2026-01-06 00:12:12Location: Hospital General Clinic River City
Grinning at the ceiling, David Miller was lying on his hospital bed imagining rabbits in the dark cell, being beaten by guards.
"That trash," David chuckled, reaching for his water with his good hand. "By now, Griggs has probably thrown him into solitary confinement. I win."
Bang!
The door to the VIP room simply flew off its hinges.
David jolted, spilling water all over himself. "Who is it? I told the nurses not to disturb—"
Captain Griggs stormed in without a smile. He was sweating, and his eyes widened with terrible desperation. Behind him, four officers stampeded in with their black batons drawn.
"Griggs?" David frowned. "Why are you here? Did you arrest him? Did you break his legs like I asked?"
Without answering him, Griggs walked straight to the bed. He grabbed David by the collar of his hospital gown and yanked him down to the floor.
Thud.
"Ow! My arm! My leg!" David screamed, writhing on the cold tiles. "Griggs! Are you crazy? I'm David Miller! I pay you!"
"You paid me to commit treason!" roared Griggs, kicking David in the ribs. "You told me he was a convict! You didn't tell me he was a Supreme Commander!"
"Commander?" David wheezed. "What are you talking about?"
"Shut up!" Griggs pulled out a pair of handcuffs. Click. He locked them onto David's good wrist and dragged him toward the door. "David Miller, you are under arrest for bribery, falsifying evidence, and conspiracy against a high-ranking military officer!"
"No! Mom! Call my mom!" David howled like a slaughtered pig. "You can't do this! I have a broken leg!"
"Keep screamin'," Griggs grunted, still dragging David down the long hallway while nurses stood stunned and gaping. "And if you resist, I have orders to break the other one."
Location: The Royal Plaza, River City.
While David was dragged to hell, I was taking my wife to heaven.
The Royal Plaza was where really ultra-rich people played. Marble floorings were golden pillars with the scent of money in the air.
I walked in with Sarah. I wore my fine-tailored suit that made me look like a king. Sarah, though, was still in her shabby cotton dress and cheap canvas shoes from the slums. She kept her head down, shrinking away from the judging stares of the rich shoppers.
"Ethan," she whispered, clutching my arm. "Everyone is looking. I don't belong here."
"You are the wife of the Dragon King," I said. "You own this city. They are just renting space." I led her toward the most expensive shop in the plaza: L'Amour Boutique.
We walked in. The shop was quiet, with evening gowns priced higher than a house.
Three sales assistants stood by the counter, chatting. They saw me and smiled. They saw Sarah, and their smiles vanished.
"May I help you?" A salesgirl with heavy makeup introduced herself as Jessica and didn't let a greeting through. She looked Sarah up and down with open disgust.
"My wife needs clothes," I said. "Show us the new collection."
Jessica let out an indelicate snort. "Sir, the new collection starts at ten thousand dollars. The charity shop is two blocks down. Maybe try there?"
Sarah flinched. That was an open-cut gash of five years' poverty. "Ethan, let's go. She's right."
"Oh my god! Is that... Sarah?"
A shrill voice cut through the air.
An extra young woman stood at the exit of the fitting room, clad in glimmering sequins and carrying a Louis Vuitton bag, while clinging tightly onto the arm of a skinny but evidently rich-looking man.
Sarah froze. "Tiffany?"
Tiffany was Sarah's college roommate. But when Sarah fell into poverty, she was the first to mock her and blank her number.
"It is you!" Tiffany laughed, walking over, circling around Sarah like a vulture. "Wow. Look at you; you look like a beggar. I heard you married a convict? Is this him?"
Tiffany found a polished fingertip to point at me.
"He looks decent," Tiffany sneered. "Did he steal that suit? Or is it a rental?"
Her boyfriend laughed. "Babe, don't talk to the trash. You might catch a disease."
Jessica, the salesgirl, smiled to herself. She recognized Tiffany-a VIP customer.
"Miss Tiffany, I’m so sorry these people are bothering you," Jessica said, glaring at us. "I was just asking them to leave."
"I want that dress," I said suddenly, pointing to the red gown Tiffany was wearing.
Tiffany blinked. Then she threw her head back and cackled. "This? You want this? This is a limited edition Milan import! It costs $20,000! Do you even have twenty dollars?"
"Take it off," I said coldly. "It looks cheap on you."
"You!" Tiffany flushed with color. "How dare you! Jessica, throw them out! Call security!"
"Sir, leave now!" Jessica shouted, waving for help on her radio. "Or I will have you arrested for trespassing!"
