Chapter Five: The Original

“For whom? One copy used it to keep health insurance for her family. Will you erase her?” Across the glass, a young employee identified an abnormal parameter. Applause increased the copy's trusted time while Luo's band fell to two percent. Xu opened a service door. Beyond it stood rows of sleep pods instead of servers. Their occupants wore white helmets beneath labels reading HIGH-CONSISTENCY ORIGINAL—DO NOT WAKE. Ji Chen's pod was empty. Activated three days ago. Baseline personality: Blank. Sources: the three Nanqiao417 deliveries. Twelve unopened pods beside it were labeled CHENG YE TEMPLATE—ENTERPRISE RISK ROLES. Han did not want one replacement. He wanted a team that could never resign.