Ethan stepped into the elevator as the alarms from Cole International echoed through the underground facility. Adrian, Elena, Noah, Alex, Ava, Serena, Daniel, and Victoria followed, while C-01 remained behind under guard.Ethan looked at Adrian. “Tell me everything about Phase Three.”Adrian exhaled slowly. “Phase Three was never supposed to begin while the four hosts were separated.”“But it has.”“Yes.”“What happens?”“The system begins choosing.”“Choosing what?”“Which consciousness controls the network.”The elevator stopped.The doors opened onto a corridor that none of them had seen before. Unlike the older laboratories, this section looked almost new. Smooth walls surrounded a walkway, with blue lines pulsing beneath the floor.Daniel’s voice came through Ethan’s earpiece.“I've isolated Cole International from the public network, but something is fighting the shutdown.”“Can you identify it?”“Not yet. Whatever it is, it's using dormant infrastructure buried beneath the comp

The warning remained suspended before Ethan.[PROJECT ECHO ZERO.][STATUS: AWAKENING.][ESTIMATED ACTIVATION: 06:00.]The room became silent.Adrian stared at the display as though he had seen a ghost.“No,” he whispered.Ethan turned toward him. “You know what it is.”Adrian did not answer. His eyes remained fixed on the map beneath the city.Elena finally spoke.“Echo Zero was supposed to be destroyed before you were born.”“Then why is it activating now?”“Because it was never completely destroyed.”A deep vibration passed through the estate.Dust fell from the ceiling.Daniel’s voice came through the communication system. “Ethan, whatever is beneath the city just drained power from three substations.”Victoria added, “The financial markets are reacting. Several automated systems are reporting unexplained infrastructure failures.”Ethan activated Network Command.The entire city appeared inside his vision.Power stations, banks, telecommunications towers, transportation systems, ho

The first light descended through the clouds.Ethan watched from the underground chamber as twelve objects moved across the night sky, each one leaving behind a thin trail of white light. They did not behave like aircraft. They made no sound, produced no visible exhaust, and seemed to ignore the laws governing ordinary flight.Daniel’s voice broke through the silence.“Ethan, I’ve lost every satellite connection.”Victoria followed immediately. “Financial exchanges are freezing. Banks are reporting simultaneous authentication failures.”Ethan activated Network Command.Nothing happened.For the first time since the system had evolved, his vision remained dark.[NETWORK ACCESS INTERRUPTED.][EXTERNAL INTELLIGENCE DETECTED.][CAUTION: UNKNOWN TECHNOLOGY.]Ethan’s expression hardened.“They’re blocking me.”Noah stepped beside him. “Can they block the system?”“They already are.”Adrian looked toward the ceiling. “Then the Convergence has started.”A pulse traveled through the chamber.E

The footsteps came from every corridor at once.Ethan raised his hand, stopping everyone behind him. The red emergency lights painted the archive in alternating shadows while the system continued warning him that whatever had entered Saint Orson could not be predicted.Then the footsteps stopped.Silence settled over the hospital.Daniel's voice crackled through the communicator. “Ethan, the thirteenth object has disappeared from satellite tracking.”“Disappeared?”“Not crashed. Not landed. It simply vanished.”Victoria looked toward the ceiling. “That means it is already inside.”Adrian stepped beside Ethan. “Do not attack first.”Ethan glanced at him. “You said that about Julian.”“And I was right.”Before Ethan could answer, the archive door closed.[CONTAINMENT PROTOCOL ACTIVATED.][SAINT ORSON ORIGINAL SITE SEALED.][EXTERNAL ENTITY DETECTED.][IDENTITY: UNAVAILABLE.]A figure appeared behind the glass wall.It was a man wearing an old-fashioned doctor's coat.He stood completely

The silence inside Ethan’s mind was worse than any alarm.For several seconds, the system remained completely absent. No blue notifications appeared. No warnings. No guidance. Ethan could hear his own breathing while the darkness inside his consciousness seemed to stretch endlessly.Then something moved.Not around him.Inside him.Ethan opened his eyes and found himself standing in a white corridor. He recognized the place immediately. It was the same internal space he had entered when C-01 tried to erase his memories, except this time there were no floating memories or system windows.Only doors.Hundreds of them.Each door carried a date.A voice came from behind him.“Do not open the wrong one.”Ethan turned.A younger version of himself stood there.He looked seven years old.“You again,” Ethan said.The child nodded. “You always come here when they hide something from you.”“Who are you?”“I’m the part they couldn’t erase.”Ethan studied him. “And what is inside me?”The child p