เข้าสู่ระบบThe drainage tunnel carried them for nearly twenty minutes beneath the city.Cold water rushed around them while broken emergency lights flickered weakly overhead.Nobody talked much.Not because there was nothing to say.Because all of them were exhausted beyond words.Physically.Emotionally.Everything.Oliver leaned against the tunnel wall briefly as the current finally slowed near an old maintenance exit ladder.His injured leg burned constantly now.The burns along his arm weren’t much better.Ariana noticed immediately.“You need actual medical treatment.”“I’ve had worse.”“That’s not reassuring anymore.”Honestly—fair.Daniel climbed halfway up the ladder first and pushed against the rusted maintenance hatch above them.For one terrible second—nothing happened.Then—CRASH.The hatch burst open.Fresh night air flooded downward instantly.Everyone froze slightly at the feeling.Because after hours underground—real air almost felt unreal.Daniel looked upward dramatically.
Sector Nine was dying around them.The underground chamber shook violently while steel supports collapsed into floodwater below and emergency lights burst overhead one after another.But for a few seconds—nobody moved.Not because they were safe.Because something important had just happened.Ariana still held onto Oliver tightly.Like letting go too soon might somehow erase the fact he survived.Oliver stood there quietly, breathing hard, his injured arm shaking slightly from exhaustion and strain.Then slowly—Ariana pulled back just enough to look at him directly.“You’re impossible.”Oliver blinked slightly.“That’s not usually a compliment.”“It wasn’t.”Despite everything—he almost smiled faintly.Almost.Daniel collapsed dramatically against the nearest support beam.“I need everyone to know I should be considered a hero after this.”“You screamed the entire time,” Clara said calmly.“I screamed courageously.”Honestly—fair.Another explosion echoed deep beneath Sector Nine.
The bridge screamed beneath them.Twisted metal groaned over the floodwater while the entire eastern platform collapsed piece by piece into darkness below.Oliver’s injured arm burned from the strain of holding the broken railing.Beside him, Elias gripped the unstable support beam tightly, his breathing uneven for the first time tonight.Above them—Ariana stood frozen near the platform edge.Not because she didn’t want to move.Because one wrong step would kill all of them.And Oliver knew it.The older Cross executive watched from across the chamber silently.Waiting.Because this was the moment his philosophy always predicted.Pressure.Fear.Limited survival probability.Eventually—someone gets abandoned.Daniel looked wildly between everyone.“There has to be another way!”Lyra scanned the remaining structure rapidly.“The support cables are collapsing too fast.”Clara moved toward a nearby maintenance line immediately.“If we anchor something—”“It won’t hold long enough,” Eli
Sector Nine collapsed behind them in waves.Steel screamed.Concrete shattered.Emergency alarms distorted into static while floodwater burst through broken lower chambers beneath the facility.Oliver ran at the front beside Elias toward the eastern coolant platforms.Every step sent pain through his injured leg now, but adrenaline buried most of it beneath survival instinct.Behind them—Ariana stayed close.Close enough that if he stumbled again, she’d catch him immediately.And honestly—that thought alone kept him moving.Daniel nearly slipped across the flooded platform again.“WHY is every floor in this place wet?!”“Burst coolant systems,” Lyra answered while sprinting beside him.“That explanation somehow makes it worse!”A violent explosion echoed behind them.Heat slammed through the chamber seconds later as part of the lower archive core detonated beneath Sector Nine.The shockwave nearly threw everyone off balance.Clara grabbed the railing immediately.“The structure’s fa
The thermal chamber doors burst open seconds before the locking system froze completely.Oliver and Elias stumbled out into the lower maintenance platform as freezing vapor exploded behind them.Then—BOOM.The archive core collapsed inward.A shockwave tore through Sector Nine instantly.Steel walkways shook violently overhead.Emergency lights shattered across the chamber.And somewhere deep inside the facility—Cross Biotech lost years of hidden research forever.Daniel stared downward in disbelief.“Did we just destroy an underground psychological supercomputer?”Lyra looked toward the collapsing vault silently.“Yes.”Another explosion echoed below.Everyone immediately moved again.“Facility collapse detected.”“Evacuation failure imminent.”The automated warning voice sounded distorted now.Broken.Like even Sector Nine itself was dying.Ariana rushed toward Oliver the second he reached the upper platform.“You’re burned.”Oliver looked down briefly at the damage along his arm.
Heat slammed into Oliver the second the thermal chamber doors opened fully.The air itself felt alive.Burning.Violent.Warning alarms screamed from every direction while steam burst through ruptured pipes overhead.The archive core stood at the center of the chamber surrounded by glowing coolant lines and spinning emergency fans.A giant digital timer flashed above it:00:01:12Elias moved immediately toward the manual shutdown controls.“External relays must fail simultaneously,” he shouted over the alarms.“Otherwise the backup system restores automatically.”Oliver nodded once despite the pain shooting through his injured leg.Above them, Ariana’s voice crackled through the damaged comm unit Lyra found earlier.“We’re in position.”Daniel’s voice followed instantly:“I would like everyone to know I deeply regret all my life decisions.”Even now—Oliver almost smiled.Almost.Elias reached the central control console quickly, fingers moving across overheated touchscreens.“Manual







