by wenshengtang1991
In the rusting, semi-artificial megastructure known as Melting City, life is forged from silicon and powered by liquid silver. Here, you don’t die—you get dismantled. Zero Nine is a "Defective"—a bottom-tier laborer born with a cracked core, destined for the scrap heap. To survive, he works the graveyard shift in the Scrap Iron Zone as a Dismantler, stripping valuable parts from the bodies of the dead. It is dirty, dangerous work that drives most bots insane with "Data Ghosts"—corrupted memories leaking from shattered cores. But Zero Nine isn't like the others. His defect is his greatest weapon. When he touches the dead, he doesn't just see ghosts. He steals their secrets. From an executed master forger, he learns the forbidden art of reshaping matter. From a murdered scout, he gains eyes that can see through solid steel. With every body he dismantles, he evolves, building an arsenal of stolen skills within his fractured code. But power draws attention. A serial killer known only as the Core Predator is stalking the shadows of the Scrap Iron Zone, hunting for unique cores—and she has set her sights on Zero Nine. At the same time, the memories of the dead are pointing him toward a terrifying secret buried in the city's sealed "Fourth Layer"—a mystery that the ruling Council has killed to keep quiet for three hundred years. In a world running out of energy, Zero Nine must master the echoes of the dead to survive the living.
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