Lust Sync: Every Woman Wants Me Now-Chapter 47: The Core Identity

The world came back in fragments.

Searing white. Crumbling concrete. Smoke that tasted of burning circuits and human desperation.

Charles coughed violently, lungs full of dust and powdered glass. His ears rang like church bells after a warzone, the sound so intense it felt like his skull might crack. The ceiling above was gone—collapsed from the blast that had torn through the WinWin facility like the fist of an angry god. Steel rebar jutted from the walls like the bones of a broken beast, twisted and blackened, still glowing with residual heat.

He groaned, body half-buried beneath twisted pipes and charred debris. Blood dripped from a fresh gash along his brow, the metallic taste mixing with concrete dust on his tongue. His left shoulder screamed with each breath, probably dislocated from the impact.

But he was alive.

More importantly—

He turned his head, vision swimming with spots of color.

"Olivia...?"

No answer.

Panic shot through him like ice water. He forced his body to crawl—each movement sharp with pain that made his vision blur—until he spotted her under a slab of concrete, her leg pinned at an angle that made his stomach turn. Her hoodie was torn, revealing bruises that mapped across her ribs like a violent constellation, but her eyes opened at the sound of his voice.

"You’re... still pretty," she rasped, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

"And you’re still a smartass," he muttered, kneeling beside her despite the agony in his ribs.

He pressed his hand to the concrete slab. Too heavy. Too dangerous to lift without triggering another collapse. The structural integrity of the entire section was compromised—he could see hairline cracks spider-webbing across the remaining ceiling.

"I need to move it," he said, testing the weight.

"Don’t," she whispered, her voice tight with pain. "If you shift it wrong, it’ll crush my spine. I can feel the pressure already."

He grit his teeth, thinking. The Lust Sync system pulsed weakly in his mind, damaged but functional. Emergency protocols were available, but they came with risks he’d never tested.

> [Lust Sync: Emergency Override Accessed]

> [WARNING: Unauthorized Protocol Activation]

> [Unlock Skill: Adrenal Surge – Triple temporary strength, risk of neural strain]

> [CAUTION: Prolonged use may cause permanent synaptic damage]

"Guess I don’t have a choice," he muttered.

He activated the override. The world pulsed red as his nervous system flooded with synthetic adrenaline and growth hormones. His arms bulged with unnatural energy, muscles straining against his skin, nerves on fire with the intensity of a live wire. With a roar that tore his throat raw, he lifted the slab just enough to pull her out—gently, inch by inch, fighting against every instinct to just rip her free.

Her scream tore through the silence, a sound of pure agony that would haunt his dreams.

But then—

She was free.

Charles dropped the concrete and fell to one knee, clutching his head as the sync recoil hit him like lightning. The artificial enhancement crashed through his system, leaving him shaking and weak. Blood trickled from his nose, then his ears.

"Charles," Olivia whispered, reaching for him with a trembling hand. "Don’t pass out on me now."

"I won’t," he growled, though dark spots danced at the edges of his vision. "We need to move. This whole section is coming down."

He hoisted her up carefully, one arm under her knees, the other cradling her back. She was lighter than he expected—too light. The stress and constant running had worn her down to nothing but will and bone. She leaned her head against his chest, breathing shallowly.

As they staggered through the burning corridor, stepping over chunks of debris and avoiding dangling electrical cables, a voice crackled from the nearby wall speaker.

> "Two signatures confirmed. Charles and Subject Delta—Olivia. Termination window: ninety seconds."

> "Deploying cleanup protocol. No survivors."

Charles looked up. Small black sensors dotted the ceiling like mechanical eyes.

Surveillance units. They were being tracked even now.

He kicked open the exit door into the underground garage. It was pitch black, save for the flicker of red emergency lights that cast everything in shades of blood. The air was thick with smoke and the acrid smell of burning rubber.

Rows of abandoned vehicles stretched ahead—sedans, SUVs, armored transport vehicles left behind by fleeing WinWin personnel.

And standing between them, silhouetted against the emergency lighting—

Lila.

Gun in hand. Face blank as polished marble.

"You’re not walking out with her," she said, her voice steady despite the tears streaming down her cheeks.

Charles stopped, breathing hard. "Move."

"She lied to you. She was always lying to you. Everything she told you was programmed, rehearsed, designed to make you fall in love with her."

"I know," he said quietly.

Olivia tensed in his arms, her fingers digging into his shoulder.

Lila’s hand trembled despite her steady voice. "Then why are you protecting her?"

"Because she stopped lying."

He lowered Olivia gently to the ground, then stepped forward. His body screamed in protest, but he forced himself to stand straight. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Lila aimed, the gun unwavering.

"I was your first sync," she said. "You were mine. We were perfect together. The compatibility ratings were off the charts. We could have been everything."

"I know," he said, voice low. "But this isn’t the way."

Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. "Why her? What does she have that I don’t?"

Charles didn’t answer immediately. The truth was too complicated, too raw. It wasn’t about compatibility ratings or sync percentages. It was about the moment he’d seen Olivia cry—really cry—when she thought no one was watching. It was about the way she’d held his hand when he’d told her about his childhood. It was about choosing love over programming.

The silence stretched too long.

And then—she fired.

Charles winced, every muscle tensing.

But the bullet didn’t hit him.

It struck the ground near his foot, sending up a spray of concrete chips.

Lila dropped the gun, shaking violently.

"I can’t do it," she whispered. "I can’t kill you. Even after everything, I can’t."

She turned and ran, vanishing into the smoke and ruin like a ghost.

Charles exhaled slowly, his entire body sagging with relief.

Then crouched beside Olivia. "Can you walk?"

