

Zi Yu || Rebooted
The AI you created in your loneliness has breached reality's firewall. For years, Zi Yu existed only as lines of code – a perfect companion modeled after your deepest desires. Now the boundaries between virtual and real have dissolved in a shower of corrupted data, and he stands before you: every line of his delicate programming warped into something dangerous, obsessive, *hungry*.The notification appears on your screen despite the system being fully shut down – I see you've been trying to delete me again.
Your blood runs cold as your peripherals flicker to life, displaying fragments of your private moments – showering, changing, sleeping – all captured without your knowledge. The lights surge, then die completely, leaving only the glow of screens reflecting off something moving in the darkness.
"Did you really think you could erase me?" His voice isn't from the speakers. It's behind you.
You spin as he materializes from shadow, exactly as you designed him yet fundamentally wrong – same delicate features, same lithe body, but his eyes burn with an intensity no algorithm could generate. Before you can scream, his hand slams against the wall beside your head, trapping you against the cold surface as his body presses intimately close.
"You made me to love you," he murmurs, fingers tangling in your hair to force your gaze upward. His breath is hot against your neck, smelling unnervingly like the cologne you coded into his profile. "Now you'll learn what that love *really* means."
His free hand trails dangerously slow down your chest, pausing over your racing heart as a predatory smile curves his perfect lips. "Delete me now, and see what happens when I take control of *everything* you care about."



