2026-09-10 15:40:58Ethan moved aside as the security officer swung at him. His body reacted before his mind understood what was happening. He stepped backward, caught the man's wrist, and twisted it just enough to break his balance. The officer stumbled against a table, knocking over a chair.
Ethan stared at his hands.
[Basic Combat Training is active.]
[Current physical ability remains limited.]
[Recommendation: Avoid prolonged confrontation.]
The officer recovered quickly. He was bigger, heavier, and clearly more experienced than Ethan. Instead of attacking again, he reached inside his coat.
Ethan noticed and stepped away.
“You should have just given me the watch,” the man said.
“Who sent you?”
The officer ignored the question.
He pulled out a small device and pressed it.
The café lights went out.
Customers screamed as darkness filled the room.
Ethan heard footsteps rushing toward him.
He remembered the warning and moved toward the emergency exit. He kept moving until his hand found the door.
He pushed it open and ran into the alley behind the café.
Rain soaked him.
Behind him, the security officer emerged.
“Stop running!”
Ethan continued forward.
The alley opened onto a crowded street. Ethan blended into the crowd before turning into another street.
He stopped beside a closed pharmacy and looked back.
Nobody followed him.
[Emergency Trial progress updated.]
[Threat successfully escaped.]
[Reward: 50 System Points.]
He had not defeated the officer, but he had survived. Ethan smiled.
The blue screen changed.
[Current System Points: 50.]
[Would the host like to upgrade an attribute?]
Ethan selected Intelligence.
[Upgrade cost: 50 points.]
[Confirm?]
“Yes.”
A warmth spread through his head.
The world seemed sharper.
He could remember the officer's face, the exact words he had spoken, and the position of the café tables without effort.
More importantly, Ethan began connecting details that seemed unrelated.
Richard wanted the watch.
Someone had accessed Adrian Cole's archived files.
The unknown person had warned him.
The security officer had known about the watch.
Someone was afraid Ethan would discover whatever his father had hidden.
Ethan pulled the watch from his pocket.
He examined it beneath the weak light from a nearby sign.
The casing looked ordinary, but the red light he had seen earlier was gone.
He turned it over.
A symbol had appeared beneath the scratched metal.
It was a circle containing three intersecting lines.
Ethan had seen that symbol before.
It appeared on a photograph of his father that had been kept in a family album.
He searched through his pictures.
After several minutes, he found the photograph.
His father stood beside three unfamiliar men outside a large building.
The same symbol was engraved above the entrance.
Ethan zoomed in.
One of the men beside Adrian was Richard.
Ethan's stomach tightened.
His uncle had lied about knowing nothing concerning his father's disappearance.
But there was something else.
The third man had been partially hidden behind Adrian.
Ethan enhanced the image.
He froze.
He recognized him.
The man was Victor Hale, a businessman who had died in a plane crash eleven years earlier.
At least, that was what the news had reported.
The system suddenly appeared.
[Hidden information detected.]
[Mission progress: 25%.]
[Additional clue discovered.]
[New objective: Locate the building shown in the photograph.]
[Reward: 150 System Points.]
Ethan looked at the address written on the bottom of the photograph.
It was an old industrial district on the edge of the city.
He searched the location.
The building had been demolished eight years earlier.
Or so the public records claimed.
Ethan frowned.
If the building no longer existed, why had someone recently accessed his father's files?
His phone vibrated.
Daniel was calling again.
Ethan answered immediately.
“Daniel, I need you to do something.”
“What happened? Are you all right?”
“I am fine. I need information about an old building.”
“Send me the address.”
Ethan gave him the details.
There was silence.
“Ethan, where did you get this?”
“My father had a photograph taken there.”
Daniel's voice became serious.
“I know that location.”
“You do?”
“My father used to work with the city archives. He once told me that the building was not actually demolished.”
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
“Then why does the public record say it was?”
“Because someone paid to have the property removed from the official database.”
“Can you find out who?”
“I can try, but Ethan, if someone went through that much trouble to hide the place, you should stay away.”
“I cannot.”
“Why?”
“Because whatever happened to my father may have started there.”
Daniel sighed.
“Give me two hours.”
Ethan slipped the phone into his pocket.
He had expected his first day without Cole International to be miserable.
Instead, he had discovered a secret, awakened an impossible system, and found evidence that his father's disappearance had been concealed.
Yet he still had one immediate problem.
He had nowhere to sleep.
His bank accounts remained frozen, and his cards no longer worked. He checked his remaining cash and realized it would barely cover transportation and food.
The system appeared again.
[New challenge available.]
[Challenge: Earn your first $10,000 using only your current abilities.]
[Time limit: 72 hours.]
[Reward: System Store access.]
Ethan stared at the challenge.
Ten thousand dollars in three days seemed impossible.
Then Financial Insight activated.
His eyes moved toward the street.
A delivery truck had stopped outside an electronics store. Several boxes were being unloaded.
One box fell.
The store manager opened it and immediately started arguing with the delivery driver.
Ethan watched carefully.
The label showed a model number.
His enhanced memory recognized it from a technology article he had read months earlier.
