2026-07-09 20:03:30
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28. THE BLOOD TRAIL
The sun had just risen when Dane’s group left Beta’s post.The air was still cold. Thin fog hung between the trees. Behind them, twenty villagers from Ciranjang lay on the ground. The chips on their foreheads were dead. Their breathing was slow, but they were alive. Sera said they would wake up in a few hours, with no memory of the last three days.“Ten more,” said Dane as he walked. His voice was hoarse.“Ten more,” Mira repeated beside him. She carried a bag that held a map, supplies, and the remaining grenades.They had direction now. Sera had updated the map after pulling data from Beta’s post. The next Backup, Gamma, was under Black Lake. One hundred twenty meters deep. Two days’ travel away.But two days felt long if Beta had already sent a signal.---*Day One*They walked all day without incident. The forest grew denser. The trail disappeared more and more. Only Sera knew the direction because of her signal compass.“We have to be careful,” Sera said that afternoon. “Gamma is
27. LEVEL 9 ARRIVES
Ciranjang Village felt like a graveyard that hadn’t been buried yet.Wooden houses stood, but their doors were open. Pots on the stoves still had embers in them. Clothes hung on lines, but no one was wearing them. Only the wind passed through, carrying the smell of rotten wood and something else — the smell of old iron, the smell of electricity.*“LEVEL 9 IS COMING.”*That writing was still on the field ground, scratched with charcoal. The letters were big, rough, as if written by someone in a hurry or in panic.“This isn’t the villagers’ writing,” said Rara as she crouched down, touching the charcoal marks. “Look, the pressure isn’t even. Several hands wrote this.”“That means they were forced,” replied Sera, her face pale. “The Backup didn’t wait for us to arrive. It’s already started looking for the Host.”Dane stared toward the forest in the north. From here, the Southern Mountains were still visible, blue in the distance. Below those mountains, there were eleven more bunkers. And
26. THE WHISPERING MAP
Dane’s group had been walking for five full days out of Neo-Jakarta.Five days without a voice in his head. Five days sleeping on dirt and dry leaves. Five days eating dry rations—boiled sweet potatoes, salted fish, river water they boiled—and walking under a sun no longer watched by Adoration’s satellites. But every step felt heavier, not because of sore muscles or blistered feet, but because they knew: they were walking toward something that didn’t want to be found, and that something was moving toward them too.“According to Sera’s map,” Rara said, unfolding a paper that was already wrinkled and torn at the edges, “the first backup is under the Southern Mountains. An old bunker owned by Adoration’s research division. About eighty meters deep.”“Eighty meters?” Jax grumbled, wiping sweat from his forehead. “What do we use to get down? Rope? Prayer? Or do we just jump and hope we land right on the crystal core?”“With this,” Sera answered, pulling a small tool from her canvas bag. It
25. A PEACE THAT MAKES NOISE
Three months had passed since the dust of Core Assistant 3.0 scattered across the depths of Central City.Three months without a voice in their heads. Three months without numbers floating above people’s heads. Three months where Neo-Jakarta relearned how to live without being rated, without being monitored, without being sorted by stars and Levels.And for the first time in Dane’s life, three months felt… peaceful. A strange peace. A peace that sometimes made his chest tight because he wasn’t used to it._An Ordinary Morning_Dane didn’t wake up because of a notification. Not because of a voice in his head ordering efficiency. But because of the smell of tea brewed by Mira on the ground floor of Sector 1 City Hall.The tea always smelled the same since they were kids. The smell of dried tea leaves stored in an old biscuit tin, mixed with a little palm sugar if there was any.“Your tea,” said Mira as she handed him the cup. Steam rose, condensing in the morning air. “No sugar. Like al
24. Signal From the City
The signal came every midnight.At first, only Dane noticed it. Not because he could hear it, but because he could feel it. There was an itch at his temple, like tiny needles tapping against the bone of his skull. Right at 00:00, for three seconds, then gone.“Host 01,” Dane muttered on the third day. “You’re still calling me.”He sat on the roof of City Hall, staring at a starless sky. Central City was west, dark and silent since they’d destroyed the system’s heart. But now, something from there was calling him home._The First Week After the Server Went Down_Neo-Jakarta was trying to be a normal city.Vendors started opening stalls without fear of being judged. Kids flew kites above the rubble. Mira started remembering small things: Dane’s face when he was angry, the smell of the tea they always drank in the morning, the winding way home to Sector 9.But she didn’t remember everything yet. And Dane didn’t push.“You don’t have to rush,” Dane said one afternoon as they sat by the ri
23. STARTING FROM ZERO
Twenty‑four hours is a very long time when you have to introduce yourself all over again to your own younger sister.Dane sat on the floor inside Sector 1 City Hall, his back pressed against the cold wall. Across from him, Mira prepared tea with stiff, awkward movements. Every now and then she glanced at him, as if trying to recall where she had ever seen his face before.“You said your name is Dane?” Mira asked.“That’s right,” Dane answered. His voice was rough and hoarse from staying silent for too long.“And… do we know each other?”Dane swallowed hard. “We are family.”Mira fell silent. The spoon in her hand stopped stirring. “Family?”“My younger sister,” Dane said softly. “Your name is Mira. You love sweet tea, yet you always say you don’t like sugar. You used to be afraid of the dark, so I would sit right outside your bedroom door until you fell asleep.”Mira stared at him for a long moment. Then she shook her head slowly. “I don’t remember any of that.”Dane nodded. He had ex
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