2025-12-26 15:53:34
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Chapter 89
Two weeks passed in relative peace, two weeks of recovery and rebuilding and trying to process everything that had happened. The resistance network Ara had built continued to grow, now numbering over three thousand people across forty countries, all of them committed to protecting humanity from forced consciousness uploading.Min-joon spent most of his time training other former players in the techniques he had developed for disrupting System architecture, trying to spread the knowledge so he would not be the only person capable of fighting the Collective. It was slow work and frustrating because his abilities came partly from instinct and experience that was hard to teach, but gradually some people started showing real progress.Park Ha-eun turned out to have a natural talent for sensing System energy, she could detect active nodes from miles away with better accuracy than Min-seo's electronic equipment. Lee Joon-seok developed a technique for temporarily disrupting consciousness upl
Chapter 88
Min-joon reached deep into his power, feeling the connection to the fifteen thousand people Song Mi-rae had linked him to, feeling their strength flowing into him even from thousands of miles away. He needed that strength now more than ever because what he was about to do would require everything he had."Tae-hyun, get everyone back," Min-joon said quietly. "Get them out of the tunnel, this is going to be dangerous.""What are you planning?" Tae-hyun asked, alarm clear in his voice."Something stupid probably," Min-joon replied, trying to smile. "Go, I will be right behind you."Tae-hyun hesitated, clearly wanting to argue, but Kenji grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the exit. The others followed reluctantly, leaving Min-joon alone with Dr. Chen and her growing tower."You cannot destroy this structure," Dr. Chen said confidently. "It is too strong, too interconnected with the global System energy network. Even your impressive power is insufficient.""You are probably right," Min-
Chapter 87
Min-joon spread Song Mi-rae's information across the kitchen table, pages and pages of names and locations and financial connections between tech companies researching consciousness upload technology. Ara had arrived an hour ago to help analyze the data, her experience as an activist making her skilled at finding patterns in corporate corruption."This company here, Nexus Technologies, they show up in at least twelve different connections," Ara said, circling a name with her pen. "They have research facilities in Singapore, Frankfurt, and Vancouver, all of them officially working on artificial intelligence but with unusually high security and no published papers in five years.""That is suspicious," Min-joon agreed, leaning closer to examine the documents. "Companies doing legitimate research want to publish, they want recognition and funding. Radio silence usually means they are doing something they do not want anyone to know about.""There is more," Song Mi-rae added, pulling up inf
Chapter 86
Min-joon read the message three times, feeling his brief sense of victory crumbling into ash. The Core had been a distraction, a test run, and now something worse was coming, something organized and patient and prepared.He forwarded the message to Ara, to Han, to Min-seo, to all the key members of the resistance, and within minutes his phone was ringing with panicked calls from all of them."Is this real?" Ara demanded. "Is there really a Collective planning to launch a global hive mind?""I do not know but we have to assume it is real," Min-joon said. "The Core had no reason to lie in that message, he was gloating about how we won a meaningless battle while missing the real threat.""Then what do we do?" Han asked on a separate call. "We just finished fighting the Core, we are exhausted, we barely have resources left. How are we supposed to fight an entirely new enemy?""We rest, we rebuild, and we prepare," Min-joon said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. "We have a mont
Chapter 85
The global strike happened over the next forty-eight hours, coordinated attacks on all forty-seven node locations simultaneously, and the reports came flooding in one after another. Tokyo successful, fragment destroyed with no casualties. Beijing successful but three volunteers were injured. Moscow successful after heavy fighting. London successful. São Paulo successful.Min-joon stayed in the command center they had set up in Seo-rin's apartment, monitoring everything, coordinating responses, making decisions when local teams needed guidance. He barely slept, barely ate, surviving on coffee and adrenaline and the knowledge that thousands of people were risking their lives on his orders.By the end of the second day, forty-three of the forty-seven fragments had been destroyed completely, their node structures dismantled and their System energy dispersed. Three more were contained, isolated in locations where they could not spread or recruit new victims. Only one remained fully active
Chapter 84
The attack hit and the Core's body dissolved into fragments of data and light, but he reformed instantly a few feet away, laughing. "Did you really think it would be that easy? This is not even my real body, just a projection, you cannot hurt me by destroying pixels and light.""Then I will destroy the node itself," Min-joon said, redirecting his power toward the massive crystalline structure in the center of the chamber.But before his attack could reach it, the chamber filled with darkness so complete that Min-joon could not see his own hands in front of his face. He heard Tae-hyun shout something, heard Min-seo cursing, but the sound seemed to come from very far away.The Core's voice spoke from everywhere and nowhere. "This is my domain, my origin point, the place I have had fifty years to prepare and fortify. Here I am not just strong, I am god, I control every aspect of reality, and you are nothing but an insect who forgot his place."Min-joon felt something wrap around his ankl
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