For the first time since Leon Kuroda’s leather shoes hit the wet concrete of my balcony tonight, I stopped smiling.The forced, tight smirk simply slid off my face. The freezing wind tore through the narrow gap between the skyscrapers, violently snapping the heavy fabric of my jacket against my ribs. It carried the bitter, metallic smell of impending rain and the thick exhaust of the gridlocked cars hundreds of feet below. Down on the avenues, the deafening wail of the police sirens had rapidly degraded into a weak, disorganized whine. Above us, the rhythmic, heavy thud of the military helicopter rotors faded as they pulled back, their blinding searchlights dimming to a sickly, useless yellow.It felt like the night itself had been choked of oxygen.And hanging right in front of my retinas, casting a harsh, pale glare across my skin, my system panel kept flashing the same red text.[Control Efficiency: 31%]Pathetic.Just three minutes ago, I had held the entire sprawling district in m

Leon Kuroda didn’t look angry. He didn’t look frustrated that I had just disrupted his flawless attack. Looking at him standing a few feet away on my balcony, the freezing wind whipping his dark coat around his knees, he just looked… amused. Curious.Which, honestly, was infinitely worse.The wind swept violently across the rooftop, carrying the bitter scent of incoming rain and raw exhaust. Down below, the sprawling grid of city lights flickered faintly in the dark. The signal delay I had forced into the network—0.4 seconds—was still active. It was a phantom stutter, subtly disrupting the digital flow across the entire district.It wasn’t a massive blow. It wasn’t enough to cripple a player like Leon. But it was enough to irritate him. And right now, standing freezing on a balcony with no real weapons, irritating a Rank #7 player felt like a massive victory.Leon rolled his broad shoulders slightly. His spine popped, a sharp sound carrying over the wind. He was loosening up, like a pr

The first drone reached the edge of the balcony.Its four spinning rotors didn’t just hum; they shrieked. It was a sharp, high-pitched mechanical whine that vibrated directly against my eardrums. The small, matte-black machine hovered perfectly still just beyond the freezing iron railing. A split second later, a massive, high-intensity white searchlight snapped on beneath its chassis. The beam hit me like a physical weight, flooding the dark rooftop with a harsh, blinding glare that forced me to squint and raise a hand to shield my eyes.Then, a second drone crested the roofline.And another.Within seconds, the black night sky completely vanished. The airspace surrounding my penthouse transformed into a violent, suffocating swarm of metallic insects. Dozens of black drones circled in a slow, synchronized holding pattern. Their overlapping searchlights swept erratically across the wet concrete, washing over the brick walls, and blindingly reflecting off the heavy glass doors directly b

Leon waited. His muscles tensed, ready to react to whatever trap I had sprung.But nothing exploded. The city lights didn't flicker. The heavy glass doors didn't shatter. The forty-eight drones continued hovering in their perfect, lethal formation, their red lasers burning into my jacket.Leon slowly raised a dark eyebrow. "...You bought nothing again.""Not nothing.""Then what?"I looked up at the drone hovering closest to me. Its high-definition camera lens stared down at me like a cold, unblinking glass eye.Then, the system displayed the executed effect in pale green text.[Low-Level Device Query Sent]Leon’s expression immediately shifted. The amusement dropped from his face. "What did you just access?""Your drones.""That’s physically impossible. You don't have the capital to breach their control encryption.""I know. I'm not trying to control them."The system chimed again, rapid and sharp.[Device Response Received]Leon’s eyes sharpened into deadly slits. "You’re kidding."I

The deafening drones kept circling. Nothing exploded in the sky. The city lights below didn't flicker. The heavy rain kept falling. Nothing changed.Leon let out a long, slow sigh, the tension bleeding out of his shoulders."You really enjoy suspense.""Patience," I corrected him.Then, the system displayed the executed result in pale green text across my retinas.[Device Signal Ping Sent]Leon frowned, his dark eyebrows pulling together in genuine confusion."...You pinged the drone?""Yep.""That’s entirely useless. We can both see it with our bare eyes."The next automated notification appeared on the screen.[Signal Response Received]Then another.[Drone DR-01 – Location Confirmed]Leon’s expression tightened slightly. The amusement completely vanished."You already knew exactly where it was.""True.""So why send a basic location ping?"I felt my lips pull back into a wide, feral smile."Because the ping doesn’t just give me the final location."The system panel violently expande