2026-01-25 17:57:41The creature dropped from the wall. It landed with a heavy thud ten yards away.
It was a Scavenger Drone. But it had been down here a long time. It had modified itself. It looked like a giant spider made of knives. It had six legs. Each leg ended in a rusty saw blade. Its body was a mesh of wires and stolen parts.
The yellow eyes focused on Joseph. A scanner beam swept over him.
Beep.
The drone spoke. Its voice was a glitchy recording of a polite woman.
"Organic... waste... detected," the drone stuttered. "Recycling... in... progress."
It didn't see him as a person. It saw him as raw material. Carbon. Water. Calcium. It wanted to harvest him.
Joseph tried to push himself deeper into the pile of trash. "Stay back!"
The drone took a step forward. One of its saw-legs spun up. Whirrrrrrrrr.
"Please... remain... still," the drone said pleasantly. "This... will... only... hurt... a lot."
Joseph looked around for a weapon. He saw a metal pipe. He grabbed it.
The drone lunged.
It was fast. It closed the distance in a second.
Joseph swung the pipe. It hit the drone’s head with a clang. The pipe bent. The drone didn't even flinch.
The drone knocked the pipe out of his hand. It raised a leg to strike. The saw blade spun inches from Joseph’s face. He could feel the wind from the blade.
Joseph rolled to the right. The saw slammed into the mud where his head had been. Mud sprayed everywhere.
Joseph scrambled backward. His broken ribs screamed in protest. He gasped for air.
The drone pulled its leg out of the mud. It turned to face him again. It made a clicking sound. It seemed annoyed.
"Resistance... is... inefficient," the drone buzzed.
Joseph was trapped against a rusted wall. He had nowhere to go. He looked at his hands. He was still holding the black cube. The red light inside it was pulsing faster now. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
It felt hot. Burning hot.
The drone stepped closer. It raised two legs this time. It was going to cut him in half.
"Target... acquired."
Joseph looked at the drone. He looked at the cube.
"Project Chaos," he gritted out. "Let's see what you do."
He didn't know what would happen. He hoped it would explode. He hoped it would kill the drone. He hoped it would be quick.
Joseph yelled with the last of his strength. He swung the obsidian cube like a rock.
He smashed it against the drone’s metal face.
CRACK.
The sound was louder than a gunshot.
The drone froze.
The black cube did not just break. It shattered.
But it didn't shatter into pieces of glass. It shattered into dust.
Black, glittering dust.
For a second, the dust hung in the air. The red light that was inside the cube was now free. It turned the cloud of dust into a glowing crimson fog.
Then, the dust moved.
It didn't fall to the ground. It swirled. It moved like a swarm of angry bees. It moved like liquid metal.
The drone made a confused noise. "Error? Error?"
The black dust flew at the drone. It covered the machine’s head. It ate through the metal in seconds. The drone screeched—a horrible, electronic scream. Its legs flailed. Sparks showered down.
Then, the drone collapsed. It was dead.
Joseph watched, panting. "It worked."
He slumped back against the wall. "It worked."
He looked at the black dust. It was hovering over the dead drone. It seemed to be waiting.
Then, it turned.
Thousands of tiny, microscopic specks turned to face Joseph. The red glow intensified.
Joseph felt a cold spike of fear. "No."
The swarm surged forward.
It didn't attack him like the drone. It didn't cut.
It slammed into his chest.
Joseph gasped. The dust wasn't dust. It was nanites. Millions of military-grade nanobots.
They found his wounds. They found the cuts on his face. They found the hole in his side. They found his eyes.
They dove in.
The pain was not of this world.
It was not like the broken ribs. It was not like the laser surgery.
It felt like someone had injected liquid fire into his veins.
Joseph arched his back. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. The nanites were in his throat.
He felt them moving under his skin. They were crawling along his bones. They were eating the dead tissue. They were stitching things together. But they were aggressive. They were invasive.
They swarmed up his neck. They entered his ears. They pushed behind his eyes.
His vision went white. Then black. Then red.
Deep, bloody red.
Joseph clawed at his face. He tried to dig them out, but they were already inside. They were in his blood. They were in his brain.
He fell to the ground, writhing in the mud. The world dissolved into a storm of red static.
He was dying. He knew it. This was the end. The black box was not a weapon to hold; it was a weapon to be. And his body was too weak to hold it.
