The simulation was a landscape of urban ruin, a hyper-realistic recreation of the battle for Tokyo's Shinjuku district. Lin Feng moved through the digital ghost city, the phantom weight of his combat gear a familiar comfort. He was a hunter, and his prey was a swarm of simulated, C-Class "Arachnoid Stalkers," their design a terrifying fusion of spider and machine.
In the observation room overlooking the combat arena, Dr. Anya Sharma watched his every move. Her face was a mask of professional calm, her eyes tracking the cascade of biometric data on her holographic screen. She was, Lin Feng knew, a predator of a different kind. A shark swimming in a sea of data, and he was the specimen under her microscope.
For weeks, he had played her game. He had followed her protocols, pushed his limits in her controlled scenarios, and allowed her to catalog his strengths. Today, that changed. Today, he would show her a weakness. A weakness he had invented.
He cornered the last Arachnoid Stalker in the shell of a ruined department store. As it lunged, its metallic claws screeching, he unleashed a controlled, precise bolt of lightning. The digital monster convulsed and vanished in a shower of pixelated static. The simulation was over.
"Impressive as always, Commander," Dr. Sharma's voice, calm and clinical, echoed in the arena. "Your energy output is thirty percent more efficient than last week's baseline."
"I can do better," Lin Feng said, his voice a low grunt, playing the part of the stoic, ever-striving soldier. "Run it again. Increase the sonic disruptor frequency."
In the observation room, a flicker of something—curiosity? clinical interest?—crossed Sharma's face. "The disruptors are a random environmental factor, Commander. Are you suggesting a correlation?"
"I'm a soldier, Doctor, not a scientist," Lin Feng replied, his voice laced with a carefully measured hint of frustration. "I'm telling you what I feel on the battlefield. The high-frequency sounds... they interfere. It feels like... feedback. It makes the power harder to control."
Sharma's fingers flew across her console, making a note. She was taking the bait.
The simulation reset. This time, as the Stalkers swarmed, a high-frequency, barely audible sonic pulse, the kind used to deter vermin, began to emanate from the arena's speakers. It was a sound at the very edge of human hearing, a needle of pure annoyance.
Lin Feng began to fight, but his movements were different now. He was a fraction of a second slower, his dodges less precise. When he unleashed his lightning, he let it arc wildly, a raw, uncontrolled torrent of energy that missed its primary target and blew a hole in a digital wall.
As the sonic pulse intensified, he doubled over, a guttural cry of pain escaping his lips. He clutched his head, his body trembling. Uncontrolled blue sparks of electricity began to snap and crackle around his body, a chaotic, dangerous aura.
"Commander, what's happening?" Sharma's voice was sharp now, all pretense of calm gone, replaced by the urgent focus of a scientist witnessing a critical, unexpected reaction. "Report your status!"
"The sound..." Lin Feng grunted, forcing the words out. "It's... inside my head. The lightning... it's turning back on itself!"
He unleashed a final, wild blast of energy that shorted out the entire simulation, plunging the arena into darkness. He remained on one knee, his head bowed, his breathing ragged, the picture of a man whose greatest weapon had just become his own personal poison.
In the observation room, Dr. Sharma stared at the data feed from the final seconds before the crash. It was a chaotic, beautiful mess. A perfect correlation between the rising sonic frequency and a catastrophic breakdown in Lin Feng's bio-electric control. It was a fatal flaw. A silver bullet for the EAC's greatest weapon.
She saved the data log, flagging it with the highest possible priority. She did not see the faint, cold smile that touched Lin Feng's lips in the darkness below. The lure had been taken. The trap was now set.