Scene – LuTech Private Estate, Beijing Outskirts
The gates loomed like a fortress. Reign hadn't been home in years. Not since he walked away from the empire he was born into.
Now he was back, not as a son, but as a weapon.
Wanqing stood beside him, dressed plainly in black.
"You sure about this?" she asked.
He didn't answer.
The doors opened before they even knocked.
Inside – The Lu Family Study
Lu Zemin sat in a leather armchair, aged but unyielding. A digital fireplace glowed behind him. His eyes didn't reflect warmth.
"You've come to accuse me," he said flatly."No," Reign replied. "I've come to understand why you used me."
His father gestured to the wall, where an old photograph hung: Reign as a child, with a VR visor strapped on, his heart monitor glowing.
"You weren't used. You were built. Everything you are, the reflexes, the vision, the rage was engineered."
"Engineered with what?"
Lu Zemin finally stood.
He walked to a hidden panel behind the fireplace and pulled out a dusty metal briefcase. The biometric lock opened with a soft beep.
Inside: vials of blood. Neural maps. A datachip labeled:
REIGN001_GEN-C/EM-MEM: Mirror Mapping Protocol
"JiCorp didn't just copy your gameplay," Lu Zemin said. "They replicated your emotional triggers. Your anger. Your fear. Your love. Every instinct you showed while playing. They extracted it."
"You fed them my feelings," Reign whispered."We gave them your pain. Because pain is what makes humans fight best."
Flashback – JiCorp Lab, 7 Years Ago
A young Reign in a medical chair, wires on his temples. In another chamber, an early AI model moved in real time with his expressions.
He laughed. The AI laughed.
He flinched. The AI flinched.
Then… a memory triggered.
His mother's death.
Reign cried silently.
And the AI shook, lips quivering in imitation.
Back to Present – The Confrontation
Wanqing stepped forward. "You didn't just create AI copies. You made emotional clones."
Lu Zemin shrugged. "And yet none of them have won. Because the one thing we couldn't replicate was her."
He looked at Wanqing.
"You were always his anomaly."
Later That Night – Rooftop Overlooking the City
Reign sat alone, blood data files spread on the ground.
Wanqing joined him, placing a warm can of milk tea beside him.
"So... you were born in the code," she said gently.
He gave a hollow laugh.
"And now I'm going to use it to kill what they made from me."
"Together?" she asked.
He met her gaze. "Always."
Their fingers laced. And somewhere in the shadows, an encrypted stream uploaded the blood-data files to the GHOSTS network.
The world would know.