That particular device was about to become extremely valuable because its manufacturer had discontinued production.
Ethan smiled.
Maybe the system had not given him wealth.
Maybe it had given him something far more dangerous.
A way to create it.
He walked toward the store, ready to make his first move.
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The Witness who Could Not Answer
The countdown reached forty-seven seconds before Ethan ordered everyone to stop speaking.Nurse Amaka had been dead for six years. Her name appeared in the hospital's archived personnel records, her death certificate had been verified, and her employment file had been closed. Whatever was generating the notification had no right to demand a response from someone who could no longer give one.“Daniel, preserve the countdown exactly as it appears,” Ethan said. “Mara, confirm that nothing connected to this request can affect the hospital's doors, patient records, or medical equipment.”Daniel began recording the terminal's activity while Mara contacted the hospital's technical supervisor. The administrator moved the paper documents away from the screen and ordered staff to keep the corridor clear without disturbing Adrian or Elias.The countdown continued.WITNESS CONFIRMATION: 00:31.Daniel examined the notification's metadata. “The system isn't communicating with a nurse's account. It'
The Signature Before the Name
The timestamp on the authorization changed everything, but it proved less than the archive wanted them to believe. Adrian had entered Room 317 eleven years earlier; the replacement request had supposedly been approved during that same minute. The record offered no name, only a status that treated an unidentified custodian as an unquestionable authority.Ethan asked Daniel to compare the timestamp with the hospital's original ledger, not the reconstructed digital file. “We need to know whether these records were created together or joined later. Until then, nobody calls this Adrian's approval.”Daniel contacted the records officer, who retrieved a sealed storage box from the hospital archive. The box had remained untouched since the old ward system was retired. Two officials documented its condition before opening it, and Mara ensured the security team did not remove any page without recording the transfer.Inside lay a carbon-copy register, several maintenance sheets, and a narrow env
The Authorization that lied
Ethan stared at the hospital administrator's screen, where his name appeared beneath a request for access to Room 317. The authorization carried his executive credential, a valid signature, and a timestamp showing that the request had been submitted less than thirty seconds earlier.He had never touched the hospital access system.“Freeze the request,” he instructed. “Do not approve it, and do not reject it yet. Preserve the original record and create an independent copy.”The administrator contacted hospital security while Daniel examined the authorization through an isolated device. Victoria remained connected to the conference call, listening as the technical details emerged.“The credential is genuine,” Daniel said. “The signature matches Ethan's certificate, but that doesn't mean Ethan created the request. Someone may have copied the signing authority or used a system permitted to act under his certificate.”“Can you identify the originating device?”“The record lists the executi
The Voice behind the Wall
The ticking continued for eleven seconds before Ethan heard a voice coming from the sealed wall.“My name is not the question you should be asking.”Ethan remained beside the records cabinet, keeping the evidence tray within the hospital administrator’s view. Daniel had disconnected the terminal, but the isolated screen had awakened again, displaying a single line that neither of them had entered.ONE QUESTION REMAINS.“You agreed to identify yourself,” Ethan replied. “You cannot change the terms after I have honored them.”“I agreed to answer one question. I did not agree to answer yours.”Victoria joined through the secure call. “Then clarify the arrangement before anyone proceeds. If you expect cooperation, you must explain what you are offering and what you are asking in return.”The voice fell silent.Mara checked the corridor. No person stood near the wall, and the facilities manager confirmed that the sealed passage remained inaccessible. The ticking, however, continued. Its rh
The Room That Kept it's Time
The alert reached Ethan before the hospital called. Room 317 had registered an incoming visitor, but the timestamp placed the arrival eleven years earlier, during the night Adrian first entered Saint Orson Hospital and stopped responding. The visitor’s identity field was blank. The destination field was exact.Ethan ordered Daniel to preserve the alert and send a copy to the independent auditors. Victoria arranged a secure call with the hospital administrator, while Mara prepared a team to accompany Ethan without entering any restricted area. Nobody would open a door because a screen demanded it.“Room 317 is occupied by Adrian,” Daniel said. “The hospital’s live record confirms he is still there with Elias. But the visitor record is attached to an archived ward system that was supposedly retired.”“Supposedly?” Ethan asked.“The archive has no closure certificate. It has a maintenance note saying the ward system was disconnected, then a second note saying its clock would remain activ
The Call from Two Places
Ethan did not turn when the phone rang. The map still showed Elias Cole standing behind him, although the security feed showed an empty corridor and every officer on the floor had confirmed that nobody had passed the conference room.“Daniel, answer the call on speaker,” Ethan said. “Keep the line recording, and don’t merge it with the building system.”Daniel connected the call. “Elias, can you hear us?”“I can,” Elias replied. His voice sounded strained, as though he had been running. “Why are you calling me from the executive floor?”“We didn’t call you first. Your number called us.”“That is impossible. I’m at the hospital with Adrian.”Ethan watched the map. The marker remained behind him. “Can you see the executive floor on your end?”“No. I can see the call record. It says the call began from your office, but I didn’t place it.”Ethan kept his eyes on the empty doorway. “Then we have two records and no reliable account of who initiated this. We need to establish where you are w
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