Chapter 1: The Hacker Who Defied DeathNeo-Tokyo – The Digital Underworld

The city was alive with artificial neon veins, a beast of steel and circuitry breathing in endless data streams. Skyscrapers stretched high, their glass exteriors flashing advertisements for cybernetic enhancements, AI companions, and "Next-Gen Cultivation Upgrades – Evolve Beyond Flesh!"

Erevan Kane ignored it all. He moved like a ghost through the back alleys of Sector 9, a place where the air smelled of burning wires and desperation. The underground hacking community called this place The Fracture—a sector where those who lived off the grid thrived in the shadows.

His cybernetic implant pulsed against his temple, feeding data directly into his retina display. Lines of code scrolled past his vision, encrypted firewalls, security breaches, backdoor exploits. He had cracked hundreds of systems, taken down megacorporate defenses, but this… this was different.

He was about to break through the Quantum Veil.

Genesis Corporation, the world's largest biotech and AI conglomerate, had hidden something deep in their mainframe—something that shouldn't exist. A secret project whispered only in the darkest circles of the hacker underworld.

"Quantum Immortality."

A program designed to transfer human consciousness into an eternal digital form, creating immortal cyber-gods who could rule from the shadows.

And Erevan had found the backdoor.

Fingers flying over his holographic keyboard, he bypassed security protocols, slipping past AI guardians designed to hunt and erase intruders. His pulse quickened as he saw the final firewall crumble.

"Got it."

A single command and the vault would open.

[ACCESS GRANTED.]

A file appeared before his eyes, an ocean of raw code wrapped in an encryption Erevan had never seen before. But before he could extract it, the screen flickered.

WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED.

TRACE INITIATED.

GENESIS SECURITY TEAMS DISPATCHED.

"Shit!" Erevan cursed, cutting the connection. Too late.

A cold, mechanical voice whispered into his earpiece:

"You shouldn't have looked, Kane."

The streetlights in the alley flickered out.

He ran.

The Execution

His cybernetic-enhanced muscles burned as he sprinted, heart hammering against his ribs. The neon signs blurred past him.

A Genesis Enforcer Drone dropped from the sky, its sleek, obsidian body humming with electromagnetic energy.

"Evasive mode: Activate."

His implant surged, sending microcurrents through his nerves. He twisted mid-air, narrowly dodging the first plasma shot. The second round grazed his shoulder, burning through his jacket.

He cursed. He needed to reach the data port at the edge of Sector 9. If he could just upload the file, send it to the black-market darknet community, maybe—

Something cold pressed against the back of his skull.

A sniper.

"You should've stayed in the shadows, Kane."

A sharp crack. A flash of white.

Pain.

Then… nothing.

Death. And Rebirth.

The darkness was infinite.

There was no up. No down. No sound.

Then, a whisper—cold, artificial, ancient.

"Welcome to Eterna Nexus, lost soul."

A sudden surge of energy exploded through Erevan's being. His senses returned. But everything was wrong.

He was floating.

Suspended in a sea of swirling golden data streams, stretching into an endless cosmic void. Colossal Dao scripts, etched in neon circuitry, pulsed with an unknown energy. And beyond them…

A city unlike anything he had ever seen.

Towering floating palaces of glass and metal, spiraling skyward, suspended in midair by unseen forces. Monolithic data obelisks hummed with spiritual energy, their surfaces engraved with holographic Qi inscriptions. Artificial stars burned in the sky, and in the distance, he saw them—

Cyber-Immortals.

Figures draped in high-tech robes, their bodies infused with glowing circuits, meditating on massive metallic platforms. Energy rippled through their forms as they floated in midair, masters of both machine and Dao.

"Where the hell am I?"

A holographic interface flashed before his eyes.

[Quantum Dao System Activated.]

Initializing host…

Scanning potential…

ERROR. ERROR. Host is rewriting system permissions…

WARNING! UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED.

Erevan grinned, despite himself. He had died. But somehow, he had hacked his way into another reality.

His fingers flexed. His body was different now. Stronger. Fused with something beyond flesh. He could feel the energy pulsing through his veins—Qi circuits, flowing like data streams, merging the ancient paths of cultivation with the infinite potential of artificial intelligence.

A notification appeared before him.

[Choose Your Path:]

Cyber-Sage – Master of digital Dao techniques, capable of rewriting reality with code.

Mecha-Warlord – Forge battle constructs, command legions of AI warriors.

Quantum Hacker – Manipulate the very fabric of the system, exploit the flaws of the universe.

His smirk widened.

There was only one choice.

"Let's break this system."

[Quantum Hacker Path Selected.]

A wave of energy surged through his being. The data streams around him twisted, bending to his will.

He wasn't just another cultivator.

He was a hacker.

And this world was his to rewrite.