Then, suddenly, the pain paused.
It didn't stop. It just hovered.
A text box appeared in his vision.
It wasn't on a screen. It was scrolling directly across his retina. It was bright, sharp, and terrifyingly clear.
[SYSTEM BOOT...]
[HARDWARE DETECTED: HUMAN MALE. STATUS: BROKEN.]
Joseph’s mind reeled. I can see text? But I have no implants. Grix took them.
The text scrolled faster.
[SCANNING...]
[CRITICAL DAMAGE FOUND.]
[LUNGS: PUNCTURED.]
[RIBS: FRACTURED.]
[BLOOD LOSS: 60%.]
[HOST VIABILITY: 0%.]
The letters were red and blocky.
[PROJECT CHAOS NANITES DEPLOYED.]
[OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE. ADAPT. DESTROY.]
Joseph felt a strange sensation in his brain. It was like a voice, but it wasn't speaking. It was thinking at him.
We need a host, the voice seemed to say. This shell is weak. But it is all we have.
The text flashed again.
[INITIATING ENTROPY EXCHANGE.]
[WARNING: MERGER WILL CONSUME 90% OF HOST MEMORY AND HUMANITY TO REPAIR BIOLOGICAL DAMAGE.]
[PROBABILITY OF SURVIVAL: 0.001%]
Joseph lay in the mud. The rain fell on his face, but he couldn't feel it anymore. He could only feel the burning fire inside.
He thought of the odds. 0.001%.
One in a thousand.
In "Dead Man’s Dice," those were impossible odds. You would fold. You would walk away.
But Joseph couldn't walk away.
He saw Elara’s face in his mind. It was fading. The nanites were already eating his memories to fuel the repairs. If he said yes, he might lose himself. He might become a monster.
But if he said no, he died. And she died.
The text blinked, demanding an answer.
[OVERRIDE SAFETY PROTOCOLS? Y / N]
Joseph summoned every ounce of will he had left. He focused on the word "Yes." He screamed it with his mind. He screamed it with his soul.
YES!
[INPUT ACCEPTED.]
[OVERRIDE CONFIRMED.]
[WELCOME TO CHAOS, JOSEPH.]
A sound like a jet engine roared inside his head. The red light consumed everything. The pain returned, a thousand times worse than before, tearing him apart atom by atom to build something new.
Joseph opened his mouth and let out a scream that shook the trash piles of the Tech-Graveyard.
And then, his eyes snapped open.
They were no longer human eyes. They were solid, glowing black, with irises of burning red fire.
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CHAPTER 8: The Wireframe II
The moment he accepted, Joseph felt it.It wasn't a pinch. It wasn't a sting.It felt like a hook had been inserted into his chest and yanked out. A wave of exhaustion washed over him instantly. It was the feeling of being awake for forty-eight hours straight, condensed into a single second.His knees buckled. His breath hitched.But the effect was immediate.Joseph extended his hand toward the jumping robot. A spark of red electricity shot from his fingertips. It wasn't a lightning bolt; it was a stream of red data.The red light hit the robot’s chest.The hydrogen fuel cell turned bright white.BOOM.The explosion was deafening. The robot didn't just break; it disintegrated. A ball of fire erupted in the center of the cavern.The force of the blast hit the other two robots. They were thrown backward, smashing into the walls. Metal parts rained down like hail.Joseph shielded his face. The heat washed over him.When the smoke cleared, the lead robot was gone. Just a smoking crater re
CHAPTER 7: The Wireframe
Three shapes emerged from the gloom.They were like the drone he had destroyed in Chapter 3, but bigger. These were not modified with trash; they were military remnants. They had sleek, chrome bodies that were covered in rust. They moved on four legs, like metallic wolves. Their eyes were green searchlights that cut through the dark.One of them opened its mouth. A row of spinning buzz-saws extended."Target... identified," the wolf-bot droned. "Subject... Joseph... Anomaly.""They know my name," Joseph said. "Drax sent them."[ANALYSIS: INCORRECT,] the System flashed. [THEY ARE CONNECTED TO THE CITY NETWORK. YOUR BOUNTY HAS INCREASED.]The three robot wolves circled him. They were smart. They were packing hunting tactics. One moved to the left, one to the right, one stayed in the center.Joseph backed up. His back hit the pile of trash. He was cornered."I need a weapon," Joseph said. He looked around for a pipe or a bar.[PRIMITIVE TOOLS ARE INEFFICIENT,] the System stated. [USE THE
