The Sovereign’s Retribution: Daily Login to Godhood

Chapter 7: Moth in the Dark

Silas signed in the moment he woke up.

「 Ding! Day 6 Sign-In successful! 」

「 Congratulations! The Host has obtained: 」

「 1. $100,000 」

「 2. Basic Disguise Kit 」

The Disguise Kit appeared in his inventory. He checked it.

「 Basic Disguise Kit — Contains: 1 pair tinted glasses, 1 reversible jacket, 1 facial prosthetic set (minor alterations only). Single use. 」

Not flashy. But practical for someone who didn't want to be recognized.

'The System gives me what I need, when I need it,' Silas thought. 'Almost like it knows what's coming.'

He set the kit aside and opened his laptop. He'd left it running overnight, downloading financial records on Thorne Medical Group. The files were ready.

But there was something else. A new email in the encrypted inbox Silas had set up yesterday.

Subject line: "Someone paid me to erase you. I didn't. You're welcome. —M"

Silas stared at the screen. Then he opened the email.

No greeting. No signature beyond the initial. Just three attached files and a short message:

"Thorne Digital hired me to wipe your identity. Bank records, ID registrations, employment history — all of it. I got halfway through the job before I realized what I was doing. Stopped. Reversed what I could. Your bank account is intact because of me. The attached files are proof of the contract. Consider this my resignation letter from the Thorne payroll. —M"

Silas opened the attachments. Speed Reading kicked in.

The first file was a contract — unsigned, but detailed. Thorne Digital (a Thorne subsidiary specializing in media and data management) had hired an underground hacker operating under the alias "Moth" to perform a "digital sanitization" of one Silas Vane. F*e: $75,000.

The second file was a partial work log. Moth had already erased Silas's employment records from two databases and flagged his ID registration for deletion. Then stopped.

The third file was a screenshot of the payment transfer from a Thorne Digital account to an anonymous wallet.

'They weren't just trying to destroy me physically,' Silas thought. 'They wanted to erase me. Make it so Silas Vane never existed.'

He read the email header. Speed Reading let him absorb three cybersecurity tutorials in ten minutes — enough to trace the routing data. The email had bounced through four proxy servers, but the originating IP address pointed to a location in Dockside.

Specifically, an internet café called Nexus Point on Harlow Street.

'Moth sent this from a fixed location. Either they're careless, or they wanted me to find them.'

Silas looked at the clock. 8:47 PM. Dockside at night was dangerous for anyone. For a man in a wheelchair with healing fractures, it was worse.

He took a Pain Suppression Pill. Then he opened the Disguise Kit from his inventory. Tinted glasses, a dark reversible jacket. He skipped the prosthetics — too much for a quick trip.

He called the hotel concierge. "I need a cab. Dockside. Harlow Street."

A long pause. "Sir, Harlow Street is... are you certain?"

"I'm certain."

Twenty minutes later, the cab dropped him at the edge of Dockside. The driver didn't want to go further.

Silas paid him double and wheeled himself down Harlow Street. Broken streetlights. Graffiti on every wall. A group of men smoking outside a shuttered warehouse watched him pass. Nobody approached.

There it was. Nexus Point Internet Café. A faded sign above a narrow door. The windows were covered with old newspapers.

Silas pushed the door open and wheeled himself inside.

The café was small and dim. Six computer stations, most of them broken. A dead vending machine in the corner. The air smelled like burnt coffee and dust.

Behind the counter, hidden behind three monitors stacked side by side, sat a young woman eating cold pizza.

She was small — five-three at most. Dark curly hair stuffed under a gray beanie. Brown eyes that locked onto Silas the instant he came through the door. She wore an oversized hoodie and cargo pants. A small tattoo of a moth sat behind her left ear.

She froze mid-bite.

"We're closed," she said.

"Your sign says twenty-four hours."

"Sign's wrong. We're closed."

Silas wheeled himself to the counter. "You're Moth."

The pizza slice dropped. Her hand moved under the desk — reaching for something.

"I wouldn't," Silas said calmly. "I'm not here from Thorne."

"Then who are you?"

"Silas Vane. The guy you were paid to erase."

