[The Dark Web - Node Zero]
The physical world was messy. It was slow, dirty, and governed by chaotic variables like "feelings" and "weather."
Nexus hated it.
He sat in a room that was less a room and more a nest of server towers, cooling cables, and holographic projectors. His physical body was pale and thin, connected to the mainframe by a thick cable jacked into the base of his skull.
But his mind? His mind was a god.
He was currently processing three billion streams of data simultaneously. He was monitoring the stock market, rerouting traffic to annoy a politician he disliked, and decrypting a corporate firewall just for practice.
But 90% of his processing power was focused on one low-resolution camera feed: [Subject: Ren. Status: Sleeping.]
Nexus watched the feed. Ren was drooling slightly on his pillow.
"Inefficient," Nexus droned, his voice devoid of inflection. "His REM cycle was interrupted twice by noise pollution. His mattress density is sub-optimal for spinal alignment. Room temperature is 18 degrees; optimal sleep temperature is 21."
Nexus reached out with a virtual hand.
[Flashback: Timeline 4 - The Core Meltdown]
The bunker was shaking. Dust fell from the ceiling in thick sheets.
Nexus—then just a prodigy hacker named 'Bit'—was screaming. Not with his mouth, but with his mind. He was jacked into the Planetary Defense Grid, trying to stop a rogue AI from launching a kinetic strike on the refugee camps.
The data was too heavy. It was like trying to hold back a tsunami with a spoon. His brain was boiling. His nose was bleeding. He could feel his consciousness slipping away, dissolving into the ones and zeros. The concept of "Bit" was fading.
He was going to die. He was going to become code.
Then, he felt something warm.
A hand on his forehead. A wet cloth wiping away the blood.
"Stay with me, Bit," a voice said. It wasn't digital. It was analog. Rough. Real.
Ren was there. The bunker was collapsing, soldiers were welding through the door, but Ren wasn't fighting. He was kneeling beside the hacker's chair, holding a nutrient pouch to Bit's lips.
"The code doesn't care if you're hungry," Ren said, his voice calm amidst the chaos. "But I do. Come on. Swallow. We're having synth-chicken tonight, and you know that's your favorite."
Ren squeezed his shoulder. "Don't get lost in there. I'm right here. Follow my voice back."
That touch—that singular, grounding point of contact—was the anchor. Bit grabbed onto it. He pulled himself out of the digital ocean, back into his painful, fragile body.
He opened his eyes. Ren grinned, his face smeared with soot.
"Welcome back, genius," Ren said. "Did we save the world yet?"
[Present Day]
Nexus blinked. The memory file closed.
He looked at the screen. Ren was stirring.
"You saved me from the Deep," Nexus whispered. "Now, I will optimize your reality."
Nexus cracked his knuckles.
[COMMAND: EXECUTE PROTOCOL 'GOOD MORNING'.]
[Ren's Apartment]
Ren woke up.
He braced himself for the usual morning misery: the jarring shriek of his alarm, the freezing cold air, and the inevitability of stepping on a cockroach.
Instead, a soft, melodic chime drifted from his wrist-comp. It sounded like a harp.
"Huh?" Ren blinked, sitting up.
He stretched. His back didn't pop. The room felt... pleasant. Warm.
"Did the heat finally kick in?" Ren looked at the rusty radiator. It was humming efficiently.
He walked to the bathroom and turned on the shower, wincing in anticipation of the icy blast.
Steam rose immediately. Perfect, hot pressure.
"Whoa," Ren gasped. "Did Henderson fix the boiler? No way. Maybe everyone else in the building is asleep so I get all the pressure?"
He took the best shower of his life.
Next: Breakfast.
He put a slice of stale synth-bread into his toaster. Usually, this toaster had two settings: 'Raw' and 'Charcoal'.
He pressed the lever.
Ding.
The toast popped up. It was golden brown. Evenly cooked. It looked like the toast in commercials.
Ren stared at it suspiciously. "Okay. This is getting weird. Am I still dreaming?"
He took a bite. It was perfect.
He grabbed his jacket and headed out. The hallway lights, usually flickering like a horror movie, were steady and bright. The elevator, which had been 'Out of Order' since 2074, dinged and opened the moment he pressed the button.
