Bleeding Steel

As Hong Kong Special Agent Lin Dong hurtles towards the hospital to confront the dire circumstances surrounding his daughter Xixi's battle with leukemia, his trusted colleague Xiao Su interrupts his racing heart with a urgent dispatch: Dr. James, a pivotal witness in their investigation, is imperiled. With an unyielding sense of duty, Lin eschews his life-and-death mission and makes a split-second decision to alter course, abandoning the hospital's threshold for a high-stakes showdown with Xiao Su and their elite unit.

Before their arrival, Dr. James administers a mysterious chemical cocktail to himself, accompanied by a mechanical heart device; as they attempt to evacuate him, the group is suddenly besieged by an elite squad of heavily armed mercenaries, spearheaded by the formidable Andre, whose gruesome visage seems to have been sculpted from a nightmare. In the ensuing chaos, the unit takes a devastating toll, leaving Lin Dong gravely injured and Xiao Su severely battered. Just as Andre appears poised to capture Dr. James, Lin seizes the initiative, pinning him against an oil tank with his car, only to watch in horror as Andre miraculously survives the impact. In a desperate bid to turn the tables, Lin takes aim at the nearby oil tank, unleashing a colossal explosion that leaves both combatants reeling.

As Lin lies motionless, struggling to come to terms with the crushing news delivered by Dr. James via phone: Xixi's life force has been extinguished at the hospital – an agonizing blow that would shatter even the strongest of wills. Little do they know, however, both Lin and Andre are destined for a remarkable resurrection 13 years hence in Sydney, Australia. The stage is set for a thrilling reprise as author Rick Rogers, fresh from releasing his bestselling novel Bleeding Steel – a fictionalized account of a US Marine implanted with a mechanical heart – finds himself at the mercy of a mysterious young woman named Li Sen (disguised as a femme fatale). With calculated cunning, Li Sen infiltrates Rogers' hotel room, sedates him, and downloads sensitive information about his book from his computer.

Meanwhile, a stealthy black-clad operative stalks her prey, intent on extracting the truth behind Rogers' inspiration for Bleeding Steel. As Li Sen hides in the suite's bathtub, Lin Dong – driven by an unyielding quest for answers – bursts onto the scene, only to find himself pitted against this enigmatic Woman in Black. In a heart-stopping confrontation, Rogers meets his untimely demise at her hands, prompting an abrupt retreat as police sirens begin to close in on the hotel.

As the Woman in Black (re)appears at Andre's high-tech airship command center, she delivers a stark report on the botched mission to capture Lin Dong and Li Sen. With a keen eye for detail, Andre identifies the two fugitives from grainy CCTV footage and dispatches the Woman to track down Li Sen, only to find that his quarry has already vanished into thin air. Meanwhile, Nancy - a young woman wracked by recurring nightmares of a mysterious laboratory where bizarre experiments unfold - is unwittingly drawn into the crossfire. Haunted by visions of a place where the boundaries between reality and horror blur, she seeks solace in the arms of a spiritualist who had once shared her own dark experiences with Rogers.

As the Woman closes in on Nancy, Lin Dong and Li Sen join forces to spirit her away to safety. Little do they know, however, that this seemingly ordinary woman holds the key to unlocking a sinister secret: she is Xixi, the product of Dr. James' groundbreaking research into human genetic enhancement and regeneration. Once an ordinary mortal, Xixi was reborn with the aid of a mechanical heart and infused with a revolutionary biogenetic blood substitute, granting her regenerative powers that could potentially make her immortal.

Tragically, her resurrection from the dead came at the cost of her memories - erased by the traumatic experience of dying. Instead, she was placed in an orphanage for her own protection, under the watchful eye of Lin Dong and his old unit, who had been monitoring her every move. And yet, Xixi's recurring nightmares are not her own; they stem from the dark recollections implanted in the biogenetic blood substitute by Dr. James himself, whose memories merged with hers during the resurrection process.

