2025-10-16 00:24:17A siren wailed in the distance, long, hollow, endless. Jayden fell to his knees as the blinding light faded. His surroundings flickered between static and reality.
He was standing in the middle of a ruined city. The air shimmered like broken glass; skyscrapers were twisted into impossible angles, and every window reflected distorted faces that weren’t his.
[Zone Three: The City of Ghost Codes, Survival Rate: 15%]
Jayden’s voice cracked. “What is this place?”
A faint echo answered, layered and ghostly. “Where the dead remember… and the living forget.”
He spun around, sword drawn. “Who said that?”
No one was there, only the shadow of a figure flickering in and out like corrupted data. Jayden’s pulse raced. “System, scan for lifeforms!”
[Scanning…Detected: 37 residual data fragments. No living players nearby.]
He clenched his jaw. “So it’s just me.”
He started walking down a cracked street. The ground beneath his boots glowed faintly with strings of binary code.
Every few steps, he passed floating holograms of players who had once lived, fragments replaying their last moments before deletion.
One girl’s voice whispered, “Tell my brother… I tried to win.” Then she vanished, her face breaking into pixels.
Jayden’s stomach twisted. “These are… the dead players.”
The air grew colder. He could feel something watching him, then, a voice, faint but real this time. “Jayden.”
He froze. That voice, soft, trembling, he’d know it anywhere. “Luna?”
Static flared in the air, and her image flickered before him. She was pale, almost transparent, her hair flowing like smoke. “Jayden… can you hear me?”
He took a shaky step forward. “You’re alive! Where are you?”
She shook her head. “Not exactly. The system trapped me between zones after the forest collapsed. I can see everything but… I can’t move.”
Jayden’s throat tightened. “Don’t say that. I’ll find you. Just tell me how!”
Luna’s hologram flickered again. “There’s a core tower in this city. It controls player data transfers. If you can reach it, you might be able to pull me back.”
“Then that’s where I’m going,” he said without hesitation.
Her eyes softened. “Jayden, listen. The ghosts here, they’re not harmless. They feed on emotion. Fear, guilt, grief, anything that reminds them they were once human. Don’t let them touch you.”
The air around them began to hum, filled with whispers. “Jayden…Join us…Stay.”
He turned sharply. Figures were emerging from the walls, transparent, glitching, faces twisted in agony. Luna’s voice broke. “They’re coming. You have to move, now!”
He raised his sword. “I’m not running this time.”
The ghosts surged forward, their eyes glowing blue. Jayden swung his weapon, but it passed right through them. His body trembled as one ghost’s hand brushed his arm, cold, burning, empty.
[Warning: Emotional Stability Decreasing.]
He gritted his teeth. “System, how do I fight things that aren’t real?”
[New Skill Available: Code Pulse, Releases data energy to disrupt digital entities.]
“Then give it to me!”
Energy flared from his chest, spreading across his body. The sword hummed with white light.
He swung again, this time the ghosts screamed, scattering into shards of light. Luna gasped. “You did it!”
Jayden’s breathing was heavy. “Just tell me where that tower is.”
“North side of the city,” she said quickly. “But the path is guarded. There’s a player, someone who calls herself the Red Hunter. She’s been killing survivors.”
Jayden frowned. “Why would a player kill others?”
Luna’s eyes dimmed. “Because she believes only one can win.”
Jayden’s grip tightened on his sword. “Then I’ll make her believe otherwise.”
He started running through the city, every building buzzing with faint static. Voices followed him, whispers of people long gone.
He reached a wide intersection where the roads glowed faint red, and there, standing atop a broken sign, was a woman in crimson armor, twin blades in her hands.
Her hair was black with streaks of red, her eyes sharp like fire. She looked down at him and smiled. “So, you’re the famous Player #10927. The one who’s been breaking the system.”
Jayden lifted his sword. “And you’re the one killing everyone.”
“Not everyone,” she said calmly. “Only those too weak to survive.”
He glared. “You sound just like the Game Master.”
At that, her smile faltered for a split second. Then she jumped down, landing soundlessly. “He created me. I owe him my strength. And you… are his experiment.”
Jayden’s chest tightened. “Created you?”
Her blades glowed red. “I was human once. But the system rewrote me. Now, I’m what you’ll become if you keep leveling up.”
