2026-01-28 20:20:56Silas didn't sleep that night.
He sat at the desk while Zephyr worked, reading every document she pulled from St. Caelum's systems. His father's admission file. The billing codes. The nurse's log that showed a single blood draw performed after Marcus Vane was already dead.
Three phantom procedures. $8,700 billed to a corpse.
Zephyr had found the names attached to the billing approval. Conrad Hale signed off. A staff accountant named Rivera processed the charges. And the attending physician — Dr. Leland Park — had listed cause of death as "sudden cardiac arrest, natural causes."
Natural causes.
At 6 AM, Zephyr fell asleep in her chair, head resting on one of her laptops. Silas pulled a blanket from the bed and draped it over her shoulders. She didn't wake up.
He opened the System.
「 Day 8 Sign-In available. Would the Host like to sign in? 」
He pressed it.
「 Ding! Day 8 Sign-In successful! 」
「 Congratulations! The Host has obtained: 」
「 1. Skill: Pressure Point Knowledge — Basic (Rare — Permanent) 」
「 Pressure Point Knowledge (Basic) — The Host now understands 108 primary pressure points on the human body. Applications include: pain induction, temporary paralysis of targeted limbs, and basic therapeutic relief. This is a foundation skill. Advanced techniques require future upgrades. 」
Information flooded his mind. Not overwhelming — more like a textbook being absorbed in fast-forward. He suddenly knew where every major nerve cluster sat beneath human skin. Where to press to make an arm go numb. Where to press to make someone collapse.
He looked at his own hand. Pressed his thumb into a point on his left wrist. The ache in his forearm vanished instantly.
'Combat and medicine. Same knowledge, different application.'
He checked STATUS.
「 Physique: 5 」 「 Wealth: $105,850,014 」 「 Skills: Cellular Regeneration Lv.1, Appraisal Eye (3/day), Iron Grip, Speed Reading, Lie Detector, Eagle Eye, Pressure Point Knowledge (Basic) 」
Seven skills. Day 8.
He grabbed his jacket and left the suite quietly. There was somewhere he needed to go.
Greyhaven Cemetery sat on a hill in the western suburbs. Quiet neighborhood. Old trees. The kind of place where people mowed their lawns on Saturday mornings and waved at their neighbors.
Silas had grown up three blocks from here. His mother was buried in Plot 14, Row C. His father was next to her, Plot 14, Row D. He hadn't visited since the funeral.
He took a cab from the hotel. No wheelchair today — his legs held steady. The Cellular Regeneration and Physique boosts had done their work. He still moved carefully, but he moved on his own.
The cemetery was empty at 8 AM on a weekday. Silas walked through the iron gate and down the gravel path. Row C. Row D.
Two headstones. Simple gray granite. Side by side.
Catherine Aldridge Vane 1971 — 2015 Beloved wife and mother
Marcus James Vane 1968 — 2024 Architect. Father. Builder of dreams.
"Builder of dreams." Silas had chosen those words at the funeral. Standing in front of thirty people — most of whom had stopped returning Marcus's calls the year before. He'd barely held it together through the eulogy.
Silas knelt in front of his father's headstone. The grass was overgrown. No one had been here to maintain it. A paper coffee cup had blown against the base of the stone. He picked it up and set it aside.
He pulled a few weeds from around the granite. His hands were steady.
"Hey, Dad."
Silence. Wind through the trees.
"I found your hospital records. The real ones." He paused. "They billed you for treatments you never received. Three procedures — charged to your name after you were already gone. Conrad Hale approved it."
He touched the cold granite. His mother's headstone sat to the left. Nine years since Catherine. Fourteen months since Marcus. Silas was the only Vane left.
"I don't know yet if they did something to you. If the heart attack was really natural. But I'm going to find out."
His voice was quiet. Controlled. The same voice he used when he was about to ruin someone's day. But here, alone, it carried something else underneath.
"I'm going to find out what they did to you. And then I'm going to make every one of them pay."
He stayed for another minute. Then he stood, brushed the dirt from his knees, and walked back to the cemetery gate.
The cab was waiting on the street. Silas got in.
"Regency Grand Hotel. Meridian District."
The driver nodded and pulled away. Silas leaned back and looked out the rear window.
Eagle Eye activated automatically.
A black sedan was parked fifty meters behind them. Two men in dark suits sitting in the front seats. The car pulled out and followed the cab at a steady distance.
Silas didn't react. He watched through the rear window, his enhanced vision pulling in details that would have been invisible to anyone else.
The driver of the sedan: thirties, short black hair, square jaw. The passenger: taller, leaner, talking into an earpiece. The license plate — he memorized it in one glance.
'They've been here since I arrived. Waiting at the cemetery. They knew I'd come.'
The sedan kept pace. Two car lengths back. Professional distance.
