Prey

Prey is a 2002 techno-thriller by the American author Michael Crichton, also known in Chinese as Nano Hunt. Jack once headed the programming division of a Silicon Valley electronic media company, where he specialized in writing agent programs and achieved modest success. His wife, Julia, is a high achiever and a vice president at Xymos Technology, where she oversees a cutting-edge nanotechnology project for medical applications; ambitious and driven, she pours nearly all her energy into it and has little left for family life. Jack begins to suspect his wife is having an affair, but the real problem is far graver. After Julia is injured in a car accident, Xymos invites Jack to a secret facility in the Nevada desert to help. It turns out the project Julia oversees has gone wrong: a swarm of nanobots has escaped the lab and is rapidly evolving intelligence in the wild, running on the "predator-prey" program Jack once led the development of. Once out of control, they become real-world predators: they move like hunters, replicate endlessly, and begin by preying on desert animals before turning on humans. As Jack comes to grasp the swarm's formidable capabilities, he realizes the threat extends far beyond that isolated desert lab; more terrifying still, the problem is not merely a technological failure but conceals a larger conspiracy, and the danger is closing in with every passing moment. Through it all, Crichton weaves nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information technology into a cautionary fable about technological hubris and scientific ethics.