LOGINShare
Last Minute Gambit
Last Updated:
2026-01-29 14:45:02
Latest chapter
System Of Blood: To Crave Survival Progress
CHAPTER 154Camryn's POVThe anniversary of Julian's death arrived quietly, without ceremony or announcement.I woke up thinking about him, which happened less often now but still hurt when it did. My brother who'd been broken by a game that made him its villain. Who'd helped me rewrite the system that enslaved him. Who'd chosen to die so everyone else could choose to live.A year. An entire year of rebuilding, of truth-telling, of watching Lenore transform from a controlled simulation into something messier and more real.Amon was already awake, sitting by the window with coffee and the morning reports. We'd moved into one of the old House Gold buildings months ago, converting it from a monument to my family's destruction into something useful. A community center now, with living quarters on the upper floors."You're thinking about him," Amon said without looking up."Is it that obvious?""You get this look. Sad but not quite sad. Like you're remembering pain through glass." He set d
System Of Blood: To Crave Survival Small Victories
CHAPTER 153Camryn's POVThe breakthrough came six months after Julian's death, in the middle of a routine meeting about agricultural distribution.Miranda was explaining crop rotation schedules, and I was analyzing the logistics, when suddenly I felt it. Not analyzed understanding but genuine boredom. The real, immediate sensation of being bored by crop rotation schedules.It was the most beautiful boredom I'd ever experienced."Camryn?" Whitney noticed my expression. "You okay?""I'm bored," I said, and started laughing. "I'm actually, genuinely bored. Not processing that I should be bored or remembering what boredom felt like. I'm experiencing it right now."The team stared at me like I'd lost my mind."That's progress?" Fabian asked cautiously."That's massive progress. I've been analyzing emotions for six months. This is the first time I've felt one continuously for more than a few seconds without it fading into code." I stood up, pacing with energy I didn't know I had. "It's sti
System Of Blood: To Crave Survival Ripples
CHAPTER 152Camryn's POVThe second disclosure went worse than the first.The Ironworks District was more integrated with House Red than we'd realized, and when we revealed the truth about the game, half the audience accused us of spreading anti-House propaganda. Three people tried to physically attack us before Amon's shadows intervened. We left with nothing accomplished except confirming that some communities weren't ready."We should have screened them better," Miranda said afterward, frustrated. "Checked their House loyalties before attempting disclosure.""Then we're just creating echo chambers," I argued. "Only telling people who already distrust the Houses. That doesn't spread truth, it reinforces divisions.""But it keeps us from wasting time on people who won't listen."Whitney checked her notes from both disclosures. "The difference wasn't House loyalty. It was economic dependence. The Hollow Quarter survives independently. Ironworks relies on House Red contracts for employm
System Of Blood: To Crave Survival Feelings?
CHAPTER 151Camryn's POV"Everything and nothing," I said. "You still live here. Still have relationships and goals and daily concerns. But now you understand the larger context. The Houses have been maintaining lies to preserve their power. Julian spawned anomalies because the game programmed him to. Intent feeds manifestations not because of some mystical force but because it's literally the game's fuel source.""And knowing that helps us how?""It means we can build something better. We don't have to accept the Hunter System as inevitable. Don't have to let Houses control our lives. Don't have to treat anomalies as unstoppable threats." I gestured to Eugene's device. "We have tools to eliminate anomalies safely. Knowledge to prevent Intent surges. Power to rewrite the systems that exploited you. But only if we work together."Another man stood. "What about people who want to leave? You said we're from other realities. Can we go back?""Yes. The game now allows players to choose. St
System Of Blood: To Crave Survival Speaking Truth
CHAPTER 150Camryn's POVWe chose the Hollow Quarter for our first disclosure.It was one of the oldest abandoned districts, populated mostly by people who'd given up on House protection years ago. They survived through cooperation and grit, running their own security patrols and managing their own anomaly responses. If anyone could handle the truth without falling apart, it was them.Still, my hands shook as we approached the community center they'd built from salvaged materials. Not from fear exactly, but from something my fragmented consciousness recognized as anxiety even if I couldn't quite feel it properly."You don't have to do this," Amon said quietly. "Miranda could take the lead.""No. It should be me." I checked my notes one more time, though I'd memorized everything already. "I rewrote the game. I should be the one who explains what that means."The community center was packed. Word had spread that we wanted to talk about Julian's death and what came next, and apparently e
System Of Blood: To Crave Survival First Steps
CHAPTER 149Camryn's POVThe city felt different without Julian's presence threading through it.I noticed it first in the anomalies. They still spawned when Intent accumulated enough, but the pattern had changed. No central coordination. No deliberate escalation. Just natural manifestations responding to genuine human emotion instead of game-designed challenges.It made them easier to predict in some ways, harder in others. At least when Julian controlled the spawns, there was logic to their placement. Now they appeared wherever grief or fear or obsession concentrated enough, which meant anywhere and everywhere."Another one in the western markets," Whitney reported, checking her detection equipment. We'd converted Julian's old command center into something between a war room and a community planning space. "Class D, Hollow Child variant. Manifested near a family mourning their daughter.""I'll handle it," Fabian said, already gathering his weapons. "Reginald, you're with me. Time to