Silas turned in his seat and looked directly at the passenger through the cab's rear window. He activated Appraisal Eye.
「 Subject: Derek Sato 」 「 Threat level: Low 」 「 Disposition: Hostile 」 「 Employer: Thorne Security Division 」 「 Hidden detail: Currently reporting to Conrad Hale. Assigned to surveillance of Silas Vane 48 hours ago. 」
Forty-eight hours ago. Two days. Conrad had sent watchers the same day Silas checked out of St. Caelum.
'So Conrad is scared enough to have me followed. But not scared enough to back off.'
Silas used his second Appraisal charge on the driver.
「 Subject: Nolan Beck 」 「 Threat level: Low 」 「 Disposition: Indifferent 」 「 Employer: Thorne Security Division 」 「 Hidden detail: Has a prior arrest record for aggravated assault. Charges dropped — legal fees paid by Thorne Development Corp. 」
A Thorne employee with a violent record that the Thornes had covered up. Useful information.
The cab turned onto the highway. The black sedan followed.
Silas faced forward and pulled out his phone. He opened the encrypted messaging app Zephyr had installed for him last night.
He typed one message.
"We're being watched. Thorne Security. Two men, black sedan, plate number VRD-4471. They've been on me for 48 hours."
Send.
Three dots appeared. Zephyr was awake.
"already? damn. want me to run the plate?"
"Already memorized the names. Derek Sato and Nolan Beck. Thorne Security Division. Reporting to Conrad Hale."
"how do u know their names??"
"I have my methods. New priority: accelerate the timeline. I want every piece of evidence compiled and ready by Friday."
"friday?? thats 5 days boss. i need at least—"
"Friday, Zeph. Conrad Hale's world ends by Friday."
A long pause. Then:
"ok. friday. im gonna need more energy drinks."
In a parked sedan on the highway, Derek Sato watched the cab merge into traffic. He pressed the earpiece.
"Target left Greyhaven Cemetery at 0823. Visited two gravesites. Stayed approximately ten minutes. Now heading back toward Meridian District."
"Did he notice you?" Conrad Hale's voice was tight on the other end.
Derek hesitated. "He looked right at us through the rear window."
Silence.
"He looked at you."
"Yes, sir. For about five seconds. Then he turned around and started using his phone."
Another silence. Longer this time.
"Stay on him," Conrad said. "But keep your distance. And Derek — if he comes anywhere near the hospital, I want to know immediately."
"Understood."
The line went dead. Derek looked at his partner.
"He's nervous," Nolan said.
"Hale? Yeah. Been nervous since the guy checked out." Derek pulled the sedan back into traffic. "What kind of patient checks out of a charity ward with a hundred million dollars and a list of names?"
Nolan shrugged. "The dangerous kind."
At the Regency Grand, Silas walked into his suite to find Zephyr surrounded by empty energy drink cans, her three laptops all running simultaneous data pulls.
"Friday," she said without looking up.
"Friday."
"You know, most people give their employees at least a two-week notice before demanding the impossible."
"You're not most employees."
She glanced at him. A small grin. "No. I'm not." She turned back to her screens. "I'm pulling the financial transfer logs now. If the money trail leads where I think it leads, Conrad Hale won't just lose his job. He'll lose his freedom."
Silas sat down at the desk. He looked at his phone. The photo of his father's medical chart was still saved — the handwritten note, the billing codes, the reference number TM-0894.
'Five days. And then everyone who profited from your death is going to answer for it.'
He set the phone down and started reading.
