“Spread out! Secure the perimeter! If you see movement, shoot!” the mercenary commander ordered, his voice muffled behind a gas mask.The heavily armed men fanned out into the shattered corridor. Matthew remained motionless behind a concrete pillar, blending into the shadows after disabling several of Julian Vance’s mercenaries.“Target not visible on infrared! He must have thermal shielding!” one soldier shouted.“Keep searching! Vance wants his head tonight!” the commander snapped.“You will gain nothing but death,” Matthew whispered. His voice seemed to echo from every direction.“Who said that?! Where are you?" The nearest soldier swung the barrel of his rifle in panic, glancing left and right.Slowly, Matthew stepped out of the shadows. The predictive lines in his vision showed the soldier would fire in 0.4 seconds.With inhuman speed, Matthew deflected the rifle barrel upward at the exact moment the trigger was pulled, producing a sharp crack.The bullet struck the ceiling. Matt

The room was thick with the scent of fear. The red light sweeping across Julian Vance’s face revealed, with brutal clarity, how the man who once could collapse a nation’s economy with a single phone call was now crying and begging for mercy.“Don’t kill me, Thomas! I beg you, for God’s sake!” Vance whimpered, covering his face with his wrinkled hands. His body trembled violently in the freezing pool of water and blood.The Global Financial King who had once forced nations to their knees now wept like a terrified child.Matthew stood towering over him. The barrel of his assault rifle was aimed directly between Vance’s eyes. His index finger rested on the trigger, ready to pull. In his mind, he saw Hector’s blood-soaked face and the faces of millions who had lost their lives to Archon’s corruption.“Death…” Matthew murmured, his voice soft and cold, almost like a whisper of ice. is too easy and too quick for you, Julian Vance. You made thousands of families lose their homes, you orchest

A man severed from his own past. But then, he remembered his son’s face. The tiny, red newborn was breathing strongly in the bunker’s medical room. The child who had just looked into his eyes.“Aegis Protocol. My child will never be touched by danger. Absolute protection for my son.”The doubt in Matthew’s heart vanished completely. He stared at the holographic screen with unshakable resolve. His decision was final, and he would never regret it.“Take it,” Matthew commanded, his voice firm and absolute. “Take my past. Take everything. Give my son a safe future!”[Agreement Accepted.][Initiating Memory Erasure… 20%… 70%… 100%.][Memories Erase d. Redirecting Energy to the Cardiac Cortex.][Reboot in 3… 2… 1…]In the medical room filled with despair, just as Dr. Thorne shook his head with tears in his eyes, preparing to declare the time of death after delivering the third shock, a sudden gasp broke the silence.“HAAAAAH!”Matthew jolted upright, sitting up on the floor as he drew a dee

One month later,The ARC Monolith tower rose high through the gray clouds over New York City. On the top floor, once the boardroom of Archon, the suffocating tension that had once ruled the space had been replaced by an intensely structured rhythm of activity.The obsidian roundtable at the center of the room now displayed a holographic map of Earth, filled with pulsing blue points of light.At the head of the table, Matthew Thomas sat in composed silence. His face was no longer as pale as it had been a month ago when he had been pulled back from death.Yet the dark circles beneath his eyes revealed exhaustion not yet fully gone. At intervals, he pressed his right temple when spikes of pain surged through his skull, the absolute price exacted by the ARC system reboot.“First quarter report post-restructuring, Veronica.”Matthew’s voice broke the silence, calm in tone, yet resonating with such absolute authority that everyone in the room unconsciously held their breath.Veronica Wu, no

The next day,Morning at the ARC Monolith began in elegant silence. In the penthouse dining room, a long oak table had been impeccably arranged with a European-style breakfast.The aroma of hot black coffee drifted through the air, mingling with the scent of toasted bread and butter. Matthew sat at the head of the table in a dark gray suit without a tie. His fingers brushed absently against his coffee cup while his eyes scanned a report on a transparent tablet.Across from him, Viviane sipped chamomile tea, her face refreshed after a restful night. Baby Dominic still slept peacefully in the adjoining nursery with a private caregiver watching over him while his parents tended to business.Nikolai Sergeev, Archon’s Global Security Chief and now Matthew’s shadow, entered the dining room. His footsteps were nearly soundless.He carried a small silver tray bearing two physical envelopes, a strange sight in the information age of the Terran Alliance, where communications were normally sent