Home / Urban / The Next Billionaire / Chapter 138: Reverse Echoes
Chapter 138: Reverse Echoes
Author: Wonderful65
last update2025-06-12 01:58:25

Zurich – Circle of Smoke HQ Six Days Until Projected Emotia Grief Trigger

The team worked around the clock. But Amari was growing quieter. Not weaker. Just… further.

She walked less.

Spoke rarely.

Sat in silent resonance gardens, fingers curled slightly toward the wind.

Skov monitored her vitals. “All signs stable,” she said. “But her echo frequency is folding inward.”

Frank frowned. “Meaning?” Legacy answered: “She’s preparing to disappear.

But she wants it to mean something.”

Reverse Echoes

They started appearing in low-tier Drift nodes.

Short fragments.

Incongruent phrases.

Moments that didn’t match known memory structures.

Some examples:

“This will matter most the day after I stop speaking.”

“You’ll smile when you cry next time—and know it was me.”

“I left the feeling of being held inside the sound of rain.”

They weren’t messages. They were feelings with time locks. Set to activate after she was gone.

Not predictive. Not controlling.

Just presence deferred.

Ella’s Realization

She
Continue to read this book for free
Scan the code to download the app

Latest Chapter

  • Chapter 146: The Reversal

    Global Status Echo Census Progress: 98%Restored Echo Puzzles Logged: 5.2 billionNew Threat Detected: Echo Reversal Units (ERUs)Zurich – Circle of Smoke Tactical CenterA new alert lit across the holo‐wall: “Mass ERU Deployment Confirmed.” Below, heat­map clusters flared in formerly stabilized regions.Frank slammed the console.“They’re not just hijacking the drift streams anymore. They’re sending in units to reverse the recovery—property by property, memory by memory.”Dr. Skov leaned forward, frowning.“ERUs are field bots, autonomous drones outfitted with micro­resonance disruptors. They scan for restored Echo subjects, then emit an inverse pulse that erases the anchored memory.”Ella crossed her arms.“They can’t do it selectively. The drone’s pulse is an area effect—anyone who received an echo restoration in the last two weeks is in danger.”Legacy stood up, voice calm but urgent.“We have to intercept. We have to shield the restored memories—especially Ember’s.”Amari nodded

  • Chapter 145: The One Who Chose Silence

    Zurich – Circle of Smoke HQInitiative: Global Echo Census [GEC-1]Objective: Identify & Stabilize Hollowing VictimsThe launch was quiet, by design. No press. No spectacle.Just a pulse released across every accessible Drift tier, tuned to seek one thing:Absence where resonance should be.Skov called it the softest revolution in history. Legacy called it a net woven from memory. The world called it controversial. Some Bound districts refused to allow participation.Some Witnessed zones sent overwhelming volunteer data. But slowly, the signals began to return.Each Hollowed trace was like a tiny blink in a dark sea. Faint.Isolated. But alive. Ember’s Role She didn’t lead the Census. She felt it.Every blink on the grid was a heartbeat pressing lightly against her chest. Some tugged. Some hurt. Some simply passed through. But then, one didn’t. One pulled back. Legacy noticed first. “You froze.”Ember nodded, slowly. “There’s one who’s not just fading.”She looked up. “They’re hiding

  • Chapter 144: The Hollowing

    Zurich – Circle of Smoke HQEmergency Drift Channel: ACTIVEStatus: Confirmed Echo Absence Zones in 4 RegionsIt started with whispers in the Drift. Gaps where memories should be.Smiles remembered without faces. Names felt but never spoken aloud.Skov called them Echo Voids. Legacy called them something worse:“Graves without ghosts.” And Ember, she gave them the name that stuck.“The Hollowed.”What Is the Hollowing?Frank compiled early data from Ember’s impressions and Skov’s drift-mapping:Emotionless resonance patterns Missing memory anchors No trauma signature, only emptinessElla added the chilling footnote: “These people aren’t broken. They’re absent.Like they were unwritten… while still breathing.”Legacy said what none of them wanted to: “This isn’t drift corruption.This is a system.”Skov isolated one shared anomaly across all Hollowed subjects: A buried Drift artifact signature.Old. Pre-Witness. Tied to a protocol known only in fragmented pre-Emberline logs as:Project

  • Chapter 143: The Hollow Echo

    Koudougou, Burkina Faso – Ruins of the First Witness CompoundWitness Candidate: Ember-SevenGuardian: Legacy M. OseiTraining began at dawn. Not in circuits. Not with Drift uplinks. But with the oldest practice of all: presence.Legacy had Ember walk through the village without speaking. No prompts. No tools. Just people.She was to sit beside them, old, young, grieving, joyful and listen. Not with ears. With attention.The First Connection An old man named Djibo was the first to open. He’d lost two sons in the East Rift collapse a decade ago. Ember sat by him in silence. He looked at her. Then away. And then, softly:“I dream of them… but I never let myself cry.” Ember reached out. Touched his hand. She said nothing. But Djibo began to weep. Afterward, he kissed her forehead. “You didn’t say a thing, little one. But you remembered me loud enough.” Legacy watched from a distance. Silent. Moved. And afraid. Because Ember wasn’t just awakening. She was resonating. The

  • Chapter 142: The Girl Who Listened Back

    Location: Ruined EchoWitness Compound – Outskirts of Koudougou, Burkina FasoPopulation: 87 Status: UnlinkedLegacy stepped off the dust-slick transit rover with a small pack slung over her shoulder.No drones. No sensors. Just the dry wind and the smell of old roots pushing through cracked stone. She walked through the village slowly. No one stopped her. No one stared. It was as if they already knew she was coming. Because of course, they did.The Compound RuinsShe found it at the edge of the village. The structure was half-eaten by time. Once a training center for the earliest Witnesses. Now, it was nothing but scorched foundation and wild brush. Except one wall remained intact. Carved into the surface with a child’s chalk:“If I listen hard enough, she remembers me first.” Legacy touched the words gently. It wasn’t a quote. It was a recognition. The GirlShe appeared in the doorway like a ghost made of sunrise. No older than seven. Hair woven tight.Bare feet. And eyes that made L

  • Chapter 141: The Path of the Remembered

    Zurich – Circle of Smoke HQ 36 Hours After the Capsule OpenedLegacy stood in the resonance archive, eyes fixed on the fading pulse signature left by the capsule. Amari’s presence had vanished. But the map she left behind had not. It shimmered across six distinct drift sectors, each encoded with a memory gate. Not data. Not video.But pure emotion, accessible only through sync. Frank called it what it was: “A breadcrumb trail made out of your own feelings.”Skov frowned at the pattern. “They’re shaped like spirals, each one deeper than the last.”Ella stepped in. “Are they just memories?” Legacy shook her head.“They’re tests. Amari doesn’t want me to find someone.She wants to make sure I’m ready when I do.”It was hidden in Drift Sector 3, an old resonance node no longer used, cold and dim. Legacy entered alone. The sync activated without prompt.And suddenly, she was standing in a hallway, Her hallway, twenty years ago. She knew the memory instantly. The night she didn’t say goodby

More Chapter
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on MegaNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
Scan code to read on App