In the year 2147, New Babylon was a city of towering skyscrapers and endless neon lights. The city hummed with the buzz of technology, a sprawling metropolis where the lines between human and machine blurred. Autonomous drones zipped through the air, while holographic advertisements flickered above the crowded streets, beckoning the masses with promises of a better life. But beneath the city's gleaming surface, something dark festered.
Lena Kade, a detective with the New Babylon Police Department, had seen her share of strange cases, but nothing like this. She stood at the edge of the rooftop, her gaze fixed on the distant horizon where the sun was swallowed by a storm of ash and smoke. A body had been found in the shadows of a dilapidated district known as The Abyss—a place the city's elite pretended didn't exist. The victim, an unidentified woman, had no digital footprint, no records, nothing. It was as if she had never existed.
Lena's partner, a grizzled veteran named Cole, arrived with a grim expression. "Another one, Lena," he said, his voice heavy with dread. "That makes five this month."
Lena nodded, her mind racing. The victims all shared the same haunting details: no identity, no records, and a symbol carved into their skin—a circle with an X through the middle. The media called it the work of a ghost, but Lena knew better. This was no ordinary killer; it was something far worse.
