2025-07-29 00:00:19The city buzzed around him as Jared waited for the bus back to the central district. He could’ve called a cab, but he didn’t. Not yet. Every naira counted now.
The auction had left him with nothing in his wallet, but in his mind? He had more power than any of them could imagine. Elena’s voice still echoed in his head — “Just don’t come back empty-handed.”
He hadn’t. She just wouldn’t see it yet.
The bus pulled up, brakes squealing, and Jared climbed on. No one paid him any attention. He liked it that way. That’s how all great rises began — in silence.
By the time he reached the Bai family residence, the sun had started its descent. Long shadows stretched across the marble floors as he walked in.
He’d barely shut the door behind him when he heard the voice.
“You’re late.”
It was Bai Cheng. Sitting in the lounge with a glass of wine, his expression tight with annoyance.
Jared didn’t slow his steps. “I said I’d check the warehouse. I did.”
“It’s not about the warehouse,” Bai Cheng snapped. “It’s about you disrespecting this family. My daughter gives you money — my money — and you can’t even be back on time? You think this is some kind of vacation?”
Jared didn’t answer. He dropped the plastic folder containing the supplier’s signed invoice on the table in front of him.
“There was a delay with their shipment. I handled it. They’ll deliver by tomorrow noon.”
Bai Cheng looked at the paper, then back at Jared, as if trying to figure out how a man like him had managed even that.
“Elena said you left this morning without saying anything. You didn’t answer her calls either.”
“I was busy handling your task,” Jared said coolly.
“And now what?” Bai Cheng leaned back. “You think doing one errand means you’ve earned something around here? This house isn’t yours. This family—”
“Never accepted me,” Jared said, his voice calm but firm. “I know.”
Bai Cheng stood up, jaw tight. “You think you’re clever now, huh?”
“I think I’m not as stupid as I used to be.”
The silence stretched. It wasn’t defiance in Jared’s tone. It was something worse. Confidence.
Bai Cheng didn’t like it.
From the hallway, another voice joined in — softer, cooler.
“Can I talk to him alone?”
Elena.
She walked into the room, dressed in a navy blouse and slacks, tablet in one hand. Her face was unreadable, as usual. Beautiful and distant, like a portrait that never changed expression.
Her father gave her a long look, then walked out without another word.
Jared stayed where he was.
Elena looked at him, arms crossed.
“Where did you go, really?”
He raised a brow. “You think I lied?”
“I think,” she said slowly, “that you disappeared for ten hours and came back with an attitude.”
Jared didn’t answer.
She stepped closer. “I don’t care if you’re trying to play some game, Jared. But if you’re going to stay in this house, you don’t get to make me look like a fool.”
“You’re worried what they’ll think of you?” he asked. “For marrying someone beneath you?”
“I didn’t marry you,” she said, her tone sharp. “I was told to.”
That stung more than he wanted to admit.
She took a breath, like she wanted to say more but changed her mind. “Dinner’s in an hour. Don’t be late again.”
She walked past him, but he caught her wrist gently. Just for a second.
She turned.
“You didn’t have to give me that money this morning,” he said. “Thank you.”
She blinked. Her lips parted slightly, as if surprised by the sincerity in his voice.
“I didn’t do it for you.”
“I know.”
She didn’t pull her hand away. Not right away.
Then she did.
Without a word, she disappeared up the stairs.
Jared stood there, staring after her, and for the first time in days, he let himself feel something. Not love. Not hate. Just… memory.
She’d once told him she regretted everything. Long after the fall. When it was too late.
Maybe it would be different this time.
Ding.
The system chimed again in his mind.
[New Mission Available.]
[Mission 002: Acquire one firearm (pistol or shotgun) within 48 hours. Reward: +1500 points. Unlock: Combat Tab.]
Jared exhaled slowly.
The storm was coming.
And now, he had a weapon to find.
