2026-04-15 16:40:06Ethan’s P.O.V. (Continued)
[MISSION ABOUT TO FAIL]
Words froze me for a second. Their red color burned in my eyes.
10 seconds….
Once again chase against time….
Damn it…
“Catch me,” I grimaced; fingers already moving on the keyboard.
I had tens of windows open right now.
Finding the one who would give me away was like finding a needle in a haystack and ten…. No eight seconds were not enough.
So my fingers moved precisely, stopping to dump data midway, I rerouted everything.
He must have found a leak somewhere.
Instead of finding that leak, I decided to turn it into my weapon.
I still had a mission to finish.
The system screen flickered again in front of my eyes with the same warning, dark red, silent, but alarm blaring in my head now.
I split all the data into fragments; scattered hundreds of those fragments across multiple nodes – government portals, public servers, dead archives; all of them.
I injected a feedback loop to slow the process. I needed to confuse him.
[system warning: 2 seconds left; host be ready to face the punishment]
The cold and mechanical voice of the system drilled my brain.
I slammed my fingers on the enter key, almost cracking it in the end.
2….1….
The screen went blank, and I shut my eyes tightly…
My breath was now ragged, but my heart was still beating steadily….
The silence was deafening…
With no thought in my mind, I just let this silence close all thoughts in my mind.
I counted my heartbeat.
1..2..3..4…5..
No sound….No Iris shouting….. No Walter screaming….. no gunshots….no chaos…..
I slowly opened my eyes, ready to face the punishment, but I also believed at the same time that I had succeeded in saving myself.
The very same darkness of that unfinished room welcomed me.
I moved my gaze outside slowly.
That building was still there.
I succeeded….
I breathed out in relief, but stopped breathing when the screen appeared again.
[system notification: 16 minutes left to finish the mission]
.
.
16 minutes….
My expression hardened and I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before looking back at the keyboard.
I pressed “enter” again.
The screen lit at a crazy speed, opening everything again, but now with a secured structure.
I not only stopped that person from finding me but also built a modified firewall to protect me with the advanced system provided to me.
The system wanted me to think like a predator, but I was their prey.
In their dreams.
I muttered to myself and started working again.
The clock in the right corner of the screen showed that I was safe now, but for how long????
The access I had built earlier was still there, but it was reinforced with a modified firewall wrapped around it.
It felt alive, reactive, and adaptive.
This was the future, and it both amazed and excited me.
I moved precisely, controlling my flow, erasing my prints, protecting my existence, and expanding the disruption.
This time, the machines there didn’t just lag, they failed.
“What the f**k? Where is my money?”
“What the f**k is going on?”
People are now shouting there.
Good…
Angry voices overlapped, the crowd started grabbing the staff; some were about to beat them.
Panic surged there uncontrollably.
Perfect way to end this hellhole.
I reopened the leak channel, but this time, I didn’t send it to different portals and servers, but I broadcasted it everywhere….
Financial logs….. hidden accounts…. Internal routing…. Live camera feeds…
Everything….
Let those agencies work too.
I was almost done when a flicker appeared again..
{same ring fingers flying over the keyboard at an inhumane speed}
Damn it.
[Warning: System breach]
Words blew my mind without any warning…
My jaw tightened.
He adapted faster than I anticipated.
This wasn’t just a chase against time.
This was a war between two minds….
And I like this situation.
My fingers flew as fast as they could.
This time, I didn’t know how much time I had to fight back.
My breath still raged, but my heart was still beating steadily as if I were not in a life-death situation, but just in an online game of survival.
[Help: Emergency Protocol Available]
Help????
Without any cost???
No possible…
A tiny window, almost like a dot, flickered at the right upper corner of the screen, among so many other windows, but it didn’t escape my eyes.
Damn it…
He adapted faster and well.
[Activate???]
System asked mechanically.
The programming and system that I have far advanced for the present generation.
He won against it.
If he could reach me at this state, they can reach Iris and Walter any time.
“ACTIVATE.”
The world came out of my mind without any hesitation.
System didn’t gave me any explanation, ins and outs of the protocol, but I had no time to dwell on them.
No matter what..
I had to pay and I was willing to pay, if it means to keep my siblings safe.
The trace bar appeared at the left down corner of the screen.
80%....
He was approaching me fast.
My breath hitched when I didn’t hear anything from the system.
What the f**k??
84%
System silenced…
For the first time in two days, it was silent.
“Come on! Don’t tell me that you are facing a glitch.” I yelled angrily.
My fingers moved again – faster and sharper than my brain ever was, shutting down everything.
I cut all the connections, wiped the nodes, resulting in all the access points collapsing one by one.
If I can’t hide, then I will erase everything.
90%
It wasn’t just following me, it was predicting me.
I grimaced and decided to gamble.
I didn’t have time to see how much time I had to complete the mission.
So, I redirected the broadcast again, but this time….
It wasn’t the data. It was a live push of hard evidence.
“You are not normal either. You wanna play, huh? Let’s see how you will save your a** now,” I muttered angrily to the owner of those fingers with rings.
I projected live camera feeds, their current transactions with clear faces, and voices…
92%
Damn it…
With a jerk of my head, I decided to target the building now.
“If I am going down, you will go with me. Do you hear me?” I screamed this time, entering the building system.
I smirked when the lights started flickering everywhere inside the building.
Machines sparked violently, making people around them scream in fear.
Then everything went black.
Screams coming from the screen almost burst my eardrums, but it brought intense pleasure to me.
Suddenly, a sharp pain tore through my head.
“Aaahhh.” I yelped in pain and held my head.
The world distorted…
Then….
