Bits of Love, Lines of Code
Chapter 80 - 75 — Shadows Retaliate

Chapter 80: Chapter 75 — Shadows Retaliate

The storm was gone. But its echo lingered.

Far above the city, on the rooftop of a dimly lit building, a single figure stood — soaked in rain, unmoving.

Saki.

She had watched everything. Her long hair clung to her face, her lips slightly parted in shock.

"That suit... That wasn’t just tech. That was war," she whispered, clutching the rusted railing. Her knuckles turned white.

Below her, emergency sirens were starting to wail in the distance. But she wasn’t hearing them. Her mind was spiraling — obsessively replaying the moment Ren dropped from the sky like a god.

He didn’t hesitate. Not for a second.For her.Only her.

A twisted smile crept onto Saki’s face. "So... you really built all of that... for her?"

But then her eyes narrowed. Cold and calculating. "Then I’ll just take it all away."

Elsewhere — In a glass-walled penthouse across the city

Naruse stood shirtless before a massive touchscreen wall, scrolling through surveillance feeds and intercepted drone footage. A deep gash marked his cheek—one of Ren’s punches from earlier.

His lips curled into a snarl. "He actually built it. A wearable defense AI suit... and deployed it in Tokyo."

Behind him, his secretary stood silently, holding a sleek black tablet.

Naruse turned. "Pull every record. I want details—blueprints, flight patterns, energy spikes. If that thing has a power source, we’ll find it."

He paced. "That AI—Lucia, right? It’s more than a defense program. It’s a learning core. Adaptive. Watching."

He smirked. "Let’s see how smart she is against actual interference."

He turned to the window. Lights glittered across the skyline like a net of fireflies.

"Start Operation Phantom. Leak a false digital distress signal in Ren’s home system. Get him out. We’ll isolate Aoi again. This time, permanently."

Back at the countryside home

Lucia’s core flickered once. Deep within the lab, screens began to pulse red for a split second—then reverted.

She blinked. "...unusual activity detected."

She turned toward the entry sensors. "Sir... something is coming."

But Ren was in the lower chamber, repairing the gauntlet that had dented during the rescue. He looked up. "Lucia, status?"

Lucia: External infiltration attempt suppressed. I am... uncertain. It felt like a memory echo. A... digital phantom.

Ren narrowed his eyes. "So he’s testing the waters now."

He stood up, suit partially off, sweat beading on his skin from hours of work. "Then it’s war."