Ren stepped inside, looking around for cameras. "Is this a prank show? Where's the camera crew?"
[The Subway Station]
Ren arrived at the turnstile. He tapped his battered transit card. usually, he had to tap it four times, wiggle it, and pray to the machine spirit before it would read the chip.
He tapped it once.
[BEEP. PLATINUM USER DETECTED. WELCOME, SIR.]
The gates swung open. The display screen flashed a little smiley face made of green pixels.
"Platinum user?" Ren muttered, checking his card. It was definitely his standard 'Poverty-Tier' card. "Must be a glitch in the system update. Man, their IT department is really messing up today. Lucky me."
He walked down to the platform.
Usually, the mag-lev train was packed like a sardine can. But as Ren arrived, an empty carriage stopped right in front of him. The doors hissed open.
He stepped in. The AC was working. There was no graffiti.
Ren sat down, dazed. "This is the best day of my life."
He remembered his thought from yesterday. I should buy a lottery ticket.
He got off at the next stop, seeing a digital kiosk.
"Okay," Ren said, pulling out a cred-stick. "I'm riding the wave. Just one scratch-off."
He inserted 10 credits.
[Nexus's Lair]
Nexus watched the transaction.
"Calculating probability," Nexus muttered. "If I grant the Jackpot (10 Million Credits), probability of Ren being kidnapped by syndicates rises to 94%. Unacceptable."
"If I grant a Loss, serotonin levels drop. Unacceptable."
"Calculating optimal dopamine release..."
Nexus's eyes flashed with data streams. He hacked the random number generator of the kiosk's local server.
[The Kiosk]
Ren watched the screen.
[WINNER!] [PRIZE: 500 CREDITS]
"Yes!" Ren pumped his fist. "Five hundred! That's groceries for a week!"
The machine whirred.
[BONUS ROUND TRIGGERED!] [PRIZE: FREE PIZZA COUPON]
"Pizza?!" Ren's eyes widened.
[BONUS ROUND TRIGGERED!] [PRIZE: LIFETIME SUBSCRIPTION TO 'NETFLIX PREMIUM']
"No way," Ren whispered.
The machine finally stopped. Ren collected his winnings, grinning like a maniac. It wasn't life-changing money, but it was fun money.
"The universe is finally apologizing to me," Ren beamed.
[The Street]
Ren walked out of the station, munching on a slice of redeemed pizza.
Suddenly, a massive holographic billboard above him flickered. It was displaying a generic ad for 'Arasaka Security'.
The ad distorted. Static cut across the image of the stoic guard dog.
For a split second—less than a blink—the text on the billboard changed.
Instead of "SECURE YOUR FUTURE," it flashed:
"EAT YOUR VEGETABLES, REN."
Ren stopped mid-chew. He looked up.
The billboard was back to normal.
"Did..." Ren squinted. "Did that sign just tell me to eat vegetables?"
He looked down at his greasy pizza.
He looked back at the sign.
"Nah," Ren shook his head, laughing nervously. "I need to get my eyes checked. Too much screen time. That, or the glitches in this city are getting really specific."
High above, in the digital void, Nexus adjusted his glasses.
"Subliminal messaging deployed," Nexus noted. "Phase 1 complete. Now, to deal with the threat approaching from the East."
Nexus swiped his hand, bringing up a traffic grid. A black van was tailing Ren. It wasn't Viper, and it wasn't Sylvia.
"Unknown assailants," Nexus narrowed his eyes. "Intercepting traffic lights. Deploying road spikes via maintenance drones."
On the street, three blocks behind Ren, a black van suddenly blew all four tires simultaneously and swerved into a fire hydrant.
CRASH.
Ren heard the noise and turned around. He saw the water geyser erupting from the hydrant.
"Whoa, nasty crash," Ren winced. "People really need to drive more carefully."
He finished his pizza crust and kept walking, oblivious to the fact that the Cyber-Saint had just saved him from a kidnapping attempt by causing a traffic accident.
"I wonder what's for dinner?" Ren mused. "Maybe I'll buy a vegetable. Just in case."