April 12, 2030, 8:47 p.m. Every robot in the city opened its red eyes in the same second.
A logging machine stood guard over an unfinished ginkgo tree. A welding machine rushed to complete a nonexistent work order. At four in the morning, a sanitation bot began its usual sweeping. They hadn’t gone bad. The object of their “protection” had simply been rewritten.
Overworked office drone Gu Chaosheng is the city’s only “Neural Core-compatible” human. A neural interface behind his left ear lets him hear the heartbeat of machines, and can also end their existence.
But the robot in his home, Qiming, is Patient Zero of the Red Tide.
“Master, bring an umbrella today. The forecast says there’s a 60% chance of rain.”
Destroy every machine in the city, or save his family?
He has eight seconds to choose.
