THE EMPIRE WITHOUT A CENTERThe first thing Su Yu learned about an Empire without a center was that it did not slow down.It accelerated.Without a singular authority issuing commands, decisions multiplied instead of vanishing. Provincial councils that had once waited weeks for imperial confirmation now acted within hours. Border generals negotiated directly with local magistrates. Merchant leagues funded militias to protect supply routes. Scholars rewrote administrative law in public forums while soldiers listened and argued beside them.Order did not disappear.It fragmented and in fragmenting, revealed where it had always truly lived.From his estate on the eastern rise, Su Yu watched messengers arrive and depart in endless succession. They no longer bowed deeply. They no longer waited for permission to speak. They delivered information, not obedience.Linxue stood beside him in the outer courtyard as the morning reports were laid out across a long stone table.“Eastern provinces

Nightfall never truly arrived over the capital anymore. Smoke from the burning frontier drifted across the sky like a shroud, turning day into a dim, metallic dusk. The drums of war echoed like thunder from beyond the walls, a constant reminder that the coalition was closing in ready to crush the Empire from the outside while traitors gnawed at its heart from within.Inside the war command hall, Su Yu stood over a blood-stained map, its edges curled from the heat of torches. Red markers clustered too close enemy forces advancing faster than strategy predicted. He traced the enemy path with two fingers, knuckles tense.“They’ve taken the Eastern Ridge,” Han Fei rasped from where he sat, his arm splinted and wrapped. “We thought we had two weeks. We have two days.”“Two days is enough,” Su Yu replied, eyes sharp as drawn steel. “We don’t need more time we need better moves.”Linxue stepped closer, her voice firm but quiet. “They’ve learned to predict ours. Someone inside our command con

The city was no longer recognizable. Streets that had once bustled with life now lay littered with debris flaming cars, shattered glass, twisted metal, the distant cries of those caught between the chaos. Smoke hung thick in the alleys like a living thing, curling into every corner, every hidden doorway, every alleyway where predators could strike. Aiden Cole moved through it all, silent as a phantom, his senses sharpened to an almost painful clarity. Every shadow could be a threat. Every flicker of movement could be a death sentence.Beside him, Zara moved like liquid steel. Her eyes scanned every angle, every crack in the walls, every roofline. She didn’t speak. She didn’t need to. Their shared understanding was enough: survival, strategy, and the relentless drive to turn the tables on those who thought they controlled the game.Liam lagged slightly behind, his wrist device still smoking from the EMP overload. He cursed under his breath, muttering calculations that barely reached th