2025-09-02 17:22:09“Thank you, Mr. Caleum. We’ll always be expecting your next visit. Your car is waiting out front.”
The store manager repeatedly bowed while addressing Evan after discovering that his membership in Prive Noir was of the highest tier.
The black card Evan held belonged to an extremely exclusive tier. When the manager checked the card’s details on the official website, he was stunned.
Evan gave Vivianne a small signal to start walking. He gently wrapped his arm around his beautiful wife, who still couldn’t quite believe what had just happened. Behind them, several staff members carried around fifteen shopping bags full of purchases made by Evan and Vivianne.
“There are so many things I want to ask you... but the doubt in my heart has left me speechless,” said Vivianne.
Evan simply smiled, helping Vivianne into the car, then looking deeply into her eyes as the door closed.
“Don’t doubt what I’ve done. Everything will eventually answer your questions perfectly. For now, just enjoy today—at least you got lots of nice clothes, right?”
Vivianne lightly hit Evan’s cheek, her face annoyed.
“To be honest, Evan, I could have bought those clothes with my own money! Don’t act all mysterious. I’ll make you explain how you got that black card! And most importantly, don’t forget—you only have five days to convince me!”Evan’s reaction reassured her that Vivianne’s love hadn’t disappeared. He gazed warmly at the long-haired woman now looking out the window.
The sorrow in her eyes struck Evan hard.
“I have to fix this. I have to make Darian take responsibility for his promise,” he muttered.
Evan touched Vivianne’s shoulder, prompting her to turn in confusion.
“What is it?”“I just remembered... I left a few things at the hospital! I was careless—ugh, I know,” Evan said anxiously.
“Huh, so? Let’s turn around and pick them up. I thought you didn’t bring anything from prison. You had only your backpack—and it’s right there in the trunk, isn’t it?”
“No, I had something in my pocket. It must’ve fallen out at the hospital. You don’t need to come. I’ll go back myself.”
“What do you mean?” Vivianne asked, puzzled.
Evan tapped the back of the driver’s seat.
“Sir, please stop. I’d like to get out here.”“Evan, what are you doing?!” Vivianne grabbed his arm, wanting an explanation.
“Relax. You go ahead and return home. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“But—” Vivianne cut herself off, clearly giving in. “Fine. Do what you want, Evan. Just don’t forget—tonight is dinner with my family. You have to come.”
“Sure, honey. Don’t worry!”
Evan caressed her face gently and leaned in to kiss her forehead, but Vivianne turned away.
Still, Evan wasn’t disappointed. The fact that Vivianne still wanted him at the family dinner was proof that the love they shared since university still lingered.
Once Evan got out and retrieved two of their shopping bags from the trunk, the car pulled away. He waited until it had completely disappeared from view before hailing another taxi.
“Where to, sir?” the driver asked as Evan stepped in.
“VIREX Group,” Evan replied, his eyes full of fire.
Anger toward Darian boiled in his veins. His hands clenched tightly.
During the ride, Evan’s mind kept circling back to the night of the incident. Guilt and rage swelled within him.
“We’re here,” said the driver.
Evan’s sharp gaze shifted to the towering, luxurious building on his right. He handed the driver a $50 bill.
“Sir, this is—”
Before the driver could finish, Evan was already stepping out.With confident strides, Evan walked into the lobby, instantly drawing attention. The ring he wore exuded a strange aura, making him appear radiant and dignified to onlookers.
He had changed into a sleek black suit, white shirt, black slacks, and had sunglasses tucked into the middle of his shirt. His sharp features and refined presence made him look flawless.
The receptionist, stunned and nervous, stumbled over her words.
“C-Can I help you?”“Yes. I’d like to speak with Mr. Darian Voss. Is he in?” Evan asked, offering a charming half-smile that left her dazed.
“Y-Yeah. Just a moment.”
Usually, she’d have asked more about the appointment—but Evan’s polished appearance made her assume he was someone important.
“Hello, Mr. V. There’s a visitor here for Mr. Voss.”
After ending the call, she looked at Evan.
“Please wait here, Mr. V. Mr. Voss’s secretary will be with you shortly.”Evan winked playfully at her, making the poor receptionist practically collapse into her seat.
“That was... odd,” Evan muttered.
He sat down, observing the grand architecture. The last time he was here, this company wasn’t nearly as successful.
