2025-10-31 20:50:30Anthony stood frozen for a moment, staring at Dr. Kenneth in disbelief. “What did you just say?” His voice trembled—not from fear, but from the boiling anger rising inside him.
The doctor folded his arms and gave a condescending smirk. “I said, if you want your mother’s body, you’ll have to pay double the amount. Or you can go home.”
Anthony clenched his fists. The last thread of patience within him was wearing thin. “Fine,” he said quietly. “Give me your account number.”
Dr. Kenneth chuckled, convinced he was bluffing. “You think this is a joke? That’s $800,000 in total.”
Anthony said nothing. Within seconds, he completed the transfer. The notification buzzed on the doctor’s phone, and his arrogant smile faltered. “Impossible,” he muttered, staring at the screen. “You actually—”
Before he could finish, Anthony said evenly, “Now release my mother’s body.”
Dr. Kenneth hesitated, then scoffed. “You know what? I don’t like your tone. You’ve wasted enough of my time. Pay another $1,000,000 for the delay.”
Anthony didn’t flinch. He pulled out his phone and transferred the money immediately.
The doctor’s jaw dropped as his phone buzzed again. His greed had pushed him too far, but the reality of what he was dealing with hadn’t yet sunk in. “Who are you?” he asked, voice unsteady.
Anthony’s expression was cold and unreadable. “Just someone who wants to bury his mother in peace.”
As Dr. Kenneth turned to make arrangements, his phone rang again. Seeing the caller ID, he smirked—it was Oscar. “Ah, Mr. Patrick,” he said smoothly. “Yes, your stepson just paid everything, even threw in a little extra. He’s about to claim his mother’s body.”
Oscar’s laughter echoed through the receiver. “Don’t let him,” he ordered. “I don’t care what he paid. Make sure her body is confiscated and handed to the organ harvesters. End of discussion.” Then he hung up.
Dr. Kenneth slipped his phone into his pocket and turned to Anthony, feigning pity. “I’m afraid it’s too late,” he said mockingly. “Even though you paid, we’re already finalising the deal with the organ harvesting firm. You can’t claim the body.”
Anthony’s eyes darkened. His hands trembled, not from fear but from fury. “What did you just say?”
“Security!” Dr. Kenneth called out with a grin. “Keep an eye on this one. He might do something stupid.”
The guards surrounded Anthony. The doctor turned to leave, but before he could take two steps, his phone rang again.
He glanced at the screen—and froze.
His arrogance drained from his face. Slowly, he answered, his voice suddenly submissive. “Yes, sir. Of course, sir. I didn’t know... No, no, please, sir, forgive me. It won’t happen again. I understand completely. Yes, sir.”
Every “sir” came out smaller than the last. Sweat formed on his forehead. When the call ended, he stood there shaking.
Then, before anyone could understand what was happening, Dr. Kenneth fell to his knees before Anthony. “Please, forgive me,” he begged, pressing his forehead to the floor. “I didn’t know, I swear. Please, sir, have mercy.”
The guards exchanged puzzled looks.
Anthony stared at him, confused but composed. “Stand up,” he said calmly.
Dr. Kenneth couldn’t even raise his eyes. “Please, don’t make me—”
“Stand up,” Anthony repeated, his tone sharper this time.
The doctor obeyed, trembling.
“Here’s what you’ll do,” Anthony said coldly. “Place my mother’s body in the best morgue available. Return every cent I sent you. And after that, I never want to see your face again.”
“Yes, sir,” Dr. Kenneth stammered. Within seconds, he pulled out his phone and transferred the full amount back to Anthony. Then he turned to the guards and shouted, “Throw me out of this hospital!”
The guards hesitated, confused. “Sir?”
“Do it!” he yelled.
Moments later, they dragged him out.
Anthony sat quietly in the hallway, his heart heavy but calm. The weight of his mother’s loss pressed on him, yet a strange strength filled him—a strength that wasn’t his alone. He remembered his grandfather’s words: You are never alone. I’m always watching from the shadows.
For the first time, he believed them.
As the new doctor prepared his mother’s body, Anthony’s phone buzzed. It was a text from Vionna: Are you coming to the party tonight? I saved your seat.
He looked at the message for a long moment before standing up. He had no reason to go to a party—but something in him whispered that he should.
When he reached home, Fenrick and Liora were waiting anxiously. “Anthony!” Liora exclaimed. “Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick!”
Fenrick added, “We saw everything online. Darren taking Olivia, the expulsion... Man, you’ve had the worst day imaginable.”
Anthony smiled faintly and set his keys on the table. “It’s fine,” he said simply.
