The descent into Zero-Day's hideout felt like walking through the intestines of a dying machine. They passed through layers of lead-lined bunkers and rooms filled with humming, ancient servers that smelled of burning dust and ozone. Here, the red "System" notifications in Jin's vision grew quiet, replaced by a soothing, neutral grey interface.
Zero-Day stopped in front of a massive wall of monitors, each displaying different streams of encrypted data from across the globe. He pulled off his holographic mask, revealing a face scarred by glowing blue lines—the marks of a 'Neural Overload'.
"Welcome to the Null-Zone," Zero-Day said, his real voice rasping like sandpaper. "The only place on Earth where the System's 'Admin Eye' can't see you. Yet."
Jin stood in the center of the room, his hand never leaving the hilt of his 'Glitch Dagger'. He watched as Mi-na walked toward the monitors, her electric blue eyes pulsing as she touched one of the screens. The data on the screen began to rearrange itself instantly, obeying her touch.
Zero-Day stared at Mi-na in awe before turning back to Jin: "You don't realize what you've done, do you? You didn't just save her. You turned her into a 'Universal Key'. She's the only entity that can rewrite the System's hard-code without a Master Account."
Jin stepped forward, his Level 35 aura creating small cracks in the concrete floor: "Stop talking in riddles. What is this 'System' really? And why did it want my sister dead?"
Zero-Day sighed, punching a command into a keyboard. A holographic projection of the Earth appeared, but it was covered in a suffocating golden cage of hexagonal light.
"The System isn't here to protect humanity from monsters, Jin," Zero-Day whispered, his eyes reflecting the golden cage. "It's a 'Farm'. The Rank-S hunters, the Dungeons, the Mana... it's all a way to harvest human souls and turn them into 'Data-Energy' for something out there in the Void. Your father found out. That's why they 'deleted' him."
Jin felt a cold rage bubbling in his chest. His [Analyze] skill flared, suddenly picking up a hidden frequency from the 'Auditor's Command Key' in his pocket.
[Warning: Decryption at 85%...][Message Fragment Recovered: "Jin... if you are reading this... the world is a lie... find the Source..."]
The voice in the text was unmistakable. It was his father's digital signature.
Suddenly, the red lights in the bunker began to flash. A heavy, metallic thud echoed from the heavy steel doors above.
[Alert: System Integration Detected!][Warning: The 'Admin' has found a backdoor!]
Zero-Day grabbed a heavy mechanical railgun from the wall, his face turning pale: "They're here. Not the Auditors this time. They sent a 'Defragmenter'—a Rank-S Hunter puppet controlled directly by the System. We need to upgrade your blade. Now!"
Jin looked at his 'Glitch Dagger', then at the damaged Auditor's key. He slammed the golden shard into the obsidian blade, forcing the two conflicting data-sources to merge.
"Edit..." Jin growled, his vision turning completely crimson. "Merge... Overwrite... EVOLVE!"