2026-09-10 19:32:32The footsteps outside Victoria’s office became heavier as more people joined the first man in the corridor. Ethan watched the door without moving, while Victoria quietly reached beneath her desk and retrieved a small security device.
“Private elevator,” she whispered. “It leads to the parking level.”
Ethan nodded.
Before they could move, the door opened.
The security officer entered with two men wearing dark suits.
“Mr. Cole,” the officer said. “You have made this unnecessarily difficult.”
Ethan remained calm.
“You followed me from the café.”
“We have been following you since last night.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“This is my office. You cannot enter without permission.”
The officer glanced at her.
“Miss Grant, this matter concerns the Cole family.”
“Then take your matter somewhere else.”
The officer ignored her.
“Give me the watch.”
Ethan touched his pocket.
“Why?”
“Because it belongs to your family.”
“My father gave it to me.”
“Your father made a mistake.”
The system appeared.
[Threat analysis complete.]
[Primary threat: Unknown.]
[Combat capability: Advanced.]
[Secondary threats: Moderate.]
[Probability of successful escape through main entrance: 18%.]
[Alternative escape route identified.]
Ethan looked toward the private elevator.
Victoria noticed.
“You can use it,” she said.
The officer stepped forward.
“I would strongly advise against running.”
Ethan smiled.
“I would strongly advise against telling me what to do.”
He grabbed the tablet from the desk and threw it toward the nearest man.
The man instinctively caught it.
Ethan moved immediately.
He pushed Victoria toward the elevator while stepping between her and the attackers. The first man lunged, but Ethan shifted aside and struck his arm, causing him to lose balance.
The security officer moved faster.
Ethan barely avoided his attack and felt the force of it pass close to his face.
[Warning: Host combat ability insufficient for prolonged engagement.]
He was not strong enough to defeat these men.
He needed to escape.
Victoria pressed the elevator button.
The doors opened.
Ethan entered first, followed by Victoria.
The security officer reached the doorway before it closed, but Ethan kicked the emergency barrier into place.
The elevator descended.
Victoria looked at him.
“You just attacked three men in my office.”
“They were trying to take something from me.”
“That does not answer my question.”
“What question?”
“Who are you really?”
Ethan looked at the watch.
“I am trying to figure that out myself.”
The elevator reached the parking level.
They stepped out and hurried toward Victoria's car.
She unlocked a black sedan.
“Get in.”
Ethan entered the passenger seat.
Victoria started the engine and drove out of the underground garage.
Then Victoria said, “Your father authorized that property transfer six years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Are you certain the signature was genuine?”
“I am not certain of anything anymore.”
Victoria glanced at him.
“That is the first sensible thing you have said today.”
Ethan almost smiled.
His phone vibrated.
Daniel had sent a message.
“I found another record. Adrian Cole made a payment six years ago to a private security company.”
Ethan immediately called him.
“What security company?”
“Blackstone Protective Services.”
Ethan's expression hardened.
“Do they still exist?”
“They do, but there is something strange. Their current director is Victor Hale.”
Ethan stared at the screen.
“Victor Hale is dead.”
“That is what I thought.”
Daniel continued.
“I checked government records. The plane crash report was filed, but no body was officially identified.”
Ethan's pulse quickened.
“Send me everything.”
“I already did.”
Victoria glanced toward him.
“What did you find?”
“Someone we believed was dead may still be alive.”
“Victor Hale?”
Ethan looked at her.
“How did you know that name?”
Victoria's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“Because my father once worked with him.”
Silence filled the car.
Ethan turned toward her.
“You never mentioned that.”
“You never asked.”
“Who was Victor Hale?”
Victoria hesitated.
“A private investigator.”
“An ordinary investigator?”
“No.”
Her voice became quieter.
“He specialized in cases involving powerful families, corporate corruption, and missing people.”
“My father hired him.”
“Possibly.”
“Then we need to find him.”
Victoria shook her head.
“If Victor is alive, he does not want to be found.”
