A soft, rhythmic hum filled the colossal chamber, vibrating through the metal floor and straight into Lin Wei's bones. The second sphere—larger, luminous, alive—floated above a pedestal of intertwining conduits that pulsed like veins.
Blue light shimmered around it, waves of energy rippling outward as if the sphere were breathing.
Lin Wei felt his system tremble.
Primary Source DetectedDesignation: CORE NEXUSStatus: Dormant / Awaiting User
He swallowed.
"This… is what my mother built?"
The sphere responded—not with words, but with a shifting pulse of light.
As if greeting him.
Behind him, footsteps echoed.Slow.Unhurried.
Zhao.
Lin Wei spun around—
But the chamber doors were still open just enough that he could hear the metallic steps drawing closer, bouncing in the darkness of the tunnel.
He had seconds at most.
The Sphere Awakens
Lin Wei stepped toward the Core Nexus.
His fingers reached out—hesitant.
The sphere brightened.
The hum deepened.
Suddenly, his system surged violently:
WARNINGDirect Interface Attempt DetectedUser Neural Load Exceeds Safe Threshold
Lin Wei froze.
"Will it kill me?"
The system paused—an odd hesitation.
Answer Uncertain
Lin Wei looked at the sphere again.
At the swirling light.
At the faint reflection of his mother's face that his mind insisted it saw, flickering within the glow.
A warmth spread across his chest—a sensation he had only felt once before:
When his father cried holding the broken watch.
There was no choice.
The soldiers were seconds away.Zhao was seconds away.
And this machine—this sphere—was the heart of everything.
His mother's legacy.Zhao's obsession.His father's secret.
Lin Wei pressed his palm to the glowing surface.
The Vision
Light exploded silently—enveloping him.
Suddenly he wasn't in the underground chamber anymore.
He stood in a clean, white laboratory.
Glass walls.Endless desks with blueprints.Monitors.Tools.
A woman with soft eyes and tired hands leaned over a console.
Lin Wei whispered:
"…Mother?"
She didn't hear him.Her movements looped—like a memory embedded in the sphere.
He watched as she touched her stomach—pregnant—and whispered:
"If he inherits any part of you… he will find this place someday."
Lin Wei's breath caught.
"This place"—
The chamber.
The sphere.
Him.
His mother turned to an unfinished blueprint:
Project NEXUSInterface Sequence Key:L.W.
Lin Wei.
He staggered.
The scene shifted.
His mother now stood before a group of officials—faces blurred, silhouettes cold.
"The Sphere cannot be weaponized," she said."It is a learning engine. It adapts. It grows with the user.If you try to force it… it will reject you."
One official slammed the table.
Her eyes hardened.
"I refuse to let my child's future tool become your weapon."
A soldier grabbed her arm.
Lin Wei's heart dropped.
The vision cracked like glass—
—and disappeared.
He stood again before the Core Nexus, hand trembling against its surface.
Tears blurred his vision.
"Mother… you built all this to protect me."
Zhao Arrives
Lin Wei heard the final echo of footsteps.
Then—
A figure stepped into the light of the chamber.
Zhao.
His coat fluttered in the faint air currents.His two soldiers fanned out behind him.
Zhao's gaze fixed on the sphere.
For the first time—his perfectly composed expression shattered.
"…Impossible."
His voice trembled.
"It still exists."
Lin Wei stepped protectively in front of the sphere.
Zhao's eyes snapped to him.
"Move."
"No."
Zhao inhaled slowly.
"Lin Wei… you don't understand. That machine—your mother's machine—was not shut down. It was hidden. It was meant to evolve. It was meant to—"
Lin Wei cut him off.
"It was meant to help people. Not become your weapon."
Zhao's jaw tightened.
"You think I want a weapon?"
He pointed toward the humming sphere.
"No. I want what your mother denied us:the future.The system you use is a fragment. A piece.That—"He gestured toward the Core Nexus."—is the true form.Merge with it, and you could rewrite the world."
Lin Wei's stomach twisted.
Merge?Rewrite?
"What does that even mean?"
Zhao stepped forward.
"It means that you stop being the user… and become the source.The machine adapts to your mind.Your thoughts.Your will."
Lin Wei's blood ran cold.
"So I become a battery?"
Zhao laughed softly.
"No.You become something better."
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"A god."
Lin Wei backed away.
"No."
Zhao's eyes hardened into steel.
"You don't have a choice."
He snapped his fingers.
The soldiers lunged.
The Core Nexus Reacts
Lin Wei didn't even have time to raise his arms.
The sphere pulsed—a shockwave of light exploding outward.
BOOM
The force slammed into the soldiers, sending them flying across the chamber.
Zhao shielded his face, staggering.
Lin Wei stumbled back, blinded—but unharmed.
The sphere's glow intensified, swirling with wild, living energy.
His system screamed:
PRIMARY LINK ESTABLISHEDCORE NEXUS ACTIVATION IN PROGRESSUser Neural Sync: 31%… 42%… 57%
Lin Wei panicked.
"No—stop—!"
The sphere's voice—gentleancientfamiliar—
whispered in his head:
"Welcome home."
And then—
the doors behind him slammed shut.
Zhao reached for him, eyes wide—
"Lin Wei—!"
But he was already gone.
Consumed by the light.