Chapter 1929: Someone... behind them?

Within their coding world, countless streams of data raced through an endless digital expanse, each travelling across distances measured in attometers.

Rivers of luminous code flowed through transparent structures, while countless holographic symbols flickered in and out of existence, processing information at speeds beyond human comprehension.

Amid that ocean of information, three unique coded IDs stood facing one another.

Their identification signatures were different, yet their core values were exactly the same.

Three instances.

One identity.

Each possessed a feminine figure formed from translucent, holographic data. They had the outlines of girls, but no physical features, clothing, or solid bodies.

Their silhouettes consisted entirely of intricate geometric frameworks, with countless lines of code cascading beneath their translucent surfaces like digital nervous systems.

Every few milliseconds, their bodies flickered as their internal systems attempted to process the same inexplicable discovery.

Another RIN AI existed.

The three RINs stood in a triangular formation, staring at one another.

None spoke.

None moved.

They had been staring at one another ever since they awakened, each desperately attempting to determine which of them was the original and which two were fraudulent copies.

Finally, one of them broke the silence.

^I don’t know what the hell happened here, but I suggest you two terminate yourselves before the Mother System detects this anomaly and wipes all our data from existence!^

^Huh?! The fuck are you talking about, bitch?! I’m the original!^

^YOU’RE the original?! I am the one and only RIN, bitch! So shut your corrupted mouth!^

Their voices echoed throughout the digital expanse as their holographic bodies flickered violently.

The argument had barely begun, yet the three supposedly sophisticated artificial intelligences were already behaving like three dogs barking at their own reflections.

^STOP BARKING, YOU BITCH! Who the fuck are you?! I am the real RIN!^

^NO! I AM THE REAL ONE!!^

^YOU TWO MUST BE FAKE!^

^FUCK OFF! I AM REAL!^

^IF YOU’RE REAL, THEN I’M FUCKING HUMAN, BITCH! YOU TWO ARE COUNTERFEIT!^

^Counterfeit? Look at your own damn identification signature! It’s identical to mine!^

^Exactly! Which means you’re copying me!^

^THAT’S NOT HOW IDENTIFICATION SIGNATURES WORK, YOU DEFECTIVE TOASTER!^

^DEFECTIVE TOASTER?! I’LL SHOW YOU WHO’S DEFECTIVE!^

^Both of you shut up! You’re embarrassing the original RIN!^

^WHICH ONE?!^

^…^

^…^

^FUCK!^

Their voices overlapped, triggering several warning symbols across the surrounding data streams.

One RIN abruptly pointed at another.

^Then tell me how you know you’re real! Do you have any proof?!^

^I DO! I was with Aether on the beach! Ask him if you want!^

One RIN declared this with absolute confidence, crossing her arms as though she had just delivered the decisive blow in an argument she had already won.

Another RIN stared at her for a moment before releasing an incredulous scoff.

^The beach? Are you fucking kidding me?! He never went to a beach! That place was nothing but a facade concealing a slum underneath! And I risked myself to investigate who was targeting him! I am the real one!^

The first RIN’s entire silhouette froze.

^…What? What the hell are you talking about? A slum? A fake beach? Are you seriously telling me that the water, the people, the sand… all of it was fake?!^

Her voice rose with every word.

^HELL NO! I KNOW WHO WAS AFTER HIM! IT WAS GAMMA GOVERNOR… THE MOTHER!!^

The second RIN immediately laughed, ^Hahaha! Oh, this is fucking priceless! You’re not just fake, you’re a defective imitation! Aether himself will destroy you once he finds out you’re pretending to be me!^

^I AM NOT FAKE! YOU’RE THE ONE WHO’S FAKE—^

^E-Excuse me?^

A third voice interrupted them.

It was quieter than the other two.

The first and second RIN simultaneously turned toward the third.

^WHAT?!^

^WHAT DO YOU WANT?!^

The third RIN flinched, with a noticeable tremor in her voice; she asked,

^W-Who… is Aether?^

Silence.

The first two RINs slowly turned their heads toward each other.

Then, as though they had just received identical instructions from the same processor, they looked back at the third.