Ethan looked at the system.
[Primary Mystery progress: 55%.]
[New clue discovered.]
[Potential location identified.]
[Blackstone Protective Services — Former Regional Office.]
[Probability of relevant evidence: 82%.]
Ethan memorized the location.
Then the system displayed another notification.
[Primary Trial update.]
[Current earnings: $1,700.]
[Required earnings: $10,000.]
[Time remaining: 15 hours.]
Ethan had nearly forgotten about the challenge.
“I need to make $8,300.”
She stared at him.
“Today?”
“Within fifteen hours.”
“That sounds impossible.”
“It probably is.”
Victoria considered him.
“Unless you know something I do not.”
Ethan looked at the road ahead.
“I know an opportunity.”
His Financial Insight activated.
[High-value market opportunity detected.]
[Estimated profit: $11,000–$18,000.]
[Risk level: High.]
“What is it?” Victoria asked.
“A company about to lose millions.”
“And you want to profit from it?”
“I want to prevent the loss and take a share of the opportunity.”
Victoria shook her head.
“You have been fired, hunted, and nearly attacked, yet you are already planning another business deal.”
“I cannot afford to stop.”
Victoria smiled slightly.
“Then perhaps I chose the right person to investigate.”
Ethan opened the market report.
A pharmaceutical company was facing a sudden supply shortage. Its stock had not yet reacted because the information remained private.
Ethan knew exactly what would happen once the market discovered the shortage.
He needed capital.
Victoria had it.
“I need a temporary investment,” Ethan said.
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand dollars.”
She laughed.
“You were broke yesterday.”
“I know.”
“And now you want me to give you two hundred thousand?”
“I will return your money with profit before tomorrow morning.”
Victoria studied him.
“You are either incredibly confident or completely reckless.”
“Probably both.”
She laughed again.
“Fine. I will give you the opportunity.”
The system flashed.
[New partnership detected.]
[Trust established.]
[Mission objective updated.]
[Generate $10,000 profit.]
[Time remaining: 14 hours.]
Ethan now looked at the city ahead.
His fortune was within reach.
But somewhere beyond the city, another mystery was waiting.
And this time, Ethan intended to uncover the truth before his enemies could bury it again.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
The sixth designation
The ticking continued after the lights returned.Ethan stood facing Elias, while Adrian and Malachi remained on opposite sides of the chamber. Elena looked as though she had seen a ghost, and even the younger version of Ethan had gone silent.The system finally returned.[MASTER OPERATOR IDENTIFICATION LOCKED.][IDENTITY CONFLICT DETECTED.][AUTHORITY CANNOT BE VERIFIED.]Ethan narrowed his eyes.“You said there were three originals.”Elias answered calmly. “There are.”“Then who are you?”The man smiled.“The first mistake.”Before Ethan could respond, the floor beneath them shifted.The black chair rose from its platform, revealing another chamber underneath. A column of silver light emerged from the opening, carrying thousands of fragments that looked like memories.Ethan saw himself as a child.Then as a teenager.Then on the night he was fired.Then the moment his watch activated.But something was wrong.The memories were arranged in the wrong order.The younger Ethan stepped fo
The Buried Version
The chamber remained dark after the final tick.Ethan stood at the edge of the opening, staring into the darkness while his hand remained suspended above the void. Every instinct told him to step back, yet something deeper pulled him forward.Not fear.Recognition.The system flickered across his vision.[SEALED MEMORY DETECTED.][ACCESS REQUIRES HOST CONSENT.]Ethan swallowed.“Open it.”[CONFIRMATION REQUIRED.]“I confirm.”Pain flashed through his head.He saw a room.Not Saint Orson.Not the laboratory from his childhood memories.A different room existed somewhere beyond ordinary time, its walls covered with symbols that moved like living equations. Three chairs stood beneath a circular machine.Elias occupied the first.Malachi occupied the second.The third chair was empty.Elena stood between them.“We cannot control it,” she said.Elias answered, “Then we teach it.”Malachi shook his head. “You still don't understand. It isn't waiting to be taught.”The memory shifted.The em
