Altcoin Boy

I woke up with a heavy head and dry eyes. The clock on the wall said 6:17 AM. No new notifications on my phone, except one from my reminder app:

"Shift starts at 8:00 AM. Don't be late again."

I stared at the ceiling of my dorm room. Still cracked in the corner. Still smelling damp from last night's rain. Still the same as yesterday—everything but me. I still couldn't believe what had happened last night. The "0" file, the global map, the red dot in Jakarta. The strange voice on the phone. The knock at the door. And that paper. The paper with the chilling words:

"Are you ready to replace Miner Zero?"

I got up and slowly walked to the bathroom. The cold floor jolted me a little, reminding me I was still in the real world. But was this real, truly?

Water ran from the old faucet. I stared at my face in the cracked mirror. Puffy eyes, hollow cheeks, pale lips. The face of someone who didn't know if they were safe anymore or if they'd been marked as an enemy by something unseen.

I put on my black jacket, worn-out trousers, and sneakers with holes starting in the heels. My sling bag was full of cables, chargers, and a single USB drive that felt heavier now than ever before. It only contained one file: Genesis_log.txt, a file I hadn't even had a chance to open yet.

I grabbed my motorcycle keys from the nail on the wall and headed down to the yard.

Jakarta's streets were still chaotic. Motorcycles buzzed by, horns blared, and motorbike taxi drivers idled at the end of the alley. I navigated the streets towards the restaurant where I worked. My old motorcycle rumbled softly, as if it knew the weight I was carrying this morning.

When I got to the kitchen, it was already bustling.

"You're late again, Andi!" The head chef, calling without looking.

I nodded slowly.

"Sorry, Sir. Traffic was a nightmare."

"Always with the excuses. Go cut the onions, orders have been coming in since seven!"

I grabbed my apron and gloves, then took my usual spot in the corner of the kitchen, a place I'd known for the past two years. Knife in my right hand, onion in my left. My movements went on autopilot, even though my mind was still stuck on last night.

I didn't know if CryptoGhost and the guys in the Telegram group were safe. None of them had contacted me since that night. Were they hiding? Or... had they been taken out?

"What's up with you, Andi?" asked Rudi, my chattiest kitchen buddy. "You've been chopping like a zombie."

I turned.

"Just didn't get enough sleep."

"You sick, bro? You look really pale."

I just managed a small smile and looked away. No point telling Rudi about the Genesis Protocol or the mysterious voices on the phone. He'd just think I was drunk or watching too many conspiracy theories.

Hours crawled by. I cooked, ran orders, washed dishes, then cooked again. My body moved on autopilot, but my mind was miles away. Every notification sound on my phone made my heart jump. But no messages came in. Just a hanging silence.

In the late afternoon, I headed back to my dorm. A light drizzle started as I parked my motorcycle. The sky was overcast. There was the smell of wet earth and a faint whiff of burning wood from a neighbor's house. I climbed to the second floor, opened my door, and immediately collapsed onto the thin mattress, the only comfortable spot in the room.

I looked at my small desk. My laptop was plugged back in, but I hadn't dared hit the power button. I wasn't ready. Not for a technical error—I just wasn't ready to face the truth that was probably waiting inside.

My phone was still silent. No messages from CryptoGhost. No notifications from the Telegram group. It was like it had all been a dream.

But that paper was still there. I pulled open the drawer and looked at it again: a faded, worn piece of paper, with strange handwriting:

"Are you ready to replace Miner Zero?"

I hugged my knees and leaned against the wall. Night was falling. Jakarta was shifting from noisy to quiet. But this quiet was louder than anything else, full of questions—all with no answers.

What was the Genesis Protocol?

Who was Miner Zero?

Why me? And... who knew where I was now?

I pulled out my phone and opened Telegram. The group was still silent. But there was one pinned message from CryptoGhost I hadn't really read seriously:

"If you've seen file 0, there's no going back. Don't panic. But don't stay silent for too long either. Those who stay quiet will be replaced. Those who move, will be tested."

I deleted the message from my screen. Not because it wasn't important, but because it was too real.

The clock showed 10:13 PM.

I got up and opened the window. It was still raining. Lights from the small alley flickered, probably due to old, frayed wires. I looked up at the Jakarta sky. Then slowly closed the window.

I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. And tomorrow, I'd have to choose—stick to this empty routine, or dive deeper into a world whose face I couldn't even see.

As I turned off the room light, my phone suddenly lit up on its own. A notification popped up. One message from an unnamed contact:

"Nemesis Protocol initiated. Target: Andi (ID#239A)."

