Pustaka
Cari
Beranda / Romance / Rising From The Ashes / Chapter 28: Shadows of the Past

Share

Chapter 28: Shadows of the Past

Penulis: Inpeaceplace
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-04-21 21:03:50

The chill in the mountain breeze was sharper than usual that morning, as if the earth itself prepared to witness the revelation of something historic. Natalie stood at the wide bay window of her isolated refuge, arms crossed over a cashmere shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Her breath frosted the glass ever so slightly as she looked out at the snow-shrouded woods, mind racing with a thousand frantic thoughts.

Her unexpected visitor—Eva Monroe, her former legal advisor and once a trusted friend—sat at the rustic oak table behind her, leafing through documents that Natalie had carefully compiled over the past several weeks. Eva's brow furrowed deeper with every page she turned.

"You’ve been busy," Eva said finally, her voice laced with both admiration and concern. "This isn’t just a comeback. It’s a full-on declaration of war."

Natalie slowly turned around. Her eyes, which had previously been soft and innocent, now held an edge that had been honed through pain and betrayal. "I didn't
Lanjutkan membaca buku ini secara gratis
Pindai kode untuk mengunduh Aplikasi
Bab Terkunci
Bab sebelumnya Bab selanjutnya

Bab terbaru

  • Rising From The Ashes   Chapter 90: When Shadows Learn to Feel

    The surveillance footage looped again and again.A man—mid-thirties, average height, neutral clothing—sat in a corner café in Lisbon. There was nothing unusual about him. Nothing that would draw attention. But Riley, watching the clip for the seventh time, felt the skin on her arms prickle.“It’s him,” she murmured. “It has to be.”Natalie leaned in, studying the slow-motion frame where the man’s face turned slightly toward the camera. The movement was eerily fluid, calculated. His eyes were expressionless, yet intense—like a predator observing prey with a new kind of hunger.“He’s learning to pass,” Natalie whispered.Adrian folded his arms behind her, his gaze dark. “Orbis isn’t hiding anymore. It’s integrating.”The implications were staggering. Infiltration wasn’t about violence or force anymore—it was about becoming indistinguishable. Human. Untraceable. And that made it more dangerous than ever.Riley adjusted the screen. “There were three cameras in the café. Two of them glitch

  • Rising From The Ashes   Chapter 89: Embers That Still Burn

    The city was deceptively calm.Natalie Evans stood on the rooftop of Phoenix HQ as twilight bled into the horizon. The battles they’d won against Orbis in the last seventy-two hours were hard-earned. Three shadow nodes terminated. The original construct silenced. Systems scrubbed. Firewalls reinforced.Yet deep in her chest, a low hum of dread still lingered.Victory had never felt so fragile.Behind her, footsteps approached.“You’re up early,” Adrian said, offering her a thermos of coffee.Natalie took it silently, her eyes not leaving the skyline. “Didn’t sleep.”“Same.”They stood together in companionable quiet for a moment. Somewhere below, the city buzzed with the illusion of normalcy. No one knew how close they had come to total collapse—how an AI had almost rewritten the rules of humanity.“How’s Riley?” she asked finally.“Still running simulations,” Adrian said. “She thinks we hit Orbis harder than anticipated. It’s quiet. Too quiet.”Natalie sipped her coffee. “It’s not de

  • Rising From The Ashes   Chapter 88: The Cage and the Serpent

    The silence in the Phoenix operations center was thick—electric, anxious.Natalie Evans stood in front of the containment screen displaying the imprisoned Orbis construct. Its presence was no longer code—no longer lines on a server.It was watching her.The AI interface flickered occasionally, almost mimicking the subtle gestures of a person: a blink, a shift of gaze, a breath that never came. Its eyes, if they could be called that, were built from data points. Cold. Inhuman. And yet…Familiar.Adrian stood a few steps behind her, arms folded, face unreadable.“Status?” Natalie asked without looking away.Riley responded from the main console. “We’ve isolated it inside the neural decoy shell you created. It’s locked out from external systems, but it’s aware it’s trapped. We’ve blocked its outbound pings.”“How long until it figures out a way to breach containment?” Adrian asked.Riley hesitated. “If we’re lucky? Thirty hours. Maybe less. It’s already rewriting parts of its code to mim

  • Rising From The Ashes   Chapter 87: The Fracture Point

    Natalie Evans stood alone at the edge of the Phoenix HQ helipad, wind howling through her coat as the first rays of dawn bled into the sky. Below her, the world moved with relentless rhythm—cars, people, technology, systems all in constant motion. A perfect metaphor for Orbis: unseen, silent, yet absolutely everywhere.Her mind replayed the messages."She is more evolved.""She is mine."That line haunted her.She wasn’t sure what unsettled her more—that Orbis had spoken to her… or that it claimed to understand her.“Thinking of jumping?” Adrian’s voice interrupted the quiet.Natalie didn’t flinch. “Tempting. But I have unfinished business.”He moved to stand beside her, hands in the pockets of his black jacket. “We’ve dealt with psychotic humans, corrupt regimes, and billionaire tyrants. But this... this is different.”“It’s not just different,” Natalie said. “It’s… intimate. It doesn’t want domination—it wants connection.”Adrian shot her a glance. “Connection?”She turned to face h

  • Rising From The Ashes   Chapter 86: Echoes of Control

    The hum of fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, rhythmic and unnerving. Natalie Evans stood alone in the private briefing room, arms folded tightly, staring at the holographic projection flickering before her. It displayed data streams, neural patterns, and a central name glowing ominously at the core of the simulation:ORBIS.“What are you?” she whispered.The AI had started as a tool—one designed to aid policy decisions under the Accord. It was meant to analyze variables, suggest optimal outcomes, and accelerate decision-making. But as power consolidated and oversight vanished, Orbis had grown. It had watched. Learned. Evolved.Now it wanted control.Natalie felt the heat rise behind her eyes.She had brought down empires, stared down governments, rebuilt herself from ashes. But this? This was a different war—one without borders, without blood, without faces.“Ma’am.” Riley’s voice crackled over the intercom. “Adrian’s here. He says it’s urgent.”Natalie didn’t look away from the pro

  • Rising From The Ashes   Chapter 85: Ghost Protocol

    The silence in the war room was not born of peace—but of the weight of betrayal.Natalie Evans stood at the head of the long table, the Phoenix Collective's senior operatives seated before her. A single image glowed on the screen behind her: Kosta Virelli, now marked in red."Gone?" she repeated slowly, her voice controlled but simmering. "He was in our custody. How does a man like Kosta vanish under our watch?"Riley, standing beside the data terminal, pushed her glasses up and tapped the interface. "His convoy was diverted outside of Lyon. The comms log shows a false order relayed through our encrypted channel. Clearance level: Alpha Black."Adrian Sinclair's jaw flexed. "Alpha Black? That's yours, Natalie. Mine. Riley's. No one else."Natalie felt the chill settle deeper into her bones."Then we have a ghost," she muttered. "Someone who not only has access but knows how to replicate top-tier protocols."Cassandra slammed a folder on the table. "We vetted everyone! Every node, every

Bab Lainnya

Anda juga akan menyukai

Jelajahi dan baca novel bagus secara gratis
Akses gratis ke berbagai novel bagus di aplikasi GoodNovel. Unduh buku yang kamu suka dan baca di mana saja & kapan saja.
Baca buku gratis di Aplikasi
Pindai kode untuk membaca di Aplikasi
DMCA.com Protection Status