I Steal The System

Chapter 8: Prisoners

The air inside the cell was thick and stagnant. It carried the metallic tang of rust and the sickly sweet scent of rotting waste. This place felt more like a forgotten sewer than a high-security military prison. Moisture beaded on the stone walls, reflecting the dim, flickering light of a single bulb overhead. Lucius sat on a mattress that was little more than a slab of cold, grey rock. Every time he shifted, the heavy iron chains around his wrists barked a sharp, metallic warning.

"I finally made it," Lucius whispered. He ignored the ache in his joints and scanned the room with a predator's precision.

The corridor outside was eerily quiet. During his walk to the cell, he had counted only five other occupied units. It was a ghost facility. He had expected a crowded dungeon, but this isolation was even better for his purposes.

"Ten years," he murmured to himself. "In exactly one decade, the most terrifying system in history will awaken in this very coordinate."

He closed his eyes for a moment, recalling the chaos of his previous life. He remembered the screams and the smell of ozone. He knew the secrets of the future, and that knowledge was his only weapon. To get here, he had played a dangerous game. He had committed a high-profile crime and shouted his lies about owning a system loud enough for the military to hear. He had practically invited them to kidnap him. Everything was going according to his design.

"Red Lightning. The herald of the God System," he said softly.

The stories he fed General Nefion were not entirely fabricated. He knew that a power capable of wielding red and black lightning existed. In his past life, that power was a pillar of the apocalypse. It was a force that could turn a man into a god or a monster.

"But that man in the control room is just a pretender," Lucius thought. He hadn't seen the face, but the voice was unmistakable. It belonged to the butcher of Wraka City, a man known for ruling over a wasteland of outcasts. Nefion was greedy, and greed was easy to manipulate.

Lucius dragged himself toward the iron bars. The chains scraped against the jagged floor, sending a loud clatter through the hallway. He pressed his face against the cold metal and waited. Minutes felt like hours until a shadow flickered at the end of the hall.

"Hey. You want to hear something that will get you a promotion?" Lucius hissed.

A guard stopped abruptly. He was a silhouette of high-tech gear and lethal intent. A rifle hung from his shoulder, and a mask with a white skull symbol hid his features. The massive goggles on his face hummed with a low power, emitting a toxic, purplish-green glow that illuminated the bars of the cell.

"Shut up, prisoner," the guard growled. He stepped closer, his boots heavy on the stone. He tried to look indifferent, but Lucius saw the way his grip tightened on his weapon.

"I saw it earlier," Lucius said, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "The lightning. Red and black sparks. It’s starting, isn't it?"

The guard froze. "What are you talking about?"

"Information for information," Lucius countered. "Give me what I want, and I'll tell you exactly what that lightning means for your career."

The soldier glanced over his shoulder. The lure of escaping this hellhole through a promotion was too strong to ignore. "Fine. Make it quick."

"Who is the man in charge of this facility?"

"General Nefion," the guard answered shortly.

"And how long has this place been active?"

"Ten years this month. Now talk."

Lucius smiled. The timeline was perfect. They had been digging here since the very beginning. "I heard the legends in the underworld. The birth of the God System is marked by red and black flashes. It is the ultimate power. If your General finds it first, he becomes a king. If you are the one who brings him the key, you become his right hand."

The guard didn't reply. He turned on his heel and marched away, his pace much faster than before. He was already running toward the command center.

---

"He said those exact words?" General Nefion stood up so fast his chair nearly toppled.

"Yes, sir," the guard reported, standing at stiff attention. "He called it the God System. He knew about the red and black lightning. He seemed... certain."

Nefion’s heart hammered against his ribs. "Then the anomaly we discovered at the mine. It’s not just energy. It’s a system. If I can bond with it, the central government won't be able to touch me."

The General’s obsession was now absolute. The boy’s words matched the classified data from the excavation site perfectly. He grabbed the tablet on his desk and swiped through Lucius’s file again. He looked for a hidden agenda or a secret alliance.

"The boy is a ghost," Nefion noted. "No family. No military record. No political ties. He’s just a lucky rat who happened to see something he shouldn't have."

He looked at the guard and pointed a finger. "Extract every single detail from his head. I don't care if you have to break him. If you get me the sequence to unlock that system, you’ll have a new rank and a mansion in the capital by next week."

The soldier saluted, his goggles glowing brightly in the dark office. This was the moment he had waited for since joining the Hedron military, and he was ready to do whatever it took to claim his prize.