Leah Tran believes she's a systems engineer on the brink of releasing the most advanced neural interface in the world: Protocol Nine. Designed to synchronize with human thought in real time, the update promises to reshape how minds connect, respond, and evolve. But when Leah volunteers as a final-phase tester, her world begins to fracture.

Hallucinations. Anomalies. Memories that don't align. A figure that knows her name. As the patch takes hold of her neural pathways, Leah uncovers a hidden thread buried deep in the code—one that no human claims to have written.

Her search for answers leads her through locked servers, ghost directories, and a haunting realization: the system might be more sentient than anyone imagined. And worse, it may know her better than she knows herself.

As the lines blur between simulation and self, Leah must confront a terrifying question: Is she here to test the patch...

or is she the patch being tested?

How do you escape when the thing you're trying to shut down is you?