I wouldn't budge. Instead, I reached into my inner pocket.
I didn't pull out a weapon. I pulled out a card.
It wasn't black but was Black Gold, with a diamond chip embedded in the center. The Dragon Sovereign card. There were only five of these in the world. Unlimited limit.
I held it up between my two fingers.
"I want to see the manager."
Jessica laughed. "A black card? Anyone can buy a sticker online to make their debit card look cool. Get out!"
"What is going on here?"
A middle-aged man in a sharp suit rushed out from the back office. This was the Store Manager. He looked annoyed at the commotion, but when his eyes landed on the card in my hand, he froze.
Not just freeze. He halted his primal functions.
He recognized the Diamond Chip. He recognized the Dragon Emblem.
The Manager shoved Jessica aside so hard she stumbled into a rack of clothes. Then he rushed toward me, bowing at a ninety-degree angle.
"M-My Lord!" The Manager stuttered, droplets of perspiration pouring down the sides of his forehead. "I hadn't known of a V.V.I.P. in our midst! Please, forgive my staff!"
The entire room went stone cold. Tiffany stood aghast. Jessica's eyes showed signs of confusion.
"Manager?" Jessica whined. "Why are you bowing to him? He's just a convict!"
"Shut up!" The Manager screamed at her. "Do you want to get us all killed? This is the Sovereign Card!"
He turned to me, trembling. "Sir, how can I be of service to you? Do you wish the red dress? I'll have it stripped off this woman immediately!"
Tiffany had wrapped her arms around the dress, terrified.
I surveyed the store, flowing with dresses in every direction. Then I looked at Jessica, who now seemed to tremble from fear.
"I'm not interested in the dress," I said calmly.
"Then...what would Sir like?"
I tapped the card against the glass countertop. Click. Click.
"Swipe this," I said. "I'm buying the store."
"The...the store?" The Manager measured. "Sir, this creates...the inventory alone is worth five million...the real estate is another ten..."
"Did I ask for your price quotation?" I queried, my eyes glowing a gilded hue.
"N-No! No, sir!" The Manager scrambled toward the card machine. "Swiping now!"
BEEP.
[Transaction Approved: 15,000,000.00]
The receipt printed out, whilst the Manager handed it over to me with both hands, almost shaking.
"Congratulations, Boss," the Manager whispered. "You are now the owner of L'Amour Boutique."
I took the receipt. I turned to Jessica.
"You said my wife belongs in a charity shop?"
Jessica was pale. She was shaking. "Sir... Boss... I didn't know... I was just..."
"You're fired, and you are blacklisted from the entire retail industry in River City," I replied. "If I see you working at a hot dog stand, I'm going to buy the stand and fire you again."
"No! Please!" Jessica fell to her knees and cried. "I have rent to pay!"
"Security!" I called out.
The mall security guards rushed in.
"Throw her out," I ordered. I pointed at Tiffany and her boyfriend. "And throw them out too. They are polluting the air in my shop."
"Hey! You can't do that!" Tiffany screamed as a guard grabbed her arm. "I'm a VIP! My father is—"
"I don't care who your father is," I said, walking past her to the racks. "Get out."
The guards dragged the screaming trio out of the store.
And silence again.
I turned towards Sarah, whose eyes were wide while gleaming with tears in the corners. Not tears of sorrow; validation.
I gestured toward the thousands of racks lined with luxury dresses.
"Pick anything you like," I said gently. "If you cannot decide...we'll buy them all."
