2026-04-11 05:55:10
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
chapter 227
The shift didn’t come with visuals this time.There was no change in environment, no distortion of memory, no figures, no voices echoing from the past. Everything that had made the previous phases feel familiar was gone.What replaced it was something far more unsettling.Silence.Not the kind that existed around them, but the kind that existed inside them.Kendrick felt it first, a sudden drop in sensory input that left only his own thoughts, but even those didn’t feel entirely his anymore. It wasn’t like something was adding to them. It was like something was… filtering them.“…Sainz,” he said, but even his voice felt distant, like it wasn’t fully connected to him.“I’m here,” she replied immediately, but there was a slight delay, just enough to feel wrong.Auren’s voice didn’t come this time.That alone said everything.The pressure returned, but not from outside.From within.Sainz’s focus tightened instantly. “It’s inside now,” she said quietly.Kendrick nodded, even though he wa
chapter 226
The moment they stabilized, the silence that followed wasn’t relief. It was preparation. Sainz could feel it clearly now. The system wasn’t retreating from the emotional attack. It was recalibrating it, adjusting the approach based on what had failed and what had almost worked.Kendrick felt it too, the connection between them steady but tense, like both of them understood that what came next wouldn’t be a repeat. “…It’s not done,” he said quietly.Sainz shook her head slightly. “No,” she replied. “Now it knows what matters.”Auren’s voice came in, lower than before. “Correct. It has identified your anchors. The next phase will not test them. It will distort them.”That sounded worse.Sainz frowned. “Distort how?”Auren didn’t hesitate. “It will make you question them.”That answer settled heavily between them.The shift came immediately after.The environments around them didn’t just change again. They merged.Not cleanly.Not perfectly.But enough.Kendrick’s street bled into Sainz’
chapter 225
The shift was subtle at first, almost unnoticeable, but both of them felt it immediately. The pressure didn’t increase, and the structure around them didn’t distort like before. Instead, something deeper changed, something that didn’t target their control or their reasoning, but something far more personal.Sainz’s focus sharpened instinctively. “Something’s different,” she said quietly.Kendrick didn’t argue. “Yeah. It’s not pushing anymore.”That was the problem.Auren’s voice came from the side, calm but more serious than before. “It has moved past structural contradiction,” they said. “This phase targets internal variables.”Sainz frowned slightly. “Say that in a normal way.”Auren didn’t hesitate. “It will use your memories.”That landed immediately.Sainz’s expression hardened. “No.”But the system didn’t ask for permission.The space shiftedAnd suddenly, it wasn’t the network anymore.Kendrick blinked as the environment around him changed completely. The structured containment
chapter 224
The pressure didn’t increase all at once, but it changed in a way that was far more dangerous than raw force. Instead of pushing against Sainz or Kendrick individually, the network narrowed its focus to the link between them, the point where their presences overlapped and stabilized each other. It didn’t try to break it outright. It began to stretch it.Kendrick felt it immediately. It wasn’t pain, not in the usual sense, but a strain that ran through his awareness, like something was pulling him in two directions at once. “Yeah… I don’t like this,” he said under his breath, trying to keep his focus steady.“Don’t react to it,” Sainz replied quickly. “If you fight it directly, it’ll snap the connection.”That sounded worse.“So I just let it?” he asked.“You hold it,” she said. “Not force it. Not fight it. Just don’t let it change what it is.”Kendrick exhaled slowly, forcing himself to settle instead of resist. “You make that sound simple.”“It’s not,” she said. “So don’t mess it up.
chapter 223
Kendrick didn’t take long to decide.The moment the words “linked entry” settled in the room, something in him aligned immediately. It wasn’t hesitation he felt, and it wasn’t fear. It was clarity. If Sainz was the only stable point he had inside that space, then she wasn’t just someone he was trying to reach anymore she was the only way in without being torn apart again.“What do I need to do?” he asked.The man at the node studied him carefully, like he was measuring how much Kendrick actually understood about what he was agreeing to. “This isn’t like what you just did,” he said. “You won’t just enter the network. You’ll attach yourself to her presence inside it. That means whatever affects her will affect you too.”Sia frowned immediately. “Yeah, no. That sounds like a terrible plan.”Milo didn’t disagree this time. “It’s worse than terrible. If she slips, he goes with her.”Amara crossed her arms slightly, her gaze fixed on Kendrick. “And if something tries to integrate her again?
chapter 222
Kendrick’s eyes snapped open, his body jerking slightly as air rushed back into his lungs like he had been underwater for too long. For a brief second, his vision blurred, the real world struggling to settle back into place after everything he had just experienced. The ceiling above him felt too still, too quiet, like it didn’t match what he had just come out of.“Easy,” Amara’s voice came from beside him, steady but alert. “Don’t sit up too fast.”Kendrick ignored that part.He pushed himself up anyway.“I was there,” he said, his voice rough but focused. “I saw her.”Sia let out a breath from across the room. “Yeah, no kidding. You almost died doing it too.”Milo leaned against a nearby surface, arms crossed, watching him carefully. “You lasted longer than expected,” he said. “That’s something.”Kendrick didn’t care about that.“She’s still in there,” he said. “And it’s not just the system anymore. There’s something else.”The room went slightly quieter at that.Kael stepped forward
You may also like
The Rise Of The Unknown Zillionaire Heir
Gem Lynne163.0K viewsThe Rise of the Son-in-law After Divorce
Enigma Stone283.4K viewsHidden Billionaire Son-in-law
Deliaha Shine125.9K viewsBro, what! He has a Quintillion?
Zuxian70.2K viewsJustice of the Supreme War God
Yaseen works 486 viewsXavier :The tale of the broken
Michell S 222 viewsThe Disowned Heir's Revenge
Unique_Caramel11 viewsThe Silver Sinner
Ashik Singh 225 views