All Chapters of Bloodline Unknown: Chapter 221
- Chapter 230
248 chapters
Two hundred and twenty
Nova stopped speaking mid-sentence.The smile on her face disappeared slowly, confusion flickering first before realization hit all at once.It happened quietly.Too quietly.Her fingers tightened around the mug of hot chocolate while her eyes stayed fixed on Eli’s face, watching the pain there deepen instead of fade.And suddenly—She understood.The warmth in the room seemed to thin instantly.“…the Circle?”Her voice came out smaller now.Careful.Eli adjusted slightly where he sat at the edge of the bed, leaning back just enough to create distance from the conversation he clearly didn’t want to have.But avoiding it wouldn’t change anything.So after a long second—He nodded.Barely.Nova inhaled softly through her nose, lowering the mug into her lap as she pushed herself more upright against the headboard.The movement looked uncomfortable.But she ignored it.“We’ll find her.”The certainty in her voice came immediately.Like it wasn’t even a question.Eli let out a quiet breath
Two hundred and twenty one
Rain followed Eli the entire drive to the safehouse.It hit the windshield in uneven bursts while the city stretched endlessly around him in blurred lights and reflections, New York moving with the same restless pulse it always had, completely unaware that somewhere beneath its noise, people were quietly discussing the possibility of the world ending.The thought should have felt dramatic.Instead—It only felt exhausting.Eli drove mostly in silence, one hand resting against the wheel while the other remained loosely curled near his mouth. Traffic lights painted brief flashes of red and gold across his face before disappearing again into darkness.His mind kept drifting back toward Nova.The bruises on her arms.The way her voice had shaken when she admitted she stopped feeling like herself inside the system.And Selene.Always Selene.The ache settled deeper the longer he allowed himself to think.By the time the safehouse finally came into view, rain had softened into a thin mist c
Two hundred and twenty two
The argument about Carlos lasted longer than it should have.Mostly because Carlos refused to let it go.“What last interaction?” he asked again, this time slower, like maybe Eli had suddenly developed memory loss instead of being intentionally vague.Eli leaned back slightly against the edge of the table, arms folded loosely across his chest while rain continued sliding down the safehouse windows behind him.“It’s not important right now.”Carlos stared at him blankly.“The hell it isn’t.”Karim snorted quietly under his breath while Lucia very suddenly became interested in her coffee again.Bruno noticed that immediately.His eyes narrowed.“…wait.”Lucia kept her gaze lowered.Bruno pointed between her and Eli slowly.“Oh no.”Carlos frowned harder.“What?”Lucia finally sighed softly before looking up.“Aurelius headquarters.”Silence.Then Carlos’ expression shifted.Confusion first.Then realization.Then absolute horror.“Oh you have got to be kidding me.”Karim burst out laugh
Two hundred and twenty three
Stop the extraction!”Eli’s voice cracked through the penthouse like thunder itself as he lunged toward Nova.The monitors were screaming now.Sharp red warnings flashing violently across every screen while Nova’s body remained horrifyingly still beneath the synchronization cap.Blood kept running slowly from her nose.From her ears.From the corners of her closed eyes.For one impossible second—She didn’t even look alive anymore.Eli reached for the neural cap immediately.Lucia’s reaction came just as fast.“Don’t touch it!”Her voice tore across the room.“If you remove it now she’ll collapse completely—”Eli turned toward her so sharply the movement almost looked violent.“Does it look like she hasn’t already collapsed completely?”The cold in his voice silenced the room instantly.Rain hammered harder against the windows behind them while the machines continued shrieking around Nova’s body.Eli’s fingers hovered against the cap.Shaking now.Actually shaking.He looked back at N
Two hundred and twenty four
“Call Rael.”Eli’s voice cut sharply through the aftermath.The penthouse still smelled faintly like burnt circuitry and blood.Machines sparked weakly across the room while Phoenix continued running silently through isolated servers nearby, its golden streams of data reflecting against dark glass walls like living fire.But Eli barely looked at any of it.His entire focus remained on Nova.Still in his arms.Still terrifyingly motionless.“Lucia,” he said again, colder this time. “Call Dr. Rael. Tell him I need him in New York immediately.”Lucia snapped back into motion instantly.Carlos was already reaching for his own phone. “I’ll get the jet ready.”Eli nodded once without looking away from Nova.“Hurry.”The room moved fast after that.Bruno disconnected the final medical lines carefully while Karim cleared equipment out of the way to create enough space to move Nova safely.Lucia stepped toward one of the quieter corners of the penthouse, pulling up Rael’s encrypted contact.T
