Chapter 91 Rivers do not Listen

They dragged him into the light like a confession. Lorren Vale’s hands were bound with rope that looked too soft for the job; someone had used a tow line that had once held a barge. He walked as if he owned the rope—like he expected it to bow. Derrick walked behind him, shoulders drawn in a way that made him seem younger than his years, and kept his eyes on the ground. He did not look at his brother.The plaza smelled of wet wood and tea and the long-simmered stew people made when there was nothing else to do but feed their fear into something edible. Word ran ahead of them—bench witnesses, militia escorts, the tram-clinic standing open like a promise. People gathered with the slow certainty of an audience that had learned to watch rituals instead of riots.They sat Lorren on the bench that had been carved out of a scaffold plank. Cira set her ledger between them and lit a lamp that tried to make ink honest in the night. Leah moved through the crowd with a med kit and a look that said

Last Updated : 2025-11-10

Chapter 92 The Ledger Opens

The tower’s lowest level was never meant for truth. It had been a bunker, then a storeroom, then a place to hide people who didn’t fit neatly into anyone’s plans. Now it was a chamber of paper. A thousand pages stacked like bricks, ink drying under lamps that flickered with exhaustion.Lorren Vale sat at the center of it all, hunched over a scarred table, wrists bound loosely but deliberately—enough to remind him that freedom had become a conditional thing. His hair was grayer now, or maybe the lamplight made it so. Before him lay the same tools that had built and ruined him: pen, ink, and memory.Mira stood across from him, silent but watchful, her ledger open, its pages neat where his were chaotic. She didn’t threaten, didn’t curse. Her questions came like chisels, small, precise, steady:“Who authorized this transfer?” “Where did this shipment end up?” “Which name reappears on the margin?”Each question left a mark deeper than any blade could.He answered at first with irritation

Last Updated : 2025-11-11

Chapter 93 The Network Beneath the Silence

The lamps in the lower tower burned low, throwing long shadows across maps pinned to the stone walls. The city above hummed with quiet energy — carts rattling home, children laughing near the mills, benches still open under soft lanterns. But beneath Garden City, truth had begun to move again — restless, electric, whispering through old wires that hadn’t carried power in years.Lorren Vale had been awake for thirty hours. His fingers shook as he traced circles on a crumbling blueprint spread across the table. It showed the tunnels — long-forgotten maintenance shafts running under the ridge, connecting the city’s old power grid to its river turbines. They’d been sealed after the siege, when the lower sectors collapsed and Kane’s men filled them with rubble and traps.Now, apparently, Dominion had brought them back to life.“You won’t find soldiers down there,” Lorren said, his voice hoarse. “You’ll find operators. The kind who fight with cables and frequency bands. They don’t shoot; th

Last Updated : 2025-11-12

Chapter 94 The Machine in the Dark

The hum grew louder. It wasn’t the clatter of human footsteps or the thrum of electricity — it was rhythm. A mechanical heartbeat, measured and patient, resonating through the old iron veins of the tunnel. The sound crawled along the walls, pulsing in time with the trembling lights of Alexander’s lamp.“Hold position,” Ethan whispered. His voice was steady, but everyone could feel the air tighten around the words.They crouched near the turbine pit, the smell of oil thick enough to taste. Somewhere beyond the water’s reflection, something moved — a shape half-metal, half-shadow, gliding without sound.Jun lifted his rifle, eyes tracking the dark. “Movement at ten o’clock. Slow. Low to the ground.”Mira adjusted her grip on the lamp and shifted her stance. “How many?”“Too quiet to tell,” Jun murmured. “One. Maybe two.”Then the hum fractured — a sharp electronic screech, followed by the unmistakable click of mechanical limbs against concrete.Three shapes stepped out of the dark.They

Last Updated : 2025-11-13

Chapter 95 The Silence Above and Below

When the blast rolled through the tunnels, it didn’t sound like thunder—it sounded like breath being stolen from the earth itself. The explosion didn’t echo; it rolled, rippling through the buried veins of Garden City, shaking dust from old steel and history alike.Ethan hit the floor hard, the force driving the air out of his lungs. Heat licked across his back, chased by the sting of metal shards. Somewhere behind him, Alexander was shouting something, voice warped by ringing ears and concussion shock.“Get up!” Mira’s voice cut through the haze, raw but alive. “Move! The ceiling’s unstable!”Chunks of concrete crashed into the flooded chamber, sending plumes of water into the air. Jun grabbed Lorren by the collar and dragged him upright as the man coughed and choked, blinking through soot.“The blast took out the supports,” Alexander yelled, clutching a half-fried data core. “We have about thirty seconds before this whole section collapses!”“Everyone out!” Ethan barked, forcing his