World of Data

"You fucker, JAMES!"

The furious shout echoed through the sterile white walls of the lab.

James, leaning back lazily in his chair, barely flinched. He turned his head and sighed.

"What, Allen?"

Allen stormed toward him, his white lab coat swaying as he slammed a clipboard onto the desk. His face was red with frustration.

"The fuck do you mean 'what'? You still didn't delete Subject 2099!"

James raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? I already deleted it yesterday."

"Don't lie to me, you bastard. Look."

Allen furiously pointed at his monitor.

James leaned forward and squinted at the screen.

There it was, File Number 2099. Still there. Still active.

James frowned. That's weird…

Allen crossed his arms.

"I already told you, 2099 has a serious bug. It's a damn anomaly. Rather than fixing it, just delete it."

"Alright, alright, relax. Let me delete it again."

James tapped a few keys, navigating to the file.

DELETE.

A confirmation window popped up.

> Are you sure you want to delete Subject 2099?

YES.

The file vanished.

Allen let out a sigh of relief.

"Finally. Now let's clock out. We already stayed past work hours."

James stretched and yawned. "Yeah, yeah. Let's get the hell out of here."

---

The Next Day

"THE FUCK?!"

Allen's voice echoed through the lab once again.

He stood in front of his monitor, eyes wide in shock.

File Number 2099 was back.

James, still half-asleep, walked in holding a coffee.

"Dude, why are you yelling first thing in the morning"

Then he saw it.

His blood went cold.

The file wasn't just back, it was corrupted.

The usual structured data had turned into a chaotic mess of symbols, numbers, and random text.

Unknown Code Detected.

System Error: Cannot Access File 2099.

"No way…" James muttered, setting his coffee down.

Allen ran a hand through his hair, stress evident in his expression.

"I thought you deleted this thing yesterday!"

"I did!" James insisted.

"Then why the fuck is it still here?!"

James had no answer.

Allen's fingers flew across the keyboard.

"Fine. I'll delete it myself."

DELETE.

Error.

DELETE.

Error.

DELETE.

Error.

"Oh, you've gotta be fucking kidding me," Allen groaned.

No matter what he tried, 2099 wouldn't delete.

And then...

Other files started corrupting.

One by one, critical system files turned red.

> Warning: Data Corruption Spreading.

Even the important files, the ones connected to HQ, weren't spared.

Allen's stomach twisted.

"Shit, shit, shit!"

He grabbed a flash drive and started downloading the important files.

"At least we can save these before 2099 fucks everything up."

As the transfer bar slowly filled, he kept his eyes glued to the screen, watching 2099.

It was moving.

Not just existing. Spreading. Growing. Infecting.

And then...

"Morning, guys. What's up?"

James turned around to see his coworker, Mia, stepping into the lab. She blinked, confused at the tension in the room.

Allen didn't even look at her.

"James, explain to her before I lose my shit."

James sighed.

"Uh, so… remember Subject 2099? The failed AI we were supposed to delete?"

"Yeah?"

"Well… it's not deleted."

Mia's brows furrowed.

"What do you mean, 'not deleted'? Just delete it again."

Allen turned, eyes twitching.

"Wow, what a genius solution, Mia. Why the fuck didn't I think of that?"

James sighed. "We tried. It doesn't work."

Mia walked over and leaned in to look at the screen.

"Wait… why is it corrupting other files?"

"Because it's a fucking virus now," Allen grumbled.

James rubbed his temples.

"Okay, let's not panic. There's gotta be a way to stop it."

Allen scoffed.

"Stop it? Are you seeing this? Even the HQ files are corrupted. If they find out we fried a brand-new computer, we're screwed."

James paled.

Getting fired was the least of their worries.

HQ didn't take kindly to failure.

And then...

James had an idea.

A risky idea.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small USB drive.

Allen's eyes widened.

"No way. How the fuck did you get that?!"

Mia's face twisted in confusion.

"What is that?"

James smirked.

"Something I got from the black market."

Allen's jaw dropped.

"You bought an illegal USB?!"

James shrugged.

"I was gonna use it against our competitors… but now, I think it's better if we use it on 2099."

Mia crossed her arms.

"Wait, wait, wait. What's on it?"

James grinned.

"A virus."

Allen stared at him like he was insane.

"You're gonna fight a virus with another virus?"

James nodded.

"Damn right I am."

Allen looked at Mia.

Mia looked at Allen.

Then, at the same time, they both sighed.

"Fuck it, compare to 2099,i can still control this virus remotely" James muttered as he open his smartphone.

James then plugged the USB into the computer.

A progress bar appeared.

Deploying Trojan Virus V628…

And so, they released the virus.