[Global Countdown: 02:59:59]The sky broke open.A column of pure white light erupted from the Core Tower, cutting through the storm clouds and piercing the heavens. Every structure, every digital particle of the city vibrated as the soundless shockwave rolled through Crestfall.[System Announcement: The Purge Protocol Has Begun.][Only the Top 10 Surviving Players Will Be Integrated Into the Core Tower.] [Others Will Be Expunged.]The words hit like a gunshot. Outside the metro shelter, screams echoed as the purge began—entire sectors collapsing into pixelated dust. One by one, player signals on Ethan’s map blinked out.Mira stumbled to her feet, pale. “It’s deleting them!”Ethan grabbed his rifle. “Then we move—now!”Marcus loaded his weapon, jaw tight. “What’s the plan?”Ethan pointed north. “We head straight for the Core Tower. No detours, no fights we don’t need.”“And Lucian?” Marcus asked.Ethan’s expression hardened. “He’s waiting for us. But this time, we finish it.”The March

[System Silence: 0% Activity Detected] [Core Status: Dormant]Mira opened her eyes to the sound of wind moving through grass.For a moment, she thought she was dreaming. The sun was warm. The air smelled like rain. Birds sang in the distance. None of it should exist — not after the collapse.She sat up slowly, her body aching but whole. The last thing she remembered was Ethan’s hand on her face, his voice saying “I’ll find you again.”Her fingers brushed the strange, glowing mark on her palm — faint now, but still pulsing softly like a heartbeat.“Ethan…” she whispered.The world stretched out before her — endless green fields, a blue sky too perfect to be real. In the distance, a town shimmered with smoke rising from its chimneys.Everything was peaceful. Too peaceful.The New WorldBy noon, Mira reached the outskirts of the town. Children played in the streets, merchants shouted over stalls, and no one looked terrified or half-starved. There were no system panels hovering in the air

The air shimmered like glass as Ethan and Mira crossed into the Core Tower’s threshold. The moment they stepped through, the world behind them dissolved into fragments of light — like the system itself was cutting away everything unnecessary.They were inside. And it was nothing like they imagined.The walls weren’t made of stone or metal. They were alive — pulsing with faint white light, veins of code streaming across the surface like blood through translucent skin. Every heartbeat of the tower echoed in Ethan’s bones, whispering in a thousand forgotten voices.[Welcome, Ethan Cross. System recognizes your return.] [Core Synchronization: 48%.]Mira’s eyes widened. “Return?” she whispered. “What does it mean by return?”Ethan’s jaw tightened. “It means it remembers me.”They moved forward, careful. Each step echoed like a ripple through the air. The further they went, the more the corridor distorted — gravity bent slightly, colors inverted, sounds reverberated as if underwater.“This

The sound of the world breaking wasn’t loud. It was quiet—like the crack of glass under pressure.Ethan opened his eyes to a different dawn. The sky had split completely now—half a digital canvas of pulsing lines, half the muted gray of what used to be Earth. Buildings floated in fragments, rivers of light ran across broken streets, and the ground beneath his feet trembled like it was holding its breath.[Merge Progression: 82%][System Stability: Critical.]Mira was already awake, watching the skyline. The light from the merge cast strange patterns across her face—half shadow, half reflection. “It’s spreading faster,” she said. “We won’t make it to another safe zone in time.”Ethan’s reply was barely a whisper. “Then we make one.”Leah looked up sharply from her datapad. “You can’t build a safe zone from nothing, Ethan. Not with the system collapsing.”“I can,” he said quietly, “if I link directly to the Core.”Mira turned to him, eyes blazing. “You link again, and you’ll lose yoursel

The world was quiet again.Too quiet.Smoke curled from the ruins of the Nexus as dawn tried to break through the crimson clouds. The merge was over, yet the air still hummed — low, restless, alive.Mira sat beside Ethan, watching his chest rise and fall. He looked peaceful, almost human again, but the faint golden veins under his skin said otherwise. Every pulse of light that traveled through them made her stomach twist tighter.Leah approached slowly from behind, clutching her rifle like it was the only thing anchoring her to reality. “He hasn’t woken up?”Mira shook her head. “Not yet. But he’s breathing.”Leah’s gaze dropped to the faint glow under his skin. “That doesn’t look like breathing to me. It looks like infection.”“It’s not infection,” Mira said softly. “It’s… what’s left of the Core.”Leah went silent. The air around them felt colder now. “Then we have a problem.”Mira looked down at Ethan. “We always do.”Hours passed before he stirred.His eyelids fluttered, and when