2026-07-16 13:03:15The digital timer on Axel’s right wrist flashed a menacing red within the pitch-black concrete corridor on the 50th floor of the Eternity Tower. 00 Days, 00 Hours, 03 Minutes, 14 Seconds.
Axel’s chest felt as though it had been struck by an iron sledgehammer. Chronos Decay—the biological cancer that preyed upon lifespan—was relentlessly wringing out the very last beats of his heart. His breath came in ragged, desperate gasps, leaving dark stains of blood upon the collar of his torn black tactical frock coat. The tightly buttoned, high-collared garment was now nothing more than a shroud ready to wrap his corpse.At the far end of the corridor, the heavy steel door of the main vault slid open. The rhythmic thud of combat boots echoed, shattering the freezing silence of the night.
“You’re two minutes late, Brother.”
Axel looked up through strands of hair drenched in sweat. There stood Valen. His half-brother looked immaculate in a luxurious, spotless white suit, a stark, mocking contrast to Axel, who was drenched in blood. Behind Valen, a dozen muzzles of automatic rifles held by the central elite squad locked instantly onto Axel’s head.
Axel did not flinch. His trembling left hand tossed a heavy silver cylinder onto the floor. It rolled forward, coming to a dead stop right before Valen’s boots. Within it lay pure Time Core, containing ten thousand years of human lifespan that Axel had just single-handedly wrested from a lethal infiltration into the outer district.
“Mission... accomplished,” Axel whispered, his voice hoarse as he fought the searing agony in his lungs. “Allocate that lifespan quota to the lower district clinic. As per our agreement, Valen.”
Valen stared down at the cylinder, his lips curling into a sinister smirk. Instead of picking it up, he casually ground his boot heel into it.
“Lifespan quotas for the lower district rats? You must be joking,” Valen sneered. He stepped forward, violently wrenching the Life Reaper Gun from Axel’s waist. “Father has already signed a new directive. The entirety of tonight’s haul is transferred under my name as a performance bonus. And for a traitor like you... there is no quota.”
Axel’s heart sank. Inside his mind, old memories began to spin like a damaged cassette tape. He remembered the endless, sleepless nights spent designing the blueprints for the very weapon Valen now held. He remembered starving himself, giving up his own lifespan-soup rations just so his half-brother could grow up healthy. Even the white suit Valen wore at this moment had been bought with blood money Axel earned risking his life on the battlefield.
Yet tonight, on the highest floor of the tower they had built together, the brother he had protected looked down at him like a piece of filth.
“Valen...” Axel clutched his chest, his eyes wide with disbelief. “I’m the one who dragged you out of the gutter. I’m the one who taught you how to hold a weapon!”
“And that was your greatest mistake,” a heavy, commanding voice cut through from the darkness behind the squad.
A middle-aged man carrying a suffocating aura of intimidation stepped into the light. Adrian Vance. The CEO of Eternity Corp, and the biological father who had never once acknowledged Axel's existence. On Adrian’s wrist, a digital watch glowed with a brilliant golden hue, displaying the symbol of infinity, an eternity plundered from the blood of others.
Adrian didn't even deign to look Axel in the eye. He merely cast a cold glance at the silver cylinder on the floor.
“You are far too naive to lead the Liquidator division, Axel. You possess a genius mind for creating systems, but you inherit a weak heart from your mother,” Adrian said, his tone flat and devoid of emotion. “Did you truly think I remained blind to you secretly donating your remaining seconds to that slum clinic?”
“Mother died because you drained her entire lifespan to extend the years of this godforsaken corporation!” Axel snarled, forcing himself to stand even as his knees trembled violently.
“Your mother died because she was no longer useful,” Adrian replied cruelly. He turned his back on Axel, giving a lazy wave of his hand to Valen. “Punish him on charges of dereliction of duty. Leave thirty days on his clock, and cast him down to where he belongs.”
“With pleasure, Father,” Valen grinned maliciously.
Valen aimed the lifespan extractor at Axel’s wrist. A brilliant blue light flared, forcibly siphoning Axel’s biological time through the air. The agony was excruciating. Axel let out a strangled groan as the numbers on his wrist spun violently backward, finally locking onto a terrifying countdown: 29 Days, 23 Hours, 59 Minutes, 00 Seconds.
“One month, Brother,” Valen whispered directly into Axel’s ear as two burly guards dragged his limp body toward the disposal hatch. “Let us see if your proud tactical coat can save you when the time on your wrist runs out.”The disposal hatch slammed open. Axel’s body was thrown mercilessly out of the tower, plummeting through the pitch-black night and a torrential downpour toward the slums of the lower district far below.
As he hurtled downward, Axel’s hand tightly gripped the sole object he had managed to pickpocket from Valen when they were close: a silver necklace bearing a lily emblem, the necklace of his late mother.