There was no "reply" button. No traceable sender. Just one choice: stare at the message or turn off the phone. I picked the second option.

I gripped the phone tightly, then held down the power button until the screen completely died. I put it on the desk and stared blankly at the wall. What did "target" mean? Was I being hunted? By whom? And for what?

Slowly, I tried to regulate my breathing and not panic. CryptoGhost's previous messages were always in technical language, but this? This felt like a personal threat. I felt seen, watched, and worst of all—marked.

I looked around the room. The old fan still spun on the ceiling. Used books about economics and coding were scattered on the floor. Even the small mirror in the corner of the room reflected a shadow that looked five years older than last night.

I needed to know more.

I pulled the laptop onto my lap. Hesitantly, I pressed the power button. The screen lit up. No errors. No weirdness.

The desktop still showed the last wallpaper: a satellite image of Earth full of red dots, a remnant from last night. But all the dots were no longer blinking. Only one dot in Jakarta was now yellow.

I clicked it.

A small panel appeared on the screen. There were three lines of information:

Miner ID: Zero_Replacement_239A

Status: Under Observation

Protocol Active: NEMESIS

I stared at that last line for a good long while.

"Under Observation"... so someone was watching me right now?

Suddenly, a command terminal popped up on its own, and lines of text started typing themselves:

"Welcome back."

"Access granted for Miner Zero's replacement."

"Current Level: LV.1"

"To proceed with personal security system activation, connection verification is required."

Then the screen asked:

Are you ready to accept full access? (Y/N)

My hand hovered over the keyboard. I knew this wasn't just about clicking or not clicking. This was a choice between two worlds: my routine life as a barely-making-it kitchen worker... and a mysterious world full of code, protocols, and threats I didn't even understand yet.

I hit Y, then Enter.

The terminal processed.

"Genesis Mode active."

"Running sandbox simulation…"

"Preparing asset recognition: Cryptography, AI bypass, and Block Trap."

That last line made my eyebrows shoot up. Block Trap? I'd never heard that term, not even on the most extreme blockchain forums.

The screen changed to a dark display with a different digital map than before. This map didn't show locations, but a network—like the neural structure of a brain, only made of interconnected nodes and pathways. Some dots glowed, as if signaling: this is where the conflict is happening.

The cursor on the screen moved on its own, pointing to a node in the bottom left corner.

"Node-X23: Vulnerable. Penetration initiated."

I nearly dropped my laptop when I saw the name of the next node: Node-JKT/Andi/

It didn't take long. The screen flickered again. A new message popped up in the middle:

"Your network has been infiltrated."

"All activity logs from today have been recorded."

"Time to make a choice: are you a pawn... or an enemy?"

I slammed my laptop shut. Cold sweat poured down my temples. My chest felt tight. This wasn't a game anymore. This wasn't just some digital story. I was knee-deep in it. And something—or someone—was watching my every move.

I flicked on the room light. Nothing changed in the atmosphere, but there was a strange feeling in the air. Like this room wasn't private anymore, but an observation cell. Even the window felt like a one-way camera.

I stood up and started searching the room. I made sure there were no strange objects, no hidden cameras, no listening devices. But what if it was all planted ages ago? Or... what if it was all digital?

I looked back at the small flash drive in my jacket pocket.

The Genesis_log.txt file was still unopened. Maybe the answers were in there.

I plugged the flash drive into my laptop, then opened the file. Its content was simple. Just a few lines of text:

[Genesis Protocol Log Start]

Activation Date: 2025-07-17

Activator: User#239A

Miner Zero Status: Unknown

Last Position: Jakarta Node

Nemesis_Trigger_Level: 3

Time Remaining: 72 hours

I stared at the last line.

Time Remaining: 72 hours

Remaining for what?

To survive?

To complete a mission?

Or... until something takes over?

I got up, walked out of the room, and locked the door from the outside. The narrow alley was silent. I went down the stairs, then walked down the alley towards the 24-hour minimarket.

I needed air. I needed time to think. But most importantly right now, I needed to know who was still alive from the Telegram group—and who I could trust.

And as I opened Telegram, a message popped up from CryptoGhost.

"If you're reading this, Nemesis is active."

"Meet me. Now."

"Location: 6°11'29.2"S 106°49'56.3"E"

I stared at the coordinates. My hands started to shake.

That location... it was right in the middle of a dead forest on the outskirts of Jakarta—a place that had been closed off to the public for three years because of an underground gas explosion. And now, for some reason... I had to go there.

The silence of the night swallowed my own voice as I stood on the edge of a dirt path that used to be called an industrial area. This was where the coordinates pointed. My phone's GPS led right to this spot, but there were no signs of life, no Wi-Fi signal, not even streetlights.