Liora frowned. “Fine? Anthony, you lost your mother, your girlfriend, your scholarship, your job—”
“It’s nothing,” he interrupted quietly.
They stared at him, stunned. This wasn’t the Anthony they knew—the one who broke down over every setback. There was something new in his eyes now. Something deeper, calmer, and far more dangerous.
Without another word, he walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.
Fenrick turned to Liora. “He’s... different,” he said in disbelief.
Liora nodded slowly. “It’s like something inside him changed completely.”
When Anthony emerged, he looked fresh and composed. He wore a clean black suit, simple yet elegant.
Liora tried to lighten the mood. “So, are you going to Vionna’s birthday party?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Can we come too?” Fenrick asked eagerly. “We didn’t get VIP invitations.”
Anthony smiled faintly. “You won’t need them,” he said, holding up the golden card. “Vionna gave me this herself.”
They exchanged astonished glances.
Half an hour later, Anthony’s car pulled up in front of the most extravagant venue in the city. Every inch of the place shimmered with luxury. Expensive cars lined the driveway, and laughter spilled from the grand hall.
Fenrick whistled. “This is insane. I feel like I’m breathing money.”
Anthony didn’t respond. He stepped out of the car and walked toward the entrance, his friends following behind.
Inside, chandeliers sparkled like captured stars. The hall was alive with music, perfume, and laughter. Fenrick and Liora found a seat near the back while Anthony moved toward the VIP section.
As he approached, two bulky security guards blocked his path. “VIP only,” one of them said sharply.
“I have a VIP card,” Anthony said, handing it over.
The guard barely looked at it before shoving it back at him. “Nice try. Get out.”
The push drew attention. Laughter rippled through the crowd.
Before Anthony could respond, a familiar voice cut through the noise. “He’s with me.”
Everyone turned. Vionna descended the grand staircase, her silver gown glittering under the lights. She walked straight to Anthony, ignoring the murmurs, and took his hand. “Sit beside me,” she said softly.
The hall fell into a stunned silence as she led him to her table.
Whispers spread like wildfire.
“Isn’t that Anthony Parker? The expelled student?”
“What’s he doing here?” “Look at his suit—did he rent it?” “Maybe he’s Vionna’s new charity case.”Anthony heard every word but didn’t flinch. He simply sat down beside Vionna, his expression unreadable.
Moments later, Jackson Derrick—Liora’s arrogant boyfriend—walked onto the stage, microphone in hand. “Well, well,” he said loudly, scanning the crowd. “Seems we have an unexpected guest tonight.”
All eyes turned to Anthony again.
Jackson sneered. “This is an elite party, not a shelter. Anthony Parker, stand up and leave before I make you.”
The crowd erupted in cheers and laughter. “Tell him, Jackson!” someone shouted.
Jackson smirked. “But hey, I’m generous. I’ll give him a choice. Either walk out now, or challenge me by paying for the most expensive wine in this hall.”
The laughter grew louder. Even Joanna, Anthony’s stepsister, stood up and joined in. “Pay for a drink?” she said mockingly. “He couldn’t even pay his mother’s hospital bills or afford to buy his girlfriend a bag! What’s he going to do—wash dishes for it?”
The crowd howled with laughter. Joanna basked in it, playing to her audience like a comedian. Only Vionna, Fenrick, and Liora remained silent, their faces filled with pity.
Vionna leaned toward him and whispered, “I’m so sorry, Anthony. Please don’t take it to heart. They don’t know what they’re saying.”
Anthony looked at her, calm and composed. “You don’t need to apologise.”
Then he stood up slowly, his chair scraping against the floor. The laughter faded slightly as he walked toward the stage.
Jackson smirked. “What’s this? You actually want to challenge me?”
Anthony’s gaze was cold, steady, and unshaken. “Yes,” he said simply. “I accept your challenge.”