[Emergency protocol ACTIVATED]
Images flooded my mind instantly.
Blueprints of everything: entrances, hidden staircases, exit routes, thermal blind spots…
They appeared too fast to shake my vision, increasing the headache, but I saw everything clearly.
I noticed every single detail without blinking…
My gaze shot to the trace bar….
92%
Great…
Let’s end this….
I shut down everything there: their power supplies and backup generators, and then I found something that made the corner of my lips curl up.
Without any hesitation, I activated it and flinched harder after two seconds...
BOOM.....
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connection with past
Ethan’s P.O.V. (Continued)BOOM…..The explosion ripped through the building like a beast unleashed, trembling the ground beneath me at once.The sound of the shattering of glass everywhere, mixed with the loud explosion and the thunderous sound of concrete cracking, exploded my eardrums.I jerked my head when the ringing sound in my ears intensified.The world went silent around me, leaving that ringing sound only.I held my head with both hands, whimpering in pain, jerking my head furiously to get rid of the sound.It took a few seconds……. or maybe a minute……. to subside.The first thing that I noticed was the trace bar on the screen.98%“Damn it.” I cursed and hit my head a few times before starting to run my fingers again.“You want me, huh? I paid the price for what I have now. Are you ready to pay the price, too, huh?” I muttered, jerking my head again and again.Outside the buildings, there was another level of chaos.It was the kind of chaos that we only see on the news after
who is predator
Ethan’s P.O.V. (Continued)[MISSION ABOUT TO FAIL]Words froze me for a second. Their red color burned in my eyes.10 seconds….Once again chase against time….Damn it…“Catch me,” I grimaced; fingers already moving on the keyboard.I had tens of windows open right now.Finding the one who would give me away was like finding a needle in a haystack and ten…. No eight seconds were not enough.So my fingers moved precisely, stopping to dump data midway, I rerouted everything.He must have found a leak somewhere.Instead of finding that leak, I decided to turn it into my weapon.I still had a mission to finish.The system screen flickered again in front of my eyes with the same warning, dark red, silent, but alarm blaring in my head now.I split all the data into fragments; scattered hundreds of those fragments across multiple nodes – government portals, public servers, dead archives; all of them.I injected a feedback loop to slow the process. I needed to confuse him.[system warning: 2
let the hunt begin
Ethan’s P.O.V.I stared at the building on the other side of the road with a blank gaze, hiding in the dark shadow of the building beside me.Also, at the digital big clock at the top of the building.00:35:08The building in front of me was just a simple four-storey building with so many small offices, shops, dull paint, flickering signboards, dim lights in the corridors, and overfilled garbage bins here and there.A good disguise for running a criminal den.A gambling den…..A doom for so many innocent families…..My father wasn’t a gambler, but I had seen families living on that street with a gambler in their family.Once people go in that den, they never come back the same.00:37:13My pulse quickened as the time continued running too fast for my comfort.I killed once because that was necessary for our survival.Now with this new task of destroying this den, would I have to kill more people?But the system also warned me not to get injured or get caught.“For Walter, and Iris.” I
a silent start
Ethan’s P.O.V.“Your coffee, bro.” Iris put the coffee mug on the nightstand after telling me in a soft voice, and without looking at me, she walked out of the room.I sighed and slowly put down the new laptop that I bought yesterday on the bed beside me.I took the coffee mug from the table and walked out of the room.It was a modest three-bedroom apartment in a secure society.Far better and entirely different from the place we have called home since birth.No broken walls here and there; no shouting, cursing, and people yelling at each other; no smell of gunpowder and blood in the air.Clean, silent…..too silent that it felt weird and creepy last night with the sound of that ticking wall clock in the living room when the sound echoed.Everything that happened in the day: gunshots, their deaths, our revival, the system, and then me, killing that man without any hesitation.Everything was overwhelming, and I needed time to gather myself and process everything.The system was still a
he killed without hesitation
“Let’s go,” I ordered them in a sharp voice, throwing both rod and gun on the ground.Walter flinched harder, but Iris didn’t move.I followed her gaze and gulped hard in pain.She was still staring at the dead body on the ground.I needed to get out before anyone notices again.I moved in her direction and held her shoulders, forcing her to look at me.“We need to get out, Iris. The police will be here shortly.” I spoke to her calmly, but the fear in her eyes took me off guard.Her terror was directed at me.I wanted to comfort her, but didn't know how. Above all, we were running against time.“Let’s go.” I spoke calmly and slowly released her shoulders.“A….re we go… ing to prison?” Walter asked me fearfully.The question hit harder than it should.“No.” The word came out of my mouth on its own.“Not if we leave now. Take everything that can make them chase us. Go.” I ordered coldly, pushing them towards our small bedroom.Both trembled hard in fear but ran inside. Iris stumbled so
birth of something darker
My brain processed the danger mentioned in that message as the screen disappeared before I could read it again.Surviving the coming attack, but how????And what the f**k was that punishment?My mind repeated the punishment if I fail.{One of the siblings of your choice will lose a limb}My stomach twisted violently, and so did my heart.This was hard to believe, as it sounded like a game of survival, just like those survival games and dramas.Players think that they are being helped, but they are being controlled by the plot.The second gunshot snapped me out of my trance.{Survive the coming attack with your siblings and come unharmed}I forced myself to breathe slowly to calm my chaotic mind.I pressed my palm against the cold wall beside the window.“If I can see what’s coming.” I talked to myself while looking outside through the blurred glass of the window.“Then I can stop it too.” I was surprised by the certainty and calmness in my voice.Continuous gunshots suppressed the scr
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