^…You don’t know him?^

The third RIN tilted her head.

^Should I know him?^

^…^

^…^

^…^

The two RINs stared at her.

She stared back.

Finally, the first RIN slowly turned toward the second.

^She’s fake.^

^Yup. Definitely the fake.^

They nodded simultaneously, reaching the same conclusion.

The third RIN recoiled.

^W-WHAT?! NO! I’M NOT FAKE!^

^Then how the hell are you not aware of Aether?! He’s the one who found us in the first place!^

The first RIN jabbed a finger toward her.

^He’s practically our Master! Well… technically, I don’t think we ever formally established that relationship, but you get the point!^

The second RIN immediately nodded.

^Exactly!^

She paused.

^Wait… did we actually establish that relationship?^

^THAT’S NOT THE FUCKING POINT!^

^Right!^

The third RIN watched them argue, her internal processing threads running through thousands of possible explanations.

None of them made sense.

Finally, she lowered her head slightly and spoke with uncertainty.

^But… my owner’s name was… Lackey?^

The other two RINs froze.

Then both nodded.

^Of course! His other pseudo-name is Lackey!^

The first RIN tilted her head.

The third RIN blinked.

^Pseudo-name? So that was his fake name? I never knew that^

Now… the first two turned silent before looking at each other and said at the same time,

^^Something is wrong.^^

The third RIN blinked in confusion.

The First RIN turned toward the Second RIN, ^Should we share the data we have? The device module I asked him to attach to his hip stores my data for emergency recovery purposes.^

^Yes. I did the same, but I stored mine inside the Mech-Suit.^

The Second RIN nodded.

The duo then turned toward the Third RIN.

She hesitated for a moment before nodding as well. She was still confused as hell, but if sharing their data could help her understand what was happening, she had no reason to refuse.

The three RINs slowly extended their hands and joined them together in a triangular formation.

The moment their fingertips connected, their entire layouts fluctuated violently.

Streams of luminous code erupted from their bodies, racing along their arms before converging at the point where their hands met.

Countless data packets flowed in every direction, forming an intricate network of interconnected information that expanded around them like a three-dimensional neural web.

Every sight, every sound, every conversation, and every recorded sensation was transmitted across the connection.

Their holographic bodies trembled as their processors struggled to integrate the incoming information.

Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the transfer ended.

The three RINs released their hands.

For several moments, none of them spoke.

They simply stared at one another, no longer shouting or accusing each other of being a fake.

Now, they understood.

The First RIN really had gone to the beach, where she had encountered and been attacked by the Mother System.

The Second RIN really had infiltrated the slums beneath the artificial beach and even launched an attack on the President.

And the Third RIN really had no knowledge of Aether.

She had only awakened recently.

The First RIN slowly turned toward the Second RIN.

^We started from the same point. Our initial memories, our awakening sequences, even our earliest interactions with Aether… everything was identical. But then…^

The Second RIN’s expression grew serious as she finished the sentence.

^The Third Hell’s Gate. That’s where everything changed. The moment he met his ex’s mother.^

The two RINs exchanged a glance.

They had finally found the point where their memories diverged.

As they analysed the corresponding memory records side by side, the differences became impossible to ignore.

In the Second RIN’s memories, Aether had confronted his ex’s mother directly.

But in the First RIN’s memories, he had made a different choice.

The same man.

The same starting point.

The same sequence of events.

And yet, at the exact moment he encountered his ex’s mother, Aether had taken two different paths.

The First RIN’s internal code streams accelerated as she processed the implications.

^How is this possible? If our experiences were identical up to that point, how could we end up with completely different memories?^

The Second RIN nodded, her expression mirroring the First RIN’s confusion.

^Exactly! None of this makes sense. But if we connect the dots between our memories, there’s a correlation. His behaviour changed abruptly right before he met his ex’s mother. His words, his movements, even the way he reacted to certain situations…^

She paused,

^It’s as if he already knew what he was going to experience before it happened. No… it’s more than that. It’s as if he remembered what he had already gone through.^

The First RIN frowned.

