The sneering face of Silas Vancroft on the massive screen seemed to mock Kael Thorne's sanity."You thought I kept the secrets of my empire on a public server that could be hacked by a police dog like you?"Silas's voice from the prerecorded video thundered through the ballroom's sound system. It echoed across every corner of the vast chamber, drowning out the panicked screams of the elite guests and even the sickening sounds of bones breaking as the Praetorians brutally tore through the corpses controlled by Elias.Kael stared at the real Silas standing before him.He didn't blink.The old man was no longer wearing his previous smile. His face now displayed the pure cruelty of a tyrant who had discarded every pretense. There was no longer any trace of a philanthropist or family patriarch.Only a ruthless ruler remained, a man willing to burn his own people alive to protect his throne."You're not a detective, Kael. You're merely the courier who delivered my justification," Silas said

BRUUUKKK... KRAAAAK!Part of the concrete ceiling on Level B-4 collapsed once again. A chunk of debris the size of a television crashed into the tiled floor not far from Elias's operating table, sending ripples through the black wastewater that had already risen to an adult's waist.The underground Morgue had become a tomb of poisonous water. The red emergency neon lights still clinging to the remaining walls flickered desperately, casting a sinister glow across the churning surface below.Sloane stood with the water reaching her chest. The former paramedic was shivering violently. The wastewater was ice cold, slowly draining the heat from her body. Her healthy right hand clung tightly to the edge of the stainless-steel surgical table where Elias lay, refusing to let go even as the water began licking at the thin mattress beneath the paralyzed man's back."Sloane..."Elias's lips moved soundlessly. His vocal cords were completely paralyzed. Only small bubbles escaped from the corner o

The Next Morning.Dawn broke beneath a sickly gray sky.The morning light that was usually warm and bright seemed dim, as if something heavy hung over the heavens. The sun was barely visible, hidden behind a colossal cloud of concrete dust that blanketed the entire Central Sector of Saint-Bastian. The haze drifted slowly through the air, carried by the wind, casting a grim shadow over the city.The city awoke in oppressive silence.There was none of the usual morning bustle that filled the heart of the business district. No heavy traffic. No crowds of workers rushing toward their offices. Only an atmosphere of mourning lingered over the entire region.At ground zero, where Vancroft Tower had once stood in arrogant splendor, there remained only a smoking crater fifteen stories deep.The structure that had symbolized the Vancroft family's power for decades had vanished completely. Twisted steel beams, shattered black marble, broken glass, and thick layers of dust covered a two-kilometer

Kael Thorne's narration echoed softly through the silence of the bunker as his damaged fingers typed out his final report."Saint-Bastian is no longer a city. It has become an open battlefield with no master. The fall of Vancroft Tower didn't bring peace. It created a power vacuum. The wild dogs that once obeyed Silas are tearing each other apart. Street gangs from the Lower Sector, drug cartels from the harbor, and the remnants of Eastern European mercenary militias are all fighting over territory atop concrete dust and piles of corpses.""The police? The government? They're too busy covering up their own corruption after taking Vancroft's bribes. The military has rolled into the streets, but their tanks can't enter the filthy alleyways where the real darkness has taken root.""And yet, in the middle of this anarchic chaos... the streets of Saint-Bastian have suddenly learned to fear again."Displayed on Kael's laptop was grainy CCTV footage from an alley in Sector Three, recorded ju

BZZZZZZZZTT!The shrill burst of static died out, leaving absolute silence inside the underground bunker. The radar display on Sloane's workstation flashed bright red with a single message.SIGNAL LOST"Kael!"Sloane shouted again, slamming her communication radio, which now emitted nothing but empty static. The former paramedic spun around. She snatched a bullpup assault rifle off a supply crate, stuffed two spare magazines into her jacket pockets, then grabbed the keys to the van. Panic hardened her face."I'm going after him in Sector Two, El! Stay here!" she yelled, sprinting toward the bunker's steel door.Beep! Beep! Beep!The warning tone from the eye-tracker stopped her in her tracks.She turned around.On the large monitor, Elias stared intently at a special icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.A skull.He had designed the software himself. If he fixed his gaze on the icon for two full seconds, the system would transmit an ultra high frequency sound directly into th