Chapter Forty Seven

บทล่าสุด

• Cold Hands, Warm Lies   Chapter Fifty Three

  A red siren jolted through the penthouse. Sera bolted upright, heart spiking. Lucien was already alert, pulse pounding.> Lucien (urgent whisper): “They’re inside.”Still clad in last night’s heat, they raced through dimly lit halls toward the command hub. Crimson warning lights flickered.> Sera (fingers flying on the console): “I’m isolating the node PENTHOUSE_NODE.”Codes streamed across the screen then a new alert: INTRUDER: Basement Safe Room.They exchanged a charged look.> Lucien: “Stay close. Let’s move.”They crept toward the basement staircase, hallway lights flickering with each breath.The basement corridor felt colder, glass walls reflecting metal racks and server cages, silent sentinels of their world. The door to the safe room was ajar.> Lucien (whisper): “I’ll go in cover me.”Sera shook her head.> Sera: “No. I’m not hiding.”They slipped inside.Aquila stood before them, relaxed yet dangerous, rain glistening on his damp coat.> Aquila: “You built a sanctuary but l

• Cold Hands, Warm Lies   Chapter Fifty Two

  The grey dawn in Berlin mirrored the mood on Marktplatz Square, a stark contrast to the soft glow of Amber nodes worldwide. Protest signs littered the plaza: “Don’t Test My Truth!”, “Amber = Surveillance!”, “Free Choice or Digital Cage?”Sera stepped out of the van, bundled in a trench coat beside Lucien and Elise. The air smelled of diesel and damp concrete. They wore earpieces, tablets in hand, not tourists, but peacemakers in a digital rebellion.> Ava (over comm):“Berlin node is live but flagged every 30 seconds. A mass node freeze is pending.”Sera studied the crowd faces alive with rage, fear, confusion.> Sera (into mic, determined):“We’re here to listen. Not lecture.”Lucien wrapped an arm around her waist silent strength beside her.> Lucien:“Let’s show them it’s human-powered.”They approached a line of police barrier tape. A group of protesters surged forward, chanting slogans in German.Sera raised a hand peaceful, measured > Sera (voice calm):“We’re with you. Let us

• Cold Hands, Warm Lies   Chapter Fifty One

  As dawn broke in Manhattan, whispers of Amber’s “Emotional Fidelity Test” swept across social feeds. The debate was ablaze: hashtags #FidelityNow and #TrustTooFar clashed pixel for pixel. Meanwhile, in the penthouse, screens showed live dashboards:Global Node Activity: 7.8 M users onlineTest Flags: 54 active fidelity alertsAverage Sync Time: 17 sec (Global Avg)Sera sat at the main terminal, Lucien next to her. A monitor flickered with a new alert:> User 042-Nairobi: Inconsistent response panic.Sera’s chest tightened.> Sera: “Let’s reach them.”Lucien tapped the comms mic. Lucien and Sera prepared to perform live emotional “therapy-in-code” sessions. Each intervention would test Amber’s promise empathy coded to compassion, not control.> Lucien: “Remember honesty, warmth, no judgment.”He cupped her face.> Lucien (soft): “You already saved a soul. You can do it again.”They began linking global nodes:1. Nairobi2. Tokyo (still red)3. MumbaiA face popped on Sera’s screen youn

• Cold Hands, Warm Lies   Chapter Fifty

  The front door slid open with a soft beep. Sera and Lucien, still wrapped in blankets atop the couch, froze.Two figures stepped through the entryway. Elise taller now, a whisper of steel behind her confident posture was accompanied by a silhouette cloaked in darkness.Sera’s heart slammed; Lucien’s jaw tightened.> Sera (voice trembling): “Elise?”Her sister offered a slow, bittersweet smile.> Elise: “Home.”Elise’s eyes sought Sera’s.> Elise (soft): “It’s time to untie the last knot.”The second figure stepped forward Ava Cortez, Elise’s former assistant. Elegant, poised, but eyes cold and calculating.> Ava: “You passed his tests. But did you pass mine?”Sera’s breath caught. Lucien stood ready at her side.> Lucien: “What are you doing here?”Elise dropped into a chair opposite them.> Elise (quiet): “I’m here to finish this together.”Elise moved to the command hub. She placed her hands on the central terminal.> Elise: “Aquila was just the first layer, this is the real test.”

• Cold Hands, Warm Lies   Chapter Forty Nine

  Lights flickered across the penthouse foyer as the sealed door creaked open. Sera, Lucien, and Maple moved as one every sense on alert. The air was cold, and their compressed breaths echoed loud in the polished entry hall.Lucien’s fingers grazed Sera’s back, encouraging, protective. She gripped his hand, feeling their partnership anchor her courage.From the shadows, a figure stepped into the light. Tall, confident, and unmistakably familiar.> Sera (voice low): “Marcus...?”No. This wasn’t Marcus Flynn. The stranger ambled in, suit tailored but edges worn. Straightened his tie with deliberate ease.> Stranger (cool inflection): “If you think that backdoor was the final surprise, you haven’t been paying attention.”He tapped the override alert on a phone, blueprints of sealed rooms appearing behind him.> Stranger: “Analogy: You thought you buried the serpent. But I raised it. Again.”Lucien stepped forward.> Lucien (growl): “Who are you? What do you want?”The man’s lips curved in

• Cold Hands, Warm Lies   Chapter Forty Eight

  In the soft glow of the late-night command hub, Sera and Lucien stood shoulder to shoulder before four luminous screens: global node maps flickering, highlight on their own penthouse node, and warning flags marking untrusted access.Maple, hands trembling slightly over her keyboard, spoke first:> Maple (whisper): “Another override. Node 1122 your penthouse. It’s active again.”Sera’s breath hitched. Lucien placed a steadying hand on her back.> Lucien (quiet): “Someone inside, still loyal to Elise’s backdoor.”Henry Sr. joined in, pale but focused:> Henry Sr.: “We don’t know if it’s sabotage... or someone risking themselves to sabotage before it's shut down permanently.”Sera inched closer to Lucien:> Sera (low): “Then we need the traitor. Now.”They split the tasks. Maple began tracing the override’s digital footsteps clocked at midnight, last zap four milliseconds after the log-in. Meanwhile, Sera quietly retrieved a small drive from her pocket.> Sera (to Lucien): “That flash dr