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Chapter 110: The Short-Sellers of Reality
The desert was no longer a battlefield of bullets; it was a battlefield of bits. Elias’s team was frantically trying to stabilize the Endowment’s assets, but every time they patched a hole, a thousand new ones appeared."They’re using my mother’s pulse," Anthony realized, watching the data-streams on his handheld. "She’s not a hostage. She’s the Open-Source Core. She’s giving every person on Earth the 'Permission' to audit the Trustees.""We have to get to a high-bandwidth uplink," Sloane said. "If the Endowment manages to initiate a 'Market Freeze,' the people will lose their window."They stole one of the electric SUVs in the chaos, Sloane pushing the vehicle to its limits as they raced toward the border of China."Where are we going?""To the Great Wall," Anthony said. "Not the stone one. The Digital One. If I can bridge the GTI with the Chinese state-grid, we can create a 'Truth-Loop' that the Endowment can't break. It’ll be a global, permanent, un-erasable record of every debt ev
Chapter 109: The Silk Road of Secrets
They escaped the Glass House through a waste-reclamation tunnel that spat them out into the freezing Gobi night, miles from their landing site. Thorne’s helicopters were circling the Glass House like vultures around a dying beast."We need a terminal," Anthony said, his teeth chattering. "I need to see what’s on this drive before Thorne’s 'Trustees' lock me out.""There’s a nomadic outpost twenty miles east," Sloane said, checking her compass. "They have satellite relays for the wool trade. It’s not much, but it’s enough for Mark to bridge the gap."They walked for six hours, the silence of the desert filled only by the sound of their boots on the gravel. Anthony felt the drive in his pocket—it felt heavy, like a lead weight.When they reached the outpost—a cluster of yurts with solar panels—Anthony bartered his watch for twenty minutes of terminal time."Mark, come in," Anthony whispered into the headset."Anthony? Where the hell are you?" Mark’s voice was frantic. "The GTI is under
Chapter 108: The Glass House
The Gobi Desert at night was a landscape of frozen starlight and bone-dry wind. Anthony and Sloane didn't have the Wraith or the Black Swan anymore—those were "public assets" now, seized by the new world governments. They arrived in a rattling, petrol-smelling transport plane hired from a black-market contact in Ulaanbaatar."Why here?" Sloane asked as they trekked across the dunes toward the coordinates. "There’s nothing here but sand and Mongolian death worms.""Because it’s a Dead Zone," Anthony said. "Before the Triad, there was the Sino-Soviet Ledger. A group of mathematicians who thought the Jodahs were too 'emotional' with their audits. They wanted a system of pure logic. No humans. No 'Permission.'"They reached a structure that looked like a shard of black glass thrust into the earth. It wasn't on any map, and the Great Audit’s satellites had skipped right over it.The door didn't require a key. It sensed Anthony’s DNA before he was within ten feet. It slid open with a sound
Chapter 107: The Auditor’s Peace
Winter came to Cornwall, turning the cliffs into a landscape of white and grey. Anthony and Sloane spent their days in the cottage, the fire roaring in the hearth.They didn't talk much about the past. They talked about the garden, the weather, and the books they were reading. Sloane had started painting—rough, powerful landscapes of the sea. Anthony had started writing—not a ledger, but a history. The true history of the Jodah family."Do you think they’ll believe it?" Sloane asked one night, looking at the stack of manuscripts on the table."It doesn't matter if they believe it, Sloane," Anthony said. "It matters that it’s there. If someone wants to find the truth, they’ll have a map.""You're a good man, Anthony Jodah," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder."I'm an auditor, Sloane," he whispered. "I'm just making sure the books stay balanced."That night, Anthony dreamed of the lighthouse. But it wasn't burning. It was a steady, warm light, shining out across a calm sea. And
Chapter 106: The Broken Ledger
The trial didn't happen in a courtroom. It happened in the streets, in the bistros, and on every screen from Tokyo to Toronto. It was the "Year of the Long Memory."Anthony Jodah sat in a sterile room in The Hague, dressed in a simple black suit. Across from him sat a panel of judges who looked terrified. They weren't just judging the Council; they were judging the system that had given them their own robes."Lord Jodah," the Chief Justice began, her voice trembling. "The records you’ve provided... the 'Human Capital Ledger.' You realize that if we prosecute every name in this book, the global administrative structure will collapse. There will be no one left to run the governments.""Then you’d better start teaching the people how to run them themselves," Anthony said. "I didn't bring you a solution, Justice. I brought you a diagnosis. You don't ignore cancer because the surgery is difficult."For six months, Anthony sat in that chair. He told the story of the Triad. He explained the
Chapter 105: The Shepherd’s Logic
"A pruning," Anthony repeated, the word tasting like copper in his mouth. "That’s what you call it when you decide who lives and who dies from thirty thousand miles up? You’re not a shepherd, Arthur. You’re just a coward who can't handle a world he doesn't control."Arthur smiled—a thin, brittle thing. "Control is the only thing that separates us from the jungle we walked out of, Anthony. Your grandfather understood that. He knew that a Jodah’s job wasn't to be liked. It was necessary. You’ve spent your life trying to be 'ethical,' but ethics are a byproduct of stability. Take away the stability, and the ethics vanish. Watch."Arthur pulled a small remote from his pocket and pressed a button.Below them, at the base of the gantry, a series of floodlights snapped on, illuminating a group of people huddled in a holding pen. They weren't soldiers. They were the families of the spaceport technicians—children, spouses, elderly parents."If you turn that key to abort this launch, the second
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