2026-02-13 23:10:42
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CHAPTER 62
My basement office smelled like instant noodles.I sat on the broken plastic chair, my knees pulled up to my chest for warmth. The furnace was roaring in the corner, but the damp cold seemed to seep right through the concrete floor, settling into my bones.It was 3:00 AM. I hadn't slept in two days.My hands were trembling over the keyboard. The withdrawal symptoms from Sarah’s drugs were fading, but they had left behind a permanent jitter, a nervous tic in my left eye that made reading the small text painful.I looked like a junkie. My hair was greasy, matted to my forehead. My beard was patchy and thick. My eyes were bloodshot pools of red.Perfect.If Sarah saw me like this, she would think I was broken. She would think I was harmless.I took a sip of the cold broth from the styrofoam cup. It tasted like salt and chemicals.[Ghost Equity Active. Proxy Company: 'Hydra Logistics'.]The screen glowed wi
CHAPTER 61
The rain was coming down hard, turning the alleyway into a river of oil and trash. It drummed against the roof of the van like a thousand tiny fingers tapping out a warning.I sat in the passenger seat of Adekunle’s beat-up Toyota, my laptop glowing blue against my tired, grey face."Pull up the file again," I said, my voice barely a rasp.Adekunle hit a key, and the video played on his center console. It was grainy, shot from a weird, high angle, like a hidden camera in a hotel room vent.On the screen, Mr. Chen—the Grand Company regional director—was sitting on the edge of a bed. He was laughing, his head thrown back. He was holding a briefcase open, showing stacks of American dollars to a woman who looked barely eighteen.Then, he leaned in and snorted a thick line of white powder off the glass table.It looked real. It looked perfectly, damningly real."This is it," Adekunle said, wiping steam off the windshield with his sleeve. "This is the leverage Julian Blackwood has on him.
CHAPTER 60
The basement air was colder than usual. I sat at my desk, watching the code crawl across the screen as I searched for Mr. Chen’s hidden secrets.I wasn't worried. I had a weapon that Julian Blackwood could never understand. I had my memory of the first timeline.In my past life, Chen fell because of a hidden gambling addiction. He had lost millions in an underground casino in Macau.Julian had used those debts to turn him into a puppet. I knew the dates, the amounts, and even the name of the dealer who took his money."I’ve got you now, you bastard," I whispered to the monitor. I felt a smug sense of power returning to my chest.I pulled up the bank records for the Macau casino using my Ghost Equity tools. I expected to see the massive transfers I remembered so clearly.The screen flickered as the data loaded. I leaned forward, ready to grab the leash and pull it tight.The screen was empty. There were no transfers to Macau. There were no offshore gambling accounts.I blinked, rubbing
CHAPTER 59
The wind in the park was sharp and cold. It felt like it was trying to peel the skin right off my face.I sat on a wooden bench, shivering in a thin hoodie I had bought for five dollars at a thrift shop. My hands were stuffed into my pockets, but I couldn't hide the tremors.The metal of the bench felt like ice against my legs. I looked at the joggers and the happy families, feeling like I was invisible to the world.A black sedan pulled up to the curb a few yards away. The door opened, and Isabella Rossi stepped out, looking like she had just walked off a fashion runway.She wore a long black coat and boots that probably cost more than my father’s car. She walked toward me with a look of pure, filtered disappointment."You look like a man who is one step away from a cardboard box, Victor," she said. She didn't sit down. She just stood there, staring at me."I’m just keeping a low profile, Isabella. You know how it is," I tried to joke. My voice was shaky, and I hated it.She reached
CHAPTER 58
I was staring at the flickering blue light of my monitor when the basement door creaked. The sound of her heels on the wooden stairs was soft and rhythmic.I didn't turn around at first. I just kept typing, even though my fingers were still stiff from the morning's tremors.Sarah stepped into the room, and the scent of jasmine and roasted chicken filled the damp air. She was carrying a small tray with a white cloth over it."You look like a ghost, Victor. It breaks my heart to see you in this hole," she said softly.She set the tray down on the edge of my plastic table. She reached out and brushed a lock of hair from my forehead.Her touch was warm and gentle. For a second, I didn't pull away. I just sat there, breathing in her scent."I made your favorite. Lemon roasted chicken and mashed potatoes," she whispered.I looked at the plate. It looked delicious, but all I could think about was the clinic and the six hour line.I knew there was a high chance this food was laced with the sa
CHAPTER 57
My hands were jumping like a pair of nervous rabbits when I woke up. I tried to grab a glass of water, but my fingers wouldn't close properly.The glass shattered on the concrete floor of the basement. I stared at the shards, my head spinning in a thick, grey fog.Sarah’s "medicine" was finally leaving my system, and it was taking my dignity with it. I felt like a machine with rusted gears.I called out to the System, begging for a healing skill or a detox buff. I was a Level 6 Sovereign, surely I could fix a few shakes.[Status: Physical Damage outside System Jurisdiction. Healing Skills Locked until Level 10.]The purple light mocked me before fading away. I was a titan in the digital world, but my meat and bones were failing.I couldn't go to the family doctor because he was on Sarah’s payroll. I couldn't go to a private hospital without the cameras finding me.I pulled on a dirty hoodie over my ruined dress shirt and slipped out the side gate. I walked toward the part of the city
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