2026-09-04 11:01:55Chapter 9 — The First Clue
The screen went black.
For several seconds, Ethan Vale stood frozen in the underground chamber.
Daniel’s face was gone.
His father’s final words kept replaying in his mind.
Ethan… I’m sorry.
Sorry for what?
For disappearing?
For leaving him alone?
Or for something Ethan had not yet discovered?
“Ethan.”
Adrian’s voice pulled him back.
“What?” Ethan asked.
Adrian pointed toward the wall.
A thin blue light had appeared beneath the dead screen.
Ethan stepped closer.
Words slowly appeared.
HOST 04 IDENTIFIED.
His breathing stopped.
Then another line appeared.
HOST 05 ACTIVATION: SUCCESSFUL.
Ethan stared.
“Host Five?”
Adrian looked equally confused.
“But Daniel was Host Four.”
“I know.”
“Then who was Host Five?”
Ethan’s system activated.
[SYSTEM ALERT]
Previous Host Data Detected.
Host 05: UNKNOWN
Current Status: ACTIVE
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
“Active?”
Adrian moved closer.
“Does that mean someone else has the system?”
“I don't know.”
Before Ethan could investigate further, another message appeared.
WARNING: HOST 05 IS MONITORING YOU.
The lights in the chamber suddenly went out.
Adrian immediately grabbed Ethan’s arm.
“Don’t move.”
A faint mechanical sound came from somewhere in the darkness.
Ethan activated his system interface.
[Night Vision temporarily available.]
The room became visible.
Nothing.
No person.
No movement.
Then Ethan noticed something.
A small red light blinked above one of the surveillance cameras.
Someone was watching them.
“Adrian,” Ethan whispered.
“I see it.”
The camera suddenly turned toward Ethan.
Then the screen beneath it activated.
A single message appeared.
STOP LOOKING FOR DANIEL VALE.
Ethan's expression hardened.
“So they're afraid.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No. They're warning you.”
Another message appeared.
IF YOU FIND HIM, YOU WILL REGRET IT.
Ethan stepped toward the screen.
“I've spent three years believing my father abandoned me.”
His voice became colder.
“I'm done being afraid of what happened.”
The screen changed again.
This time, a photograph appeared.
Ethan stared at it.
It showed Daniel.
But Daniel wasn't alone.
Standing beside him were Victor Cross, Evelyn Cross, Marcus Hale—
and a fourth man Ethan had never seen before.
The image was old.
Very old.
But there was something strange about the fourth man.
His face had been deliberately scratched out.
Adrian stared at the photograph.
“I've never seen him.”
Ethan looked at him.
“Are you sure?”
Adrian's expression changed.
“I said I've never seen him.”
Ethan activated Truth Scan.
[Truth Scan Activated.]
Subject: Adrian Cross
Statement: “I have never seen this man.”
Result: PARTIALLY TRUE
Ethan's eyes widened.
“Partially?”
Adrian noticed his expression.
“What did you find?”
“You know something.”
“I don't.”
“You don't remember something.”
Adrian went silent.
Ethan stepped closer.
The system displayed another message.
MEMORY BLOCK DETECTED.
CAUSE: ARTIFICIAL ALTERATION
Ethan looked at Adrian.
“Your memory wasn't just damaged.”
Adrian's face turned pale.
“It was altered.”
“Yes.”
“By Evelyn?”
“That’s what we were told.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
“I remember something.”
Ethan waited.
Adrian pressed his fingers against his forehead.
“A room.”
“What room?”
“A laboratory.”
His breathing became uneven.
“There was a man there.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Try.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“He was talking to my father.”
Ethan's heart raced.
“What did he say?”
Adrian opened his eyes.
“He said…”
He stopped.
“What?”
Adrian swallowed.
“He said the system had chosen the wrong person.”
Silence filled the chamber.
Ethan looked at the photograph again.
The scratched-out man.
The system.
Host Five.
Daniel.
Project Omega.
Everything seemed connected.
Then Ethan noticed something else.
There was a number written at the bottom of the photograph.
17-04-09
He immediately recognized the pattern.
“April seventeenth, 2009?”
Adrian shook his head.
“No. It can't be.”
“Why?”
“That was the year Project Omega began.”
Ethan looked at him.
“You knew?”
Adrian's face tightened.
“I didn't know I knew.”
The system suddenly activated.
[NEW CLUE DISCOVERED]
Project Omega Origin Date: April 17, 2009.
Objective: Identify the first successful system host.
Reward: $5,000,000
Failure Consequence: Host memory corruption.
Ethan stared at the message.
“The first successful host.”
Adrian whispered, “There were hosts before Daniel.”
“Apparently.”
Ethan looked around the chamber.
“If we find the first host, we may find out where my father went.”
A loud metallic sound suddenly came from the corridor.
Both men turned.
Footsteps.
Someone was approaching.
Adrian reached for the emergency door.
“We need to leave.”
Ethan nodded.
They moved toward the tunnel.
But before they could reach it, every screen in the chamber turned on at once.
Dozens of surveillance images appeared.
Ethan saw himself.
Walking into the facility.
Entering the warehouse.
Meeting Adrian.
Leaving the Hart residence.
Even moments from years ago.
Someone had been watching him for a very long time.
Then one final screen appeared.
A live video.
A man sat in a dark room.
His face was hidden.
His voice was distorted.
“You should have stopped after Warehouse 317.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Where is my father?”
The man laughed softly.
“You still think Daniel Vale is the victim.”
Ethan's expression changed.
“What does that mean?”
“You'll understand soon.”
“Who are you?”
The man leaned closer to the camera.
“I am the person who knows why the system chose you.”
The screen went black.
Ethan froze.
The system immediately displayed another warning.
[CRITICAL DISCOVERY]
The current host was not randomly selected.
Ethan Vale was identified as a potential host 18 years ago.
Ethan's blood ran cold.
“Eighteen years ago?”
Adrian stared at him.
“You were seven.”
Ethan couldn't speak.
Seven years old.
Before his father's disappearance.
Before the family collapsed.
Before he even understood what business meant.
Someone had already known he might become the system's host.
And if that was true…
Daniel had known too.
Ethan slowly clenched his fists.
“My father didn't disappear because of the system.”
Adrian looked at him.
Ethan's eyes hardened.
“He disappeared because he was protecting me from it.”
A final message appeared on the screen.
NEXT DESTINATION: VALE FAMILY ARCHIVE.
LOCATION: SEALED.
ACCESS REQUIRED: BLOODLINE AUTHORIZATION.
Ethan stared at the words.
For the first time since receiving the system, he wasn't thinking about money.
He wasn't thinking about revenge.
He was thinking about one question.
What did my father know about me that I had never been told?
And somewhere in the city, someone was already waiting for him to find out.
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