LuTech Private Server Room – Restricted Access
The night air was heavy as Reign typed into the terminal tucked in the server room's corner, deep beneath the compound. His hands flew over the keyboard, searching through system logs and shadow tags.
He wasn't just looking for who was watching Shen Wanqing.
He was looking for how.
And then, a flicker.
A string of corrupted logs labeled: ERROR CODE: Q-7X-SN1P.
It didn't belong to the game's telemetry system.
It wasn't created by a tournament admin.
It was a ghost tag, one inserted manually, deep into the mainframe.
A backdoor.
A spy channel.
And it was labeled after Wanqing's tag.
Meanwhile – Wanqing's Dorm, 2:17 AM
Wanqing sat cross-legged on her bed, poring over old match replays. But not hers, Reign's.
Two years ago. KNG-Strike's fall. The final match that ended his career.
For the first time, she noticed what the media hadn't... someone jammed his comms mid-rotation. It wasn't a mechanical miscue. It was an inside job.
Someone had silenced him.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from an anonymous sender:
"Error Code Q-7X-SN1P. He found it. So will they."
LuTech Cafeteria – Next Morning
Players milled about, pretending to eat, pretending not to worry. With eliminations and penalties rising, tension clouded the air like static.
Reign met Wanqing near the coffee machine.
He didn't say anything. Just handed her a paper note folded once.
"The backdoor isn't watching you. It's copying you."
She read it twice.
"What does that mean?"
"Your tactics. Your playstyle. Your voice comms. Someone's training an AI on your behavior."
Her blood ran cold.
"Why?"
"I think they're trying to replace you."
Elsewhere – Hacker's Den, Location Unknown
A teenager with oversized headphones and a keyboard glowing like neon rain tapped into the LuTech data pool.
His username blinked at the top corner of his screen: 0xMAYHEM.
He wasn't on any team. He wasn't in the tournament.
But he was watching.
And he didn't like what he saw.
"They're using Echo Protocols again," he muttered.
He leaned back, kicked off his slippers, and started typing faster.
INITIATING COUNTER TRACE: Q7-SNIPE GHOSTTARGET: LuTech Master Node / Encryption Core / SHADOWROOM-V
Reign & Wanqing – Abandoned Side Hallway
The two ducked into an old hall where no security cameras reached. Dust hung in the air like ghosts.
Reign paced. "Whoever's building this shadow system isn't doing it for fun. They want you or what you can do under their control."
Wanqing frowned. "You think they're training bots?"
"Bots that can mimic your voice, your aim, your choices. Put them in the game, sell them as coaching assistants… or worse."
She stepped closer, eyes narrowed.
"But they can't mimic this."
He looked down. Her hand was resting on his.
The first real touch. No camera. No game. Just them.
"Good," he whispered. "Because I'm starting to forget which world is real."
Final Scene – Hacker's Perspective
0xMAYHEM hit Enter.
The screen flashed.
TRACE COMPLETE. SIGNAL ORIGIN LOCATED.
SHADOWROOM ADMIN: JI CORPORATION – AI DEVELOPMENT DIVISION.
He whistled.
"Oh damn," he muttered. "They're building soldiers."
And at the bottom of the code… a face flickered for half a second.
Wanqing's.
But not her.
An AI voice said coldly:
"Simulation complete. QingQing model now at 94.3% sync. Awaiting next directive."