CHAPTER 6: The Price of Power
The air in the cavern seemed to get colder. The red text glowed brighter.[THE UNIVERSE SEEKS BALANCE,] the System wrote. [ENERGY CANNOT BE CREATED. ENERGY CANNOT BE DESTROYED. IT CAN ONLY BE TRADED.]Joseph read the words. It was basic physics. Every kid in the Zero District learned this in school, before they dropped out to work in the factories."I know this," Joseph said. "Thermodynamics."[AFFIRMATIVE.]The System continued.[MOST SYSTEMS USE EXTERNAL ENERGY. ELECTRICITY. BATTERIES. FOOD. MAGIC.][PROJECT CHAOS IS DIFFERENT. WE ARE A CLOSED SYSTEM.][WE DO NOT USE MANA. WE USE DEGRADATION.]Joseph frowned. "Degradation? You mean... breaking things?"[CORRECT. TO CREATE FORCE, SOMETHING MUST BREAK. TO HEAL FLESH, SOMETHING MUST WITHER. TO CHANGE REALITY, SOMETHING MUST BE LOST.]Joseph looked at his hands. They looked strong. They looked perfect. "What did I lose to get healed?" he asked softly.The text paused. It seemed to be calculating.[TO REPAIR CRITICAL DAMAGE (PUNCTURED LU
Chapter 5: The Exchange
The scream had died in his throat. Now, there was only silence.The Tech-Graveyard was quiet. The only sound was the drip, drip, drip of toxic water falling from the high ceiling. It landed in the black puddles with a soft plip.Joseph lay face down in the mud. He waited for the pain. He waited for the sharp stab of his broken ribs. He waited for the burning in his lungs from the internal bleeding.He waited. But the pain did not come.Instead, he felt a strange hum. It was a low vibration, like a very small engine running inside his bones. It buzzed in his chest. It buzzed in his fingertips.Joseph opened his eyes.The world looked different. Before, the darkness was thick and heavy. Now, the darkness seemed to have layers. He could see the shapes of the trash piles clearly, even though there was almost no light. The edges of objects were sharp.He pushed his hands into the mud. "Up," he told himself. "Get up."He pushed. His body responded instantly. He didn't struggle. He didn't ga
CHAPTER 4: The Scavenger
The creature dropped from the wall. It landed with a heavy thud ten yards away.It was a Scavenger Drone. But it had been down here a long time. It had modified itself. It looked like a giant spider made of knives. It had six legs. Each leg ended in a rusty saw blade. Its body was a mesh of wires and stolen parts.The yellow eyes focused on Joseph. A scanner beam swept over him.Beep.The drone spoke. Its voice was a glitchy recording of a polite woman."Organic... waste... detected," the drone stuttered. "Recycling... in... progress."It didn't see him as a person. It saw him as raw material. Carbon. Water. Calcium. It wanted to harvest him.Joseph tried to push himself deeper into the pile of trash. "Stay back!"The drone took a step forward. One of its saw-legs spun up. Whirrrrrrrrr."Please... remain... still," the drone said pleasantly. "This... will... only... hurt... a lot."Joseph looked around for a weapon. He saw a metal pipe. He grabbed it.The drone lunged.It was fast. It
Chapter 3: The Black Box
The darkness was not empty. It was full of hard things.Joseph tumbled. He did not fall straight down. He slid inside a giant metal tube. The tube was steep. It was slick with oil and slime.He hit a bolt. Crack.Pain exploded in his shoulder. He screamed, but the roar of the wind swallowed his voice.He hit a grate. It broke under his weight. He fell through.He hit a pipe. Snap.Something inside his chest broke. A rib. Maybe two. The pain was sharp, like a spear entering his side. He could not stop. Gravity was a monster, and it was pulling him down to the belly of the city.The air grew hotter. It smelled of rotten eggs and burning plastic. It was the smell of the Undercity. The smell of things that were thrown away.Joseph saw a circle of dim light below. It rushed toward him fast. Too fast.He curled into a ball. He protected his head with his arms. He prayed to a God he did not believe in.Impact.He landed on something soft, but not soft like a bed. It was soft like rotting tra
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