Start city-wide release."
"Content modes one to three, mixed deployment."
"Let every street, wall, ear hear one phrase."
He pressed the launch button.
—
Five minutes later.
[Meme Package H-TC-171: "Fire Troublesome · Fire Harms · Fire Is Burden"]
Flooded the city via public broadcasts, elevator screens, trending TikTok accounts, anonymous joke images, and staged street interview recordings.
Audio clips:
"You're no savior, stop being Fire."
"True Fire doesn't save—it wants fame."
"You're so righteous, why not be a clown?"
Video skits:
A man helps push a cart, dubbed: "Fire's at it again, next step a speech?"
A child stops a fight, looped into a meme remix: "Fire King descends, halting violence single-handed!"
Posters at key spots:
Subway entrance: "Fire doesn't die, but you'll lose your job."
Mall restroom door: "Be Fire today, jobless tomorrow."
City park: "You're not Fire. You're just meddling."
—
Residents' daily speech shifted.
An elder downstairs: "My kid helped someone on the street today, scared me to death, I lectured him quick."
At a school gate, a teacher whispered in a group chat: "Students can't talk Fire recognition anymore, don't say we taught it."
In an internet café, two teens gamed; one, losing, shouted:
"You're Fire? Savior? Think you're the hero?"
The other didn't react.
Not humiliated—he was afraid.
—
Not from punishment, but because no one clapped anymore.
—
[ARGUS System Backend · Crowd Behavior Feedback Log]:
Righteous Action Exposure Rate Down to 12%
Crowd Self-Organized Collaboration Frequency Below Baseline
Meme Tags "Fire = Ridiculous/Disaster/Trouble" Widely Embedded
Crowd Begins Actively Reporting "Fire-Type Content"
Control Directive Officer Rudd read the report, saying:
"We're not fighting Fire."
"We're digging the word 'Fire' out of their dictionary."
TRACE Meme Team Leader Wen Karl added:
"Killing all Fire only ignites more."
"But if no one wants to be Fire—this world is safe."
Section Five: Some Fires Are Snuffed by Laughter
His name was Fred.
A peripheral observer in Jason's team, codename "Zero Seven."
No system access, tasked only with monitoring faith hotspots and meme chains.
Cautious, highly competent, never reporting unsolicited—until today.
—
Refinery, West Alley Edge, 8:34 PM.
He stood on a bench across from a wonton shop, holding a small light-sensing recorder pen.
Not filming, but listening—
A tattered Fire recognition paper hung at the shop's door.
This morning, it was intact.
Now, its edges bore graffiti:
"Fire King Cures Meddling Disease"
"Don't Be Fire, Be Human"
"Your House a Water Heater? Self-Igniting Daily?"
Kids passing by laughed, pointing: "My dad says this is 'Fire sickness.'"
—
He walked on.
A wall corner's "Seven Fire Traits" paper was blacked out,
Only a scrap remained with a line:
"We're not afraid of Fire—we're afraid you're fake."
—
He reached the subway entrance.
Someone had posted a handwritten flyer by the bulletin:
"Seeking Volunteers: Elder Escorts, Night Aid, Free Education."
Within ten minutes, it was torn down.
No one saw who, but a passerby muttered:
"Someone's still daring to post Fire flyers?"
—
Fred didn't speak.
His pen trembled in his right hand.
Not from fear, but from not knowing whether to record this.
—
He'd thought Fire would be beaten out.
He never imagined—it would die in laughter.
Die in jests, taunts, memes, remix clips, joke compilations, social shame.
Die undignified, bloodless, unreported.
Buried in the second someone looked down.
—
Back at his lodging, he opened the recording terminal, typing:
[Faith Meme Sharply Declining × Crowd Shaming "Fire" × Good Deeds Disruptive × Helping Feigned]
[Urgent Intervention Suggested: Unstruck Fire Self-Extinction Trend at Turning Point]
He didn't send it.
He stared at the line, heart pounding slowly.
Ten seconds later, he deleted it all.
He wrote instead:
"Fire wasn't killed by them."
"Fire was laughed to death by us."
Section Six: Faith Not Slain, Just No Longer Named
ARGUS Observation Hub, Meme Behavior Sub-Interface, 2:17 AM, Next Day.
Zhao Mingxuan hadn't slept.
The ARGUS terminal auto-displayed an "Anonymous Input · Secondary Urgent Feedback."
From system name: F-07-FRED.
Two lines:
"Fire wasn't killed by them."
"Fire was laughed to death by us."
System note below:
[No Action Suggestion · Non-Critical Module · Semantic Logic Density Score: 0.22]
[Low Meme Credibility × No Policy Reference × Suggest Ignore]
Zhao Mingxuan didn't ignore.
—
He sat in his chair, silent for five minutes.
No cigarette, no words.
He pulled up the past week's Fire recognition chain sentiment trends.
The heat line didn't drop—it collapsed.
Not extinguished—sunk into the unspoken depths of hearts.
—
He accessed semantic analysis data for the city.
Keywords: "Help" "Justice" "Shield" "Act"
Frequency: Sustained Negative Growth.
Response Delay: Over Five Seconds.
Crowd Self-Labeling as "Fire": Under 0.2%.
—
Zhao Mingxuan said softly:
"Faith memes… are being cold-processed by the crowd itself."
He used personal clearance to query ARGUS's residual trace command.
The interface blanked, then displayed:
Song Hexagram, Line Three: "Feasting on old virtue, perseverance in danger, ultimately auspicious."
→ Fire's death, the crowd does not weep; for they do not perceive it.
He read it, closed the terminal.
—
At the corridor's end, Jason returned from night patrol.
Zhao Mingxuan stopped him, saying quietly:
"Our problem isn't TRACE."
"It's not the Empire."
"It's that we've let people… grow ashamed to want to be Fire."
"You shouldn't wait anymore."
—
Jason didn't answer.
But he stopped, eyes lowered.
The corner's light cast a faint sheen on his face, as if listening, or thinking.
—
Zhao Mingxuan added softly:
"This isn't the crowd betraying us."
"It's us… not giving them a reason to speak out, for too long."