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Episode 52- The Last Log
[Before the first reset]The world wasn’t quiet when it ended.It screamed.The sky above the city split open like a wound, releasing static and gold instead of rain. Emma watched the power grids below blinking out one by one from the upper floors of the research tower. Every shutdown had the distant sound of a dying heartbeat. She didn't flinch. This was what she had expected. There was always fire, noise, and Jared's name on her lips at the end of the loops. Around her, the lab was collapsing. Wires were sparking beneath the feet, half the screens were black, and red warnings on the main console kept flickering.[System integrity: 3%][Core fracture detected.][Reinitialization impossible.]Emma’s reflection wavered on the cracked glass, a ghost of herself staring back — tired eyes, smudged lenses, hands trembling from too much coffee and not enough sleep. She exhaled slowly, almost a laugh, though it sounded more like a sob.“Figures,” she whispered. “You’d crash right when I s
Episode 51- The loop breaker
Jared didn’t run this time.He just stood there, in the middle of the street, as the crowd of his own faces passed him by. Every screen showed him smiling, shaking hands, saving cities that never fell. The applause sounded hollow. Too perfect.He raised his hand, almost afraid to touch the nearest display. His fingers met cold glass. The man inside the screen mirrored him perfectly, down to the twitch in his jaw—then, for a split second, didn’t.The reflection blinked the wrong way.A chill slid down his spine.The system whispered, soft but shaking.[Observation node unstable.][Loop integrity: 92%][Warning: anomaly detected.]Jared’s chest ached. He could hear his own heartbeat echoing like it didn’t belong to him anymore. He had been here before, hadn’t he? This street, this moment, this air that tasted like metal and memory.“Stop it,” he muttered. “Stop showing me this.”But the city didn’t stop. It kept moving, kept smiling, kept pretending everything was fine.Then one screen—
Episode 50- Rebirth of the Chainbearer
The light tore the sky open. Not like thunder. It was unlike any storm he had ever seen. Thin, gold, and alive, it poured through the cloud fissures and bled downward as though the heavens themselves were being rewritten. Jared covered his eyes. The interface of the system was glitching, flickering between static and warnings. Whatever was coming wasn’t supposed to exist. Then the shape broke through. Feathers that glistened between light and metal, wings that resembled blades, and chains underneath it. Like a crown of ruin, dozens of them drag through the air. He gasped. That silhouette was familiar to him. Buried in one of the system's locked files, he had seen it before—the day humanity fell. The day he died.The Archon.Except this time… it wasn’t the same.The light shifted as the creature descended, and for a moment—just a heartbeat—he saw a human form at its center. A face. Pale. Still.Emma.“No…” His voice broke. “No, no, that’s impossible.”The system buzzed, cold and
Episode 49- When the seal Broke
The world didn't feel alive again, even after the storm had passed. It was hollow. Jared took a seat at the edge of what used to be the chamber. The light was gone, and the stone had split open like a wound. The sky and the ash and the taste of the air were all gray now. Even though he was no longer bleeding, he could still feel the burn where the chains had been beneath his skin. The heartbeat wasn't his when he put his palm to his chest. It sounded heavier and slower, like someone else was still inside of him.[System recalibrating…][Host integrity: 82%][Warning: Identity interference detected.]He exhaled through his teeth. “You again.”Silence. Then—faint, like a thought that didn’t belong to him—You opened the seal, Jared. We’re not separate anymore.He froze. The voice wasn’t cold this time. It sounded… calm. Familiar. Almost like his own, if it were stripped of everything human.“Get out of my head.”I can’t. You brought me back.His fingers curled into fists. He could st
Chapter 48- The Echo Beneath
The air was colder here. It felt thin and sharp against his skin, as if the world were breathing without him. Something nearby was dripping water when Jared woke up, a slow rhythm that held him in place. The room had vanished. Dust, roots, and stone in its place. It didn't feel natural, but it might have been a cave. Veins of light pulsed faintly through the walls, resembling arteries. He sat up too quickly. The world slanted to one side. His hands shook. The marks remained deep into his arms. However, they were now different, with black streaks twining with gold lines that moved with each blink. His palms ached from rubbing at them. They didn’t fade.He sat there for a long time, listening and trying to remember how to breathe like a normal person. Everything inside him continued to hum from what happened in the chamber. That voice. That thing wearing his face. The crack of the seal. When he eventually forced himself to stand, the cave seemed to be watching him as the walls tremb
Chapter 47- The Awakening Below
The sound came first, a low, thrumming pulse that didn’t belong to the air. It went directly into his bones through the stone's fractured veins beneath the floor. As the rhythm got louder and faster, Jared stumbled and gripped his head. Something alive was inside the fracture. Like lightning, the golden threads exploded outward and shattered through the chamber.The chains on his arms trembled as though they had been called home, writhing in response. He could feel them pulling, dragging his body closer to the stone. He hissed, "Stop," but the roar erupting around him caused his voice to break apart. Images flickered through his mind —Faces, burning cities, the gleam of a crown half-buried in ash. And through it all, that same whisper, soft and sure: You left us.Jared fell to one knee. The stone split wider, spilling light so bright it burned the air. Something within it moved—slow, deliberate—and for the first time, Jared wasn’t sure if it was reaching for him… or becoming him.
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