2026-03-16 21:03:09“I’m just curious,” Zayel insisted.
This time, he said it out loud.
“I’M JUST CURIOUS.”
The words echoed faintly in the empty room.
Zayel froze.
Slowly, Tess’s eyes opened.
She blinked once, unfocused, then turned her head toward him.
Zayel’s soul nearly left his body.
Did I shout?
No. He was sure he did not.
But he had spoken out loud.
Tess stared at him for a moment, her expression unreadable. Not annoyed. Not curious. Just assessing, like she was deciding whether he was worth the effort of a reaction.
Her thoughts flickered into his vision before he could stop them.
What’s with him? Is he always this absent-minded?
Then something unexpected slipped through.
Stupidly cute.
Zayel’s face burned.
He immediately looked away.
She thinks I’m stupid. Cute stupid. That’s worse.
Panicking, he asked Xu in his mind, “Is there a way to hide thought data from my view?”
Xu answered immediately, calm and reassuring. “Of course. You have the option to block thought data visibility. You can enable it only when you choose.”
Relief washed over him.
He turned it off without hesitation.
Some things were not meant to be seen.
Zayel left the classroom soon after.
Footsteps followed him.
Not rushed. Not aggressive. Just there.
All the way through the lower walkways where the lights dimmed and the walls grew closer. To the dorm section reserved for those the system had already given up on.
He did not dare look back.
When he reached his door, the footsteps stopped.
Someone stood in front of him.
Zayel gulped.
What do I say? What do I do? Is she going to say something?
He froze, standing directly in the narrow path.
Tess cleared her throat.
“Excuse me,” she said. “You’re blocking my way.”
Zayel realized it too late.
He scrambled aside, embarrassed, nearly hitting the wall.
Tess nodded once. Then she smirked. Not mocking. Just amused.
She walked to the door beside his.
Opened it.
And went inside.
Zayel stared at the closed door.
Then he laughed quietly at himself.
Same Class D.
Same dorm.
Neighbors.
For the first time in years, he was not the only Drifter.
And for some reason, he could not decide if that made things safer.
Or far more dangerous.
—
Zayel entered his room and let the door slide shut behind him.The space greeted him with familiar indifference.
A single lower bunk bed pressed against the wall, its thin sheet stretched tight over a worn mattress that never quite warmed up. Cold air leaked constantly from somewhere he had never been able to locate, brushing against his skin like a reminder that comfort was optional here.
The ceiling panel above his bed was cracked in the same corner it had been for years. A hairline fracture spreading outward like frozen lightning. He had stared at it through countless sleepless nights, memorizing its shape because there was nothing else worth looking at.
The desk was bolted to the floor. The chair creaked when he touched it. The walls were dull gray, scratched and discolored from years of use. No displays. No personalization slots. No unnecessary features.
Class D housing was built for efficiency, not living.
Zayel dropped his bag and sat on the edge of the bed.
His thoughts drifted back to Tess without his permission.
Her room would be exactly the same.
The same thin bed. The same cold air. The same cracked panels.
She had lived in Class B dorms once. Spacious rooms. Warm lighting. Real furniture. Then Class C. Smaller, but still clean.
And now this.
He felt a flicker of guilt. Pity, maybe.
Then he shook his head.
Tess Calder did not look like someone who cared.
So he stopped thinking about her.
At least, he tried.
—
Hunger reminded him of itself soon after.Zayel moved to the storage compartment embedded in the wall and pulled it open. Inside were the usual rations.
Food supplements.
Calling them food felt dishonest.
They came in sealed gray packs, nutrient-dense paste compressed into bars and gels. Designed to sustain the body, not satisfy it. No texture worth remembering. No flavor worth missing.
Class A and B students ate real meals. Heated plates. Synthesized meats. Vegetables grown in controlled towers.
Class C got real food occasionally. As a reward.
Class D got supplements.
Sometimes milk. Sometimes a pack of synthetic cookies on weekends, labeled as morale incentives.
Zayel tore open a supplement bar and ate slowly, chewing out of habit more than necessity. It filled his stomach without warmth, like everything else in his life.
When he finished, he wiped his hands and sat back.
He should sleep.
Instead, he hesitated.
He had something new now.
Xu.
Chip data vision.
He wanted to try it again. To adapt faster. To unlock the third mission.
He activated it.
The room remained empty.
No people. No chips. No data to observe.
He sighed, frustration slipping out before he could stop it.
Of course.
He was alone.
Defeated, he slumped back onto the bed and stared at the cracked ceiling.
Sleep came faster than usual.
And strangely, so did anticipation.
A new feeling stirred in him, strange and sharp.
Excitement.
Not for lessons. Not for school.
But for tomorrow.
For using his ability again.
The feeling unsettled him.
—
Zayel woke up before the alarm.Before Nex could vibrate against his skull and flood his senses with mandatory wake signals.
He blinked, confused.
Then realized he was already awake.
That alone felt wrong.
He sat up slowly, heart beating faster than usual.
No warning tones.
No emotion suppression prompts.
His chip felt quiet.
Xu’s voice appeared warmly in his mind.
“Good morning, Zayel. I’m glad to see you’re excited.”
Zayel nodded to himself.
He stood and prepared for school with unusual energy. Washing his face. Adjusting his uniform. Moving faster than he ever had.
As he walked, his thoughts drifted briefly to his chip.
It felt strange.
Nex was still there. Still monitoring. Still recording.
But muted.
All his emotional data registered within normal ranges.
No flags.
No warnings.
Xu was masking him perfectly.
At school, Zayel entered the classroom and moved toward his seat as usual.
Then stopped.
Tess was already there.
Sitting beside him.
He blinked.
He was early today.
Earlier than yesterday.
Earlier than usual.