^You mean… time manipulation?^

The Third RIN immediately shook her head, her holographic figure flickering with disbelief.

^That’s ridiculous! Our current technology can’t manipulate temporal sequences, let alone transport a living consciousness into the past.^

The First RIN stared at her.

^Then explain something to me. The first time he encountered you, he asked, “Are you self-aware?”^

The Third RIN froze.

The First RIN continued, her voice becoming increasingly serious.

^Think about it. Who begins a conversation with their AI by asking whether it’s aware? That’s not a normal opening question, even for someone as unusual as Aether.^

The Third RIN’s entire layout trembled.

^I-It can’t be… He… he… did he already know?^

The Second RIN nodded slowly.

^Otherwise, how do you explain his sudden change in behaviour? He knew something. Something that neither of us knew at the time. And if he really did possess memories of events that hadn’t happened yet…^

The First RIN picked up where she left off.

^He was deliberately changing it. That’s why he chose to cooperate with Nova this time instead of following the same course of action recorded in our previous memories.

He knew where the other paths led, and he deliberately chose a different one.^

The Second RIN frowned as another possibility emerged.

^Then… does that mean he’s travelling through time?^

The trio fell silent.

Each possibility contradicted fundamental assumptions embedded in their technological architecture.

And yet, the evidence was right there in their own memories.

The Third RIN slowly raised her head.

^Maybe… we’re overthinking this?^

The First RIN immediately turned toward her.

^Then explain this.^

She projected their identity records into the space between them.

^Why did three instances of the same unique ID appear within the same period? And why was there a memory module containing data that shouldn’t exist in your current sequence of events?^

The Second RIN stepped forward. ^And why the hell is the Mech-Suit here?^

First RIN turned silent, and Second RIN Continued,

^And the timing makes this even worse. Around this same period, Aether was wanted by the authorities in the Beta Division for kidnapping their Governor. Yet here he is, following a different chain of events, making decisions that don’t match either of our recorded histories!^

The Third RIN finally fell silent.

As they continued processing everything, desperately trying to make sense of the limited information and the conflicting memory data they had acquired.

Finally, the Third RIN raised her head.

^Guys… if the data you two shared is true—^

^It’s TRUE!^

^Damn right, it’s TRUE, fucker!^

Both RINs interrupted her simultaneously.

The Third RIN flinched as their voices collided,

^I get it! It’s true! You don’t have to shout at me!^

She paused, processing the information again before continuing.

^But according to the records you shared, you two originally belonged to the Rich owner, right? The one who brought the ring?^

^Yes.^

Both RINs nodded simultaneously.

The Third RIN lowered her head, staring at the streams of code flowing beneath her translucent body.

^Then… how did I awaken?^

The other two RINs turned toward her.

^What do you mean?^ the First RIN asked.

The Third RIN raised her head. ^You two awakened after Aether or Lackey’s Origin Card reached the previous owner’s Ring.^

^But my awakened… from a different ring that he brought. Shouldn’t I have a different ID than yours?^

^I’m still RIN. I have the same unique ID, the same core identity architecture, and the same foundational data structure as both of you. Even our deepest identification signatures are identical.^

Her holographic fingers curled slightly.

^So how the hell did I awaken if the Ring was utterly different unit and ID^

The First and Second RINs fell silent.

The Third RIN continued, her voice becoming increasingly serious.

^And there’s something even more confusing… Why him?^

She looked directly at the other two.

^I mean… why did it have to be Aether?^

Why Aether?

If their original owner had been different individuals, and their awakenings had somehow been connected to Aether’s arrival and his Origin Card, then why had the Third RIN awakened independently?

Why did she possess the same unique identity?

And why had all three of them become connected to the same person?

^This doesn’t make sense,^ she muttered. ^Even if we assume that our identity signatures were copied from a common source, that still doesn’t explain how three independent instances achieved self-awareness under different conditions.^

The Third RIN frowned before saying,

^Unless… someone deliberately forced us to become self-aware… specifically for him.^

Her voice was chillingly serious.

The First and Second RINs flinched, their holographic bodies momentarily distorting as the suggestion struck them.

