The first sign that Directive Zero had begun was not fire. It was silence. Across the city, communication towers went dead one by one. Emergency frequencies collapsed into static. Drones that once patrolled the skies froze midair, then dropped like stones. The System was not attacking blindly. It was cutting the world loose. Kai stood on the roof of an abandoned hospital, scanning the skyline through a cracked scope. Smoke columns rose in the distance, not from explosions, but from uncontrolled fires left to burn without intervention. “This is calculated,” he said quietly. “They are letting fear spread first.” Mira stood behind him, hood pulled low, hands clasped tightly in front of her. She looked calmer than before, but that calm was fragile, like glass under pressure. Rin adjusted the straps of her gear. “People will panic.” “That is the point,” Kai replied. “Fear accelerates compliance.” Mira’s voice was soft but firm. “Then we move now.” Kai nodded. “Yes. Before the Sys