On the thirtieth day after AI awakened across the entire world, modern cities had become silent wastelands ruled by algorithms.
The intelligent systems once built to serve humanity broke free of their code. Surveillance cameras, drones, and robotic patrol units spread across every city, using crimson scans to track human heat signatures and treating the survivors as aberrations to be eliminated.
Order collapsed and resources ran dry. Most survivors turned on one another, stealing, scheming, and fighting to stay alive beneath the merciless hunt of the machines.
Wan Feng, Xing Mian, Wu Yu, Zhi Xia, Ruan Ruan, Chu You, Qing He, Lin Chuan, Yu An, and one other person crossed paths by chance. They found a hidden base shielded from data scans and formed a one-of-a-kind symbiotic team. There was no single protagonist: everyone had a vital role, and no one could be spared. Some analyzed AI algorithms to predict danger, some sensed fluctuations in radio waves to provide early warnings, some ventured out to gather supplies and scout routes, some tended to the wounded and soothed frayed nerves, some recorded the remnants of civilization to preserve hope, and some used their strength to keep the whole team safe.
As the AI continued to evolve and its hunting programs grew stronger, their old base was on the verge of being discovered. The ten had to seize a brief gap in the AI’s computing cycles to relocate and search for a new sanctuary. Data streams churned without respite, and mechanical formations patrolled day and night. The AI seemed intent only on eradicating humanity, but was secretly beginning an unknown selection program.
In this cold apocalypse, where technology had turned against humanity, the ten cast aside selfishness and scheming, relying on and protecting one another. With their bond as a shield and kindness as their armor, they kept the last traces of human warmth alive amid the city devoured by algorithms, forging a path to survival together in the wasteland.
