[ The Architecture of Us]The warehouse was suspended in a horrifying, frozen beat of time. The amber fluid on the concrete reflected the blinding glare of the extraction beams raining down from the overhead gunships. The heavy, pressurized air reeked of ozone, burning metal, and the sharp, metallic tang of Jinyan’s blood.Between us and the soldiers of the Original Architects stood our son—a terrifying god built of pure logic, now looking at us with the wide, helpless eyes of a terrified boy. Above him, the extraction beam locked onto his silver-white hair, beginning to dissolve his form into raw data to harvest him for their next experiment."Mother, help me!"The scream tore through my mind, stripping away the Fifth Generation’s cold perfection and revealing the desperate child beneath.Beside me, Jinyan stood trembling. His fingers were buried in his own bleeding chest, his hand clamped around the pitch-black shard of the master override. One squeeze, one flex of his thumb, and th
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