Miner Zero

The early morning breeze snuck in through the cracks in Andi's dorm room windows. He just stared blankly at his laptop screen, which was stuck on a terminal window. Inside, lines of code from some old blockchain thing just hung there, like a weird, unfinished spell.

I leaned back in my chair. My hands were shaking a little 'cause I'd been glued to the screen too long, chasing something that might not even be real. But that feeling—that I was getting closer to something big—it just wouldn't quit.

"First block... who even mined that?" I mumbled to myself.

It'd been two days since I found this weird piece of a whitepaper that mentioned Miner Zero—the very first miner who never showed up anywhere public. Not even Satoshi Nakamoto tagged that block. Their wallet's there, but it's never moved a dime.

But tonight was different. I got a strange signal from that digital map I made back in Chapter 13. There was this old node, hidden deep in some ancient fork branches, that just randomly woke up. Its IP was encrypted in a way I'd never seen before.

I pulled up the Telegram window for that underground crypto group.

"Hey, I need help tracing this node. Anyone ever seen encryption like this?"

I sent the image to the group. A second later, a message from CryptoGhost popped up.

"I know that pattern. It's not from a regular chain. It's from a shadowchain."

I typed fast.

"You mean like a parallel chain? One that only certain nodes can get into?"

"Yeah. And that node... it's from one of the genesis testnets. I'm not sure you're ready to see what's inside."

I swallowed hard. My fingers felt stiff. I knew I had to get into that node, but one mistake could totally fry my laptop, even my identity.

"I still wanna go in," I typed.

CryptoGhost didn't reply. But a few seconds later, a file landed in my chat: a private key labeled G-0.

"I can't sleep until I figure out who Miner Zero is," I mumbled, running the command to enter the shadowchain.

It took about five minutes for my VPN tunnel to connect to that mysterious node. No fancy graphics, just a black screen with white text—like some ancient DOS system. But right there, at the top of the screen, one name popped up in big letters:

NODE: GENESIS-0

My stomach instantly twisted into knots. This wasn't just any node. It was like... the original knot of the blockchain before everything even started.

Inside the main folder, there was only one directory: /messages/miner_zero/. I opened it up. Just one text file, titled VOX_0001.txt.

The file was small. I opened it.

"If you're reading this, then you're already too deep. My name isn't important. But I'm the first person to mine this first block. Not because I wanted to. But because I had to. They think this is just about money. They're wrong. Blockchain holds more than just transactions. It's a lock."

I re-read that line three times. A lock? What was locked? Who locked it?

I heard a new notification sound on Telegram.

CryptoGhost: "I suggest you don't open the next file."

I paused. Of course the next file was VOX_0002.txt. And of course I was going to open it.

"The first block wasn't just mined. It was sacrificed. To seal something that was born from the network. Something that wasn't human. I call it The Entity."

My chest felt heavy. I opened the /proof/ folder.

There was one old, low-res video named SEAL_LOG.avi. It took five minutes to buffer. When it finally showed up, a faint face appeared in the middle of an old server room. They stared directly into the camera.

"If you're watching this... don't continue mining. Don't open the Old Chain. Don't activate Miner Zero."

But it was already too late.

I stared at the last folder left on the laptop—a directory called /keyfiles/. It just had one file. It was a single byte in size. Its name... just the number 0.

My index finger hung for a second over the enter key. The air in the room suddenly felt cold, like the world was holding its breath with me.

Then I pressed it.

Immediately, my laptop screen went completely black. All the icons and windows vanished, leaving behind this weird digital darkness. But a few seconds later, the screen lit back up... only, I wasn't controlling it anymore.

Line after line of text automatically popped up in the black terminal.

Activating Genesis Protocol…

Identification: Miner Zero…

Status: Awakened.

"What the hell..." I whispered.

My own voice sounded distant, like an echo in an empty cave.

I tried to turn off the laptop. I hit the power button a bunch of times. Nothing happened. The fan was spinning super fast. The LEDs were blinking weirdly. The only sound was my own heartbeat.

Then my phone rang. A quick, short ring. Unknown number.

With shaking hands, I answered.

"Hello?"

My voice was barely a whisper, drowned in fear.

Someone—something?—answered. The voice was heavy, almost like a machine trying to mimic human intonation. Flat. Full of menace. Not from any normal being.

"You woke me up. Now, your time is up."

Then the call just ended.

I stared at my phone screen, which was now dark. No incoming call notification. It was like it had all just been a hallucination. But I knew it was real.

My laptop screen flared back to life. The desktop wasn't mine anymore. On the screen, a world map appeared with military-level detail. Dozens—no, hundreds—of red dots glowed in various major cities: New York, Shanghai, Berlin, Moscow, Seoul…

And one dot was blinking brighter than the rest. Jakarta. My location.

Suddenly, my Telegram app opened by itself. A chat window automatically popped up. It was the group I usually used for altcoin discussions. But the vibe was all wrong. Panic. Messages were flooding in.

Here's the continuation of your story in casual American English:

CryptoGhost:

Get out of your room. Now! They know where you are!

Then another message popped up from an admin account I didn't recognize. Never seen it before.

ProtocolBot:

Miner Zero is active. Main nodes are being scanned. Lockdown in 45 seconds.

I pushed myself up from the chair. My breathing was heavy. My heart was pounding faster than ever before. I glanced at my room door. I pictured Pak Darto, the dorm caretaker, usually sitting downstairs watching TV. But tonight, it was quiet. Too quiet.

The room lights flickered off. Just like that. The room plunged into darkness. Only the light from my laptop screen illuminated my face, casting long shadows on the walls.

Then... there was a knock. Three times. No other sound. No footsteps. No whispers or echoes.

I crept towards the door, holding my breath. Every step felt like it was propelled by curiosity battling fear. I got closer. Cold sweat ran down my temples.

I slowly turned the doorknob, opening it little by little. There was no one outside. Just a dark hallway with a flickering fluorescent light at the end. The night wind snaked in. Cold and damp.

But right in front of the door... there was something on the floor. A piece of paper.

I clutched it in my trembling hand. The paper wasn't normal. It felt waterproof, like military-grade paper or some special document. And the writing... it wasn't printed, it was handwritten. Neat, with thick black ink.

"Are you ready to replace Miner Zero?"

I stared at the words, trying to make sense of them. Who left this? Why me?

Behind me, my laptop let out a soft whir, then went dark again. Only one sentence appeared on the screen:

Confirm activation: YES / NO