📖 Chapter 1 – Death and Rebirth
Blood pooled beneath Arjun Mehra's body as the life faded from his eyes. His breath came in ragged gasps, every inhale burning his lungs.
"Why, Vikram?" he croaked, glaring at the man who stood over him.
His so-called partner—Vikram Malhotra—smirked, holding the pistol lazily in one hand and a glowing vial in the other.
"You were too brilliant, Arjun. Too dangerous. The world doesn't need you, it needs me—with your invention."
Arjun's lips curled into a bitter smile. His entire life's work, the Omni Nanochip—a microscopic AI system capable of storing infinite knowledge, enhancing the body, and rewriting destiny—was about to be stolen.
But not if he had anything to say about it.
With trembling fingers, Arjun activated the hidden injector strapped to his wrist. The liquid needle pierced his vein.
> [Omni Nanochip Integration Initiated]
[Backup Protocol Activated]
The world dimmed. His final thought wasn't of revenge, but of the people he had failed. His exhausted father, his sickly mother, and his little sister Ananya… the sister who never got the chance to grow up.
If only I could go back… I'd protect them this time.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
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"Bhaiya! Wake up! You're going to be late!"
Arjun's eyes flew open. He wasn't lying on a blood-soaked floor. He was on a thin cotton mattress in a tiny two-room house. The cracked ceiling fan rattled above him, stirring the morning heat of Delhi.
He bolted upright, chest heaving. His body was young. Whole. Unmarked.
And standing in the doorway, with messy braids and a school uniform two sizes too big, was a little girl clutching her schoolbag.
"Ananya…" Arjun's voice broke.
The girl blinked, tilting her head. "Eh? What happened, Bhaiya? Did you have a nightmare again?"
He stared, tears stinging his eyes. His sister. His sweet, innocent sister—alive again, no older than ten. In his past life, he had watched her coffin lowered into the earth. But here she was, pouting at him.
Arjun leapt from the bed and pulled her into his arms, hugging her so tightly she squealed.
"B-Bhaiya! You're crushing me!" she laughed, wriggling.
He buried his face in her hair, his heart trembling. "This time… I won't let anything happen to you."
In that instant, a cold, mechanical voice echoed in his mind.
> [Omni Nanochip System Activated]
[Synchronization Level: 1%]
[Welcome back, Host.]
Arjun's tears dried. His eyes sharpened.
He had been betrayed. He had been killed.
But now, in this cramped little home with his family still alive, he had been given another chance.
This time, with the Nanochip at his side, he wouldn't just survive.
He would conquer.
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