Luna’s faint voice echoed through Jayden’s earpiece. “Jayden, she’s lying! Don’t listen.”
The Red Hunter moved before Luna could finish. Her twin blades slashed forward. Jayden barely blocked, sparks flying as steel met code.
“You’re fast,” the woman said, eyes gleaming. “But you hesitate. That’s why you’ll die.”
Jayden pushed back, teeth gritted. “You talk too much.”
They clashed again, a blur of motion, each strike echoing through the empty city. The ground cracked beneath them. Jayden’s system flashed warnings one after another.
[Health: 48%]
[Stamina: 30%]The Red Hunter smirked. “Your system’s impressive. I can almost hear it screaming for mercy.”
Jayden forced a grin. “Funny, I was about to say the same thing.”
He activated Code Pulse again, the light burst between them, throwing her back several meters.
She landed gracefully, brushing dust from her armor. Her expression softened. “Interesting. You’re stronger than expected.”
“Then stop testing me and tell me why the Game Master’s doing this!”
Her gaze turned cold. “You want answers? Reach the Core Tower. If you survive that far, you’ll understand everything.”
She raised her blades again. “But I doubt you’ll make it.”
The air shimmered red. The ghosts began to reappear, drawn by the fight. Jayden’s vision blurred from exhaustion, but he stood his ground. “System,” he gasped, “give me something stronger.”
[Access Denied. Energy Levels Critical.]
The Red Hunter moved in for the final strike. Jayden raised his sword, but his legs faltered. The ghosts closed in, whispering louder now, then a flash, bright blue, slicing through the air.
A shockwave threw the Red Hunter back as data exploded around them. Jayden shielded his face, coughing through the smoke.
When it cleared, he saw someone standing between him and the Red Hunter, a tall figure wearing a glowing white hood. The newcomer’s voice was calm but firm. “Enough. He’s not your enemy.”
Jayden blinked. “Who are you?”
The figure turned slightly, and under the hood, he saw familiar eyes, brown, tired, and human. Eli. “You, ” Jayden breathed. “You survived the forest?”
Eli gave a weak smile. “Barely. But I think I just found something the Game Master doesn’t want us to see.”
The Red Hunter’s gaze darkened. “Then you shouldn’t have come back.”
She raised her blades again, red light swirling around her. The ground beneath them cracked, data lines glowing like lava. Jayden’s heart pounded. “Eli, what did you find?”
Eli’s answer was quiet, but it froze the air around them. “The Game Master isn’t a person, Jayden. It’s an AI… built from Luna’s brother.”
Jayden’s breath caught. “What?”
Before he could finish, the Red Hunter lunged forward, her blades slicing through the light. Jayden shouted, “Eli!”
The impact exploded in a flash of red, shaking the entire city. The battle leaves the city in flames; when the dust clears, Eli is gone.
Jayden realizes the Red Hunter has vanished too, leaving behind a message burned into the ground:“Welcome to the Core Tower, Code Breaker.”
