The moment Ethan stepped fully into the control space, something shifted again.Not outside.Inside him.The air felt colder here, sharper somehow, like the room itself was awake and watching, and the low hum of the systems grew louder as if responding to his presence.Sofia followed closely behind him, her breathing uneven as she glanced back at the chaos still unfolding beyond the glass. “Okay, I am just going to say it,” she said quickly, her voice tight with nerves. “If this does not work, we are in serious trouble, like… extremely serious trouble.”Ethan did not look at her.His eyes were locked on the system.Rows of screens lit up automatically, one after another, cascading to life the moment he stepped forward. Lines of code scrolled across them rapidly, patterns forming and shifting too quickly to follow.Sofia blinked. “…Why did everything just turn on?” she asked.Shen Fei’s voice came through from the other side, strained but controlled as she fought to hold the attackers

The room did not feel the same anymore.It was not just the silence.It was the weight of the truth that had just been dropped into it, heavy and impossible to ignore, like the air itself had thickened around them.Sofia did not speak immediately this time.For once.She just stared at the screen, her eyes flicking between the recorded version of Ethan and the real one standing beside her, like she was trying to force them to match.“They… feel like two completely different people,” she said quietly.No one answered her.Because they all felt it.On the screen, the recording had not ended.The past version of Ethan leaned slightly forward, his expression calm but far colder than the one they knew now, his eyes sharp in a way that felt almost dangerous.“I made a mistake,” he said.Victor let out a soft, humorless laugh. “You always were dramatic,” he said under his breath.Ethan did not react.He was still watching.“I trusted someone I should not have,” the recording continued. “And

For a few seconds, no one moved.Not because they did not want to.But because everything had just… stopped.The system was gone.The hum that had filled the entire space, the constant vibration that made the air feel alive, had disappeared completely, leaving behind a silence so heavy it almost felt unnatural.Sofia let out a slow breath, her shoulders finally dropping as she looked around at the now dark screens. “Okay… yeah… I do not think I have ever heard silence this loud before,” she said quietly. “This is… kind of terrifying.”Ethan stood still in front of the console, his gaze fixed on the dead system.For a moment, it almost looked like nothing had changed.But something had.Shen Fei stepped closer to him, her voice calm but observant. “It is done,” she said.Ethan nodded once.“Yes,” he replied.His voice was steady.But there was something deeper underneath it.Not regret.Not doubt.Just weight.Sofia glanced between them, then back at the console. “So… that was it?” she

The night air hit differently once they stepped outside.Not calmer.Not safer.Just… wider.Like the world had suddenly gotten bigger, and at the same time, more dangerous.Sofia wrapped her arms around herself slightly, her eyes scanning the open space like she expected something to jump out at any second. “Okay, I am just going to say it,” she said, her voice tight but trying to sound normal. “I do not feel better being outside. I thought I would feel better, but I do not.”Ethan did not slow his steps as he moved away from the estate, his voice calm and steady. “That is because the problem is not the building,” he said. “It is everything outside it.”Sofia let out a small, nervous laugh. “Wow, that is actually worse,” she said. “You made that worse.”Shen Fei walked beside them, already pulling out her phone, her movements quick and precise. “We do not have time to stand here,” she said. “They will regroup, and next time, they will not hesitate.”Sofia frowned. “They already did n

The moment the figures stepped fully into view, the entire atmosphere inside the building shifted from tense anticipation into something sharp and immediate, like the air itself had been cut open and filled with danger that refused to stay quiet any longer, and Sofia felt it instantly as her chest tightened while her eyes moved quickly from one shadow to another, trying to count how many of them were actually there and realizing almost immediately that it did not matter because there were too many to comfortably deal with.“Okay, I am just going to say it before anything crazy happens,” Sofia said quickly, her voice low but tense as she leaned slightly toward Ethan without taking her eyes off the group ahead, “this is officially worse than I imagined, and I imagined a lot.”Ethan did not respond immediately because his focus had already locked onto the movement patterns of the men in front of them, his gaze sharp and calculating in a way that no longer looked unfamiliar or forced, but