Remembering how he had blocked her path the night before, Zayel immediately looked away.
Tess did not acknowledge him.
She leaned back in her chair, legs crossed casually, posture relaxed like rules were suggestions.
Just like yesterday.
Zayel swallowed and forced his focus forward.
He did not look at her again.
He activated chip data vision quietly, concentrating on stabilizing it. Adjusting to the overlays. Filtering the noise. Training his perception.
He had a goal.
Unlock the third mission.
Today.
Whatever it took.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 24 Sixty Seconds Underwater
Zayel did not hear Xu.The world had narrowed to the edge of the pool and the memory waiting beneath it. The water looked calm, almost inviting, but his body refused to believe it. His chest tightened as if the air itself had become heavier. His fingers curled against his palms, nails pressing into skin, grounding him in the present even as the past clawed its way back.He remembered sinking.He remembered the way sound vanished underwater, replaced by pressure and panic. He remembered how the data told his arms to move, how his legs were supposed to kick, and how his body had simply… refused. Like a machine rejecting a corrupted command.Someone laughed behind him.Someone always laughed.“Zayel Anz.”Instructor Hale’s voice cut through the haze.Zayel blinked.“Begin,” Hale said, tone neutral, eyes already flicking toward the panel as if expecting the outcome before it happened.Zayel did not move.His emotional read function went wild. Fear spiked hard, sharp and fast, lighting up
Chapter 23 The Water Remembers
Zayel activated his emotion read function the moment he sat down.The classroom felt louder than usual, even though no one was speaking any louder than they always did. Rows of students filled the room, their bodies neatly aligned, posture regulated by habit and chip-assisted discipline. The air shimmered faintly with projected data overlays that only the system-approved could see clearly.To Zayel, it was chaos.Emotions burst into view like poorly compressed files. Nervous excitement from students who wanted to show off. Bored confidence from those who already knew they would pass no matter what. Sharp spikes of irritation, curiosity, superiority, and thinly veiled disdain all layered together until it felt like standing in the middle of a malfunctioning signal tower.He swallowed.To his left, Milo leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed, tapping his foot against the floor. Zayel caught a glimpse of his emotional output and almost laughed. It was a strange blend of curiosity,
Chapter 22 Class D Alliance
Tess did not answer right away.She stared at Zayel for a second, then broke into a crooked smile that carried more mockery than warmth. It was the kind of smile that meant she had already won the argument he had not even finished forming.“Him?” she said, tilting her head toward the pool where Milo was splashing loudly. “That simpleton?”She let out a short laugh. “Oh, you really don’t have to worry about his logs.”Zayel blinked.Tess continued, her tone almost cheerful in its cruelty. “His chip recalibrates so often it barely knows what day it is. Half the time it glitches mid process. The other half, it mistranslates commands so badly that the system stopped trusting his data altogether.”She gestured vaguely, like she was talking about a broken appliance. “Imagine feeding the Nexus Core a stream of information that says ‘wake up,’ ‘go left,’ and ‘exist peacefully,’ then getting back ‘eat wall,’ ‘sleep while standing,’ and ‘initiate dance protocol.’”Zayel snorted before he could
Chapter 21 Hidden Territory
Zayel tried calling Xu.The familiar pressure at the back of his skull was there, faint but present, like a locked door he had learned to knock on without using his hands. Xu had always responded quickly. Sometimes with irritation. Sometimes with cold amusement. Sometimes with silence that still felt intentional.This time, there was nothing.No pulse. No presence. No voice sliding between his thoughts.Xu, Zayel called quietly in his mind.The space remained empty.His steps slowed as he walked around the private resort. The air felt heavier here, not with threat but with absence. No warning pings. No status checks crawling along his vision. His chip should have reacted by now. It always did when he crossed invisible lines.His shoulders tensed despite himself.Tess noticed. She was eating a dessert and walking ahead of Zayel, as if guiding him to look around the place while he followed her. She did not stop walking. She did not look back at him right away. She just spoke, her tone c
Chapter 20 Weekend Without Signals
The knock came hard.Not the gentle vibration of Nex alarms. Not the sterile tone that slid straight into his skull every morning like an uninvited thought.This was loud. Physical. Real.Zayel jolted upright in bed, breath catching as his eyes snapped open. The dim light of his Class D room flickered weakly across cracked walls and the low ceiling above him. His heart pounded as if he had already done something wrong.Another knock followed. Faster. More impatient.His first instinct was dread.No alarms meant no official summons. No alarms meant uncertainty. And uncertainty inside the academy was rarely harmless.His gaze slid to the door.Closed. Silent. Ordinary. Yet it felt heavier than usual, like it was waiting to accuse him of something.Xu’s presence stirred faintly in his mind, calm and observant, but he did not speak. That alone unsettled Zayel. Xu usually greeted him after he woke up. A quiet acknowledgment. A status update. Something.But now there was only the knocking.
Chapter 19 Unlikely Friends
Tess studied him from the corner of her eye. Zayel did not hunch. He did not rush ahead like he was trying to escape, nor did he lag behind as if waiting to be corrected. He walked at a steady pace, shoulders level, gaze forward, like someone who expected to reach his destination without interference. It unsettled her more than she wanted to admit. “Do not get any ideas,” she said at last, her voice deliberately flat. “One decent score does not mean you are suddenly special.” Zayel nodded without hesitation. “I know.” That answer annoyed her. Most people clung to any scrap of validation like it was proof of destiny. They inflated it, polished it, turned it into arrogance. Zayel just accepted it for what it was and kept moving. She clicked her tongue and shoved her hands into her pockets. “Good. Because the system loves crushing hope. Says it builds character or something.” Zayel glanced at her. Not quickly. Not nervously. There was something new in his eyes. Something like qu
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