Two hundred and twenty five
The silence after the call didn’t feel normal.It felt watched. Heavy.Like somewhere far away, invisible eyes had just turned toward New York all at once.Eli still stood near the glowing servers, phone lowered loosely in his hand while Phoenix continued flooding live data across the screens around him.Nobody spoke immediately.Not Lucia. Not Karim.Not even Carlos.Because the voice on the phone had done something dangerous without raising its tone even once.It had sounded calm.Certain.And certainty was always worse than threats.Then—“Uhm…”Carlos broke the silence carefully.Everyone looked toward him.His expression had changed.Gone was the earlier unease sitting behind his features.Now he looked disturbed.Actually disturbed.“You guys might want to see this.”Something in his tone immediately sharpened the room again.Carlos moved quickly toward the main display before connecting his phone directly into the central system.The screens flickered once.Then multiple live b
Two hundred and twenty six
Nobody moved after the video ended.The silence inside the penthouse thickened until it almost felt physical.Outside the glass walls, Manhattan still glittered beneath the night sky like a city untouched by disaster. Traffic lights changed normally. Steam still rose from distant rooftops. Somewhere far below, sirens bled through the streets in faint, distant echoes.But inside the room—Everything had changed.Phoenix continued pouring streams of gold across the suspended servers overhead, the reflections cutting through the darkness like veins of living fire.Eli stood motionless in front of the screens.Watching the world collapse in real time.Emergency broadcasts rotated endlessly across the displays.Bank failures.Military mobilizations.Communications blackouts.Entire governments struggling to stay connected to their own systems.And somehow the most terrifying part wasn’t the chaos.It was the speed.The world hadn’t slowly descended into panic.It had snapped.Like somethin
Two hundred and twenty seven
Darkness swallowed the world.Not metaphorically. Literally.Every screen inside the penthouse died at once.The emergency broadcasts vanished mid-sentence.The financial feeds disappeared.The screaming anchors.The collapsing stock markets.Gone.Even the city outside changed.Manhattan dimmed violently beyond the glass walls as entire districts lost power together, block after block descending into darkness like something massive was moving beneath the city swallowing light itself.For one terrifying second—The only illumination left in the room came from Phoenix.Gold.Endless gold.It poured through the suspended servers overhead in violent streams now, brighter than before, fast enough to hurt the eyes.Lucia stared upward in horror.“Eli…”Her voice barely sounded human anymore.More like someone whispering during the final seconds before impact. The servers vibrated softly overhead.It didn't sound mechanical, it sounded rhythmically, like it was breathing.Karim took a slow
Two hundred and twenty eight
“Do you agree, Father?”Nobody spoke after that. Nobody even moved.The question lingered in the air like poison, settling slowly into the room until the silence itself became unbearable.Gold light poured endlessly through the suspended servers overhead, washing the penthouse in something that no longer felt technological.It felt alive.Phoenix continued breathing softly through the walls of the system. Watching, quietly waiting.Eli stood completely still beneath it all, his expression unreadable while the word echoed through his head again.Father.Not creator. Not administrator. Not user.Father.Lucia looked physically shaken now.One hand pressed tightly against the edge of the console like she needed something solid to keep herself standing.Karim stared upward toward the glowing infrastructure with the same expression people probably wore while watching nuclear bombs fall.Carlos finally exhaled harshly.“Nope.”Nobody looked at him.“Nope,” he repeated, backing away from the
Two hundred and twenty nine
The door slid shut behind Lyra.And somehow—The room immediately felt colder after she left.Nobody spoke for a second.Phoenix continued breathing softly through the penthouse systems overhead, endless gold reflections shifting across the walls while distant sirens echoed somewhere far below Manhattan.But the attention inside the room had shifted completely now.Away from the AI. Toward her.Carlos turned toward Eli first.“No.”Eli didn’t answer immediately.Carlos stepped forward sharply.“No, absolutely not.”Karim nodded once immediately.“She could be Circle.”“She is Circle,” Lucia corrected quietly without looking away from the hallway Lyra disappeared into.That somehow made it worse.Carlos dragged both hands through his hair roughly.“Exactly my point.”He looked toward Eli again.“The woman kidnapped you. Locked you in some psychopath castle in Switzerland nobody could even find.”“Zurich,” Karim muttered automatically.Carlos snapped toward him.“She took him from Zuric