I looked around. Dead trees loomed like broken shadows. Thin smoke wafted from the ground in a few spots, showing there was still heat trapped beneath the surface from the big explosion three years ago. This place truly looked like the digital hell described in dark web forums: silent, forgotten, but holding secrets that could change everything.

My footsteps were slow but steady. Every dry leaf I stepped on made an unsettling crunch. I held a small flashlight, its beam cutting through the darkness but unable to pierce more than two meters ahead.

My head was spinning with questions. Why did CryptoGhost call me to this place?

What was its connection to the Genesis Protocol?

And... why did I feel like I was getting closer to the core of something I couldn't explain?

Two hundred meters into the dead forest, I found something. An old, gray metal container, half-buried in the ground, covered in rust, and with holes in some of its walls. In front of it, a large number was spray-painted: X-23.

I knocked on the side of the container.

An empty echo answered. But after a few seconds, a mechanical rumble came from inside. The sound of an electric lock disengaging.

The metal door slowly groaned open, revealing a dark, narrow hallway. The smell of metal, oil, and damp air greeted me. Small green lights flickered on one by one along the walls of the corridor, as if inviting me in.

My steps became more hesitant. But curiosity was far stronger than fear.

After about ten meters, the hallway opened into a larger room. In the center, someone stood. A tall silhouette, wearing a black hoodie and a face mask that obscured their identity. But I recognized that style. The voice that greeted me confirmed my suspicion.

"Welcome to the dead node, Andi."

I nodded slowly.

"CryptoGhost?"

He didn't answer, just raised his hand and pointed to a large screen on the back wall. On it, that brain-like network appeared again—similar to what I'd seen on my laptop. But there was one difference: certain nodes were glowing bright red.

"What is that?" I asked.

He glanced at me. "Those are the nodes that Nemesis has infiltrated."

"So... this is happening right now?"

"It has been since last night. But this morning, Nemesis isn't just monitoring... it's starting to reconfigure the network."

I fell silent. The atmosphere in the room was so thick, it felt like the air carried the weight of thousands of unresolved transactions.

CryptoGhost came closer, then placed something on a small table: a metal drive that looked like a car key, but with digital etchings on its sides.

"This is the only tool that can neutralize Nemesis's effects on a single local node. But there's only one."

I looked at him. "Why only one?"

"Because there's only one Miner left."

He looked at me deeply; even from behind his mask, I could feel the weight of his gaze.

"And you know who that is now."

I let out a long breath. "Me?"

"You, Andi. The moment you activated the Genesis Protocol and opened file '0,' all doors opened for you. Including... pathways that can't be closed again."

I stared at the device, my hands trembling. One tool. One chance. But I still didn't know what would happen if I used it—or if I failed to use it.

"I'm not ready," I said softly.

CryptoGhost nodded.

"No one ever is. But time won't wait."

Suddenly, the screen on the wall changed. A huge message flashed:

NEMESIS PROTOCOL: NON-COOPERATIVE ACTIVITY DETECTED

NETWORK RECONFIGURATION INITIATED

TARGET: NODE-JKT/ANDI/

Alarms blared. The room lights flickered. The hallway door I came through slammed shut automatically.

CryptoGhost moved fast, typing something into the terminal.

"They found us quicker than expected. The system can only hold for a few more minutes before this location gets uploaded to their main grid."

I backed up, my heart pounding, matching the deafening alarm.

"What do I do now?"

CryptoGhost turned to me. "Grab that device. Take it to the Jakarta node distribution center. You need to get inside their Core Wallet. That's the only place you can plant the Genesis filter."

"Alone?"

He looked at me.

"We all started alone. But you don't have to stay that way."

The room was getting more chaotic. Other screens started flashing red code, the sirens got even louder.

I grabbed the device and shoved it into my jacket pocket. CryptoGhost opened a section of the back wall—a secret door to an escape tunnel.

"There's an exit route through there. Get on your old bike, head north. The location of the central node is already loaded onto that device. Use it wisely."

I stood at the entrance to the dark tunnel. But before I took a step, CryptoGhost said one thing I'll never forget:

"If you fail... we'll all go back to being digital pawns. And there'll be no freedom left in the system."

I nodded and started running down the hallway.

The alarm was still going off. But there's more to it than that... I heard something else.

It's a digital frequency sound, like a whisper.

And that whisper only said one word.

"Andi..."

"Andi..."

"I know where you're going."

I sped up, running as fast as I could.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that whatever I'd left behind was somehow following me through the system.