Semua Bab Blood Ties And Silk Chains: Bab 141 - Bab 150

The hill air at midnight tasted like metal and smoke.Bram crouched behind the rusted vineyard wall, goggles glowing faintly. “Movement at the south trail. Three guards. Maybe four.”Varian whispered back, “Take the ridge team around. No noise. No light.”Liora slid beside Varian, her breath steady, pulse sharpened. “This operation was supposed to be quiet.”Varian smirked. “I said entry would be quiet. I never promised what comes after.”Bram choked out a laugh. “He’s in a mood tonight.”“Focus,” Liora hissed. “We’re surrounded by old dynamite chambers. One wrong spark and this entire hill becomes a meteor.”“Romantic,” Varian murmured.Liora elbowed him. “Stay alive and maybe I’ll feel romantic later.”He stilled. “Promise?”“Don’t get shot and find out.”Before he could answer, a flare of motion cut through the vines—one guard breaking off, heading toward their position.Bram froze. “He’s coming right at us.”Varian lifted a hand. “I’ve got him.”He moved like a shadow being pulled

Varian and Liora stood side by side—two flames burning toward the same horizon.Ciro pulled up hospital schematics.Ines traced code patches across the central grid.Bram double-checked weapons with a grim set jaw.“This changes everything,” Ciro said. “Edda’s not just reborn. She’s omnipresent.”Ines added quietly, “She’s building something called Project Salvation. And if she’s already taking over hospitals… something catastrophic is coming.”Varian’s eyes glinted. “Then we hit her first.”Liora didn’t look away from the screens. “And we hit her hard.”Varian didn’t flinch. Didn’t blink.He stepped beside her, close enough that their shoulders brushed.Liora exhaled, slow and uneven. “Varian—”“No.” His hand found her wrist. “If you go into that place, you’re not going alone.”Bram cleared his throat. “Boss… Liora… you two understand what you’re talking about, right? This isn’t a bunker anymore. She’s in the damn grid.”Ines added, “Her code is metastasizing. She’s everywhere. Every

Ciro slammed the last printout onto the makeshift war-room table. The air crackled with tension.“There,” he said, breathless. “That’s the trace. The Root signal. It’s coming from beneath the Cathedral.”Bram gape-blinked. “Under the Cathedral? You mean the Cathedral Cathedral? Big spires, creepy gargoyles, the place we took shelter a few short months ago?”Ciro nodded. “Yes. The ancient network tunnels under it weren’t fully mapped. Edda found them. She’s nested in the subterranean archives.”Ines pinched the bridge of her nose. “Of course she’s in the giant gothic crypt wired with forgotten tech. Why don’t villains ever hide in normal places? Like laundromats?”Varian’s eyes were fixed on the glowing coordinates. “She chose the Cathedral on purpose.”Liora didn’t look away from the map. “Symbolism. Sanctuaries. Faith. Control.”“Exactly,” Varian murmured. “She’s rewriting the city’s belief system. One vein at a time.”Ciro swallowed hard. “And there’s more.”He tapped his tablet. T

The corridor funneled downward into a narrowing spine of glass and metal. Every step crackled with static—like they were walking through the inside of a storm.Ines checked her tablet again. “We’re close. The signal density is off the charts. She’s saturating the grid.”Ciro swung his rifle up. “Meaning?”“Meaning she’s here,” Varian said.But the moment he said it—Varian’s comm earpiece screeched in a burst of white noise.Liora flinched. “Varian?”He tapped it. “I’m here. Hold—”The static sharpened, slicing into a shriek.Then—Silence.Varian froze. “I lost you.”Liora answered, but he didn’t hear her.“Varian?” she repeated. “Varian—look at me.”He turned—only to see the corridor ripple like boiling air.Then the lights dimmed.And Edda’s voice whispered into his skull.“Finally. Alone.”Varian staggered backward, clutching his earpiece. “No—no, no—don’t do this—”But he wasn’t in the corridor anymore.The molten metal, the others, Liora’s desperate hand reaching for him— All b

The descent shaft spat them out like the Cathedral wanted them gone.Varian hit metal flooring first, rolled, came up in a crouch, gun raised. Liora landed a second later, breath sharp, knees bent, eyes already scanning. Bram, Ines, and Ciro hit behind them in varying degrees of pain and profanity.The chamber that stretched before them wasn’t a room.It was a womb.A vast sphere of pulsing cables, viscous biogel, and what looked sickeningly like cartilage wrapped around server towers. Screens hung suspended like floating organs, each flickering with half-rendered faces.And at the chamber’s center—A cocoon.Long. Humanoid. Breathing.Liora whispered, “Oh gods…”Ines’s voice cracked. “She’s trying to grow a body.”Ciro muttered, “Trying? Looks done to me.”Varian took a step forward, rifle tightening in his grip. “Everyone fall back. I’ll—”The cocoon twitched.Then split.Wet, pale light spilled out, illuminating a figure as it unfolded from its chrysalis—female in silhouette but sh