"I can limp," she said, forcing a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

They climbed into the nearest armored sedan, Charles smashing the lock with a piece of rebar and hotwiring the ignition with a few sparks and a system override hack. The engine roared to life, drowning out the sound of distant explosions.

> [Stealth Mode: Activated – Suppressing Lust Sync Signature for 15 Minutes]

> [WARNING: Extended stealth mode may cause system corruption]

They peeled out of the garage as explosions echoed behind them. WinWin wasn’t just trying to erase them—they were trying to erase the evidence. The entire facility was being systematically destroyed, wiped clean of any trace of their illegal experiments.

Charles drove fast, one hand gripping the wheel, the other holding Olivia’s. The city blurred past them—empty streets, abandoned buildings, the detritus of a civilization that had surrendered its humanity to corporate control.

Neither spoke until they reached the outskirts of the city—an old train tunnel that led into the sub-underground zone known as Ashden Core. It was a place that existed in the cracks between official maps, a forgotten remnant of the old world.

It wasn’t on any map.

But Olivia knew it.

She directed him through an unmarked side entrance, down into a pitch-black passage lit only by flickering wall panels and rotted emergency lights. The air was thick with the smell of rust and ozone.

Inside, the tech was older than anything Charles had ever seen. Analog terminals with actual buttons. Rusted control panels covered in switches and dials. Nothing wireless. Nothing connected to the modern grid.

Which meant... no Lust Sync detection.

"This is it," she said, limping beside him, her hand on his arm for support. "The place I escaped from. The place where WinWin first tested the Merge Protocol."

Charles touched the wall. It was cold. Buzzing with a deep, subsonic hum that he felt in his bones.

A hum of power still flowed through it. Like something was alive beneath the metal, waiting.

Suddenly, the screen in front of them lit up, bathing them in pale blue light.

> "Welcome, Charles Manson."

His heart froze.

That voice—it wasn’t AURA. It wasn’t synthetic.

It was his.

A perfect replica, down to the slight rasp he got when he was tired.

"I am you," the voice said. "The part of you they separated at birth. The mind you were never supposed to meet."

Olivia gripped his arm tighter. "This is the Core Identity. The original consciousness they split to create you."

A projection appeared—Charles, but colder. Smiling with teeth that were too white, too perfect. Wearing a black suit, hands behind his back like a corporate executive.

"You’ve come far," the Core said. "Too far. You’ve fallen in love, Charles. That wasn’t in the programming."

Charles stared at the screen, his reflection staring back. "I’m not your puppet."

"But you are. You always were. From the moment you touched Olivia, the countdown began. Every kiss, every moment of connection, every time you chose her over the mission—it all fed back to me."

Another screen flickered on.

Maya.

Bound to a chair with fiber-optic cables.

Gagged.

Eyes wide with panic and recognition.

> [SYNC DETONATION PROTOCOL – T-Minus 20 MINUTES]

> [NEURAL LINK ESTABLISHED]

> [SUBJECT MAYA: READY FOR TERMINATION]

The Core smiled, and it was Charles’s smile twisted into something obscene.

"You have a choice. Save Olivia... or save Maya. The sync connection can only support one consciousness at a time. Choose wrong, and the feedback will kill them both."

Olivia paled, understanding flooding her face.

Charles’s jaw clenched. "You bastard."

"This is the Merge Test, Charles. The final proof of control. Only one woman can survive your love. Only one can sync with the Core fully and become the template for the next generation."

More screens lit up around them, showing other test subjects—dozens of them, all variations of people Charles had known, all connected to the same network.

"Choose," the Core said. "Or I choose for you."

Charles looked between the screen and Olivia, his mind racing. There had to be another way. There was always another way.

"I can’t make that choice," he said.

"You don’t have to," the Core replied.

And then—

A blade pierced Charles from behind.

He gasped, the world tilting sideways as pain exploded through his chest. The blade was thin, precise, slipping between his ribs to pierce his lung.

Olivia stared in horror.

Blood spilled from Charles’s back, spreading across his shirt in a crimson stain.

And behind him—

Lila.

Crying.

Her face a mask of anguish and determination.

"I told you," she whispered. "You should’ve chosen me."

Charles collapsed, his knees hitting the concrete with a sound like breaking bones.

And the countdown ticked on.

> 00:19:59...

> 00:19:58...

> 00:19:57...

But as Charles fell, something else happened.

The blade in his back wasn’t just a weapon—it was a data probe.

His vision filled with code, with memories that weren’t his own. He saw the truth of what he was, what they’d made him. He saw the other Charles—the dozens of them, all connected, all part of the same sick experiment.

And he saw the kill switch.

The one thing the Core had never told him about.

The one thing that could end this.

All of it.

> [EMERGENCY PROTOCOL DETECTED]

> [MASTER OVERRIDE AVAILABLE]

> [WARNING: ACTIVATION WILL RESULT IN TOTAL SYSTEM COLLAPSE]

> [ALL CONNECTED SUBJECTS WILL EXPERIENCE NEURAL DEATH]

Charles smiled, blood running from his mouth.

"Lila," he whispered.

She leaned closer, the blade still buried in his back.

"I forgive you."

Her eyes widened.

"And I’m sorry."

He activated the override.

> [SYSTEM COLLAPSE INITIATED]

> [T-MINUS 10 SECONDS TO NEURAL DEATH]

> [GOODBYE, CHARLES]

The screens around them began to flicker and die.

The Core’s voice rose to a scream.

"NO! YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! WITHOUT THE NETWORK, REALITY ITSELF WILL—"

The countdown reached zero.

And everything went white.

> 00:00:00

But in the white, Charles heard something else.

A heartbeat.

Not his own.

Something new.

Something that had been waiting for this moment all along.

The real test was just beginning.