2026-07-31 07:29:40The office fell into complete silence.
Ethan stared at the Crown Guard.
“The Second Host?”
The guard nodded.
“Yes.”
Alexander Kingsley’s face became unusually serious.
“How reliable is the information?”
“Our intelligence team intercepted the transmission less than ten minutes ago.”
“It came directly from the Black Dragon Syndicate’s encrypted network.”
Alexander looked at Ethan.
“It seems we’re no longer dealing with theories.”
“There really is another Host.”
Ethan tightened his grip on the silver key.
“Who is this person?”
The guard lowered his head.
“We don’t know.”
“We only intercepted a code name.”
“What is it?”
The guard answered slowly.
“Project Phoenix.”
The system suddenly appeared.
Main Mission Updated
Objective: Find the Second Host.
Code Name: Phoenix.
Mission Difficulty: SSS+
Current Progress: 5%
Reward: Unknown.
Failure Consequence: Unknown.
The blue screen disappeared.
Alexander sighed.
“I’ve spent forty years searching for answers.”
“I never imagined I’d live to see another Host.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Could Nathan Vale still be alive?”
Alexander remained silent for several seconds.
“I honestly don’t know.”
“But if he is…”
“He’d be over sixty now.”
Ethan nodded.
“Then Phoenix probably isn’t Nathan.”
Alexander agreed.
“No.”
“It’s someone else.”
Just then…
The office phone rang.
Alexander answered immediately.
“Kingsley speaking.”
His expression changed after only a few seconds.
“What?”
“When?”
“I understand.”
He slowly hung up.
Ethan frowned.
“What happened?”
Alexander looked troubled.
“Our people just raided one of the Black Dragon Syndicate’s safe houses.”
“And?”
“They found something.”
“What?”
“A body.”
The room became silent.
Alexander continued.
“The victim wasn’t killed.”
“He died naturally.”
“But…”
“He was carrying this.”
Alexander placed a small black card on the desk.
Ethan picked it up.
Written across it were three words.
Host Candidate Seven.
His eyes narrowed.
“Candidate?”
Alexander nodded.
“It appears…”
“The system doesn’t choose only one person.”
“There have been others.”
“Most likely.”
“But according to this card…”
“They failed.”
Ethan suddenly asked,
“How many candidates were there?”
Alexander pointed to the number.
“At least seven.”
Before anyone could speak again…
The system flashed.
Hidden Information Unlocked
Previous Host Candidates: 7
Successful Hosts: Classified
Access Denied.
Host Authority Insufficient.
Ethan frowned.
“So even you won’t tell me.”
The screen disappeared.
Alexander noticed his expression.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
Ethan couldn’t reveal the system.
Not yet.
At that moment…
Another Crown Guard entered the office.
“Chairman.”
“We’ve identified where the coded message originated.”
Alexander immediately stood.
“Where?”
“The old Vale Research Institute.”
Ethan looked up sharply.
“Vale?”
Alexander’s eyes widened.
“Nathan’s institute…”
“It was abandoned thirty-five years ago.”
The guard nodded.
“Someone reactivated the building’s power supply tonight.”
Alexander looked at Ethan.
“This can’t be a coincidence.”
Ethan nodded.
“I’m going.”
Alexander shook his head.
“Not alone.”
“I’m coming with you.”
Within twenty minutes…
A convoy of black SUVs raced through the sleeping city.
Their destination…
The abandoned Vale Research Institute.
Rain began to fall.
Lightning flashed across the sky.
The institute stood on top of a lonely hill.
Broken windows.
Rusted gates.
Overgrown weeds.
It looked abandoned.
Yet…
One light burned on the top floor.
Ethan stepped out of the SUV.
The system immediately sounded an alarm.
Warning!
High-Energy Signal Detected.
Possible System Activity Confirmed.
Distance: 83 Meters.
Ethan looked toward the glowing window.
Someone was inside.
Someone connected to the system.
As Alexander ordered his guards to surround the building…
A silhouette appeared in the top-floor window.
The figure stood perfectly still.
Watching them.
Then…
The figure slowly raised a hand.
And held up…
A glowing blue screen.
Exactly like Ethan’s.
Before disappearing into the darkness.