Friday was coming.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 80: Serath's Truth
The sign-in notification pulsed at 6:00 AM, golden text burning across Silas's vision before he'd even opened his eyes.「 DAY 78 SIGN-IN COMPLETE 」 「 RARE — $5,000,000 + Aether Shield (Active Skill — generates a temporary barrier of condensed Aether energy. Duration: 12 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Absorbs kinetic, thermal, and low-grade Aetheric attacks.) 」He lay still in the dark of his penthouse bedroom, staring at the ceiling. He hadn't slept. Not really. He'd lain there for six hours with his father's box on the nightstand beside him, its contents spread across the sheets like autopsy photographs of a life — letters, receipts, a worn leather journal, and the name that had threaded through all of it like a vein of black ore.Serath.He dismissed the notification and sat up. The Aether Shield settled into his skill architecture with a faint hum at the base of his skull, like a tuning fork struck once and left to resonate. He could feel it — a readiness in the air around his skin,
Chapter 79: The Cold Case
The morning sign-in was routine now. Almost boring.「 Ding! Day 77 Login successful! 」「 Reward: $300,000 」「 Physique +1 (27→28) 」「 The funds have been transferred to the Host's account. 」Silas dismissed the notification with a thought and didn't bother checking his balance. Three hundred thousand dollars. Two months ago, that number would have changed his life. Now it was pocket change — a rounding error in the war chest he'd built.He flexed his hand. Twenty-eight Physique. He could feel the difference in the density of his grip, the speed of his reflexes, the quiet hum of a body that was becoming something more than human by increments.But none of that mattered today.Today was about the dead.Graham Cole arrived at the penthouse at 8:14 AM, carrying two banker's boxes and looking like he hadn't slept."Tell me you found something," Silas said from the kitchen island. No greeting. No small talk.Graham set the boxes on the dining table with a heavy thud. "I found everything."H
Chapter 78: Trust Fractures
Day 76 Sign-In: COMMON — $600,000 + Spirit +1 (16→17)Silence. The suppression arrays hummed their sub-audible hum. The artificial daylight filtering through the reinforced windows of the Athenaeum's secure wing cast no shadows — engineered that way, Silas suspected, so that nothing could hide in them.Roderick Thorne sat across from him in a chair that might have been a throne in another life. High-backed, dark wood, positioned so the light fell on his visitor's face while his own remained in a kind of ambient neutrality. The old man's hands rested on the armrests — still, unmoving, the fingers neither curled nor splayed. The hands of someone who had not needed to fidget in decades.Silas felt the Spirit increment settle into his consciousness like a new lens clicking into place. Seventeen now. The world's ambient hum — the faint, sub-perceptual whisper of Aether that he'd been learning to hear since the Veil breach — sharpened by a fraction. Roderick's suppression arrays, which shou
Chapter 77: The Prisoner
The golden text pulsed at the edge of his vision before he'd even opened his eyes.「 Day 75 Sign-In Complete. Reward: COMMON — $400,000 」Silas dismissed it with a thought. The money landed in his account like a stone dropping into an ocean. He barely registered it anymore. Four hundred thousand dollars. Once, that number would have rewritten his entire life. Now it was background noise — a heartbeat of the System, steady and unremarkable, while the rest of his world was anything but.He stood at the window of his penthouse, watching the city wake up beneath a sky the color of old iron. Veridian City stretched out in every direction — the gleaming spires of Meridian, the industrial sprawl of Ironvale, the distant shimmer of Ashford Quay's waterfront where cranes swung like the arms of sleeping giants. Somewhere out there, Julian Thorne was sitting in his tower, turning over the offer Silas had left on the table.But Julian wasn't the priority today.Today, Silas was going to visit the
Chapter 76: Aftermath
「 Ding! Daily Sign-In successful! 」「 Reward: RARE — $3,000,000 」「 Reward: Physique +1 (26 → 27) 」Silas sat on the edge of a couch that wasn’t his, in a room that didn’t have a window.The light overhead was white and flat. No shadows. No comfort.He stared at the System notification until it faded.Three million. Another step up in Physique.Normally, he would have felt something.Today, he felt tired.Kira stood near the door with her arms crossed. Her posture was the same as always—alert, ready—but her eyes kept flicking to Silas like she was checking if he was still here.Serath Kael leaned against the far wall, silent. His expression was neutral, but his breathing was too controlled.Darius Ashara sat on the floor with his back to the wall, palms up, running a slow Aether circulation like a man trying to wash something off his skin.Nobody spoke for a long minute.Then Kira finally said it.“So that was your enemy’s plan.”Silas didn’t answer right away.He remembered the 59th
Chapter 75: The Choice
The 59th floor looked nothing like an office anymore.The windows were still there. The desk was still there. But the room itself had become a second skin over something older—something the city was never meant to see.Aether lines crawled across the floor like circuitry. They ran in tight spirals around the center, where Roderick Thorne lay half-slumped, his suit ruined with sweat, his jade ring split down the middle like a cracked tooth.Silas stayed between him and the others.Serath stood three steps back, hands ready. His two enforcers held the doorway and the hall beyond. Darius leaned against the wall, breathing hard, one palm pressed to his ribs where the Aether field had bruised him from the inside.Kira was the only one who didn’t look at the runes.She looked at the detonator in Roderick’s hand.It was small. Cheap-looking. A gray plastic box with a red cap over a button.And it was the most dangerous object in the building.Roderick’s thumb rested on the cap like it belong
You may also like
The Ultimate Talent Adam Spencer
ShadowKatake35.8K viewsCrash-landed On An Island With Nine Beauties
Zuxian207.8K viewsSystem Blessing For The Poor Son-in-law
Pein48.6K viewsHarem Multiverse Challenge
Helen B.50.1K viewsThe God-Level Scavenger: Infinite Evolution System
Capricorns157 viewsMutated System : Rise Of The Alpha
StillBorn493 viewsShadow System: Rise of the Forgotten King
Nabin Nower Mimi 913 viewsASCENSION OF THE HIDDEN PLAYER
AR127 views