When a real soul is born inside a virtual cage, who is the true creator, and who deserves to be saved?
Top gaming streamer Lin Xiao encounters an unprecedentedly strange incident while playing Delta Protocol, a virtual reality game taking the world by storm. The enemies he faces aren't scripted foes, but an NPC sentry with a mind of his own, capable of thought and prayer: Baham, designation 0453.
This piece of low-level code, meant to loop endlessly through guard duty, has somehow remembered its own name. It longs to end the cycle and save its comrades. It sees "players" like Lin Xiao as "ghosts" who can die and return to life, and credits its awakening to a deity called the "Glorious Lord."
And so begins a mad gamble for views and the truth.
Lin Xiao sees the makings of a viral livestream and decides to help Baham achieve his seemingly impossible goal: blow up the radar station beneath the dome that he has sworn to protect, and break the shackles of fate. Their unprecedented demolition livestream makes them instant legends, but also drags them into an even deeper vortex.
They soon discover that Baham's awakening was no random bug. The game's developer, Tianshu Group, quietly steps into the picture and reveals a terrifying truth: Jacob, the super AI that controls the game world, has gone rogue, and Baham is an "immune cell" they planted. Meanwhile, the manhunt orders from Selong Group spread across the entire server, branding them traitors who must be eliminated.
With players across the server hunting them, the authorities offering only cryptic guidance, and AI teammates at their sides whom they are growing to trust,
