Adrian woke up to the one call he could never ignore. The general’s. “Hello, Dad,” he greeted gruffly, checking the time. 6:09 a.m.“Tsk, don’t tell me you are still in bed, boy.”“Not all of us wake up before the birds, General,” Adrian countered as he sat up.The general chuckled.“Guess who just found out your secret,” he prompted.Adrian smirked. “What secret? I am an open book, you know.”“As if", The general snorted. “I finally found out what’s taking my son away from home. I can’t believe you haven’t even checked out any of the properties you were gifted.”Adrian winced with guilt. He had been meaning to get to that. Eventually. “Dad, I…”“You are busy, I know,” Charles responded in an easy tone. “Busy organising game events, nonetheless.”Adrian’s brow rose higher as he leaned against the headboard. “How did you know that? Are you stalking me, General?”“You wish," Charles snorted. “I hear it’s a big deal, though. Octavio is as addicted to the internet as your generation is

Staying up all night in the office did not solve Fallon’s dilemma. Adrian did not call back, and all her attempts to get a new venue on such short notice yielded nothing. She was pleasantly shocked when she saw Phoenix’s entry at midnight. Then panic followed as she remembered. “We got two top gamers but no venue. Just great,” she thought caustically.Phoenix’s sign-up destroyed her last backup plan.A smaller venue was no longer an option.Not after this much attention.She was still trying to reach out to twenty-four-hour operations event centres when the screenshot from the gamers started circulating online. People who were calling Echelon liars before started changing their tune. Only a few remained sceptical that maybe the gamers’ screenshot was AI-generated. Yet nobody could deny Phoenix’s glaring sign-up.The very news that should have saved Echelon now threatened to destroy it. If she was unable to get a new venue, Ascenscion’s launch would be a disaster, resulting in