Rain poured like shattered glass over the city, neon lights warping in puddles as Lin Chen walked down the narrow corridor beneath one of his new financial headquarters in the Eastern Tech District.
[System Alert: Hostile Energy Signature Detected][Threat Classification: Unknown — Potential Host Encounter][Warning: High mental disruption probability. Activating Passive Deflection Protocols.]
Lin Chen stopped in his tracks. The world seemed to narrow—voices dimmed, colors drained. His body moved instinctively into alert posture.
This was different from the fire-ability host he fought before.
It wasn't brute force.
It was static—subtle, invasive, cold like steel needles threading into his thoughts.
Cyber-attack. But not against a network. Against him.
The Encounter
The elevator doors opened.
Inside stood a young man in a crisp white hoodie, glasses reflecting data streams. He had no security clearance. No reason to be here.
But the smile he gave was slow. Controlled. Predatory.
"Lin Chen," he said, "you've made quite the noise. You're crashing systems even Erebus doesn't fully understand."
"Who are you?"
The man raised his hand. His fingers twitched—and the lights overhead flickered violently.
[System Warning: Neural Firewall under attack. Attempting breach... Countermeasures engaged.][Hostile Code Signature: 'Neural Parasite – Black Node Protocol'][Identity Match: System Host – Codename: ZERO//Echo]
[Skill Activated: Mental Interference Lv.1 — Scanning… FAILED][Alert: Target has cloaking defense against low-level psychic probes. Recommend escalation.]
"Let's not pretend," ZERO said, walking slowly toward Lin Chen. "You know what this is. Two hosts, one war. You've disrupted the flow. Now I fix it."
He held up a data chip. "One virus. Plug this into your main server hub, and your system resets. Or refuse—and I'll tear it out of your skull manually."
Lin Chen's voice dropped an octave. "Try me."
Suddenly, the world shimmered.
The hallway peeled apart—walls, lights, physics—all replaced by endless lines of glowing code, like the Matrix rendered in blood and frost.
[System Notification: You've been pulled into a Virtual Battlefield. Domain: Mental Architecture / Host Conflict Arena][Victory Condition: Defeat Host ZERO. Objective: Neutralize Neuro-Hack Attack. Reward: Data Key + Memory Fragment][System Assistance Module: Engaging "Battle Simulation Override". Begin simulation boot... Complete.]
In the digital plane, Lin Chen's body transformed into his system avatar—black combat suit laced with golden circuitry, eyes glowing emerald with processing light.
ZERO, now a floating humanoid entity of white static, launched the first strike.
[Incoming: Neural Shockwave // Memory Distortion Attack][Evasion Protocol: Engaged. Triggering "Quantum Dodge"… Success.]
Lin Chen bent space, flickering out of attack range. He retaliated by launching a pulse from his forearm gauntlet—embedded with system-sourced "Logic Disruptor" code.
They clashed again.
And again.
Spikes of data, waves of corrupted memory, predictive attacks. ZERO tried to overwrite Lin Chen's thought patterns—injecting false timelines, hallucinations of failure.
In one flicker of corrupted vision, Lin saw his father begging in the streets again. In another, he watched the fire consume his old home.
[ALERT: Cognitive Intrusion Attempted. Initiating Psychic Cleansing Routine… SUCCESS.][Emotion Stability: 78% and recovering. Suggest activating Empathic Firewall.]
Lin Chen roared, snapping free of the illusion.
"You're not in my head," he growled. "I own this battlefield now."
He deployed his trump card.
[Skill Deployed: Strategic Card — Tactical Vision Boost][Combat Perception Enhanced for 180 seconds. Weak Point Targeting Activated.]
Three seconds later, ZERO's main body glitched—revealing a memory fragment hub glowing red on his lower spine.
Lin Chen dashed forward in three instantaneous quantum jumps, his fists glowing with compressed particle energy.
He struck the node with pinpoint precision.
CRACK.
ZERO let out a distorted scream.
[System Notification: Opponent's Conscious Domain Collapsing. Retreat Triggered.][Victory Confirmed. Memory Fragment Secured. Data Key Acquired: Level 3 Access Node.][System Exp: +25,000 | Gold: +50,000 | Mental Interference Lv.1 → 93% Progress][New Information Available: "Erebus Phase II — Neural Network Integration"]
Lin Chen's eyes snapped open in the real world.
He was still in the corridor, barely two seconds having passed. The man in the white hoodie lay unconscious on the floor, bleeding from his nose—seizing slightly from neural backlash.
"Clean this up," he ordered through comms. "Get Zhao Yue. And prepare an isolated server node for data analysis."
[System Message: Next phase of host war has begun. New module unlock imminent: System Battle Network (PvS: Player vs System)][Codename: Ascension Protocol]
Lin Chen stood over the defeated ZERO.
"One down," he whispered. "How many more are coming?"
As thunder cracked above the city, his shadow stretched long—and the war for dominance moved one step closer to global exposure.