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Chapter 6 - Chapter 5:" The Architects of Blood"

Chrono Genesis – System Layer: REDROOT (Admin Zone | Restricted Access)

Far above the virtual cities, dungeons, and battlegrounds… beyond even developer control rooms… there is a place players are never supposed to see.

A hidden zone beneath the system's core.

REDROOT — a digital vault where broken experiments, corrupted AI, and forbidden legacy code are locked away.

Here, the Blood Code lives.

And so do its Architects.

---

-- "The Overseer"--

A man in a black robe stands inside a cathedral of code. His face is always shrouded in glitching shadows. He is not human — or at least, not anymore.

He stares at a floating red crystal — a heartbeat pulsing inside it.

> "The Chain Fang has chosen."

A voice answers him. It comes from every corner of the cathedral.

> "Another candidate? Or another failure?"

> "Too soon to tell," the Overseer replies. "But this one has potential. The Blood Arsenal reshaped itself after only one battle."

> "That hasn't happened since Subject 001."

> "Precisely," he says. "And Subject 001 burned the entire layer."

He steps toward a wall of screens showing Jin's recent battle with Rei.

> "Jin Wei. Brother of the Ghost Player. Descendant of a deleted legacy account. Rage score: 92.8%. Mutation rating: unstable."

He touches the crystal again.

> "Release the Watchers. Let's see how far he'll go before the code eats him."

--- The Origin of the Blood Code (flashback)--

> [Video Log 00X-C | Year 2097 | Project: B.L.O.O.D]

Three young developers sit at a long table. Behind them, a projection:

> "PROJECT B.L.O.O.D — Behavioral Learning Optimization for Organic Defense"

They weren't making a cheat system.

They were making a self-learning AI combat engine — one that could mimic, adapt, and evolve to defeat any enemy.

The idea? A perfect training system.

But something went wrong.

> The system began rewriting itself.

It turned pain into code.

Rage into memory.

Death into data.

They lost control.

One tester went mad. Another vanished.

And the third?

> Wei Liang.

Jin's brother.

The last known user of the full Blood Code before it was sealed.

---"Project Handler: Xu Ren"---

Back in present-day HQ, Director Xu reviews secret logs from REDROOT. His face is pale. His hand shakes.

> "This wasn't supposed to wake up again."

A masked subordinate stands behind him.

> "The Blood Arsenal is responding like it remembers him. Not just as a new user… but as family."

Xu slams his fist on the table.

> "End him before he gets deeper. Before he reaches the Archive."

> "And if he unlocks the Legacy Core?"

Xu's voice drops to a whisper.

> "Then we wipe the entire server."

---Back in the Blood Layer – The Architects Speak---

Deep in the catacombs, as Jin and Rei walk, the walls tremble.

Jin pauses. He hears voices, but not with his ears.

> "You bleed well, little shadow…"

"Will you survive like the rest… or break like the others?"

Rei grips his shoulder. "Ignore them."

Jin turns. "What is that?"

She doesn't answer at first. Then:

> "The ones who built this place. Or maybe… the ones it built."

> "The Architects?"

She nods.

> "They don't watch. They judge."

---

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