2026-04-03 00:30:43The grey dawn over the private airfield was thin and bitter, a sheet of slate draped over the city’s industrial edge. Adam sat in the back of the SUV, his eyes fixed on the small Cessna idling at the far end of the tarmac. The propellers spun with a low, rhythmic whine, cutting through the morning mist.
In the pale light, Howard and Charles Rick looked like frantic ghosts. They were tossing crates and bags into the cargo bay with a desperate speed, their expensive tailored coats
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 45
Adam stared at the violet text flickering in his vision, the words Kinetic Override burned into his retinas. When the integration hit one hundred percent, the house ceased to be a structure of glass and stone; it became something like an extension of his own nervous system. He could feel the vibration of every footstep on the oak floorboards as if they were tapping directly against his skin. He gripped the armrests of the leather chair, his knuckles white. The specialists from Zurich were moving quickly, their high-end thermal and night-vision optics allowing them to move through the dark interior of Zenith with ease. They were four men, trained for high-stakes elimination, and Vane was one man pinned in a hallway.Adam didn't use the house to kill. He used it to strip away the advantages that made these men dangerous.On his HUD, Adam saw the frequency of the specialists' optic gear. One man was rounding the corner toward the kitchen, his suppressed rifle leveled. Adam flicked his f
Chapter 44
The violet interface of the system hovered in the air, a series of windows flickering with urgency. Adam leaned forward in the leather chair, his fingers hovering over the holographic keys. He didn't have much time. The flight from Zurich had landed, and the professionals on board weren't going to spend an hour interviewing the Dean. They were likely already moving toward the last known signal of the silver sedan.He had promised Vane erasure, but doing it correctly was a long process, not a simple delete command. If he just wiped the files from the estate’s external cameras or the city’s traffic sensors, it would leave a glaring digital void. Malrik’s forensic team would see the missing logs and know exactly where the target had been. Adam’s fingers began to move, but they were shaking so violently that he kept mis-typing the command strings. He had to stop, gripping the edge of the desk to steady himself. He took a deep breath, but the expansion of his chest sent a sharp, glass-li
Chapter 43
The silver sedan rattled as Vane steered it through the skeletal remains of the city’s old industrial heart. This was the underside of the metropolis, a large space of rusted warehouses and cracked asphalt that the new smart-link grid had ignored. There were no neon signs here, no sleek electric charging stations, and no Vanguard drones. The air was thick with the smell of damp concrete and stagnant grease. In this sector, the streetlights were either shattered or flickering with a dying, yellow light that barely reached the sidewalk.Adam leaned his head against the vibrating door frame, watching the rearview mirror. Without the presence of the delivery network’s sensors, they were blind to anything but their own eyes. Every pair of headlights that appeared in the distance behind them felt like a searchlight. Malrik’s unofficial assets thrived in zones like this, where they could move without leaving a digital footprint.The adrenaline that had carried Adam through the university ga
Chapter 42
Adam stood in the center of the arboretum, watching the last flicker of orange vanish from the corner of the manila folder. He stirred the black ash with the toe of his sneaker, scattering the remains into the mulch until they were indistinguishable from the dirt. He felt a temporary sense of relief, but it was quickly cut short.The violet light of the system flickered in his lower field of vision. It wasn’t a quest notification. It was a live data alert, a scrolling stream of packet headers intercepted from the university’s administrative network.[Data Alert: Internal transmission detected.][Source: Office of the Dean.][Recipient: Dryst Local Security Detail.][Attachment: Student_Shortlist_Priority_Alpha.pdf]Adam leaned back against the stone bench, his breath hitching. He didn't need to open the file to know what was in it. His eyes moved across the intercepted metadata. His name was there, tagged with a high-priority flag. Malrik didn't need a medical record to prove Adam had
Chapter 41
Malrik did not stay gone for long. He was a man built on the foundation of cold logic and vast resources. While he had retreated from the lecture hall with a face drained of color, it was not because of a simple threat. To a man like Malrik, a breach in his local servers was a fire that needed to be extinguished before it reached his vault. Within minutes, his elite technical team in Zurich were monitoring the local office’s feed from four thousand miles away and had isolated the intrusion, locking down the protocols.An hour later, the black SUVs returned to the university campus. Malrik stepped out of the lead vehicle, his expression no longer pale but hardened into an expression of irritation. He adjusted his silk tie and looked toward the university buildings with narrowed eyes. He realized now that the hitman—Vane—was trying to play him. But Vane was a tool, not a thinker. Vane wouldn't have known which specific server node to strike unless someone had provided the roadmap.Malr
Chapter 40
Adam walked out of the campus clinic, the cool evening air stinging the cut on his lip. The plaza was a sea of flickering orange light, the scent of melting beeswax and lilies hanging thick and heavy. He pulled his hoodie tight around himself, shielding the bandages beneath his clothes from the judgmental gaze of the crowd. Every sob he heard, every whispered eulogy for Imani Vesper, felt like a stone being added to a pile he was forced to carry.He stopped at the edge of the fountain, his eyes reflecting the candlelight, but his mind was already miles away, moving through the city’s digital architecture. Grief was a powerful emotion, but it was also a static one. To survive Malrik Dryst, Adam couldn't let the city remain in mourning. He needed to change the narrative from tragedy to an overwhelming show of force.He pulled his phone from his pocket, the screen casting a pale violet glow on his face. He didn't open a banking app or a social media feed. Instead, he authorized the fina
You may also like
It All Started With Lightning
monstersells38.3K viewsRise of the Revenge System
Qin Li21.0K viewsThe Ultimate Heir System
Ramdani Abdul78.6K viewsThe Black Card System
Danny_writes107.8K viewsThe Shadow Architect
Sami Yang945 viewsThe Reincarnation of the Death Star
Shadow X Design241 viewsMy Almighty Werewolf System
Cephas Bliss 687 viewsThe Ultimate Revenge System
June girl1.2K views