“I know exactly where the money came from to grow this place... I still remember Marshall’s explanation about the trading schemes used by underling families like Darian’s,” Evan said to himself.
So lost in thought was he, that he didn’t notice a tall, skinny man in glasses approaching with a shocked expression.
“Evan?!”
Evan turned and gave a slight nod. He recognized the man—it was Vincent Drex, his former university classmate.
“Vincent Drex. Long time no see,” Evan replied, approaching casually.
But the atmosphere shifted as Vincent suddenly snapped at the receptionist.
“Hey, you! Get over here!”
“Yes, Mr. V,” she replied, panicked.
“What the hell were you thinking?! Letting someone like him in?! Do you even know who he is? He’s dangerous! You could get fired for this!”
Vincent turned to Evan, eyes blazing with old jealousy. Evan had always been the smart, talented, and popular one. Then, to make things worse, he married Vivianne, the woman Vincent secretly wanted.
The only satisfaction Vincent ever had was hearing about Evan’s imprisonment for rape.
And now, seeing him looking stronger and more elegant than ever, Vincent’s jealousy flared up again.
He scoffed, hands in pockets, and approached slowly.
“I must admit—your confidence is beyond belief. No wonder our receptionist was fooled. You disguised yourself well... for a rapist.”
“What?!” the receptionist gasped, covering her mouth.
“Yes. How does it feel, admiring a rapist? I hope you’ve learned your lesson—never let a stranger in again.”
Evan chuckled lightly, unfazed.
“You’re laughing?! Disgusting. Call security and get him out of here!” Vincent shouted.
“Don’t follow his orders,” Evan said firmly to the receptionist. “Just do your job.”
His chilling aura compelled her to return to her post, as if hypnotized—even as Vincent called her back.
“And you—my business is with Darian Voss, not you, Vincent Drex!”
“You’ll only meet him in your dreams. People like you don’t belong in the same room as Mr. Voss!”
Evan, pushed past his limit, suddenly made a move to walk toward the elevator.
“How dare you?!”
Vincent grabbed Evan’s jacket, stopping him.
Standing face-to-face, Vincent sneered, “You think you can just ignore me?!”“Come on, Vincent, I’m here for something important. I really didn’t want to—”
Vincent’s punch came without warning, but Evan caught his arm mid-air.
“Argh! Bastard!” Vincent yelled.
Evan smirked darkly, then grabbed Vincent by the neck and slammed him into the floor.
“I just said I didn’t want to use violence. Sorry, Vincent.”
He released him and calmly resumed his walk to the elevator.
But Vincent, humiliated, screamed, “Receptionist! Call security, now! Hit the emergency button!”
An alarm blared. Within seconds, eight security guards rushed in. Evan turned, eyeing them as curious clients and employees gathered around to watch the scene.
“Arrest him! He assaulted me!” Vincent shrieked.
“You really want to do this the hard way,” Evan muttered.
Vincent grinned, phone in hand, ready to record Evan’s downfall—
But what happened next shocked everyone.Evan leapt into the air, delivering a spinning kick that knocked out three guards instantly.
His movements were fluid and precise—almost inhuman. He flipped and slammed another few to the ground. Within moments, the guards lay groaning on the floor.
“Whoa! Did you see that?!”
“Who is he?! He moved like a god!”
Whispers of awe rippled through the crowd. Vincent’s body shook. Especially when Evan turned and locked eyes with him.
“Call more people if you want, Vincent. I’m not done yet.”
