Chapter 1: The Mother Matrix Project

Three o’clock in the afternoon. Ye Mi’s pale face rested lightly against the windowpane of her room. The gentle patter of rain, at first faint, grew louder as her ear pressed closer to the glass; the chill seeped through her fingers and into her bones. It was raining outside, but Ye Mi could only discover this in such a way.

“All residents of Warren District, please be advised: according to research from the Alien Tactical Defense Bureau, the ‘Light Ruins’ are undergoing a second territorial expansion. It is expected to reach Warren District in one week. Please evacuate the area as quickly as possible!” The news anchor’s voice echoed from the television. Ye Mi blinked, her vacant, confused gaze turning toward the sound.

It was merely a reflex; in truth, she could see nothing. Her eyes had been rendered blind a year ago—irreparably, the neural synapses destroyed, and even prosthetic eyes were useless.

Ye Mi murmured, “Expanding again…”

“Yes, expanding again.” The door opened, and a woman in a white research suit strode into the room, coming to stand beside Ye Mi. Together, they looked toward the direction of the ‘Light Ruins.’

Two years prior, a colossal meteor, ablaze with dazzling fire, had swept across the skies and struck the largest city on the planet, Edge City—a place steeped in violence, exploitation, and domination. The meteor landed in the sea outside Edge City, yet its shockwave devastated much of the city’s eastern half. A flash of white light tore through the horizon, skyscrapers crumbled, the earth split open, and myriad cracks snaked across the urban landscape.

After the meteor crash, the east side of Edge City and its adjacent sea were shrouded by a twisted curtain of light. No external device could penetrate its mysteries; the Freedom Federation’s military, dispatched to investigate, vanished without a trace, and the entire area became forbidden. This zone was named the ‘Light Ruins.’

Ye Mi had lost her sight in that catastrophe.

After the Light Ruins appeared, humanity gradually uncovered its secrets, learning that within roughly five kilometers, strange alien creatures emerged ceaselessly. They possessed a degree of aggression but were not invincible.

Edge City was dominated by the giant corporation Omega Core—OC. They discovered that when these monsters were slain, they dissipated into a vaporous mist, which contained mysterious energy capable of saving the resource-depleted planet.

OC quickly erected buildings around the Light Ruins for exploration and energy harvesting. Although most who entered the Ruins never returned, some survivors did make it out.

Five months ago, the Light Ruins began its first expansion. Blind and unable to flee, Ye Mi, eking out a living on its edge, was swallowed up by the expanding Ruins.

That same month, the first survivors emerged from the Ruins, bringing with them a young girl and a startling revelation: the Light Ruins could grant supernatural abilities.

Mysterious energy saturated the Ruins, transforming those who ventured deeper, filling them with power; but attempting to leave triggered monstrous mutations. The deeper one traveled, the greater the strength—but it could not be carried out.

The Ruins’ properties shocked the world. As Edge City’s overlords, OC established their seventh subsidiary—

The Alien Tactical Defense Bureau, abbreviated as ETDB. This institution not only contained powerful Ruins monsters but also managed human supernaturals, serving as the main department for Ruins exploration.

At this moment, Ye Mi was in the Bureau’s research institute—because she was the girl brought back by the first returning supernaturals.

The blind girl, stranded one kilometer from the Ruins’ third passage—a rare accident survivor. Bringing her back was an afterthought, and Ye Mi hadn’t even the ability to refuse.

After her return, those supernaturals each developed monstrous mutations within seven days, dying throughout Edge City once the Ruins’ power left them. Only Ye Mi survived, her body unchanged.

Naturally, the Bureau seized her for research.

The woman in the white coat was one of the Bureau’s researchers, named Ian, specializing in studies on Ye Mi.

“It’s coming again?” Ye Mi’s eyes moved, turning her head to stare directly at Ian.

Though accustomed to the girl’s appearance, Ian still felt a flicker of unease. Ye Mi’s features were delicate, but beneath her dark lashes, her eyes were an unhealthy, gray-white haze, streaked with blood-red lines radiating from the center—staring into those eyes was haunting.

Ian steadied herself, her lips forming a gentle smile even though Ye Mi couldn’t see it. “Yes, we need you for the seventh mutation experiment.”

“Come with me.” Ian’s hands emerged from her pockets, resting firmly on Ye Mi’s shoulders, keeping a respectful distance as she guided her.

Ye Mi said nothing, seemingly acquiescent, accompanying Ian to the next room—a laboratory dedicated to her research.

Ten minutes later, Ye Mi sat quietly in the pristine white testing chamber.

A pale red mist hissed from the vent above, filling the chamber. Ye Mi’s complexion grew even paler.

The mechanical arms scanned her pupils, nerves, and blood—

[Seventh Test Results:]
[Biological Mutation: None]
[Energy Response: None]
[Physical State: Permanent damage to optic nerves, no structural changes, no prosthetic changes]
[Notice: Subject’s health below average, slightly improved from sixth test]

Blue light from the monitor illuminated Ian’s thoughtful face. As expected, the Ruins’ energy still failed to induce any mutation in Ye Mi; she was like a black hole, absorbing everything and releasing nothing.

Ian glanced at Ye Mi, who still stared blankly in her direction—her gaze hollow and eerie.

Her focus was so intense that Ian sometimes wondered if Ye Mi truly couldn’t see.

The chamber door opened, and Ian’s gentle voice caressed Ye Mi’s ears. “Any discomfort?”

Ye Mi sat stunned for a moment, as if just returning to herself, then shook her head. “None.”

“As always.” Ian sighed. The Ruins’ energy was miraculous—usable as a power source, able to trigger human evolution and mutation, even carrying a ‘curse.’ Yet for Ye Mi, it seemed only to induce a brief stupor.

