Chapter 1

The night before the National Robotics Championship, I did the unthinkable. I smashed my masterpiece to pieces and announced my withdrawal from the competition.

Everyone called me a fraud, claiming I was too scared to face the heat. The internet trolls were relentless, tearing my reputation to shreds.

Only Gabriel Thorne, the so-called 'Golden Boy' of Silicon Valley, played the saint.

"I believe in Leo Reed's talent. He is the only rival I truly respect. Whatever he's going through, I hope he comes back to prove himself," he told the cameras.

In my past life, my robot had been an exact replica of his. No matter how I tried to prove he had stolen my designs, the world turned against me.

He played the victim with such grace, saying, "It's fine. Leo can have this design. I'm capable of building something even better."

His millions of fans hunted me down online. No one believed that I was the original creator.

Driven by spite, I tried to build a new robot overnight. But the power core I used was tampered with, and it exploded, causing severe brain damage. I ended up in the ICU that very night.

The public cheered, saying I got exactly what I deserved for being a thief.

That same night, my girlfriend signed the papers to stop my life support.

Until the moment I died, I couldn't understand how he got my data. I didn't know that my own girlfriend had been sleeping with him the whole time.

Then, I opened my eyes. I was back on the day before the championship.

01

"Leo, this bio-mimetic movement design is insane! We're definitely taking home the five-million-dollar prize this year!"

Wyatt Banks's excited voice pulled me back to reality. I stared at the man-sized robot in front of me and felt a cold shiver run down my spine.

"I'm going to submit the data to the portal right now. Then we just wait for tomorrow's live demo!"

Wyatt started tapping away at his laptop, a huge grin on his face.

"Stop!"

I shouted, my voice cracking as I grabbed his arm. "Wait. I have a better idea."

My hands were shaking as I opened my own laptop. I navigated to Gabriel Thorne's social media page and saw his latest post. It was a video demonstration of his robot.

It was identical to mine. Every single parameter was a mirror image.

"What the hell? I saw Gabriel's robot this afternoon, and it looked nothing like this!" Wyatt gasped, leaning over my shoulder.

"How did that snake steal our work so fast?"

I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. In my previous life, I had seen Gabriel's different design earlier that day too, which made me lower my guard.

I only realized his robot was a clone of mine thirty minutes before the submission deadline.

Back then, I had desperately reported him to the organizers and posted my build logs online. But the committee didn't believe me, and Gabriel's fanatical followers swarmed my comments.

"Leo the Leech is at it again! Trying to claim Gabriel's genius as his own. Have you no shame?"

"Gabriel posted his data first. How dare you fake your timestamps to frame him?"

The verbal abuse was a tidal wave that nearly drowned me.

In a fit of desperation, I had stayed up all night to modify my bot, hoping to prove my worth on stage.

But during the live demo, Gabriel's robot was, once again, exactly like my new version.

The audience mocked me, throwing water bottles and trash while I stood frozen on stage.

Refusing to give up, I tried to force my robot to perform a complex maneuver. That's when the explosion happened, sending me straight to the brink of death.

Without me in the way, Gabriel won the championship easily. He got the prize money and was scouted by a top-tier tech mogul. His future was set.

While I lay dying, the competition officials claimed they found explosive materials in my robot. They told the press I was a domestic terrorist trying to blow up the venue.

When that statement hit the news, I was expelled. My parents were doxxed and harassed. People sent funeral wreaths to their house and smeared red paint on their door.

The night I was hospitalized, my girlfriend signed my death warrant. She told the world I didn't make it through surgery.

The internet celebrated my passing. My parents, broken by the grief and the shame, took their own lives shortly after.

As a ghost, I watched them die. My rage was so cold, so deep, that I refused to move on.

And then, I woke up. I was back.

This time, I will find the truth. I will clear my name and make Gabriel Thorne pay for every single thing he did.