As it turns out, Andre - a former special forces operative turned mercenary - was another test subject of Dr. James' ill-fated experiment. In a desperate bid to infiltrate the project and steal its secrets for personal gain, Andre had agreed to undergo the procedure, only to find that his cells began to consume him from within, slowly rendering him mortal once more. Fueled by rage and a desire for revenge against those who had wronged him, Andre slaughtered the arms dealer and his family, leaving behind a trail of bloodshed.

In the end, Dr. James himself succumbed to his own experiment, passing on just as he completed Xixi's transformation. And so, she remains the sole survivor - and unwitting pawn - in the grand game of biogenetic manipulation that had claimed so many lives.

As Lin Dong leads Xixi and Li Sen to his humble abode, he secures the young man in an advanced security vault, boasting state-of-the-art confinement measures. Meanwhile, Lin Dong pays a visit to the spiritualist, only to discover that the mystic has met an untimely demise. In the aftermath of this grim discovery, Xixi flees to James' long-abandoned homestead, where she uncovers not only cherished memories of her father but also a bank vault key cleverly concealed by James himself. With Lin Dong hot on her heels, he reunites with Xiao Su, but before they can converge on Xixi's whereabouts, the Woman in Black intervenes, whisking her away to Andre's airship and imprisoning her within his laboratory.

As Li Sen manages to break free from his confinement, he joins forces with Lin Dong and Xiao Su, leading them to the bank vault. Upon arrival, they find that the Woman in Black has been captured by Xiao Su while attempting to pilfer the vault's contents: a video camera containing crucial footage detailing Andre's botched bioroid conversion. A closer examination of the tape reveals that Andre is gravely ill and requires Xixi's blood to restore his regenerative properties, underscoring his desperate need for her vital essence.

On board Andre's airship, the enigmatic figure injects Xixi's blood into his own being, effectively reviving his dying body. Undeterred by this development, Lin Dong, Xiao Su, and Li Sen infiltrate the airship, seeking to liberate Xixi from her captor. However, they are thwarted by an impenetrable security screen, prompting them to engage in a fierce battle against Andre's henchmen. As the struggle intensifies, Andre is forced to join the fray before the transfusion is complete, allowing Xixi sufficient time to fully regenerate and rally behind her father.

In the heat of the conflict, Lin Dong, Xiao Su, and Li Sen manage to overpower Andre, casting him into the airship's reactor core. The ensuing overload destroys the laboratory, but Li Sen falls prey to an explosion. Xiao Su and Xixi, however, manage to escape the doomed airship via parachute, leaving Lin Dong to face Andre alone. Unbeknownst to Lin Dong, his earlier encounter with Xixi had inadvertently imbued him with her enhanced blood, granting him the strength needed to fend off Andre's attacks. As the two engage in a brutal melee, Lin Dong ultimately rips Andre's heart from his chest.

With no parachute at his disposal, Lin Dong leaps off the airship moments before it meets its fiery demise, claiming Andre's life. Xiao Su and Xixi, however, utilize their own chute's canopy to catch Lin Dong, securing him safely as they plummet towards the ground below.

As Lin Dong (actor name), Xixi, and Xiao savor the warmth of their newfound camaraderie, a poignant revelation settles over Lin like a gentle mist. His colleague's words weave a complex tapestry of deceit and vengeance, revealing that Li Sen was, in fact, the son of the ruthless arms dealer who had relentlessly pursued James' groundbreaking research. For years, Li had meticulously planned his revenge against Andre, fueled by the bitter memories of his family's brutal slaughter.

Meanwhile, as Lin's gaze falls upon Xixi (actor name), a softer truth begins to unfold. He discovers that Li had once been a cherished friend to Nancy/Xixi at the orphanage, his actions motivated by a deep and abiding affection for her. The tender threads of this forgotten bond begin to unravel, imbuing Lin's understanding of Li with a rich tapestry of human emotion.

Across the sea, in Norway's frosty landscape, a parallel narrative unfolds. Li Sen's battered form clings to life, his eyes fixed upon a tangible artifact - the very same tape containing James' research that had driven him into hiding. With a mix of resignation and determination, he tenderly offers the precious package to an interested buyer, ultimately refusing their offer with a quiet resolve. In this fleeting moment, Li's fragile humanity shines through, like a beacon of hope in the darkest recesses of his tormented soul.