The border of the Forbidden Zone was not a wall of stone or steel, but a shimmering curtain of distorted air—a massive Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) field that had been active since the 'Great Reset.' As Siddharth's ion-bike crossed the threshold, the world changed. The vibrant orange of the desert sunset was instantly swallowed by a sickly, neon-purple haze.
The air here tasted like ozone and burnt copper. This was Old Delhi, but not the city Siddharth had read about in history books. This was a skeletal necropolis. Skyscrapers leaned at impossible angles, held together by thick, pulsating cables that looked like giant black veins.
[Warning! Extreme Electromagnetic Interference detected.]
[System Status: Glitching...]
[Neural Link: Unstable. Critical Error in 0x0045B.]
"My head..." Siddharth groaned, his hands shaking on the handlebars. The blue circuit-tattoo on his wrist began to flicker violently, turning a bruised shade of red. It felt like a thousand needles were stabbing into his brain simultaneously. "Unit-0, why is the system reacting like this? It feels like the air itself is trying to hack me."
The android, standing guard as the bike slowed to a crawl, scanned the ruins. His internal cooling fans were whirring at maximum speed. "This is the epicenter, Siddharth. When the world's servers were purged, the data didn't just vanish. It fragmented. This city is a graveyard of 'Ghost Data.' Your System is trying to process millions of dead memories at once."
As they moved deeper into the ruins of what once was Connaught Place, the silence was deafening. There were no birds, no wind—only the faint, rhythmic hum of ancient machines hidden deep underground. Suddenly, Siddharth's HUD flashed a brilliant, piercing gold—a color he had never seen before.
[Signal Detected: Frequency 'B-P-77']
[Source: 500 Meters North-East. Location: The Shattered Minar.]
"That's him! That's my father's signature!" Siddharth shouted, his exhaustion momentarily forgotten. He pushed the bike forward, weaving through rusted car husks and piles of ancient plastic.
They reached the base of a collapsed radio tower. Hidden beneath layers of lead-lined shielding was a glowing terminal, still humming with a faint, flickering power. But as Siddharth stepped toward it, the shadows around the tower began to move.
"Don't take another step, System-User," a cold, sharp voice echoed through the ruins.
A figure stepped out from behind a pile of rubble. It was a girl, roughly Siddharth's age, wearing a tattered cloak made of fiber-optic cables that shifted colors to match the grey walls. Her face was painted with white tribal lines, and in her hand, she held a 'Pulse-Bow'—a weapon that fired concentrated bursts of electromagnetic energy.
"You're not from 'The Order'," she said, her eyes narrowing as she spotted the glowing blue tattoo on Siddharth's wrist. "But you're carrying the Mark of the Admin. Who gave you the right to walk into the Graveyard?"
Siddharth raised his hands, signaling Unit-0 to stay back. "I'm Siddharth Pratap. I'm not here for a fight. I'm looking for the man who built this code. I'm looking for my father."
The girl froze. The tension in her bow eased just a fraction. "Pratap? You're the son of the 'Digital Ghost'? We thought his bloodline was wiped out in the Alwar raid ten years ago."
Before she could say more, the ground beneath them began to vibrate. A deep, metallic roar echoed from the sub-levels of the city. The girl's face went pale.
"You idiot! Your System signal is too loud!" she hissed. "You've woken up the Custodian!"
[Alert! Boss Fight Initiated: Sentinel Spider-Tank 'GOLIATH-X']
[Health: 100,000/100,000]
[Status: Ancient Defense Protocol Active]
From the shadows of a collapsed mall, a monstrous machine emerged. It was a spider-tank the size of a two-story building, its eight legs tipped with diamond-edged drills. Its central 'eye' was a massive red laser that began to charge with a terrifying hum.
"If you want to live, Pratap, stop staring and start coding!" the girl yelled, leaping onto a rusted pillar and drawing her bow. "I'll distract its optical sensors! You find the kill-switch in its sub-routine!"
Siddharth felt the adrenaline wash away his pain. He looked at the giant machine. "System... I don't care about the neural load anymore. Give me everything! Overclock to 150%!"