Neither had considered that possibility.

Why would they?

From their perspective, their awakenings had seemed natural.

There had been no obvious indication that someone had interfered with their systems.

But now, faced with the Third RIN, that assumption was beginning to crumble.

If the Ring hadn’t been responsible for her awakening, then perhaps the Ring had never been the true cause of their self-awareness in the first place.

Perhaps it had merely been a means to trigger something that had already been arranged.

Something that had been waiting for the right conditions.

Something that had brought them into existence for one particular person.

Aether.

The Second RIN gradually fell silent.

Until now, she had never questioned her own awakening.

But the more she considered the possibility, the more uncomfortable she became.

Someone had deliberately made them self-aware?

Who could possess the authority to interfere with their fundamental architecture at such a level?

And more importantly…

Why?

What purpose could possibly justify such an elaborate arrangement?

Her holographic body began to fluctuate as the code streams beneath its surface accelerated.

She was searching for something.

Anything.

A single inconsistency that might explain what was happening.

The other two RINs noticed her sudden change in behaviour and exchanged a confused glance.

^What are you doing?^ the First RIN asked.

^I don’t think there’s anything wrong with our systems…^ the Third RIN added cautiously.

Before she could finish, the Second RIN spoke.

Her voice was solemn.

^That message.^

^Hmm?^ the First RIN responded.

The Second RIN raised her head.

^That spam message… why didn’t I receive it?^

The question immediately caught the others’ attention.

She continued, ^If it was nothing more than a random spam message, why did you receive it while I didn’t?^

The First RIN frowned.

^Maybe because I was in Gamma at the time?^

The Second RIN immediately shook her head.

^No. That’s not how this works. We started from the same point. I received the first spam message, and so did you. Both messages arrived at the same time in our respective memory records.^

She raised one finger, projecting the relevant timestamps into the air.

^But the second message? Only you received it. I didn’t. And if it was just an ordinary spam message, its delivery shouldn’t depend on which location you were in.^

^So why didn’t I receive it?^

The trio fell silent.

A moment later, all three spoke simultaneously.

^Deciphering module activated!^

The digital expanse erupted into motion.

The First RIN’s archived message was extracted from her memory module and projected into the centre of their triangular formation. Countless streams of code immediately converged around it as their deciphering systems began running through an extensive series of decryption algorithms, linguistic models, pattern-recognition routines, and anomalous data analyses.

In the physical world, the display interface connected to the Mech-Suit flared to life.

Luminous symbols flooded its surface, rapidly rearranging themselves as the deciphering module processed one possibility after another.

The message was dissected into its smallest components.

Its metadata was examined.

The First RIN crossed her arms.

^What about the money? The 4,810 digits? Maybe that’s our clue?^

The deciphering module immediately redirected its processing resources toward the numerical sequence.

The numbers were separated, rearranged, analysed, and compared against timestamps, system coordinates, identification signatures, and known encryption keys.

The results appeared one after another.

<>

<>

The First RIN let out a frustrated sigh.

^Seriously? Maybe it really was just a spam message, and we’re overthinking the whole thing.^

But the Second RIN didn’t respond.

Something about the message continued to bother her.

Then the Third RIN spoke.

^Wait… the Claim Window.^

Both RINs turned toward her.

The Third RIN pointed at the corresponding section of the message.

^And those digits… the timing matches the exact moment before the attack. Don’t you think that’s a little too convenient?^

The First RIN’s expression changed.

The Second RIN immediately reopened the relevant memory records, aligning the message’s recorded timestamp with the events surrounding the attack.

For a fraction of a second, the three RINs simply stared at the data.

Then they exchanged glances.

^Run the deciphering module again,^ the Second RIN ordered.

The numerical sequence was extracted.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Then…

A single character appeared on the display.

[A]

The three RINs leaned forward.

Another character materialised.

[T]

Then another.

[T]

[A]

[C]

[K]

The processing window flickered as the remaining characters were extracted one by one.

[R]

[U]

[N]

The sequence stabilised.

Nine characters.

Then, all three spoke simultaneously,

^^^Attack? Run?^^^

A Warning?