Brother’s Lost at Sea, I Stay Calm

The captain from the rescue center came looking for Cyrus Selden just as someone shook me awake from sleep. "Lucas! Trouble! Your brother Aidan's submarine, the Abyss Explorer, has lost contact at 35,000 feet in the Mariana Trench! There was an unidentified undersea quake—communication's completely down, and their chances of survival are… slim!"I blinked the sleep from my eyes and looked at him dully. "So?" I asked, my tone flat.Cyrus froze, as if he hadn't expected that kind of reaction. "We need you!" he blurted. "You're the only person in the world who's ever pulled off a successful rescue at that depth. You're their only hope!"I lay back down, turned over, and pulled the blanket up. "Sorry," I murmured, "can't help you.""What?""I said I can't help." My voice stayed as calm as if the ones trapped down there were my enemies."Lucas Sullivan! Are you out of your mind? Your brother's still down there! Along with twenty other crew members! Their oxygen won't last more than 72

The phone was on speaker, and every word came through loud and clear.When the call ended, Theron turned to me, eyes bloodshot, voice hoarse. "Lucas, you heard that, didn't you? This isn't just about saving your brother anymore—it's about completing Elara's rescue plan! That's an order!"I yawned lazily and didn't bother to answer.Just then, a commotion erupted outside the detention center. A few parents of the missing students had somehow learned where I was being held, and they came rushing in. The moment they saw me, they fell to their knees in unison."Professor Sullivan! Please! Please save our children!""Please, Professor Sullivan, my boy's all I have—he can't die down there!"Their cries and pleas echoed through the corridor, raw and desperate. I looked down at them from behind the bars, my eyes as cold as ice. "And what does their survival have to do with me?"The words struck like a whip, silencing the room instantly. They stared up at me in disbelief, as if I were so

Everyone inside the detention center froze.Claudia was the first to react. Like a madwoman, she lunged forward, snatched the contract from my hand, and tore it into shreds. Her face twisted with unrestrained hatred as she jabbed a finger at me. "Keep dreaming, Lucas! My son's been saved—you won't get a single penny! You can rot in prison for all I care, you monster!"I watched the scraps of paper scatter through the air and couldn't help but laugh. No one knew the truth—I had come back from the dead.In my previous life, I had piloted the rescue sub through the freezing black waters of the deep sea, only to be betrayed. Aidan and Elara had worked together to sabotage the vessel, sealing me inside the cockpit as oxygen slowly ran out. I'd watched the life fade from my own reflection on the control panel glass.After I died, they pinned every crime on me. They said I'd caused the accident on purpose—jealous of my brother's title as chief designer, desperate to ruin him, and ultimate

Every live camera in the hall swung toward Elara, locking onto her pale face like sharks scenting blood. Beside her, Aidan and Theron froze as well—their proud, triumphant smiles stiffening in place. They clearly hadn't expected me to strike back at the very height of their glory.After a brief moment of panic, Elara quickly composed herself. She was, after all, a scientist used to facing the spotlight. Forcing a calm smile, she turned to the cameras and spoke in a clear, confident tone. "Lucas, I understand that you're upset about what happened before, but you can't let personal feelings make you deny the efforts of everyone involved—or the miracles of science. I admit, the standard remote system you designed was indeed locked. However…"Her tone shifted, her eyes gleaming with intellectual brilliance, "I utilized the submarine's backup quantum-entanglement communication module to bypass your physical lock and created an emergency rescue protocol on the spot. It was an unconventiona

Aidan suddenly jumped to his feet like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Lucas!" he shouted, his voice cracking with theatrical anguish. "Why would you forge a video just to slander Elara?! She saved all of us! How could you do something so vile to her?"Tears glimmered in his eyes, his expression twisted with pain—an act so exaggerated it almost deserved applause. But I didn't bother humoring him with a reply. Instead, I reached into my pocket, pulled out a flash drive, and tossed it onto the stage."Slander?" I questioned coldly. "Everything in there is the result of a private investigation I commissioned—three months of work. Elara, Aidan—you two started conspiring a year ago. You used an offshore shell company registered in the Cayman Islands to secretly transfer ownership of 17 deep-sea technology patents under my name."This was never about saving lives. You planned everything long before the so-called 'rescue mission.' As long as I died down there, all my intellectual pr