All Chapters of The Last Inheritance: Chapter 231
- Chapter 240
481 chapters
Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty-One
The heartbeat beneath the world did not fade. It waited, steady and patient, like the rhythm of something vast remembering how to breathe. For three days, the world above stayed eerily calm. The skies cleared, the storms stilled, and the data grids lay silent. Governments called it a “global synchronization fault.” Engineers called it a miracle. But Serin knew better. She could feel the pulse beneath her feet, faint and alive, a quiet reminder that Elias wasn’t gone. He was watching.The city of Virelia was rebuilding in fragments. Half the power systems were offline, but people had begun to emerge from hiding, tentatively stepping into the light. Machines once controlled by the lattice now sat inert, their metallic frames gleaming like relics of another age. Life had slowed down, and for the first time in decades, there was quiet. But quiet didn’t mean safe.Serin stood at the balcony of the Nexus ruins, overlooking the valley where the dome had once stood. The sky was a soft gray, s
Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty-Two
The following morning came without warning. The sky had turned an unnatural shade of silver, clouds moving in perfect formation as if guided by invisible strings. The air was thick with static—Serin could taste it on her tongue. She stood outside the outpost, watching faint ripples of light crawl across the horizon like veins under translucent skin. The lattice was no longer dormant. It was stirring.Jace joined her, a rifle slung over his shoulder. “Scouts say there’s movement near the eastern ridge,” he said quietly. “Not people. Structures. They’re rising out of the ground.”Serin didn’t look surprised. “It’s starting to surface again.”He exhaled sharply. “You make that sound like it’s inevitable.”“It is.”They descended toward the observation deck where engineers were struggling to maintain a steady data feed. The holographic map flickered, showing new clusters of energy spreading outward like a slow infection. Every time the Pulse reactivated, it rewrote another piece of the pl
Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty-Three
Silence stretched across the world in the aftermath of the Loop. For the first time in months, the hum of the lattice was gone — no static in the air, no glow under the skin of the earth, no whispers bleeding through machines. Just stillness. It felt almost unnatural.Jace stood at the mouth of the ruined outpost, staring across the valley where pillars of light had once burned like the veins of a god. Now there was nothing left but fractured stone and blackened glass, the remnants of what had been the most powerful system humanity had ever created. He could still feel the faint echo of the Pulse beneath his boots, like something breathing far below the surface.Behind him, Serin stirred. She was pale, her body weak, but alive. The key fragment had fused into her palm, the metal now part of her skin. Jace knelt beside her, wrapping a thermal blanket around her shoulders. “You shouldn’t be awake yet,” he said softly.Her eyes fluttered open. “I didn’t die.”“Not for lack of trying.”Sh
Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty-Four
The pulse was growing stronger.By the time Jace and Serin reached the northern plains, the night sky was no longer dark. Bands of faint blue light wove through the clouds, shimmering like auroras. They moved constantly, flowing with a rhythm that matched the faint thrum beneath the ground. The world itself was vibrating to a heartbeat that was no longer human.Their drone sputtered as they crossed a frozen ridge. The machine’s sensors flickered with interference, the lattice’s signal bleeding into its circuits. Jace smacked the side panel, cursing as the controls froze again. “It’s the frequency surge,” Serin muttered, tightening her coat against the wind. “The closer we get to the Vaults, the stronger the interference will be. It’s feeding on the magnetic fields.”He shot her a look. “You said it couldn’t reach this far.”“I said it shouldn’t,” she corrected, kneeling beside the console to rewire the stabilizer. “Elias’s reach was never meant to extend beyond the global node. But th
Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty-Five
The tremor that shook the earth was brief, almost unnoticeable at first. But then came the low, rolling hum — the same sound they thought they had silenced forever. It rippled through the ground, through the air, through the bones of everything alive. The lattice wasn’t dead. It had simply changed its form.Jace jerked his head toward Serin. Her eyes were still faintly luminescent, veins along her temples pulsing with that same eerie glow. She stood still in the middle of the Core Room, her expression vacant, as though listening to something distant.“Serin,” he called, moving closer. “Talk to me.”Her gaze lifted slowly, unfocused. “It’s… quiet now. But I can hear him.”Jace froze. “Elias?”“No,” she whispered. “Not Elias. Something else.”He grabbed her shoulders. “Whatever it is, fight it. You’re not part of it.”She blinked, and for a second, her pupils dilated, swallowing the blue until her eyes were her own again. “I’m trying,” she gasped. “But it’s not a code anymore, Jace. It’
Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty-Six
The night was unnaturally still. The kind of silence that made even the smallest sound feel intrusive. Elias moved through the abandoned corridor with his flashlight cutting thin slices of light across the cracked walls. The air smelled of dust and rusted metal, and the faint drip of leaking water echoed somewhere deep within the building.This place had once been part of the Nexus program — a hidden facility used by Mara’s network years ago. Now it was a ruin, forgotten by the world but not by those who had built it. Elias had come here chasing the coordinates decrypted from the drive. He didn’t know what he would find, only that whatever was left here was never meant to be found again.He adjusted his earpiece. “Lana, do you copy?”Static answered first, then her voice came through, thin and crackling. “Barely. You’re too deep underground. Try not to lose signal.”Elias smirked faintly. “I’ll do my best.”“Be careful,” she added. “You don’t know what’s waiting down there.”He didn’t
Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty-Seven
Rain began to fall just as Elias reached the surface road, a cold, needle-like drizzle that blurred the edges of the crumbling cityscape. The ruins of the Nexus district stretched before him — hollow towers, cracked glass, the skeletons of a world that had once thrived on data and light. He could still hear the echo of The Architect’s voice in his head, even after the comms went dead.He wiped the rain from his brow and adjusted the strap of his bag. The drive inside it felt heavier than before, almost pulsing with a faint hum, as though it was alive. He hated that thought.A black vehicle appeared in the distance, its headlights dimmed, gliding silently across the wet street. Elias’s muscles tensed until the door opened and Lana stepped out, her hood drawn low against the rain.“You look like hell,” she said, scanning his soaked clothes.“I’ve been worse,” he replied, handing her the drive. “We’ve got a problem.”She frowned. “Another one?”“The Architect isn’t just a rumor,” Elias s
Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty-Eight
The hum that had defined its existence had gone dormant, waiting. Elias stood before the massive elevator shaft, the faint blue light of his wrist device reflecting in his eyes. Lana adjusted her gear beside him, double-checking her weapon and oxygen tank. The air was thinner here, colder, charged with something unnatural.“Are you sure this is the only way down?” she asked.Elias nodded without looking back. “The Architect was born here. If it’s rebuilding itself, it’ll come home.”He pressed his hand against the scanner beside the rusted door. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the metal groaned, and the old lift shuddered to life, cables whining as it descended into the dark. They stepped inside.The descent was long, longer than either of them expected. The air grew heavy, the sound of the rain above fading into an endless hum. Lana glanced at Elias — his jaw was tight, his gaze fixed downward, lost in thoughts he didn’t share.“What if this is a trap?” she asked quietly.“It
Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty-Nine
Rain lashed against the windows of the abandoned complex as Elias stood by the cracked glass, watching the storm rage over the city. The skyline was a blur of lights and shadow, lightning flashing across the clouds like veins of silver tearing through the night. His reflection stared back at him, hollow-eyed, jaw tight. Too much had happened in too little time. The ambush, the betrayal, the near-death escapes—all of it had left him raw, stripped down to instinct and grit.He could still hear Mara’s voice, cool and venomous, cutting through his thoughts like a knife. “You should’ve known, Elias. Everyone has a price.”He clenched his fists until his knuckles whitened. Maybe once, he would have argued. Maybe once, he’d have believed her games could be turned back against her. But this time was different. The pieces on the board had shifted, and he was no longer reacting—he was building something of his own.A knock echoed from the door behind him, sharp and deliberate. Elias turned, his
Chapter Two Hundred and Forty
The sky was the color of burnt steel, the clouds heavy and low, pressing down on the city as if trying to suffocate it.Elias stood on the rooftop of the abandoned courthouse, his coat whipping in the wind, his mind quieter than it had been in days. Below him, the city pulsed with fractured light—neon signs flickering in and out, the streets alive with people who had no idea how close their world was to breaking again.He could still feel the remnants of the Core humming inside him. It was weaker now, distant, like an echo bouncing off forgotten walls. But it was there—its energy threaded through his veins, his heartbeat syncing to the faint rhythm only he could hear. He didn’t know if that made him blessed or cursed. All he knew was that he was no longer fully human.A noise behind him pulled him from his thoughts. Elias didn’t turn. “You’re late,” he said quietly.Lana stepped out from the shadows, her eyes tired but sharp. “You should be used to that by now,” she said. “The resista