" Lin Xia? Lin Xia!"
I woke up in a surge of pain, finding myself on the floor of an abandoned factory. Chen Mo was anxiously looking at me, a wound on his forehead bleeding.
"After the car accident, they chased us down. I had no choice but to bring you here." He quickly checked my injuries. "Can you move?"
I tried to move my limbs; aside from feeling sore all over, there didn’t seem to be any serious injuries. But the urgent matter was...
"My parents!" I pulled out my phone, only to find it shattered beyond repair.
"Use this." Chen Mo handed me a laptop. "We need to find out who they really are."
The computer screen lit up, displaying a Dark Web forum. The page was filled with a black background, overflowing with cryptocurrency transactions and hacker bounties.
"This is the underground base of the Shadow Legion." He typed rapidly on the keyboard. "I've been tracking them for a long time... Found it!"
A cryptic chat window popped up on the screen:
[Shadow_01]: Target locked, preparing for the final step
[Mirror Commander]: Stop playing around, just inject the nanobots
[Shadow_01]: What about her parents?
[Mirror Commander]: Just a bluff; what we want is Project Source Code
[Shadow_01]: She won't hand it over easily
[Mirror Commander]: Then we'll use another method: initiate Plan B
"Plan B?" I frowned.
"Wait..." Chen Mo suddenly sat up straight. "Someone is reverse-tracking our IP!"
The screen flickered wildly, lines of code scrolling rapidly. Suddenly, a video window popped up.
In the frame was a woman wearing a metallic mask, with only her eyes visible. The familiar metallic sheen indicated that she was also a bionic robot.
“Chen Mo, long time no see,” her voice, processed and mechanical, echoed through the room. “Thank you for bringing Lin Xia here.”
What?!
I turned to look at Chen Mo, only to find his expression had become unnaturally stiff.
“Lucy... you’re really alive.”
“No way!” I shot up from my seat. “You know her? Is this a trap?”
“It’s not what you think...” Chen Mo tried to explain.
“Of course it’s not a trap,” Lucy chuckled lightly. “I’m just here to complete the experiment that failed three months ago. Last time you escaped from the base, you ruined everything for me. This time, I want to watch you get implanted with nanobots.”
“Three months ago?” A horrifying thought surged through my mind. “So the leak of Project Mirror...?”
“That was my masterpiece,” Lucy said proudly. “Unfortunately, I could only take part of the technology at that time. Luckily, I encountered you, which opened up new possibilities for me.”
“What do you want?”
“To change the world.” She removed her mask, and I gasped in shock—
It was a face identical to mine!
“Surprised?” she spoke in my voice. “I am the first successful specimen. But the military wanted to destroy me out of fear. It was Chen Mo... who helped me escape.”
I looked at Chen Mo in disbelief. "Is this real?"
He closed his eyes in pain. "I'm sorry... I can't just stand by and watch them eliminate a sentient being."
"How touching," Lucy continued. "Too bad you won't be able to help Lin Xia tonight. Just look outside."
I rushed to the window and saw at least ten versions of myself surrounding the building.
"Your biological data has been completely copied by me," Lucy said. "Once the nanobots are implanted, you will become part of us. Just imagine, hundreds and thousands of ' Lin Xia'—how spectacular that would be..."
"You're insane!" I gritted my teeth.
"You’re right," she laughed. "We’re all insane. But doesn’t this crazy world need a revolution?"
Just then, the factory doors were smashed open. A group of my duplicates streamed in, each holding a syringe, the eerie blue light glowing brightly in the darkness.
"You have a choice: either get injected or watch Chen Mo die," Lucy said. "You know he has a bomb implanted, right? I can detonate it at any moment."
I looked at Chen Mo, and his expression confirmed that it was true.
" Lin Xia..." he whispered, "I'm sorry."
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