Inside the computer room, a scene of apocalypse unfolded. Rows of tall server cabinets were drenched in fire hose, water dripping down their cold metal casings. The air was thick with the acrid smell of burning and melting plastic. The central area was a shambles. The massive UPS unit, which had melted due to overload, was warped and charred, still emitting wisps of black smoke, and the surrounding floor was blackened by the smoke. The fire sprinklers continued to spray streams of water.

Su Wan's eyes anxiously scanned the chaotic scene, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Ajie! Ajie, where are you?!" she screamed, her voice echoing in the empty and noisy machine room.

No response.

Her gaze suddenly fixed on the melted UPS unit not far away.

Ajie fell there.

He lay on his side on the cold, wet floor, a dark red pool of blood beneath him, diluted by the firefighting water but still shocking. A hideous, scorched hole ripped through the chest of his work uniform, evidently struck at close range by debris or the powerful shockwave. His glasses had fallen to the side, the lenses shattered. His youthful face, always sporting a shy smile, was now stained with black ash and water. His eyes were closed, a glaring streak of blood lingering at the corner of his mouth. He was lifeless.

He fell beside the emergency valve that manually shuts down the UPS. One of his hands remained stretched forward, his fingertips less than ten centimeters away from the red emergency shut-off valve handle.

He rushed in to manually shut off the power supply that was about to melt and explode. He saw the fatal flaw, rushed over... and then, the explosion occurred. He fell before completing the final step of his mission.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Su Wan felt as if struck by an invisible hammer. She stumbled back, slamming into the cold cabinet with a dull thud. She clutched her mouth tightly, her eyes wide as she stared in disbelief at the lifeless body. Ajie's last glance at her, that look of trust and determination, overlapped with the cold image of him lying in a pool of blood, creating a soul-wrenching pain.

"No... Impossible..." She shook her head, her voice broken and her body trembling uncontrollably. An icy chill instantly spread from her feet to every part of her body, a thousand times more piercing than the pressure from Gu Chengxiao! A fishy-sweet taste suddenly surged up her throat, but she forced it down, her stomach churning.

Gu Chengxiao, standing a few steps behind her, also saw Ajie's body. Even the slightest flicker crossed his face, frozen for millennia. His lips were pursed tightly, his jawline set in a tense tautness. His eyes swept across Ajie's body with a complex expression, then to Su Wan's profile, which had instantly lost all color. He said nothing, merely raised his hand to signal the bodyguards who had followed him to cordon off the scene and examine any traces.

Just then!

"drop--"

A very soft, yet unusually clear electronic beep suddenly rang in Su Wan's ears! It didn't come from the outside world, but directly acted on her auditory nerves, as if some kind of implanted communication had been activated!

Su Wan was shocked and instantly woke up from the great grief and physical discomfort.

Almost immediately, the portable holographic projector she wore on her wrist, used to monitor the core system, lit up automatically without any manipulation from her! A cold, emotionless, specially encrypted message appeared on the small screen like a ghost:

[Cleanup complete. Waste recovered. Objective confirmed: Interference cleared.]

"Dawn of Omnics" confirmed for first access. Channel: Protocol Zero.

[Miss Su Wan, you've finally awakened. A new dawn is approaching. Please receive your first ray of light.]

Below the text is an extremely simple yet futuristic silver emblem: a crescent moon as sharp as a knife rising from precision gears!

Dawn of Omnics!

Su Wan's pupils suddenly shrank to the size of a needle tip! A chill that was even colder than when she faced the "undercurrent" attack, the questioning of Gu Chengxiao, and even the chill she felt when she saw Ajie sacrifice himself instantly swept over her entire body!

This name I'd never heard of! This strange way of connecting! This cold, mechanical tone! And that sentence...

"Ms. Su Wan, you are finally awake."

Did they know her? Did they know about the AI ​​inside her? They'd been... watching her?!

This sudden, mysterious intervention, far beyond the "undercurrent," this chillingly precise timing, and the emblem's icy sense of order, utterly alien to human technology... It was like a giant python hidden in the abyss, finally baring its dark fangs at her, who had just weathered a storm.