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CHAPTER 177. THE EXILE OF THE ONE WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
The morning began with a storm that refused to move. Heavy clouds clung low over Crest Tower, gray and unmoving, as if the sky itself wanted to trap everything inside the building.Wind hit the windows in harsh bursts, like fists pounding to be let in. Inside, the halls were quiet, not peaceful, but tense, like a breath held too long.Rhea Caulder walked quickly toward Kai’s private command floor, her footsteps sharp against the polished ground. She held three datapads against her chest, filled with proofs, counter-proofs, system logs, and desperate explanations she had repeated a thousand times to herself since dawn.She rehearsed the words again: “It’s not me. I was framed. Kai, you know me. You KNOW me.”But fear twisted inside her. Ever since the Whisper Grid showed her name. Ever since the blackout that erased the signature. Ever since the satellites were traced back to her access…Nothing had been the same.Eren hardly looked at her. Security watched her every step. And Kai, Ka
CHAPTER 176. THE SHADOW IN HER SIGNALS
The night after Kai dissolved the board felt too quiet, unnaturally quiet, the sort of silence that made the walls of Crest Tower feel alive. It was the silence before a break, before something whispered from the dark.Eren Vale stood alone in the lower data vault, a place few people ever entered willingly. The cold metal walls rose like cliffs on all sides, humming with faint energy. Hundreds of sealed storage columns lined the chamber, each holding archives of Crest’s deepest secrets, logs, encrypted keys, forgotten experiments.Tonight, something in this room was wrong. Terribly wrong. He felt it before he saw it.A pull. A disturbance in the hum. Like someone breathing behind a closed door.Eren tightened his grip on the datapad in his hand. The Whisper Grid’s message from earlier still glowed on the screen: “ORIGIN: RHEA SOLD THE SYSTEM KEYS.”He didn’t believe it. He didn’t want to. But Kai’s face after reading that message… the fear in his eyes… the confusion… the trembling p
CHAPTER 175. THE COUNCIL OF NO RETURN
The night came faster than anyone expected. Dark clouds swallowed the sky.The last traces of sunlight vanished behind them, leaving Crest City under a thick, suffocating shadow.Wind pulled at the tower walls like a warning. Lightning flashed without thunder, white, violent, unsettlingly silent.Inside Crest Tower, the boardroom lights burned bright, but the air was cold.The board of Crest Industries sat around the long black table like judges in a trial. Their expressions were sharp. Their voices were low and bitter. Their hands restless, tapping pens or gripping armrests, as if trying to hide their fear.Everyone had heard about the Grid’s messages. Everyone had heard about the blackout.Everyone had heard the rumor: Kai Vale is no longer fully in control.At the center of the room, the main seat, Kai’s seat, was empty. The board members exchanged glances. “He’s late.”“He’s avoiding us.”“He knows what this meeting is about.”“After last night? I don’t blame him.”But no one rea
CHAPTER 174. THE SILENCE BEFORE THE SCREAM
Morning broke over Crest City like a dying ember. There was no brightness. No warmth.Only a faint, cold glow that painted the towers in pale silver, as if the entire city was holding its breath.Inside Crest Tower, the atmosphere was heavier than the sky. The Whisper Grid had gone silent.No flickering lights. No sudden pulses. No coded murmurs. A total, unnatural stillness.Rhea Caulder felt it the moment she stepped into the analytics wing. The air felt wrong, too clean, too empty, like something huge had left the room only seconds before she arrived.She stood in the doorway, breathing fast, eyes scanning the dark screens. “Why is everything off?” she whispered.Her voice echoed slightly, because there was nothing, absolutely nothing, responding to her.She touched the console. It did not hum. It did not react. It did not even acknowledge her touch.Eren Vale rushed in from the opposite door, hair disheveled, face tense. “Rhea,” he said, “the Grid’s silent across the entire buildi
CHAPTER 173. THE WOMAN WHO REFUSED TO BOW
The blackout lasted only seven seconds. Seven seconds of complete darkness. Seven seconds where the world seemed to stop breathing. Seven seconds where Kai, Rhea, and Eren stood frozen in a room swallowed by silence, then, light returned in a violent surge, flooding the analytics wing with a pale, cold glow.The screens rebooted. The consoles hummed back to life, but the name the Whisper Grid had shown…That single terrible name…It did not come back.It vanished from the logs. It vanished from memory banks. It vanished as if it had never been written at all.Rhea stared at the blank screen, trembling. “Kai,” she whispered, “it erased itself.”Eren swallowed hard. “The Grid didn’t want us to see it twice.”Kai stood still in the center of the room, eyes unfocused, like he was listening to something far away, something only he could hear. His expression was cold, unreadable, rigid like a statue. “Kai,” Rhea said, voice shaking, “you need to sit. You’re pale. You’re trembling.”Kai didn
CHAPTER 172. THE TRAIL THROUGH SHADOWED SKY
The storm had not rested since morning. Thunder rolled over Crest City like a warning, low and angry, echoing between the tall towers as if the sky itself wanted to shake everything awake.Rain streaked down the windows of the Crest analytics wing in long silver lines. Inside, the lights were dim. People moved with quiet urgency. No one spoke loudly. No one dared break the fragile stillness.Rhea Caulder stood at the center of a cluster of holographic screens, her body rigid with tension.Her hands were sharp, precise, almost violent as she typed. Her face was pale with exhaustion, yet her eyes were bright, burning with determination.Eren Vale entered the room quickly, wiping rain from his face. He carried two datapads under his arm. His steps were fast but careful, like someone walking toward truth while praying it wasn’t real.He approached her slowly. “Rhea,” he said, trying to catch his breath. “You found something?”She didn’t turn. Not yet. Not until the final command finishe
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