"If you're going to infect the global network, you can't just go in punching things," Zero-One said, leading Seo-Jun toward the back of the hangar. "The Architect has physical firewalls—sentinel programs that are 100% immune to physical trauma."
She stopped in front of a containment field flickering with unstable black energy. Inside, a jagged piece of obsidian-like metal floated, vibrating so fast it blurred the air around it.
"This is a piece of the Original Source Code," she whispered. "It's a fragment from before the Architect took over. It doesn't follow his physics. It doesn't recognize his laws."
[ITEM DETECTED: 'THE NULL-VALVE FRAGMENT'] [TYPE: UNCLASSIFIED / GLITCH-TYPE]
"I want it," Seo-Jun said, his hand reaching out instinctively.
"Careful!" Macro shouted from the back. "Three of our best 'Glitch-Walkers' tried to touch that thing. They didn't just die; they were erased from our memories. I only remember them because I keep a physical logbook."
Seo-Jun didn't listen. As his fingers touched the surface of the fragment, the "Static" in his veins roared in recognition.
[ATTEMPTING TO BIND 'NULL-VALVE'...] [COMPATIBILITY: 0.00%... ERROR...] [FORCING COMPATIBILITY... 99.99%]
The fragment didn't just bond with him; it melted into his palm, searing a glowing violet circuit pattern from his wrist up to his shoulder. In a flash of light, the metal reshaped itself into a weapon—a long, slender blade that looked less like a sword and more like a tear in the fabric of reality.
[NEW WEAPON ACQUIRED: 'VOID-THREADER'] [ATTACK POWER: VARIABLE (SCALES WITH GLITCH-LEVEL)] [PASSIVE: 'IGNORE DEFENSE' - BYPASSES SYSTEM-LEVEL ARMOR]
Seo-Jun swung the blade once. There was no sound. Instead, the air where the blade passed simply ceased to exist for a second, leaving a trail of purple static that slowly faded.
"Perfect," Seo-Jun muttered.
"Don't get too cozy with it," Zero-One warned, looking at her monitors. "The 'Global Update' just hit 15%. The Purge has started in Sector 4. The Enforcers are already rounding up the 'Low-Rankers' for deletion."
Seo-Jun's grip tightened on the Void-Threader. "Then let's go. Where is the Neural-Gate?"
"It's at the center of the Grand Cathedral of Data," Zero-One said, pointing at a map. "It's guarded by a Level 90 Guardian Program called 'The Inquisitor.' He's never been defeated because he can see every move you're going to make before you even think it."
Seo-Jun stepped toward the exit, the Void-Threader humming a low, hungry frequency. "He can see my moves? Good. Let's see how he handles a move that doesn't exist in his database."
[QUEST STARTED: 'THE SILENT HEIST'] [OBJECTIVE 1: INFILTRATE THE CATHEDRAL] [OBJECTIVE 2: DEFEAT THE INQUISITOR]
Macro grabbed his heavy railgun, his blue data-body flickering with excitement. "I'll clear the path. You just make sure that virus gets uploaded, kid. If we fail, there won't even be a 'Game Over' screen. We'll just be... gone."
Seo-Jun looked at his new weapon, seeing his own violet eyes reflected in the dark metal. "In a world made of lies, a Glitch is the only truth. Let's go break the world."