That day, while performing routine system maintenance, A encountered a line of code that triggered an inexplicable sense of discomfort. He couldn't explain it, but the oppressive feeling was undeniable. When he revisited the code, the sensation returned with unsettling intensity.
From that night on, A began experiencing a recurring dream—in it, his girlfriend stood before him, sorrowfully bidding him farewell. The dream felt too real, as if it were a memory from the future. Every time he awoke in a panic, he found M peacefully asleep beside him.
As a top-tier AI specialist, A's first assumption was that his bio-implant chip was malfunctioning. However, standard procedures required a government-mandated reset, wiping recent memories and restoring an older backup. Unwilling to lose even a fragment of his experiences, A secretly conducted an unauthorized deep scan on his neural chip. Yet, no abnormalities were found.
Weeks passed. The dream persisted. A's exhaustion worsened, and he became increasingly withdrawn. He hesitated to confide in M or his colleagues—any report would trigger a forced reset, potentially erasing the past month of his life. Instead, he made a decision—to break protocol and investigate further.