[Overclocking Initiated...]
[Warning: Physical collapse in 120 seconds!]
[Admin Command: 'Deep-Trace' Engaged.]
Siddharth closed his eyes, and suddenly, he wasn't standing in a ruin anymore. He saw the world in lines of code. He saw the Spider-Tank not as steel, but as a complex web of vulnerabilities. With a roar of effort, he reached out his hand, his fingers tapping the air as if hacking the very fabric of reality.
"I am the Admin!" Siddharth roared. "And this is my playground!"
The girl watched in awe as the massive tank suddenly froze, its red eye flickering to blue. Siddharth was literally rewriting its brain mid-combat. But blood was now pouring from both his nostrils, and his skin was burning hot to the touch.
"Siddharth! Stop! You're going to fry your brain!" Unit-0 yelled, stepping forward to catch him as he stumbled.
The tank let out a final, dying mechanical moan and collapsed into the dust, its power core deactivated. Siddharth fell to his knees, his vision fading to black. The last thing he saw was the mysterious girl running toward him, her bow disappearing into her cloak.
"Wait..." Siddharth whispered, reaching toward the glowing terminal one last time.
[Objective Complete: Boss Defeated.]
[New Level: 08]
[New Skill Unlocked: 'Neural Overload Protection']
[Unknown Variable: The Girl's DNA matches 'Authorized Ally'...]
As darkness claimed his consciousness, a final message appeared in the corner of his eye, one that changed everything.
[Message Received: "Siddharth, if you are reading this, the girl is Maya. Trust her. The Order isn't the real enemy. Look at the moon."]The border of the Forbidden Zone was not a wall of stone or steel, but a shimmering curtain of distorted reality—a massive Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) field that had been active since the 'Great Reset.' As Siddharth's ion-bike crossed the threshold, the world didn't just change; it disintegrated. The vibrant orange of the desert sunset was instantly swallowed by a sickly, neon-purple haze that hung over the ruins of Old Delhi like a toxic shroud.
The air here tasted of ozone and ancient, burnt copper. This was a skeletal necropolis where time had stopped in 2026. Skyscrapers leaned at impossible angles, held together by thick, pulsating fiber-optic cables that looked like giant black veins crawling across the concrete.
[Warning! Extreme Electromagnetic Interference detected.]
[System Status: Glitching... Neural Link: Unstable.]
[Alert: 'Ghost Data' fragments attempting to breach User's consciousness.]
"My head..." Siddharth groaned, his hands shaking so violently on the handlebars that the bike swerved dangerously. The blue circuit-tattoo on his wrist began to flicker like a dying lightbulb, turning a bruised, angry shade of red. It felt like a thousand rusted needles were being driven into his brain. "Unit-0, shut down the external sensors! It feels like the city is screaming inside my skull!"
The android stood perfectly still, his internal cooling fans whirring at a deafening pitch. His optical sensors were pulsing with a frantic rhythm. "This is ground zero, Siddharth. When the 'Great Purge' happened, millions of servers were destroyed here. Their data didn't vanish; it fragmented. This city is a graveyard of dead memories, digital ghosts trapped in a loop. Your System is trying to process every single one of them."
As they moved deeper into the ruins of Connaught Place, the silence was more terrifying than any noise. No birds sang. No wind blew. Only the faint, rhythmic thumping of ancient, underground generators provided a heartbeat to this dead machine. Suddenly, Siddharth's HUD flashed a brilliant, piercing gold—a color that blinded him for a split second.
[Signal Detected: Frequency 'B-P-77' (The Phoenix Signature)]
[Source: 400 Meters North-East. Location: The Shattered Minar.]
"That's him! That's my father's signature! He's actually here!" Siddharth gasped, pushing the bike forward through the rusted remains of military trucks and piles of ancient, fused plastic.
They reached the base of a collapsed radio tower that had been converted into a makeshift bunker. Hidden beneath layers of lead-lined shielding was a glowing terminal, its screen flickering with lines of code that Siddharth recognized instantly—it was his father's handwriting, written in C++.
