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 136. Children of Light
The town of Solstice hummed quietly beneath its early morning sun, a fragile peace stretched thin over decades of rebuilding. The streets smelled of warm brick and wet asphalt, faintly mixed with the tang of solder and machinery from ongoing repairs. Children ran ahead of their parents, laughing, kicking pebbles and spinning in circles.Among them, small hands raised to the air, tracing invisible patterns. Clara, five years old with tangled hair and scraped knees, froze mid-spin. Her head tilted, eyes narrowing as if listening to a voice only she could hear. Her little fingers twitched, reaching toward a shimmer that didn’t exist to anyone else.“Clara?” her mother called, a note of caution threading through her voice. “Come here, sweetie.”Clara blinked, stepping backward as if resisting. The shimmer seemed to ripple, a soft echo that resonated through her chest. Other children nearby stopped too. Some rubbed their eyes; others tilted their heads, smiling faintly at empty air.Fr
Chapter 135. Lyn of the Threshold
The wind tore across the ridge before dawn, scattering loose dust and the remnants of scorched stone. A single figure stood at the edge, silhouetted against the first pale light of morning. The air hummed faintly, as if carrying a memory too old to be spoken.She moved without sound, stepping over cracked earth and jagged concrete. Each footfall was deliberate. She carried nothing, yet the weight of unseen burdens seemed to cling to her shoulders, bending the cold air slightly around her. The ridge overlooked a small town still waking, its streets empty, save for a few early risers shuffling toward markets or wells.From below, a child’s cry echoed, fragile and unsteady. Lyn froze. Her gaze tracked the sound. A small boy stumbled into the street, chasing a rolling hoop that had slipped from his hands. He barely noticed the figure on the ridge. The wind carried her presence closer, but not threatening. She did not speak. She simply watched.The boy tripped over a loose stone. The
Chapter 134. The Last Vigil
The flame refused to light on the first strike. Old Commander Rhyse struck the ignition rod again. Sparks jumped, sharp and brief, then died. The square stayed dark. Wind moved through the empty avenue, carrying dust and the faint smell of ash from the old ruins beyond the barricades. “Again,” someone said behind him.Rhyse did not answer. He adjusted his grip and struck the rod a third time. This time the flame caught. A thin line of fire climbed the wick and steadied. The Halo symbol carved into the stone plinth glowed faintly as the fire fed its channels. The vigil had begun.The square was smaller than it used to be. Reconstruction crews had taken half of it months ago, turning rubble into foundations. Metal frames rose where command tents once stood. The old banners were gone. Only the plinth remained, scarred and chipped, set at the center like an artifact no one wanted to move.Rhyse stood alone in front of it. He wore his Stormguard coat, faded and patched at the elbows. T
Chapter 133. Names Without Faces
The hammer rang against stone at dawn. Each strike echoed across the square. Dust lifted in short bursts and settled on boots and coats. The monument stood half-finished, its surface pale and rough. Workers moved along scaffolds, measuring, carving, stepping back, carving again. Names filled the slab in tight lines.A man wiped his hands on his trousers and leaned back to read. He mouthed a few names and frowned. He pulled a folded paper from his pocket and checked it. He nodded and went back to work.A woman crossed the square with a basket on her arm. She slowed when she saw the monument. She looked at the names for a moment, then turned away and kept walking. A child ran after her, dragging a stick along the ground. The stick scraped and caught. The child tugged it free and glanced at the stone. “Who are they?” the child asked.The woman did not stop. “Soldiers,” she said.The child frowned. “From when?”“From before,” the woman said.They disappeared into the street. By midmor
Chapter 132. Ashes into Soil
The first hammer strike echoed too loud for a quiet morning. Metal hit stone. Sparks jumped. Dust rolled across the broken avenue. People froze for half a second, then went back to work. The city had learned how to keep moving.Cranes stood where towers once leaned. Steel frames rose from foundations cut through layers of ash and glass. The ground still carried faint lines that glowed when the sun was low, thin traces of the ghost network sealed beneath concrete and rebar.A worker lifted his visor and wiped his face. Sweat cut clean lines through gray dust. “Mark the edge again,” he said. “The scanner’s off.”Another worker knelt and pressed a handheld sensor to the ground. The device hummed, then steadied. “No spike,” she said. “It’s quiet.”They both paused at that word. Quiet still felt strange. Above them, the skyline held its shape. No drifting figures. No screaming light. Just buildings under repair and scaffolds wrapped in orange mesh. Wind pushed through open frames and c
Chapter 131. The Dual Requiem
The first sound was not birds or wind. It was the soft click of settling metal.A tower’s fractured edge pulled itself straight. Panels slid back into place with dull thuds. Glass stitched together in slow lines. The city did not celebrate. It steadied itself.Morning light crept over the skyline. It was pale and low, filtered through a thin haze that caught on the air like dust. The haze moved on its own. It drifted, then paused, then bent as if listening.On the hill above the city, Lyn stood with her boots planted in wet grass. The soil was dark from melted frost. She kept her hands loose at her sides. She did not speak. She watched.Below her, streets filled carefully. Doors opened halfway, then wider. People stepped out and stopped. They looked up. They looked through each other. They looked again.Luminous forms moved between buildings. They were not fog. They were not shadows. They held shape. Some walked with clear steps. Some floated with slow turns. Light threaded through t
You may also like
THE ALIENS INVASION
Quỳnh Hân Nguyễn2.0K viewsInvasion: the apocalypse
Shinigami8.5K viewsMecha System: Harem in The Cockpit
Matthew Harris3.7K viewsCanaan Club (Progenies of Ironward #1)
Westley Dans2.5K viewsApocalypse-The Alien War
Flower Spirit4.2K viewsLiz Tragedy
Bryan Hennig2.3K viewsTHE ILLUSION
Moondazzle1.5K viewsMonsters of new Earth
Petal of Roses1.5K views