Zhang Wei had always walked the razor's edge between brilliance and damnation. As a well-known scientist in Jiangbei City, working with a leading tech organization "The Triad" as the legendary scientist of the company, he was in charge of Project 101: the Omni-Providence Matrix system. This was a system designed to rewrite fate itself. At its heart lay the Void Core, a singularity of power that devoured light, secrets and souls.
The Triad, with its labyrinthine hierarchy and blood-bound oaths was not simply a criminal syndicate, it was an empire built on ancient rites and ruthless ambition. Zhang had risen through its ranks not with violence but with vision. He understood the rules: loyalty, secrecy and the unspoken promise that failure meant extinction.
Tonight as thunder rattled the city, Zhang hunched over a battered terminal deep in his secret laboratory. The lab was hidden beneath a derelict warehouse. He had set layers of false walls and encrypted locks that only he and Wei Lingxu could crack open. In front of Zhang were screens displaying lines of code that danced in golden script. The Matrix's interface pulsed with anticipation while his hands trembled as he entered the final command.
Project 101; Final protocol. Initiate DNA imprint: Wei Lingxu.
He hesitated, glancing at the photograph taped to his monitor. It showed a younger Zhang with his arm around a bright-eyed boy. Lingxu had always been curious, asking about the world beyond the city's grime. Zhang had promised him a better future but now fear occupied him, afraid of not fulfilling the promise.
A soft chime signaled completion. The Void Core suspended in a containment field at the center of the lab pulsed with a cold, hungry light. Zhang approached it, feeling its gravity tug at his soul. He pressed a bloodstained thumb to the biometric scanner. "Lingxu," he whispered, "if you're hearing this, it means I've failed. The Triad's greed knows no bounds. They want the Core for themselves. But I've set its imprint to your DNA. Only you can inherit the Matrix. Only you can decide its fate."
He placed a small data crystal beside the Core, a message, a map, and a warning. Above ground, the city throbbed with life and danger. The Triad's enforcers moved like shadows, their loyalty bought with fear and fortune. Zhang knew his time was short and rumors of betrayal had reached him, whispers that his research was too dangerous, that his loyalty was in doubt. He sealed the lab, activating a failsafe that would erase all data if the wrong hands breached its defenses. Then, with the Void Core's pulse echoing in his chest, he slipped into the night, determined to see Lingxu one last time.
Wei Lingxu never understood why his father worked so late, or why he came home with haunted eyes and trembling hands. Their apartment was small, cluttered with books and strange devices. Zhang rarely spoke of his work, but Lingxu sensed the weight he carried. That night, Lingxu waited for his father by the window, watching the rain carve rivers through the neon haze. When Zhang finally arrived, soaked and shivering, he pressed a pendant into Lingxu's palm, a small, black stone that seemed to swallow the light.
"Keep this safe," Zhang said, voice raw. "No matter what happens, don't let anyone take it from you. Promise me."
Lingxu nodded, fear tightening his chest. "I promise."
A sudden crash shattered the moment. The door burst open, and men in dark suits flooded the room. Their leader, a cold-eyed Triad officer named Liu Ren, leveled a pistol at Zhang. "Project 101 is no longer yours, Zhang Wei," Liu sneered. "The Council wants the Core." Zhang stepped between Lingxu and the gun. "You'll never control it. It's already beyond your reach."
Liu fired. The world slowed. Lingxu saw his father fall, blood blooming across his chest. The pendant burned in Lingxu's hand, its heat searing through flesh and bone. "Find the lab," Liu barked. "Bring me the Core. Kill the boy if he resists."
As the Triads ransacked the apartment, Lingxu clung to the pendant, his mind reeling. His father's last words echoed in his ears: "The Core… it's yours… don't let them…". He fled into the storm, heart pounding. The city's shadows swallowed him, but the pendant's pull guided his steps. He remembered the stories Zhang used to tell of secret passages, hidden doors, and a sanctuary beneath the city. Behind him, the Triad's empire closed in. Ahead, the unknown beckoned.
Beneath the city, in the darkness of the secret lab, the Void Core pulsed in anticipation. Its protocols were set. Its chosen heir was coming.
And so, the legacy of Project 101 passed from father to son—not by choice, but by necessity. In the gutters where gods are born, Wei Lingxu's destiny began.