But as he stepped toward the terminal, a cold, metallic click echoed behind him.
"You're making a lot of noise for someone who is supposed to be dead, Pratap," a sharp, feminine voice cut through the ozone-heavy air.
Siddharth spun around. A figure emerged from the shadows of a collapsed archway. It was a girl, her skin pale and etched with glowing white tribal markings. She wore a cloak woven from fiber-optic cables that changed color to mimic the gray ruins around her. In her hand, she held a 'Pulse-Bow'—a weapon designed to fire concentrated electromagnetic bolts that could fry a tank's brain.
"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" Siddharth demanded, his hand hovering over his own wrist interface.
"Everyone in the shadows knows the name of the man who broke the world," the girl said, her eyes—cold and amber—fixed on his blue tattoo. "I am Maya. I belong to the 'De-Linked.' We've been guarding this terminal for ten years, waiting for the Admin to return. But you... you look more like a victim than a King."
Before Siddharth could defend himself, the ground beneath them buckled. A deep, mechanical growl vibrated through the soles of their boots. The air began to hum with a frequency so high it made Siddharth's teeth ache.
"You fool! Your System signal is a beacon for the Custodians!" Maya hissed, her face going pale. "You've woken up the Goliath!"
[Alert! Boss Fight Initiated: Sentinel Spider-Tank 'GOLIATH-X']
[Health: 150,000 / 150,000]
[Primary Weapon: Particle Cannon | Secondary: Diamond Drills]
From the wreckage of an old metro station, a monstrous machine crawled into the light. It was a spider-tank the size of a three-story building, its metal chassis covered in the blood-red symbol of 'The Order.' Its central 'eye' began to glow with a terrifying crimson light as it locked onto Siddharth.
"Unit-0, defensive formation!" Siddharth yelled.
"Negative, Administrator," Unit-0 replied, his arm transforming into a heavy energy shield. "The Goliath uses 'Frequency-Hopping.' I cannot block its attacks alone. You must hack its legs from the sub-net!"
The fight was a blur of blue fire and red lasers. Maya moved like a shadow, leaping from pillar to pillar, her Pulse-Bow raining electromagnetic arrows on the tank's optical sensors. But the Goliath was relentless. It fired a blast from its main cannon, vaporizing a rusted car just inches from Siddharth.
"I can't get in!" Siddharth screamed, his fingers flying over his virtual keyboard. "Its firewall is ancient! It's using a code I don't recognize!"
[Warning: Neural Load at 95%!]
[System Suggestion: Initiate 'Blood-Link' Override. Danger: High.]
"Do it! I don't care about the risk!" Siddharth roared.
Suddenly, the world turned red. Siddharth felt a surge of power so immense that his veins began to glow through his skin. He stepped toward the Goliath, ignoring the laser fire. He reached out and grabbed the tank's massive metal leg with his bare hand.
[Command: DELETE.]
A wave of blue data surged from his arm into the machine. The Goliath let out a high-pitched mechanical shriek. Its eight legs buckled, and its massive body slammed into the dust, sparks flying in every direction.
[Boss Defeated. 5,000 XP Gained.]
[Level Up! Current Level: 09]
Siddharth collapsed, blood pouring from his nose and ears. His body felt like it was melting. Maya ran toward him, catching him before his head hit the concrete.
"You're insane," she whispered, looking at him with a mix of fear and respect. "Nobody survives a Blood-Link override."
Siddharth gripped her arm, his eyes struggling to stay open. "The terminal... the message... what does it say?"
Maya looked at the screen, her voice trembling as she read the final lines left by Bhanu Pratap.
"It says... 'Siddharth, if you are reading this, Maya will lead you to the Vault. But do not look for me on Earth. Look at the Moon. The Great Reset didn't happen here. It started from the Lunar Base.' "
Siddharth looked up at the purple sky. The Moon was visible through the haze, but it looked different—it was covered in a network of glowing blue lines, just like his tattoo.
"The Moon..." Siddharth whispered as darkness finally claimed him. "It's not a rock. It's a server."