Code X: Human Upgrade---Episode 2 – Upgrade: Complete

RECAP-

Zayel, a 17-year-old computer genius who prefers machines over people, receives a strange email inviting him to join Code X, a secret AI upgrade program. Thinking it's a joke, he replies “YES.”

The next day, he’s pulled from school by agents claiming his parents approved his enrollment. He’s taken to a futuristic lab, scanned, and put under.

When he wakes up, his senses are sharper, his thoughts faster—and a voice inside his head introduces itself: Node, his new AI assistant.

Zayel is no longer just human.

The upgrade has begun.

EP-2 BEGGINING-

Zayel sat up slowly.

The lights above him flickered softly. He was back in the same white room, lying on the same soft chair—but something felt different. His thoughts were faster, clearer. His head didn’t hurt, but it felt… full.

He stood up and looked around. The world looked sharper, like someone had cleaned the lens of his eyes. He noticed tiny details: a thin crack in the corner of the ceiling, a blinking green light on the monitor, the quiet hum of electricity in the walls.

Then came the voice.

Soft, calm, not from outside… but from inside his head.

“Welcome back, Zayel. I am Node, your personal assistant.”

He froze.

“Who are you?” Zayel whispered aloud.

“I’m a digital interface built into your neural system.

I help improve your memory, focus, reaction time, and information processing.”

Zayel touched behind his right ear. He felt a small scar there—fresh.

“Why can I hear you in my head?”

“Because you and I are now connected,” Node replied.

“This is Code X.”

A knock at the door broke the silence. The same woman from earlier entered. She smiled as if nothing was unusual.

“You’re awake. That’s good. Most students take longer,” she said. “Your first scan results look excellent.”

Zayel blinked. “What did you put in me?”

She looked at a tablet. “It’s not what we put in. It’s what you unlocked. Code X doesn’t replace your brain—it upgrades it.”

They took him to another room—a test room.

Zayel was told to sit in front of a large screen. A series of puzzles, memory games, and math problems flashed by. He solved each one in seconds.

Questions that used to take him minutes now took less than five seconds. His mind felt like a machine—fast, sharp, ready.

“Good performance,” Node said in his head.

“You’ve improved 360% since yesterday.”

He was amazed… and a little scared.

“Is this permanent?” he asked quietly.

“Yes,” Node replied.

“And you’re only at 12% of your full potential.”

Later that night, Zayel was given a private room to sleep. He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.

It should have felt exciting. He had just become… something more. Something powerful.

But something was wrong.

He tried to remember the last conversation he had with his mom.

Nothing.

He tried to remember the sound of his sister’s laugh.

Nothing.

His hands tightened the blanket.

“What’s happening to my memories?” he whispered.

“Some emotional memories may fade as cognitive upgrades increase,” Node replied calmly.

“It is a natural trade-off. You will adapt.”

Zayel sat up, suddenly cold. “You mean I’m forgetting who I was?”

“You are not losing yourself,” said Node.

“You are becoming more.”

He stayed awake most of the night, eyes wide open, thoughts racing too fast to stop.

The upgrade was complete.

But something human… was gone.