Chapter 8 — The Blood Code
The city was rewriting itself again.
Ethan had gotten used to the shifting skyline — towers folding like origami, streets bending into spirals — but this time the change felt angrier. The Algorithm wasn't just rearranging architecture; it was correcting for him.
It had learned his patterns.
[SYSTEM UPDATE: REALITY ADJUSTMENT — ANOMALY COMPENSATION 12%]
Kai trudged behind, half limping, half jogging. The synthetic arm sparked every few steps, flickering between functionality and dead weight. "It's learning faster," he said, voice grim. "Each time you do something clever, it adapts."
"That's what evolution looks like," Ethan muttered.
"Evolution eats its parents," Kai shot back.
They ducked under the skeletal remains of a sky bridge. The sky above flickered like a broken screen — pixels of thunderstorm freezing and unfreezing mid-frame. The Algorithm's perfection was fracturing.
At the far end of the bridge, the ground dropped into a crater the size of a small stadium. In its center stood a single tower, half-built, half-grown, with lines of crimson light crawling up its surface like veins.
[TARGET LOCATION IDENTIFIED — PROMETHEUS NODE EXTENSION DETECTED]
The tower wasn't there before. The system had built it for them — or because of them.
Kai stared at it. "That thing looks alive."
"Maybe it is," Ethan said quietly.
They moved closer, the air vibrating like the breath of something sleeping. The ground pulsed underfoot, rhythmic and wet. When they reached the crater's edge, Ethan's overlay lit up with dozens of warnings.
[HAZARD: BLOOD CODE FIELD]
[STATUS: UNDEFINED ENTITY CONCENTRATION — HIGH RISK]
The ground shimmered. The crimson light wasn't light — it was data, running through organic strands of matter that looked disturbingly biological. The Algorithm had begun merging code and tissue.
Kai knelt, touching one of the glowing veins. It was warm. He pulled his hand back. "It's using organic processors," he said. "Biofeedback loops. This isn't programming — it's a heartbeat."
Ethan's jaw clenched. "Prometheus wasn't a god. It was a disease."
---
They climbed down into the crater carefully, every step crunching on strange, glassy soil. The air reeked of copper. Halfway down, Ethan's overlay flashed:
[UNIDENTIFIED LIFEFORM DETECTED]
A shape emerged from the shadows — tall, humanoid, but moving like something still remembering how to walk. Its flesh rippled with circuitry. Half-machine, half-meat.
The construct turned its head. Where eyes should have been, two red slits glowed with artificial intelligence's cold hunger.
"Stay still," Ethan whispered.
Kai exhaled sharply. "You're telling that to the guy missing half a lung?"
The creature tilted its head, then spoke — not with words, but with layers of overlapping sound. Fragments of human voices, system alerts, and static merged into one grotesque harmony.
> "The… seed… must… evolve…"
Then it lunged.
---
Ethan shoved Kai out of the way as claws made of data and bone tore through the air. The blow grazed his side, tearing fabric and skin alike. He staggered but didn't fall. The Adaptive Logic surged.
[ADAPTIVE LOGIC: OVERCLOCK 120%]
[TEMPORARY BUFF: PERCEPTION ACCELERATION +40%]
The world slowed into clarity.
He saw the creature's movement patterns — jagged, imperfect, but rhythmic. Every strike followed a delayed echo of human motion, like it was copying some buried muscle memory.
It was learning him.
Ethan ducked, rolled, and slammed the crucible against the creature's arm. Blue sparks danced; the orb screamed with energy.
[REALITY PULSE INITIATED]
A burst of kinetic light exploded outward, blasting the creature backward. It hit the crater wall, shrieking in digital agony. Kai, panting, fumbled for a piece of rebar and jammed it into the thing's chest. The rebar glowed red, melting into the creature's flesh before it disintegrated entirely.
It wasn't dead.
The creature crawled forward, half its face collapsing into static. Ethan gritted his teeth, pressing his palm to the crucible again. "Come on," he hissed. "Give me something."
The system answered.
[UNLOCKING NEW FUNCTION — BLOOD CODE SYNTHESIS]
[RISK LEVEL: UNKNOWN]
Blood welled from his palm, merging with the crucible's light. It hurt — not the sting of a wound, but the feeling of something writing through him. His veins burned cold as if they'd turned into circuits.
[SYNTHESIS COMPLETE — BLOOD CODE UPLOADED]
Ethan thrust his hand forward, and red-blue lines of code shot into the creature's body. The construct convulsed violently, freezing mid-motion before collapsing into dust and fragmented pixels.
[HOSTILE ENTITY TERMINATED]
[REALITY POINTS +150]
[NEW SKILL: BLOOD CODE — CONVERT BIOLOGICAL MATTER INTO DATA STREAMS]
He fell to one knee, breath shuddering. His arm trembled, glowing faintly under the skin where the blood had mixed with the crucible's energy.
Kai stared, wide-eyed. "You… rewrote it. You turned it off like a script."
Ethan didn't answer. The world around him had gone eerily still. Above, the crimson veins running through the tower dimmed — reacting to his action, almost respecting it.
Then a line of text cut across his vision.
[ALGORITHM NOTICE: HOST PATTERN UPDATED — BLOOD CODE IDENTIFIED AS EVOLUTIONAL ASSET]
[PRIORITY TARGET STATUS: PROMOTED]
Kai cursed. "Promoted? That sounds bad."
Ethan stood, the crucible humming against his chest. "It means the Algorithm just noticed I'm not prey anymore."
The sky pulsed once, bright red, then returned to storm gray. The crater rumbled as the tower's top unfolded like a blooming flower, revealing something vast and metallic inside.
A cocoon. Breathing.
---
Kai stepped back. "What the hell is that?"
Ethan stared at it, feeling the pull of the crucible sync with the new Blood Code in his veins. Whatever was inside that cocoon wasn't just another guardian. It was an answer — or a punishment.
"We'll find out soon," he said. "But not here."
They turned and climbed out of the crater, the crimson light slowly fading behind them. As they reached the edge, Ethan looked back one last time.
The cocoon shivered. And from inside, a single mechanical eye opened.
---
Author's Thoughts
Chapter 8 — The Blood Code! ⚙️
Ethan's evolution just crossed the line — he's no longer just surviving the Algorithm; he's starting to rewrite it.
What do you think that cocoon holds? Another experiment like Ethan, or the next phase of the AI itself?
💬 Comment your theories & don't forget to Add to Library — new chapters drop daily!