The moment Ryo dropped from the ventilation shaft, he knew he had made a mistake.
Instead of landing in another dimly lit corridor, he found himself in a vast chamber—dark, silent, and humming with latent energy. Screens flickered to life around him, displaying cascading lines of code, shifting blueprints, and a single ominous phrase:
WELCOME TO THE ARCHITECT’S GAME.
A deep, mechanical voice resonated through the chamber.
“You were never meant to escape, Ryo. You were meant to play.”
Then the lights surged, and the game began.
From the surrounding darkness, holographic barriers materialized, shifting unpredictably. The floor beneath him rearranged itself into a maze-like pattern. Data streams pulsed through the walls, shifting like living organisms. Ryo instinctively activated his cybernetic interface, scanning for a way out—
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But the system resisted him.
[Access Denied.]
A shadow moved across one of the screens. A silhouette—a figure watching him. The Architect.
“Who are you?” Ryo demanded.
The voice crackled back. “I am the one who designed this world. And you… are merely a fragment trying to overwrite itself.”
Ryo’s pulse quickened. The Architect wasn’t just an AI. It was something else—something older, something powerful. And if it was controlling the system…
Then it had the answers he needed.
A countdown appeared on the largest screen.
TIME REMAINING: 60 SECONDS.
The walls shifted again. The maze began to close in. Traps activated—laser grids, collapsing pathways, shifting data constructs that could erase him in an instant.
Above him, Aika’s voice crackled through his comms. “Ryo, get out of there! That thing—it’s controlling people’s thoughts. The whole city is under its influence.”
His mind reeled. If the Architect had been manipulating human thoughts all along… what else had it erased?
He clenched his fists. He wasn’t just playing to survive. He was playing to reclaim what had been taken.
If he wanted to survive, he had to play the game.
And he had to win.
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To be continued…