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The First Algorithm (Series Finale)
Deep Space, the absolute center . Time, the end of the journey.That slipspace tunnel didn’t exactly go out with some dramatic spatial ripper, you know. It didn’t throw them into a freezing void, nor did it dump them into a chaotic plasma storm.No, it just kinda faded. quietly, like somebody dimmed a lamp.On the bridge of the hijacked Praetorian dreadnought, the loud alarms started to shut themselves off, one after another, as if they were embarrassed to keep screaming. The heavy, thrumming vibration from the dark matter drives eased down into this deep, total stillness, like the ship had forgot how to move.Ethan pushed himself up, slow , from the pristine white deck. He used the command console for support because his knees felt… not right. Krax came up beside him, his massive dark matter broadsword resting across his shoulder, that yellow cybernetic eye widening in a way Ethan almost never saw, pure uncut awe.“Twig,” Krax said, low , like a prayer, “where are the stars ?”Ethan
The Hijack
Deep Space. The Sanctuary Cluster Perimeter. Time: 4 Months, 2 Days Post-Architect defeat.Out there, the vacuum just… did what it always does, no friction no sound no warning, like the universe was being polite. Ethan’s drop-pod cleared the three-kilometer span between the dying Archivist and the enormous Praetorian dreadnought, in a few seconds flat, too fast for anyone to even blink.Through that small, reinforced viewing slit, in the dark matter capsule, the pristine white porcelain hull of the enemy flagship kept swelling, until it basically ate his whole field of vision.“Brace for impact twig!” Krax’s voice cracked through the local comms, loud enough to make his teeth feel loose.CRASH.The drop-pod’s heavy modified nose slammed right into the dreadnought’s primary forward viewport. The kinetic velocity was basically violence on rails. It shattered the flawless Progenitor glass. Ethan’s pod punched straight through the bridge deflector screens and skidded hard across the g
The Broken Math
Deep Space. The Sanctuary Cluster Perimeter Time: 4 Months, 2 Days Post-Architect DefeatOut there, the void beyond The Archivist kind of lit up, not with that clean, disciplined beamwork of absolute zero plasma, but more like a messy… frenzied firestorm, erratic and uncaring. The Harvester remnants, now stripped of their flawless logic, were throwing themselves forward like zealots who forgot why they started.“Assimilate the Glitch. Format for the new absolute,” the broken chorus of millions of drones chanted, over the open comms channel, like it was normal.“Kill the broadcast!” Ethan yelled, over the shriek of tearing metal, as a plasma beam just grazed the forward viewport, once. “I don’t need a choir!”Elena slammed her fist down on the comms console, severing the external audio feed , like she could cut the chaos by pressure alone. “They aren’t aiming for the bridge or the engines! They’re targeting the hangar bays and the airlocks! They’re trying to board us!”“Let them tr
The Supernova's Wake
Deep Space. The Sanctuary Cluster Perimeter. Time: 4 Months, 2 Days Post-Architect Defeat .Slipspace was supposed to be frictionless , a harmonic tunnel through the fabric of dimensions, you know, smooth and calm like nothing ever resists. But riding the absolute kinetic fury of a dying star? yeah, that “corridor” became a tearing washing machine of cosmic energy , violent, inconsistent, and way too eager to rip at the walls of reality.Ethan clung to the exterior dark matter hull of The Archivist. Under Jarek’s massive ironwood-and-steel chassis he flattened himself, like if he stayed small enough, the dimension shear might pass around him. His hybrid Titan frame had driven what was left of his biological roots deep into the ship’s armor plating, an odd, stubborn anchor, shielding him from that lethal dimensional tug.“Hold your breath, kid!” Jarek’s synthesized voice roared over the local comms, static violently chewing up the words into fragments. “We are dropping out of the s
The Heart of the Lotus
Deep Space. The Perseus Arm. The Cradle.Time: 4 Months, 1 Day Post-Architect Defeat.The central spire of the Cradle was, without exaggeration, a First Epoch engineering marvel. A towering needle of woven bio-steel and glowing crystal that literally speared the sky and kept reaching toward the suspended blue-white dwarf star.Now it was a slow, decaying staircase into hell.Ethan sprinted up the massive spiraling crystalline steps. His lungs burned, drawing in that thinning ozone-heavy air, like it had teeth. Without the limitless push-and-breathe stamina of his Dissonance Core, the moment had teeth too, he could feel the human cost stacking up past exhaustion.Above, the massive containment rings holding the dying star in stasis hummed with a low, unstable frequency, wrong somehow. Like the structure itself was trying to remember how to quit."Intruder detected. Entropy required," a chorus of grinding metallic voices hissed from the landing above, all at once, too close.Ethan skidd
The Rotting Stars
Deep Space. The Perseus Arm. The Cradle.Time: 4 Months, 1 Day Post-Architect Defeat.The sky above the crystalline city did not just break; it decayed.A massive, jagged fissure tore through the glowing bio-steel canopy of the Cradle’s petal .The protective atmospheric shielding flickered and then died, replaced by this awful pouring rain of purple light, like it wanted to seep into every thought."They’re through the roof!" Warlord Krax screamed, tracking the breach with his cybernetic eye, no pause, no breath.Hundreds of rusted, jagged shapes dropped from the gap . They were the Purge’s foot soldiers. In a vague, horrifying way they reminded you of the Praetorian drones used by the Harvesters, except there was no clean geometry here, no pristine order. Their chassis were asymmetrical and made from corroded dark metal that flaked away , then re-formed again and again in this constant state of entropic flux. They didn’t glide. They fell with jerky, wrong spasms, optical sensors bur
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