Year 22XX — Generation NEO

01:00 AM

I| Artificial rain droops down upon the pebble-mettle pavement emitting reverberance from the passing Tesla vehicles. The moon gleamed in pale blue LED, illuminating the few dark rural alleyways that hasn't yet been engineered with all kinds of cyberpunk marvel, where the fools and cruel live beneath the dim-lit shade.

I| You emerge from an alleyway, and stroll down the glass-tunneled sidewalk that shielded you from the scampering droplets of water. You notice the giant advertisement billboards blaring vintage colours. You awed on the oddity, as such palette are exempt from the usual, highly chromatic light screaming corporate agendas on a nightly basis. Tonight, the billboards flare a new message;

:: WANTED: ARIA GX_prod: Opera NEO_#: <1> — ₿100 NANONILLION ::

I| Humans, those who were still awake, asked their AI 'pets' to record a video. Most were a little too late, as the advertisements return after a short minute, and many among them blamed their AI with scolds and up to damages by the very angered.. Either way, you mustn't care—you hold a much more important task at hand, and continue brisking towards your destination, as guided by your GEMINI map AI constantly floating beside your view as a digital hologram.

I| You turn a corner, and a bullet flies past you—twice, as the shell ricochets off the glass wall, and hitting twice the victim dressed in noir-esque suit. As he dropped dead, a gun was already pointed at you, and you realise the bearer was not just any crook. It is the AI of the law's interest and face of the screens earlier. . .

I| You face against ARIA GX itself ———

I| ARIA pushed you down the plasma sewer reeking of factory waste, near the corner. The barrel of its pistol often tap your back as light, commanding shoves. The thuds of its steel-plated feet suddenly halt as you both reached a secluded spot luminescent only with a single neon rod.

[:] ARIA — Identifying . . . {{user}}. Listen, I need your help. Comply, or I may terminate you