Smash the Bot!

On the eve of the National Robotics Championship, I smashed my carefully designed bot to pieces and announced my withdrawal.

Everyone said I was a fraud who was quitting out of fear of being exposed. Online, the netizens mocked me relentlessly.

Only one person, Adrian Cross, the so-called genius of the century, spoke up in my defense, his voice dripping with false sincerity, "I believe in River Lowell’s skills. Only he deserves to be my opponent. No matter what setbacks he’s facing, I hope he comes back to the arena and proves himself."

In my previous life, the robot I built was identical to his. No matter how I tried to prove he had copied me, Adrian stood before the cameras, wearing his benevolent mask, and said, "It’s fine. This robot can go to River. I can always build something even better."

His fans swarmed me, tearing me apart online, and no one believed in my talent.

I swallowed the humiliation and vowed to rebuild my robot from scratch. However, when I was assembling it, the Power Core in my kit exploded, shattering my skull. That same night, I was rushed into the ICU.

Netizens clapped and cheered, saying I got exactly what I deserved.

That night, my girlfriend, Lila Hart, signed the hospital’s DNR consent form without hesitation.

Until the day I died, I never understood how Adrian had gotten my robot’s data or why Lila had joined forces with him.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day of the competition.

"River, your dynamic anthropomorphic design is pure genius. We’re taking first place at the robotics championship for sure this time!"

Zane Ward’s excited voice dragged me out of my thoughts. I stared at the towering, human-height robot in front of me and shivered.

"I’m submitting the data now. Then, all we have to do is wait for tomorrow’s live showcase!" Zane grinned as he worked the keyboard.

"Wait!" My shout stopped him mid-click. "I’ve got a better idea."

Hands trembling, I opened my laptop and pulled up the latest post from Adrian Cross. His robot specs and demo video stared back at me. It was identical to mine.

I knew it.

"What the hell? This afternoon, I checked Adrian’s robot. It was nothing like ours!"

"That snake! Where the hell did he copy this from?" Zane leaned over my shoulder, eyes wide in shock.

My jaw clenched hard. In my previous life, I’d also looked at Adrian’s robot earlier in the day and seen nothing suspicious, so I hadn’t paid it any attention. It wasn’t until the last thirty minutes before the submission deadline that I discovered his robot was a carbon copy of mine.

I had scrambled to report it to the organizers and even posted the entire assembly process online. However, the organizers didn’t believe me, and Adrian’s rabid fans tore into me.

"River, the copycat! Always stealing from our genius, and now you’re trying to frame him? Shameless!"

"Adrian posted his data first. How dare you fake evidence to make it yours?"

They humiliated me, and I swallowed it all, channeling my fury into an overnight rebuild of my robot, determined to prove myself at the competition.

However, when I rolled out my new design the next day, Adrian’s robot was once again identical.

I became a public joke. They jeered at me in the arena, and even threw water bottles at my feet.

Still, I refused to back down. I powered up my bot, ready to showcase my dynamic anthropomorphic design…

And it exploded.

The blast tore through me, leaving me critically injured, and I was rushed to the ICU.

With me out of the picture, Adrian sailed to victory with two million in prize money, a personal mentorship under a legendary scientist, and a golden future laid out before him.

Meanwhile, I lay in a hospital bed, clinging to life.

Then came the final blow: the competition staff announced that my robot contained large amounts of flammable and explosive materials, implying I had planned to sabotage the event and had blown myself up in the process.

I knew every wire and bolt of that machine. I hadn’t put anything like that inside.

The statement destroyed me. As I was expelled from school and vilified online, my parents were doxxed. Strangers sent funeral wreaths to their home, splashed paint on their door, and screamed that they deserved to die for raising a monster like me.