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Chapter 109: Legacy Reawakened
The blue screen flickered.It was unstable.Unlike the flawless interface Ethan had relied on throughout his journey, this one was fractured.Tiny cracks spread across its edges as though the system itself had suffered tremendous damage.The familiar mechanical voice spoke again.It was weaker than Ethan remembered.Yet…He smiled.After everything that had happened…It still sounded like home.Legacy System…Emergency Restoration… 7% Complete…Warning… Core functions unavailable…Reason… Legacy sacrificed during the Final Convergence…Ethan’s heart pounded.“So…”“You survived.”The screen remained silent for a moment.Then…A new sentence appeared.Correction…This unit did not survive.This unit… was remembered.The words struck him harder than any attack ever could.Remembered.Not rebuilt.Not repaired.Remembered.The blue screen slowly continued.Human belief…Shared memories…Legacy fragments carried within countless lives…Emergency reconstruction successful.Ethan finally un
Chapter 108: The Sky Breaker
The crack spread across the blue sky.It didn’t happen all at once.Thin fractures crawled outward like veins across glass, stretching from one horizon to the other.Each new crack released a faint silver light.The peaceful meadow beneath Ethan’s feet trembled.Birds that had been singing moments before suddenly took flight.The gentle breeze vanished.An unnatural silence swallowed the world.Ren’s small hand instinctively reached for Ethan’s.His fingers were trembling.“They found us.”Ethan looked down.“Who?”Ren swallowed.“The ones who don’t want us remembered.”Another deafening roar echoed overhead.This time…It was closer.The sky shattered a little more.Chunks of blue light drifted downward before dissolving into countless glowing particles.Ethan had seen worlds collapse before.He had watched stars disappear.Yet…There was something uniquely terrifying about watching the sky itself come apart.Not because it looked destructive.Because it looked…Wrong.Like reality w
Chapter 107: The First Face
Every step echoed inside Ethan’s helmet.Crunch.Crunch.Crunch.The lunar dust compressed beneath his boots as he followed the countless footprints stretching toward the enormous black doorway.Mission Control remained connected through his communicator.“Ethan, your oxygen levels are stable.”“Heart rate elevated, but within acceptable limits.”Dr. Brooks’ calm voice filled the silence.Professor Orion spoke next.“Distance to the structure: four hundred meters.”“Proceed carefully.”“I will.”Ethan answered.He never took his eyes off the doorway.The closer he came…The larger it became.From orbit it had looked massive.Standing beneath it…It was overwhelming.It rose into the endless darkness above him like a mountain carved from midnight.Its surface reflected nothing.Not sunlight.Not stars.Not even Ethan himself.It was as though the doorway refused to acknowledge reality.Back on Earth…Sophia stood inside Mission Control.Her hands remained folded tightly together.She h
Chapter 106: The Man Who Walked Through Silence
By sunrise…Ethan had made his decision.He would go.Not because he trusted the beings beyond the black doorway.Not because he believed they meant no harm.But because he had seen something in the message that no one else seemed willing to acknowledge.They had asked.Twice.First…May we speak?Then…One may come.An enemy didn’t ask permission.An enemy simply invaded.Whatever waited beyond that door…It wanted to be heard.Whether that was a blessing or a trap…Only one way existed to find out.The launch facility came alive before dawn.Floodlights illuminated the enormous launch pad while engineers hurried around the silver shuttle.Unlike the bulky spacecraft used during the early years of space exploration…This one had been built after the Seven Days.Human technology had advanced dramatically with knowledge recovered from the Architects.Its engines were cleaner.Its shields stronger.Its navigation system could cross the distance between Earth and the Moon in less than th
Chapter 105: The Invitation
No one celebrated.Although the footprints had stopped appearing…Although the black doorway had remained closed…Not a single person inside Mission Control believed the danger had passed.If anything…The silence felt heavier.It was the silence of two strangers looking at one another across a great distance.Waiting.Wondering who would speak next.Dr. Elena Brooks stood beside the communications console, replaying Ethan’s transmission.“My name is Ethan.”“You asked if you could speak.”“You can.”She listened to it three more times before finally muting the speakers.“I’ve worked in aerospace for seventeen years.”She slowly shook her head.“I spent my entire career preparing for first contact.”She smiled weakly.“I never imagined it would begin with… permission.”Professor Orion nodded.“Neither did I.”Hours passed.The black doorway did not move.The Moon remained quiet.Scientists continued monitoring every satellite, every telescope, and every sensor aimed toward the far sid
Chapter 104: Beyond the Black Door
The three knocks echoed through Mission Control.Slow.Steady.Deliberate.Every person in the room froze.No one spoke.No one breathed.The sound wasn’t coming from the speakers anymore.It seemed to resonate through the walls themselves.Three knocks…Yet it felt as though something enormous had struck the fabric of reality.Then…Silence.Emergency lights flickered back to life.Rows of monitors rebooted one after another.Technicians hurried to their stations.“Power is returning!”“I’m reconnecting to the lunar station!”“Signal stabilizing!”Dr. Elena Brooks leaned over one of the consoles.“Get me visual confirmation.”The largest monitor flashed.Static filled the screen.Then the image cleared.Everyone stared.The giant black doorway still stood on the Moon’s far side.Exactly where it had been before.Silent.Motionless.Almost…Innocent.Kai slowly let out the breath he had been holding.“I hate doors.”Lyra looked at him.“You hate everything.”“I especially hate mysteri
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