Axel stared up at the receding lights of the tower above. The agonizing pain in his chest vanished, replaced by a searing, cold fury that set his very soul ablaze. He would not die tonight. He had thirty days left, and he swore that every single second would be weaponized to tear down his father’s golden empire.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
55. EYE ABOVE THE CLOUDS
EYE ABOVE THE CLOUDSHUMMM, BZZZZZT.The colossal, three-meter-wide sphere of blinding white light, the Aetheris Core, vibrated with accelerating violence inside the circular control hub of the needle tower. It discharged intense waves of electromagnetic interference that rattled the pristine, mirror-like steel floorboards beneath their feet. Thousands of blood-red lines of digital code violently cascaded across the room’s surrounding holographic diagnostic screens, triggering an automated purge protocol designed to permanently sanitize the entire orbital database.“They’re attempting a hard-wipe of the master database and initiating a remote lock to hand over control of the Aetheris-1 satellite array to their off-continent contingency servers!” Rhea’s voice rang out, sharp, icy, and completely unyielding against the mounting digital chaos.Rhea strode directly toward the master interface console located directly beneath the throbbing radiance of the floating core. The high-frequency
54. CLIMBING THE QUANTUM STORM
BZZZZZT. WHUSH!An icy gale roared continuously across the upper troposphere, a howling vortex of atmospheric pressure five thousand meters above the shattered surface of The Outlands. The air up here was razor-thin, bone-chilling, and stripped clean of the biological pathogens that infected the lands below. Down beneath the thick blanket of artificial smog, the ruins of Sector 5 and its withered biological monstrosities were nothing more than a forgotten memory.Suddenly, two dark silhouettes cut cleanly through the dense cloud layer.Axel and Rhea descended in a synchronized, high-altitude tactical freefall. Their movements were executed with micro-second accuracy, their trajectory locked straight onto the massive upper foundation canopy of the Void Array launch tower.BOOM!Axel’s heavy tactical boots slammed down onto the polished reinforced titanium plating of the foundation structure, instantly dispersing the kinetic shockwave through his lower body circuitry. He stood like an
53. COLLAPSE OF THE SYNTHETIC ECOSYSTEM
KRAK, BZZZZZT-POP!The death of the Mother-Tree’s central neural pathways triggered a massive, uncontrollable chain reaction across the entire facility. Deprived of Dr. Aethelgard’s bio-electric power stream, millions of cylindrical glass incubation vats throughout the surrounding core laboratory shattered simultaneously, spewing torrents of glowing green specimen fluid and rotting genetic samples that withered into foul sludge in a matter of seconds.High above, the vast reinforced glass canopy of the Bio-Dome Apex buckled inward under the sudden loss of atmospheric pressure. Its organic support struts withered and snapped, radiating massive structural fractures in every direction. Thousands of tons of heavy composite glass and falling root debris began raining down from a height of fifty meters!“Biological isolation protocol failure!” Rhea shouted, her sharp voice piercing through the thunderous roar of collapse. Her fingers worked rapidly across her control tablet, shutting down s
52. THE GLASS DOME AND GENETIC ENGINEERING
CLANG, KRRRASH!Rhea’s high pressure pneumatic glass cutter finally pierced through the half meter thick composite reinforced glass structure. A two meter wide circular breach swung open along the outer boundary of the Bio Dome Apex, instantly venting a heavy plume of synthetic ozone and bitter, bio engineered flora into the cool night air.Axel Vance crossed the threshold first, leading the way through the shattered aperture. His heavy tactical boots made no sound as they made contact with the immaculate white porcelain floorboards, which were intricately inlaid with pulsating organic conductor veins.All around them, the Genetic Engineering Laboratory of Aethelgard Biotech unfolded like a terrifying, futuristic rainforest of cybernetic horrors. Thousands of cylindrical incubation vats lined the walls, stretching upward toward the towering apex of the glass dome. Within the slowly churning, neon green specimen fluid floated embryonic biometric organs, fragmented mutant specimens, and
51. AMBUSH AT THE BORDER'S EDGE
SZZZZT, SSSHHH.Four hours had elapsed. The harsh, radioactive sandstorm began to recede, leaving behind a thick, gray fog hanging low over the black, muddy terrain. The air at the perimeter of Sector 5 felt starkly different, dense, humid, and laced with a sickly sweet stench, like a volatile concoction of synthetic chemicals and decaying bio-engineered vegetation.Axel and Rhea emerged from the subterranean monitoring bunker, stepping carefully among gargantuan black wooden roots protruding from beneath the soil like bulging, dark veins. Axel’s Platinum Circuit had recovered to an 85% operational threshold, radiating a muted yet steady silver aura that pierced through the damp fog surrounding them.Axel checked his stride. His broad left arm extended, holding Rhea back behind a two-meter-thick mutated tree trunk.“We’re being watched,” Axel whispered softly, his cold grey eyes scanning the dark, twisted canopy ahead.SZZZZT, GRAAAARRR!A guttural roar reverberated from the upper br
50. SAFEHOUSE AND RECALCULATION
PSSSSHHH...A harsh, radioactive sandstorm slammed relentlessly against the rusted outer bulkheads of a decommissioned subterranean maglev monitoring bunker. Inside the cramped four-by-four-meter chamber, the continuous howl of the gale outside sounded like the low, furious murmur of a sleeping titan.The solitary source of illumination within the dark, enclosed space emanated from the luminous silver pathways of the Platinum Circuit running along Axel ’s neck and arms. The glowing veins dimmed and brightened in a steady, rhythmic pulse that mirrored the slow cadence of his breathing.Axel sat leaning back against the cold steel wall of the bunker. He had removed his heavy black tactical coat, exposing a sleeveless tactical compression shirt that clung tightly to his broad, muscular chest. The biological circuitry within his body operated at a meager 18% capacity, the lowest energy threshold he had reached following the brutal, point-blank confrontation against General Marcus’s Protot
You may also like