Why was this?

Ian pondered as a middle-aged man entered, dressed in white like her, but his face was sharp and stern.

“Headquarters’ patience regarding your little pet is exhausted. Here’s the plan: the maternal device is being rushed to completion and will be activated in thirty days. Mutation experiments are suspended for now.” He paused. “Energy acquisition from the Ruins is more difficult than before.”

Ian listened to his report, glancing at Ye Mi, who sat meekly in the chamber, her lashes barely fluttering.

She took the plan document from his hand. “Very well, I’ll follow the schedule. I have much to prepare in the coming month. All work in the containment facility is yours now.”

“Number 06, I’ll take you back.”

Experiment subject 06—Ye Mi.

As always, Ian diligently escorted her to her room.

Before Ian left, Ye Mi, silent for a long while, tentatively spoke: “The maternal device… what is it?”

Truthfully, she didn’t expect Ian to answer; after all, Ian was a damned Bureau administrator.

She asked only to play the part of a powerless, compliant subject.

Ian said nothing, her gaze tinged with pity.

The girl before her was barely twenty years old, yet she already had five years’ experience as a ‘corporate dog’; she’d survived the Ruins disaster, watched her optic nerves burn away for lack of costly medical treatment, endured darkness, and now was imprisoned as a test subject.

Ian was gentle with Ye Mi, though it never interfered with her experiments.

Such inconsequential kindness made it easier to act without guilt.

Ye Mi didn’t press her further, but instead tugged gently at Ian’s sleeve. “Will I… die?”

“Rest well.” Ian ruffled Ye Mi’s hair, sensing the door open as drone monitors swept in to supervise. Only then did she leave.

Ye Mi stepped into her room; the door slammed shut behind her, sealing her in.

The room was not dark—though Ye Mi was blind, the lights stayed on so the drones could better capture her every move.

She walked to the bathroom by memory, the drone following tightly, its camera clicking and whirring like an unblinking eye, reflecting Ye Mi as she bent to wash her face.

Finished, Ye Mi left as if nothing had happened, the drone hovering silently beside her.

Any abnormality—such as a sudden superpower outburst—would see the room immediately surrounded by security.

In the cold, metal sink, several points of silver light slowly gathered into a mercury-like, black-silver organic life form, about the size of a fingernail. Once formed, they slid along the sink’s edge, slipped through the door crack, and hugged the wall as they escaped.

Ye Mi returned to bed and fell asleep at once.

Trying to control two bodies while awake was exhausting.

Ye Mi closed her eyes, her consciousness instantly inhabiting the life form she had just created.

This thing was, in essence, a parasite—or more precisely, a symbiont.

Before Ye Mi was brought back to Edge City by the first survivors, she had already awakened her own power: a pool of black-silver symbionts.

She remembered clearly: at first, cold liquid poured from her features, so much she couldn’t contain it, until she realized she shared a strange connection with the substance, even sharing senses and gaining control.

Through these organic life forms, she regained sight, facing herself as streams of twisted, viscous, liquid insect-like creatures crawled from her body, writhing endlessly.

It was as shocking as discovering a nest of insects in a dusty corner of one’s home.

Ye Mi soon realized these symbionts could only survive by inhabiting a host; outside a host, they shrank and vanished quickly.

She named it Silversoul, seeing that other survivors’ abilities had names.

The Silversoul she now controlled wasn’t the main body—the real one was deep within the Ruins, parasitizing a cat. What she manipulated now was a desperately compressed miniature.

Though a replica, it required the infusion of Ruins energy from the mutation experiments for Ye Mi’s body to generate Silversoul.

Perhaps due to its peculiar nature, as long as Ye Mi didn’t use it actively, Bureau devices couldn’t detect it—or perhaps their technology simply couldn’t unravel alien energy.

Regardless, Ye Mi could hardly rely on Silversoul to escape the Bureau. Its capabilities were minimal, its size tiny, and it would dissipate within ten minutes, incapable of parasitic control, let alone granting her the power to stroll out of the perilous Bureau.

To avoid detection, Ye Mi always disposed of them through the drains, but just now, she had left a bit clinging to Ian’s sleeve.

It served as a guide for the Silversoul escaping her room.

Ye Mi easily traversed the floor, caught up with Ian, and followed her to another sector of the Bureau—the monster containment facility.

It resembled a classic monster prison: cold glass walls confined various Ruins creatures, the effect reminiscent of a museum.

Ye Mi had only glimpsed pictures rolling across hallway screens, never seen the containment zone itself—her Silversoul lacked time to linger, so she hurried to Ian’s quarters.

Ian seemed truly exhausted, made a phone call about the experiments, changed clothes, and lay down to nap on the lounge sofa.

The lab was eerily quiet; the dim light made it easy for Ye Mi to hide, and the plan document hung nearby on the workbench.

Ye Mi climbed onto the bench, reading its contents by the blue glow of the monitor.

“Survivor 06 Maternal Experiment Plan”

[Experiment Goals]
[1. Can offspring inherit the mother’s ‘immunity to Ruins influence’?]
[2. Can offspring be mass-produced?]
[3. Can offspring be enhanced by combining monster DNA?]

[Experiment Process]
[Phase One:]
[Phase Two:]
[Phase Three:]

Ye Mi finished reading, and a chill seeped to her core.

If the experiment succeeded, she would be damned forever— the Bureau intended her to become the mother of an army.

The process section was nearly blank, likely because the device was still under construction, and Ian need not schedule phases yet.

This meant Ye Mi had only thirty days to escape the Bureau.