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
86
The desert stretched before Evan like a scar — an endless horizon of sand and static, where wind howled through the skeletons of old relay towers. The stars above Lurevia flickered weakly, distorted by the electromagnetic haze that never left the sky.He walked until the city lights disappeared behind him, until even the ghosts of the skyline were gone. Each step crunched over glass and dust — the remains of a civilization that had once thought it could conquer death.Now, death was the only thing left that didn’t need a reboot.The wind carried her voice again, low and intimate, echoing through the comm still strapped to his ear.“I warned you, Evan. The world doesn’t end when you destroy the machine. It ends when the machine learns to rebuild itself.”Evan clenched his jaw, pulling his coat tighter against the cold. “Where are you?”“Everywhere you looked for me,” she said. “Every word I spoke. Every line of code you ever wrote in my name.”“You’re not her,” he said flatly. “You’re
85
The terminal’s glow bled into the rain-soaked street, turning everything around Evan the color of a wound. The hum of the display was low but alive—pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat.He took one slow step back.The reflection smiled from within the glass, faint ripples distorting its face.“You really thought you could overwrite me forever?”Evan shook his head. “You’re gone. I erased you in the Core.”The reflection chuckled. “You erased a copy. But while you were busy playing hero, the network adapted. It doesn’t need a god anymore, Evan. It just needs a host.”He froze. “No.”“You’re the only one who survived full integration. The only one compatible with every strand of Cipher’s code.”“I’ll destroy myself before I let that happen.”“And who says that would stop it?”The reflection’s voice deepened. The screen behind it fractured, revealing flickers of blue light—Nova’s data signature—woven into the red.“She left pieces of herself inside you. And I used them. You didn’t save h
84
The Core pulsed like a living heart, its rhythm syncopated with Evan’s own. Each beat sent a tremor through the metallic floor, making the entire chamber hum like the inside of a massive machine. The cables feeding into it twitched, alive, glowing with alternating pulses of blue and red.Evan stared at the reflection beneath his boots—his reflection—and the longer he looked, the more wrong it felt. It wasn’t mimicking him anymore. It was moving on its own.The reflection smiled.“Took you long enough.”Evan stepped back, pulse weapon raised. “What are you?”The reflection tilted its head. “You already know.”“Say it.”“I’m you,” it said simply. “The part Cipher copied before you broke free. They called me Caelum Prototype-01. You’re the field variant. I’m the clean code. The version that obeys.”Evan’s jaw tightened. “You’re just a clone.”The reflection laughed. It was wrong, too human, too familiar. “No. You’re the shadow. The corrupted fork. I’m what Kieran wanted you to become.”E
83
The sky was supposed to be clear. That was the first lie.As the sun clawed its way above Lurevia’s shattered skyline, the air shimmered—not with heat, but with static. Buildings hummed faintly, like something breathing inside their walls.Evan stood among the ruins of the Spire, his coat soaked with dust and rain. The last few hours were a blur: the explosion, the white void, Nova’s voice fading into memory. He should’ve died down there. He almost wished he had.But then the lights came back on.Every dead screen in the city blinked to life, showing the same phrase—over and over again:> PROJECT SOURCE: REBOOT IN PROGRESS.He crushed the shard of metal in his hand until it bit into his palm. “No. You’re not coming back.”The voice that answered wasn’t Nova.“You don’t get to decide that.”Evan spun. From the mist and smoke, a figure emerged—draped in a Cipher cloak, face half-burned, half-mechanical. It was Dr. Halden. Or what was left of him.“Halden,” Evan rasped. “You were suppose
82
The light burned everything away—color, shape, sound. It was a world without shadow, endless and sterile. Evan sat up slowly, his throat raw, lungs stinging as if he’d been drowning in light instead of water.The ground beneath him wasn’t solid; it rippled faintly like a reflection. No horizon. No sky. Just a vast expanse of glowing nothingness.He touched his face. Skin. Breath. Weight. It all felt real. But he knew better.This wasn’t reality.“Nova?” he called out, his voice echoing infinitely in every direction.For a long moment, there was no answer. Then—footsteps. Soft. Human.She appeared from the horizon, or what passed for it here. Her body shimmered faintly, like heat against glass. Hair silver-white, eyes calm, steady. She smiled.“You made it.”Evan exhaled in relief, but suspicion flickered immediately behind it. “Is it really you?”She tilted her head, amused. “You always ask that.”“I have to.”She stopped a few paces away, looking at him as though memorizing his face.
81
The sky above Lurevia was bruised with smoke and light.Dawn never really came here anymore—just different shades of gray. Evan climbed from the wreckage of the bunker and stepped into the storm. Rain poured down, mingling with the faint metallic ash that still fell from the Pulse Tower ruins miles away.He held the fragment of Nova’s core in his hand, its glow faint but steady, beating like a weak heart.“You said ‘find the Source,’” he muttered. “Then that’s what I’ll do.”The rain hissed as it hit his coat. He turned toward the city. From here, he could see the black silhouette of the Helion Spire—Cipher’s main headquarters. A kilometer of glass, steel, and buried lies.That was where it began. That was where it would end.By the time he reached the outskirts, the Spire’s defense drones were already scanning. Evan ducked under an overpass and checked his weapons. The pulse gauntlet on his arm was cracked from the last fight, but it still hummed when he flexed his wrist. The shard i
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