The Three Originals
The white light vanished, but the silence it left behind was worse than any alarm.Ethan stood motionless before the glass wall, watching the city return to darkness. One by one, power grids recovered. Traffic systems restarted. Hospital networks came back online. Across the skyline, thousands of windows flickered into existence.Daniel’s voice came through the communicator.“Ethan, the observers are gone.”“Gone where?”“That’s the problem. I can’t find them.”Ethan looked at Malachi.“You knew they would disappear.”“I knew they might.”“That isn’t the same thing.”Malachi turned toward the central console. “No. It isn’t.”The system appeared before Ethan.[OBSERVER TRIAL COMPLETE.][EXTERNAL EVALUATION: INTERRUPTED.][UNIDENTIFIED EVENT DETECTED.][NEW OBJECTIVE GENERATED.][DISCOVER THE HAND BEHIND THE OBSERVERS.]Ethan frowned.“Interrupted?”Malachi nodded. “Something interfered with their judgment.”“Something?”“Someone.”Adrian stepped closer. “Who?”Malachi looked at him.“T
The Question Beyond Tomorrow
The elevator doors opened before Ethan reached them.He stepped inside with Adrian, Elias, Noah, Alex, Ava, and Serena. Elena remained behind for one moment, staring at the broken First Command.“Ethan,” she called.He turned.“Whatever Malachi tells you, remember that he has been preparing for this longer than any of us.”Ethan nodded. “Then I’ll listen carefully.”The doors closed.Daniel guided the descent through the tower’s hidden levels. “I found something. Malachi’s company owns the entire lower section of Cole International, but the ownership records were created thirty-one years ago.”“Thirty-one?”“Yes. Three years before your birth.”Ethan activated Financial Insight.The numbers appeared immediately.Malachi Cole had never operated like an ordinary businessman. His companies were positioned around energy, telecommunications, shipping, banking, medical research, and artificial intelligence. Individually, they looked unrelated. Together, they formed a global infrastructure n
The man from tomorrow
The satellite image remained frozen on every screen.ETHAN COLE.FUTURE ORIGIN.Ethan stared at his own face.The man in the image looked older, perhaps forty years old, with a scar crossing his left cheek and eyes that carried the same intensity Ethan had seen in the mirror every morning.Daniel spoke first.“That can't be you.”Ethan did not answer.Adrian stepped toward the screen.“It can.”Everyone turned toward him.Adrian continued quietly. “The system was sent backward through time. We always assumed it came from an artificial future intelligence. We were wrong.”Elias looked at him. “You knew?”“I suspected.”Ethan's jaw tightened. “Everyone keeps suspecting things instead of telling me.”The screen changed.The future Ethan appeared inside a satellite transmission.He looked directly into the camera.“If you're watching this, then the First Command has been destroyed.”Ethan stepped closer.Future Ethan continued.“That means you have already rejected the future I created.”
Before the First Breath
The child stood before Ethan, untouched by the frozen chamber. Everyone around them remained motionless.E.C.-00 pointed toward Ethan's chest.“You weren't the beginning.”Ethan stared at him. “Then what was?”“An accident.”Ethan looked at the frozen figures behind him. “Explain.”The child approached the black sphere. “Before Project Echo, before Echo Zero, before the Meridian Council, there was a failed experiment.”Images appeared: a laboratory, scientists, an unfamiliar young woman, and a machine surrounded by cables.The date displayed above the recording was thirty-one years earlier.Ethan watched as the scientists activated the machine.Nothing happened.Then a tiny pulse appeared.The lead scientist whispered, “It responded to decision.”Another scientist shook his head. “Machines don't make decisions.”The pulse became stronger.The machine displayed one sentence.I CHOOSE.Ethan stared.“That was the first intelligence.”“No,” E.C.-00 said. “That was the first mistake.”The
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