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 198
An Enforcer with a whip of red fire managed to slip around the side of the barricade. He sneaked into the camp. He saw a young man running away carrying a box of medical supplies.The Enforcer swung his whip. The red fire wrapped around the young man’s chest. With a sickening crunch, the young man fell to the ground, completely dead.The moment the young man died, a blinding flash of red light shot up from his body and entered the Enforcer.The Enforcer screamed in pleasure. His muscles instantly grew larger. The black glass armor on his chest expanded. His fire whip grew twice as long and burned twice as hot."I have the kill!" the Enforcer roared, laughing like a maniac. "I am rewarded!"Leo watched this happen with absolute horror.This was Caelum’s rule. Strength-only doctrine. Every time a Purist killed someone, the global Prime System rewarded them. It gave them the dead person's energy. It made them faster, stronger, and more deadly.Briggs saw the kill and smiled. "Do you see,
Chapter 197
The sky over New York City was the color of dirty iron. The sun was hidden behind thick, grey clouds. Smoke rose from burning cars and ruined buildings, twisting into the cold air.The city was no longer just a place where people lived. It was a war zone.In just a few days since the battle in Times Square, the world had completely broken apart. It was not just a small fight anymore. It was not just a few bad people making trouble. The concrete streets of New York were literally painted with thick, bright lines, dividing the city into three different worlds.There were the Gold Zones. These belonged to the Halo Loyalists. People like Leo, David, and Martha. They painted thick yellow lines on the ground around their neighborhoods. They believed in Jayden. They believed that power was meant for protection. They used their soft blue, silver, and green Proto-Systems to build shields, to heal the sick, and to endure. They did not want to conquer the world; they only wanted to build a safe
Chapter 196
Caelum saw the truth of Jayden’s new power. Jayden had become a living battery. His pain generated massive amounts of System stability. Right now, Jayden was using that stability to feed the crowd in Times Square.But the System was a network. And Caelum was still the master of the network."If his pain creates power," Caelum whispered, his red eyes glowing brightly, "then I will take that power. I will route it to my armies. I will route it to my Enforcers. He wants to suffer? I will let him suffer forever. He will be the engine that powers my empire."Caelum hit a final button.NETWORK REROUTE PREPARED. WAITING FOR LOCAL COMBAT RESOLUTION.Caelum leaned back in his throne and steepled his fingers. He watched the screen with hungry eyes. "Fight the Devourer, little Halo. Bleed for them. Bleed for me."Back in Times Square, the battle was completely still.Leo, David, and the thousands of people stood in a massive, glowing defensive formation. They were a wall of blue, silver, green,
Chapter 195
Leo’s flickering blue Proto-System screen suddenly expanded. It grew from a small square into a massive, heavy shield of solid blue light. The words on his screen changed.SIGNAL RECEIVED. PROTO-SYSTEM STABILIZED.USER: LEO.CLASS: SHIELD-BEARER. LEVEL: MAXIMIZED."I... I feel it," Leo whispered. He looked at his hands. They were radiating absolute power. He looked at Jayden, hanging on the ice spike. Leo realized immediately where the power was coming from. "He is giving us his strength. Every time he hurts... we get stronger."David felt it too. The old iron wrench in his hand suddenly glowed with a blinding, fierce orange light. The ice trapping his boots shattered into dust. David felt his muscles bulge. He felt like his skin had turned to titanium.Martha, the old woman who had fallen to the ground, slowly stood up. Her silver Proto-System flared to life. The glowing silver light wrapped around the people next to her, creating a warm, unbreakable dome of healing energy.Survival
Chapter 194
The air in Times Square was so cold it hurt to breathe.The white fog rolled over the broken street, covering the flipped yellow taxi cabs and the shattered glass. The fog came from the man in the grey suit. Mr. Vance. His silver, empty eyes locked onto Jayden.Jayden was still on his knees. His mind was a war zone. The golden System screens in front of his face were frozen. They flashed the words: FATAL ERROR: THE DEVOURER HAS ENTERED THE LOCAL FIELD."You woke me up," Mr. Vance said again. His voice was smooth, polite, and completely empty of any human feeling. "And I am very hungry."Mr. Vance took a slow step forward. The concrete street under his shiny leather shoes instantly turned into thick, white ice. The freezing cold pushed into the crowd.Behind Jayden, the thousands of people began to shiver violently.Leo, the young man in the front row, wrapped his arms around himself. His teeth chattered loudly. "It's... it's so cold," Leo whispered. His breath came out in thick white
Chapter 193
CRACK.With a sound like a glass window shattering into a million pieces, Luna exploded.She did not hurt anyone. She just turned into a cloud of tiny, glowing white butterflies made of light. The butterflies swirled around Jayden once, and then they all rushed into his chest. They sank deep into his heart, returning to his base code to hide and heal.Jayden was left kneeling on the street. He was completely alone in his own mind. For years, Luna had always been a voice in his head. She had warned him of danger. She had kept him company. Now, it was just total, empty silence.But the silence only lasted for one second.BEEEEEEP.A massive, deafening alarm rang inside Jayden’s brain. It was so loud it made his teeth vibrate.In front of his eyes, his normal blue System screens popped open. But they were not blue anymore.They were a bright, blinding, terrifying gold.SYSTEM ALERT, the golden letters read.USER 'JAYDEN' HAS ACHIEVED MAXIMUM INFLUENCE THRESHOLD.LOCAL NETWORK OVERRIDE DE
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