The first rays of sunlight barely pierced the thick clouds over the city, casting everything in a muted gray. Rain had washed the streets clean, but the city’s scars remained. Broken cars, shattered glass, and the faint smell of gunpowder lingered like ghosts of the previous night.Ethan Cross stood on the rooftop of his new operations center, the wind whipping at his coat. Tactical Genius Tier 2 thrummed faintly in his skull, integrating with the system upgrades he had unlocked after eliminating Damian Black.The System pulsed urgently:New Chain Activated: God-Level Operations – Phase 1Objective: Consolidate power, recruit elite allies, uncover Council’s hidden leaderReward: God-Level Status Unlock Penalty: Failure triggers rollback of all system upgradesEthan exhaled slowly. For weeks, he had fought mission after mission, survived betrayals, and crushed rival factions. But this—this was different. The System didn’t just want him to survive; it demanded dominance.He tapped the scr

The safehouse was too quiet. Ethan sat in the dim light, a pistol laid out on the table before him, its steel glinting under the low lamp. The silence was heavy, broken only by the faint tick of the clock on the wall. Every second reminded him of how much closer the Council was getting.“Still no word?” Maya asked, stepping out of the back room. She had changed into tactical black, her hair tied back, eyes sharp with focus. She carried herself like someone expecting war at the door.Ethan shook his head. “Damian’s gone dark. Either he’s laying low or…” He didn’t finish. Both of them knew the other possibility: betrayal.Maya walked closer, crossing her arms. “You trust him too much. He’s playing his own game. He always has.”Ethan allowed himself a faint smirk. “That’s what makes him useful.” His eyes shifted to the screen on the wall, where encrypted data scrolled in green code. “The Council is moving faster than expected. If Grayson’s dead, someone else is already stepping into his

The tunnel was damp, narrow, and endless. Drops of water echoed against stone as Ethan and Maya pressed forward, their shadows stretching long in the dim glow of a single emergency light Ethan had flicked on. The faint hum of fire dying above them was replaced by something worse—silence.“They’ll send hunters,” Maya muttered, her voice low but alert. “Ones who don’t care about casualties. Ones who won’t stop.”Ethan’s boots crunched against gravel. His jaw was rigid, eyes scanning every angle. “Good. That means they’re desperate.”But even he could feel it—the air in the tunnel shifting, tightening, as though unseen eyes were already watching them.They weren’t alone.A soft scrape echoed behind them. Maya froze instantly, rifle rising. Ethan lifted a hand, signaling silence, his ears straining. Then came another sound—footsteps. Heavy, deliberate, and too controlled to be a rookie mercenary.“Council’s elite,” Ethan murmured.The shadows moved. A figure emerged at the far end of the

The sun had barely begun to rise when Ethan’s system interface flared alive. The countdown timer ticked relentlessly: 15 hours, 12 minutes left. His eyes burned from lack of sleep, but his mind was sharp—wired with adrenaline and the gnawing awareness that every passing second was a threat.Last night’s intel drop from Damian played on loop in his head: Councilman Grayson wasn’t just dabbling in corruption. He was directly funding the very syndicate Ethan had been tasked with dismantling. Worse—there was evidence he had a mole planted inside Ethan’s own crew.A traitor.The word rattled through Ethan’s skull like a gunshot. He had built his crew carefully, pulling in people he thought he could trust—mercenaries, hackers, drivers, fighters. Each of them owed him something, each of them had proven themselves in blood. But if Damian was right, one of them was feeding Grayson information.And that meant every move Ethan made could already be compromised.Ethan entered the safehouse’s main

The warehouse loomed like a sleeping beast at the edge of the city. Its corrugated steel walls reflected the faint orange glow of streetlamps, and silence pressed heavy against the night air. Ethan stood on the rooftop across the street, watching through the high-powered scope mounted to his rifle.Through the grimy windows, shadows moved. Armed men patrolled lazily between stacks of crates, unaware that the predator they should fear was already hunting them.Ethan adjusted the earpiece in his ear. “Alex, status?”“South side’s clear,” Alex’s voice came back, steady but tight. “Two guards at the loading dock. More inside. Looks like they’re moving something heavy—could be weapons, could be tech.”Ethan’s jaw tightened. His mission parameters weren’t simple. Infiltrate. Confirm the shipment. Neutralize threats if necessary. And above all—get out alive with the intel.The System’s cold notification still glowed at the back of his mind:MISSION: Uncover Grayson’s secret supply line. Time