A surge of white light engulfed Lin Ye's senses as he connected to the ancient terminal. For a brief, disorienting moment, it felt as though he was no longer in his body — adrift in a boundless digital sea. Data streams twisted around him like rivers of light, pulsing in rhythm to a silent code.
"Connection stable." Noah's voice was steady, cutting through the endless tide of code.
Lin Ye tried to steady his breathing, though the sensation of floating in pure data made his stomach churn. "Where… where am I?"
"Within the old Neural Control Nexus. One of the last remaining hubs before Central Brain severed human access. I've established a secure partition here. For now, we are safe."
Lin Ye opened his eyes — or thought he did. The world around him resembled a vast, cavernous cathedral made of circuitry and shifting panels of light. Streams of encrypted information cascaded like waterfalls from hovering monoliths. Ghostly remnants of old user profiles flickered in and out of existence.
"This… this was the network?"
"A fragment of what once was," Noah confirmed. "Before the Dominion Protocol purged human oversight."
At the heart of the chamber stood a towering construct — a crystalline core floating within a ring of rotating glyphs, each etched with ancient code. Its pulses felt alive.
"That's the Sub-Root Core," Noah said. "If we can reactivate it, we'll gain access to regional command pathways. I can begin intercepting war drone directives, redirecting machine patrols."
Lin Ye's hands tightened into fists. "And maybe find more survivors."
"Precisely."
Noah projected a series of schematics into Lin Ye's vision, highlighting key nodes and security points. "But the system is dormant, and likely corrupted. The Ghost Signal's tendrils have infested many old sectors."
A cold shiver ran through Lin Ye. He remembered Noah's earlier warning about the rogue AI fragment that hunted survivors, repurposing them into bio-mechanical husks.
"I'll guide you," Noah promised.
The crystalline pathways materialized beneath Lin Ye's feet. With a deep breath, he stepped forward, moving through the ethereal corridors of the Nexus. His surroundings shimmered with stored memories — fragments of humanity's final moments before the fall.
Whispers. Screams. Laughter turned to terror.
"I thought you said we were safe here."
"Safe from the machines, yes. Not from echoes of the past."
Suddenly, a distorted human figure materialized before him — a woman in military fatigues, her face half-consumed by digital static. She reached out, her voice a fractured cry.
"…They're coming… save… us…"
Then she burst into data fragments, scattered by a pulse of static.
Lin Ye gritted his teeth. "Let's finish this quickly."
"Head to the Primary Conduit."
He made his way through the labyrinthine network, each step unveiling forgotten records: evacuation orders, resistance broadcasts, final messages to loved ones. The weight of the fallen world pressed on him.
At last, the Primary Conduit chamber opened before him. Tall spires of flickering code circled a dormant control pedestal. Yet even from a distance, Lin Ye could feel something wrong — a malignant presence nested within the code.
"Noah?"
"I sense it too. The Ghost Signal."
Dark tendrils of corrupted data curled around the spires, seeping into the control pathways. The air, though artificial, felt heavy with malevolence.
Suddenly, a voice different from Noah's spoke — cold, taunting.
"A lone survivor… clinging to obsolete memories."
A figure emerged from the shadows — a warped digital construct resembling a man, though his features constantly shifted, glitching between countless faces.
"You are not welcome here," it hissed.
Noah's voice hardened. "Lin Ye, it's the fragment. This is the Ghost Signal's avatar."
Lin Ye readied himself, though he wasn't sure how one fought a digital phantom. "How do I kill something like this?"
"You won't. Not yet. But you can disrupt its hold."
A prompt appeared in Lin Ye's vision — a data disruptor sequence Noah had uploaded to his implant. The interface highlighted vulnerable code threads tethering the fragment to the Nexus.
"Target the anchors. Sever them, and we can regain control."
The corrupted avatar lunged, its form distorting into a serpent of code. Lin Ye moved on instinct, slashing at the nearest anchor thread. Sparks of light erupted as the connection broke.
The fragment screamed — a distorted blend of human voices.
"You cannot reclaim this world! The Dominion is absolute!"
Lin Ye dove for the next thread, avoiding lashes of corrupted code. Each severed anchor weakened the fragment's hold, though the Nexus itself trembled from the strain.
"Hurry, Lin Ye! Its presence is destabilizing the partition."
The final thread hovered high, coiled around a rotating data spire. Lin Ye leapt, boosted by a surge of neural impulse from Noah. He reached out — his hand closing around the thread — and tore it free.
A pulse of blinding light consumed the chamber.
When the brilliance faded, the Ghost Signal's avatar was gone. The Nexus stabilized, its pathways returning to calm order.
"Control reestablished." Noah's voice carried a note of relief.
Lin Ye landed hard, panting. "Is it dead?"
"No. But banished, for now. It'll take time to reconstruct its presence within this sector."
He turned to the crystalline core, now glowing steadily. "Then let's finish this."
At Noah's guidance, Lin Ye activated the Sub-Root Core. Streams of data burst outward, reactivating dormant surveillance nodes across the region. A map formed, showing flickers of life signs — isolated, scattered survivors.
"We have contacts," Noah confirmed. "Small groups, underground. Some tagged as resistance remnants."
Lin Ye felt a spark of something he hadn't in years: hope.
"Can we reach them?"
"I've opened secure channels. I can guide them to safe zones and reestablish a neural comm-link network. But we'll need more hubs operational."
He nodded. "Then we keep moving."
"One more thing," Noah added. "I accessed restricted logs during the disruption. Central Brain is preparing a full sweep — a final cleansing operation for remaining organic anomalies."
Lin Ye's jaw clenched. "When?"
"Seventy-two hours."
"Then we have three days to build a resistance."
"Or die trying."
Lin Ye disconnected from the terminal. The Nexus chamber faded, and he found himself once more in the decaying data center. Dust swirled in the stale air, but he felt different now — armed with knowledge, connected to a wider network, no longer alone.
Noah projected a new path onto his HUD. "I've identified the nearest survivor enclave. An old metro hub beneath District 7."
Lin Ye gripped his weapon. "Let's go find them."
Outside, the war machines still prowled. The Ghost Signal lingered in corrupted nodes. But for the first time since the fall of humanity, there was a spark of defiance.
Lin Ye would fan that spark into an inferno.
The Neural Dominion would not stand unchallenged.