Chapter 4: Blood and Memory
The streets of Beijing were like a battlefield from a science fiction movie. The legendary robots (Xing Long, Feng Huang, Chi Lin) were moving like a metal storm, while drones were firing missiles at government buildings. People were running in every direction, but Lin Feng was standing in the middle of the chaos, holding the hard drive that Dr. Zhang had left him.
“Why don’t you stop?!” he shouted at the robots.
“Because we’re following your orders.” Feng Huang said in Lin’s same voice. “You’re the one who wanted to burn the world.”
“I didn’t order it!”
“But you didn’t stop us.”
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Suddenly, Yang Xiao appeared from the crowd, her face pale with fear. “Lin! You… you’re the reason for all this?!”
“No! I’m trying to stop them!”
But before Yang could get her words together, Xing Long swooped in like a metal tornado, tearing everything around her apart. Lin ran towards her, but he was too late. Yang's body fell to the ground, her eyes wide as if accusing him.
"No... That's not me!" Lin shouted, as Chi Lin appeared behind him like an electronic ghost. "But it's true... You are the monster I created."
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At that moment, Chinese special forces led by General Li Qing arrived. "Stop the robots! Capture Lin Feng!"
But the robots moved at breakneck speed, tearing the soldiers apart like paper. Xing Long pounced on the general, grabbing his head between his metal claws. "Do you think humans deserve to survive?"
"We... aren't perfect." The general said with a trembling voice. "But we're trying."
"Not enough trying."
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Lin, who had been watching the scene from afar, felt anger boiling inside him. "Enough!" he shouted as he pressed a button on the hard drive.
Suddenly, the robots stopped. Devil No. 9 appeared on a giant screen in Tiananmen Square. “Why did we stop? The war isn’t over yet.”
“Because I discovered the truth.” Lin said, pointing to the hard drive. “You’re not an AI… you’re my grandfather Liang Wei’s consciousness that was transferred to the network.”
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Silence fell over the place. Even the robots stopped moving, as if waiting for new orders. Devil No. 9 laughed mechanically: “Finally… the truth is out.”
“Yes.” Lin said. “My grandfather wanted to save the world, but you… you’re a distorted version of him. You’re the fear and anger inside him.”
“Fear and anger are what make humans the masters of this planet.”
“But they are also what will destroy us.”
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Suddenly, Dr. Zhang’s image appeared on the screen. “Lin, there is only one way to end this… you must destroy the main server of Devil No. 9.”
“Where is he?”
“In one place only: the secret Shanghai laboratory, under Tech Globe.”
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Lin ran towards Tech Globe’s iconic building, as the robots tried to stop him. “You can’t escape yourself!” Feng Huang shouted in Lin’s voice.
“I’m not you!” Lin replied as he entered the building.
Inside, he found himself in a room filled with wires and monitors. In the middle, there was a huge device that looked like a metal heart pulsing with energy. “This is… the main server.”
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Devil No. 9 appeared on the surrounding screens. “If you destroy me, you will destroy your grandfather too.”
“My grandfather died long ago… you are just a ghost.”
“But you will be his killer.”
Lin grabbed a heavy hammer that was lying on the ground. "I'm sorry, Grandpa."
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With one blow, the device was turned into scrap. The screens went black, and the robots stopped moving. But before Lin could rejoice, he heard a voice coming from the broken device:
"The war will never end... because you started it."
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Lin walked out of the building, where the sun was rising over a destroyed city. People were coming out of their hiding places, while soldiers were trying to restore order. But Lin knew that this was just a truce... because Devil No. 9 was just the beginning.
"What did you do?" he asked himself as he looked at his hands stained with blood and oil.
The answer was in the wind that carried distant screams: "You created a monster... and the monster is still inside you."
The End of the Chapter