The fourth explosion brought down an entire block.Kade saw it happen from three streets away a building that had been standing through everything, through months of the game, through storms and fire and players who'd used it as a battleground and it just... came down. Like it was tired. Like it had been waiting for permission.A wall of white dust rolled toward them down the street."Run!" Elena shouted.They ran.* * *It wasn't just explosions.The helicopters came next military grade, matte black, searchlights cutting through the grey sky like knives. These weren't the Council's private security. These weren't game guards with stun batons and instructions to keep the players contained.These were soldiers.Real soldiers. Armed with real weapons. Moving with the kind of precision that didn't come from watching a death match for entertainment came from training.From orders."They're not trying to preserve the game," Mei said, pressed against a wall beside Kade as a searchlight sw