Her eyes went wide. She looked at the wheelchair. The tinted glasses. The scar on his face.

"Oh, shit."

"Yeah."

She didn't move her hand from under the desk. "How did you find me?"

"Your email header. The proxy chain was good, but the originating IP wasn't masked."

"That's..." She paused. "That was on purpose. Insurance. If Thorne's people come for me, I needed someone who could trace the evidence back to them."

"Smart. Also dangerous. If I found you, they can too."

Her face tightened. "I know."

Silas looked around the café. Three monitors, a portable server rack behind the counter, stacks of hard drives, and a sleeping bag in the corner. She lived here.

"What's your real name?" he asked.

She hesitated. "Zephyr. Zephyr Moreno. People call me Zeph."

"Zephyr. You betrayed a Thorne contract. You know what that means."

"I know exactly what it means." Her voice was hard, but her hand was shaking under the desk. "They'll send someone. Maybe they already have. I've been checking the street every ten minutes since I sent that email."

"Then why send it?"

"Because I looked you up before I started the job. You're an architect. Your dad was an architect. He died fighting the Thornes in court. And they hired me to make sure his son disappeared completely." She swallowed. "I've done a lot of bad things for money. But that... I couldn't finish it."

Silas studied her. He activated Appraisal Eye.

「 Subject: Zephyr Moreno 」 「 Threat level: Minimal 」 「 Disposition: Frightened but honest 」 「 Hidden detail: Currently running digital surveillance countermeasures against Thorne Digital. Has been awake for 31 hours. 」

Awake for thirty-one hours. Running countermeasures. This girl was terrified and fighting back at the same time.

"I have a job offer," Silas said.

"A job offer." She almost laughed. "From the guy in the wheelchair."

"Work for me. Full-time. I'll pay three times whatever Thorne was paying you. And I'll make sure their people never touch you."

Zephyr stared at him. She pulled her hand out from under the desk — empty. No weapon. Just a stress ball she'd been squeezing.

"You want me to work for you," she said slowly.

"You're a hacker who had access to Thorne Digital's internal contracting system. You have evidence of their illegal operations. And you're good enough that they hired you in the first place." Silas leaned forward. "I need someone like you. And you need someone who can keep you alive."

Zephyr looked at the sleeping bag in the corner. At the cold pizza. At the monitors running countermeasures that she knew wouldn't hold forever.

Then she looked back at Silas.

"Dude." She gestured at his wheelchair. "No offense, but how exactly are you going to protect me from the Thornes? You showed up in a cab. You're in a wheelchair. You look like you lost a fight with a bus."

"Truck, actually."

"Whatever. The Thornes have private security. Lawyers. A whole digital warfare division. And you're — what? A broke architect with a good attitude?"

Silas smiled. It was the same small, quiet smile that had made Nurse Darla pause in the hospital hallway.

"Ask me again in a week."

---

Two miles north, in a server room at Thorne Digital's offices, a technician named Roy pulled up the Moth contract status.

The job was listed as incomplete. Half the target's records had been restored. The contractor's wallet had been frozen. And someone — Moth — had accessed the contract file itself and copied it.

Roy picked up the phone and dialed his supervisor.

"We've got a problem. Moth went rogue. The Vane job isn't done, and the contract file's been compromised."

"Compromised how?"

"Copied. Downloaded. She has the whole thing — payment records, authorization chain, everything."

A long silence on the other end.

"Find her. Tonight."

---

In the Nexus Point café, Zephyr was still staring at Silas.

"One week," she said. "I'll give you one week to show me you're not completely insane. But if things go sideways, I'm gone. Deal?"

Silas extended his hand.

Zephyr shook it. Her grip was quick, nervous.

His was not. Five times normal strength, steady and firm. She blinked and looked down at their hands.

"Damn," she said quietly. "That's a strong grip for a guy in a wheelchair."

"You have no idea." Silas released her hand. "Pack your equipment. You're not staying here tonight."

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere with clean sheets, room service, and security cameras that actually work."

Zephyr looked at him for a long moment. Then she started unplugging her monitors.

Tomorrow was Day 7. The streak milestone. Guaranteed Rare reward.

Silas could already feel the golden light waiting.