Darin stood still.The narrow alley now felt even smaller, as if the walls were slowly closing in. The truck’s headlights blazed against his back, stretching his shadow across the wet asphalt, broken and distorted. In front of him, three armed men formed a half circle. Behind him, the truck’s engine growled again, impatient.“Don’t make this difficult,” one of them said. His tone was bored, his weapon raised to chest level. “You’re tired. So are we.”Darin glanced slightly to the left, then to the right. Measuring distance, angles, his own breathing. His shoulder throbbed, his knees ached. His body had gone far beyond any reasonable limit.But his mind had not.“I’m not asking for this to be easy,” he said quietly. “I’m asking you to stop.”A short laugh answered him. “You’re funny.”Someone stepped forward. Just half a step. Enough to test him.Darin did not wait.He moved sideways, fast, not straight. Aiming for shadows, not the man himself. A gunshot exploded, deafening in the alle

The metal door shut tight behind them, leaving a long echo that slowly died in the depths of the old building. Darkness closed in, thick with dust. Only a single emergency light in the corner remained, flickering weakly as if unsure whether to stay alive.Darin stood still for several seconds, listening to every sound. Water dripping from the ceiling, wind slipping through cracks in the walls, Rian’s breathing, still uneven.No footsteps. No engines. For the moment, they were safe.For the moment.Rian slowly sat down on the floor, clutching his backpack tightly. “Bro… this place is scary.”“Better than outside,” Darin replied. He moved through the room with careful steps, making sure no one else was there. The building had once been a small factory. Old machines lay in rows like carcasses, rusted and forgotten. The air smelled of stale oil and mold.He returned to Rian and sat facing him. “Are you hurt?”Rian shook his head quickly. “Just tired.”Darin studied the boy’s face. Pale, w

The truck rolled forward.Not fast. Too calm. Its massive wheels crushed the asphalt with a heavy, steady sound, like a giant creature that knew its prey had nowhere left to run.“Bro…” Rian’s voice trembled.Darin pulled the boy behind the stack of wooden crates. His eyes never left the truck’s cab. The windshield was dark, but he could feel the gaze from inside.[Threat escalating.][Recommendation: immediate evacuation.]“Fantastic,” Darin muttered. “You decide to say that now.”He glanced around. The narrow alley was a dead end. No doors. No windows low enough to reach. The truck had sealed the mouth of the passage.The cab door opened.A man stepped down slowly.Tall. Hair neatly styled, a clean black suit that did not belong in this filthy place. His hands were empty. No weapon in sight. That was exactly what made Darin tense.The man smiled faintly. “You ran quite far.”His voice was calm. Too calm.Darin stood, placing himself in front of Rian. “If you want to talk, you picked

The van did not stop for long.Darin restarted the engine before any sense of safety could take hold. He knew this city too well. Cameras on every corner. Traffic sensors. His face was already circulating.“We get off here,” he said shortly.He swerved hard into a service lane, slammed the van into a barrier fence, then stopped behind a stack of old containers. The engine died. Darin and Rian got out without looking back.They slipped into an underground pedestrian passage. Damp air hit them immediately, peeling paint, clear proof of a place the city system had forgotten.[Network-free zone detected.][Synchronization reduced.]“Good,” Darin muttered. “For once.”Rian walked behind him, his breathing still unsteady. “will they find us?”“Definitely,” Darin answered honestly. “The only question is when.”He stopped in front of an iron door marked with an old symbol. An abandoned distribution warehouse, closed for years. Darin forced the lock, slipped inside, then shut it again.Darkness

The lights still had not come back on.The Core Zone hall lay in half-dead darkness, lit only by the unstable blue glow of the crystal column, flickering erratically. The alarms choked mid-sound, as if something were squeezing their throats.Darin was still pressed against the core.His palm felt numb.Rian stood several meters away, frozen, too afraid to move.The security forces were locked in place.Not because of orders.Because their systems were disrupted too.[Global synchronization slipped by 12%.][Field control weakening.]The voice sounded fractured now, no longer absolute.Darin slowly pulled his hand away from the crystal.He felt something foreign inside his head. Not the system. Not his own thoughts.Another layer.“Whoever you are,” Darin muttered quietly, “you picked the wrong moment.”The crystal column flashed white for an instant.Then a new voice entered.Not mechanical.Not human.Too clean.“Subject Darin. You are not supposed to be here.”Rian let out a small c