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.....
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
first dispute
Ethan’s P.O.V. (Continued)[a smooth and bully-free school life for both Iris and Walter]...One thing that I understood from this message was that the system knew I would do everything to keep my siblings safe.And I can’t blame the system for this because this was my choice.The screen disappeared, but I knew that it would appear soon with punishment and cost.But the problem wasn’t the system.The problem was the voice.“What’s your name?” I heard him again, and this time, my heart skipped a beat.I slowly moved in his direction.The boy was still standing at the door.He started walking inside the room lazily when our gazes met.Taller than me, silver hair, deep sea-green eyes, athletic build, but not lean, expensive uniform, but no other accessories, not even a smart watch.But something about his aura screamed danger.Nathan is dangerous, but this is what I got from the system, not from his aura.But this boy….He slowly walked inside the room, and the door closed automatical
first roommate
Ethan’s P.O.V."I will meet you two for lunch in the cafeteria assigned for all the scholarship students, Walter. Stay low, don't try to mix up with the kids here. They are completely of another level, but don't let them bully you." I instructed Walter while putting my bag and other stuff that I got from the school on an empty desk to the space assigned to me."Mr. Norton said that school treats every student equally, and yet the scholarship students have a different cafeteria," he complained angrily.I smiled helplessly, but this was better for us."At least no rich kid will be there to ruin our appetite." I teased him with a faint smile."Only you can laugh in this situation," Walter groaned, but I just shook my head lightly."I am hanging up now. I also need to help Iris," he grumbled, and before I could say anything to him, he hung up.I wanted to say to him that he needs to spend more time with Iris from now. We have different wings in the hostel, and with so many activities writ
I am scared too
Iri’s P.O.V. (Continued)“Is everything okay, Ms. Bell?” Mr. Norton asked her in a concerned tone.I also looked between them anxiously.“Nothing to worry about, Mr. Norton,” Ms. Bell answered him, her tone light.Light enough to erase the worry in a normal situation, but ours wasn’t normal.“Did I do something wrong, Ms. Bell?” Walter asked anxiously.“No, Mr. Croft. Everything is okay.’ Ms. Bell comforted him immediately.I was still standing at the same place.“You can step aside, Mr. Croft. Let your sister come forward.” She instructed him the next.Walter looked at me while coming to my side and jerked his head a little.I took a deep breath before walking to the same spot where Walter was standing earlier.Ms. Bell passed me a soft smile and started running her fingers on the keyboard again.The same rhythm, the same glances at the screen.I can’t see the screen, but I could see a different spark in her eyes.She saw something there that got her attention and amazed her.She gla
everything changed
Iris’s P.O.V.“Kids, this is Mr. Norton. He will give you a tour of the school and help you with your schedules, and lockers etc.” The woman from earlier, Ms. Voss, told us with a professional smile on her lips.“Mr. Norton.” Both Walter and I greeted Mr. Norton in unison with a slight bow.“Good morning, kids.” Mr. Norton, a tall and handsome man in a black suit, greeted us with that professional smile that all the employees here had.I don’t know what was wrong with Ethan and how he managed to bring us here.He had changed…He suddenly changed during that gun fight in the alley that day.He killed…He erased our traces like an expert.Just a few hours before that incident, he screamed at the top of his lungs when a rat jumped on his work desk.Then, it felt as if he became possessed.His moves, the stillness in his eyes, no hesitation, no fear, just an instinct that I felt…When he caught that gun and shot with precision and without hesitation….I couldn't even breathe for I don't k
his suspicion
Ethan’s P.O.V. (Continued)“Mr. Croft.” I looked up with a calm expression when someone called me in a heavy but professional voice.My heart was thudding hard against my ribcage, but on the surface, I smiled faintly.On the door, a tall man in a black professional suit was standing.With his athletic build, he appeared in his early thirties. He had a square, long face, with piercing blue eyes and well-combed metallic grey hair, which gave him an intimidating look.“Mr. Norton?” I asked him while closing the laptop.“If you are busy with some work, we can wait for a bit.” He proposed in the same professional tone while coming inside.“That’s okay. Nothing important.” I replied to him casually while putting the laptop in the bag.My movements were steady and casual.He just nodded in response, without showing any suspicion, but I knew that he was already suspecting me.What can a scholarship student with no family background do while waiting for someone at the school?I stood up and lo
not a simple structure
Ethan’s P.O.V. (Continued)This phase of my age is called a rebellious age, and if you have an intelligent mind, sometimes you assume that you can change the world, or burn the world when you become angry, or everything around you becomes too suffocating to bear.I guess I was also affected by the same hormonal changes when I wrote this program, thinking about every possible scenario of escape if I get caught by hackers while running the program.But after my rebirth, I realized that you can’t act all the time recklessly when you have lives dependent on you.Like my siblings.I came back to life for them, and that’s why I was still cautious when I started working on this new mission.By now, I knew that the system would help me whenever I needed it, but as I said earlier, trusting someone except me was the most difficult task for me.So, I don’t trust the system either.I still had questions about the cost that I paid every time the system rewarded me with something.Till now, I haven
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