All Chapters of System Of Blood: To Crave Survival: Chapter 131 - Chapter 137

CHAPTER 131Camryn's POVTwenty-eight seconds.Julian's hand moved toward the activation panel, and I made a decision that would haunt me for the rest of my life.I fired the absorption device at the Intent generator itself.The violet light struck the massive machine, and I felt something impossible flood into my consciousness, not an anomaly's power, but a device's function. The Intent generator's design, its purpose, its mechanism for pulling emotional energy from every living person in Lenore and concentrating it into anomaly-spawning potential.And with that understanding came the ability to reverse it.I adjusted the absorption device's parameters mid-discharge, inverting the generator's function the same way I'd inverted Julian's integration protocol. Instead of pulling Intent in, it would push it out. Disperse it. Scatter the concentration.Julian stared at the dead machine, then at me, with genuine shock. "That's not possible. You can't just, the absorption device doesn't wor

CHAPTER 133Camryn's POV"It means I'm tied to the system. Every anomaly that manifests, I feel it. Every person who gets infected, I'm responsible. Every death, every transformation, every moment of terror, it all flows through me." He opened his eyes, and they were hollow. "I've been drowning in Intent for eight years. Feeling everyone's fear and grief and rage simultaneously. The only way to survive it was to stop seeing people as people. To treat them as variables in equations. To become what you accused me of being,a monster who calculates suffering in acceptable percentages.""You could have told someone. Found help.""Who would help the person generating the crisis? Who would save the monster?" He laughed bitterly. "No. The game is designed so the Marionettist suffers alone. Isolated by their role. Destroyed by their responsibility. Until a player defeats them and the cycle continues."I wanted to call him a liar. Wanted to dismiss everything as manipulation. But the despair in

CHAPTER 135Camryn's POVWhitney wiped her eyes, forcing herself back into analytical mode. "I'll need time. Access to more examples. But yes, I can test it.""Olyrienne," Miranda continued, "your Hemlock ability swaps realities. Can you use it to look for inconsistencies? Places where the game's programming shows through?""I can try. But if the game is sophisticated enough to fool us this completely, I'm not sure what inconsistencies I'd find.""Try anyway. Fabian, Reginald, I need you to interview the survivors from the integration program. See if any of them have memories of transmigrating. If players retain some awareness of their original lives, we might find patterns.""And me?" Amon asked."Stay with Julian. Make sure he doesn't escape or kill himself or do anything that would end the game prematurely. We need him alive until we understand what we're dealing with.""What about you?" I asked Miranda."I'm going to search House Castellan's archives. If this game has been running

CHAPTER 137Camryn's POV I thought about everyone in Lenore. About the survivors of Julian's integration program. About the civilians dying in riots. About my team and their determination to find a third option even when the system said only two existed."Yes," I said. "If the alternative is choosing between genocide and surrender, then yes. I'll take the gamble.""Then you're braver than I am. Or more foolish." Julian settled back in his restraints. "The device you're holding is the most dangerous object in Lenore. More dangerous than Intent generators or integration chambers or anything I've built. Because it's the key to rewriting reality itself. Use it carefully.""Any other advice?" Miranda asked."Yes. When the emergency response spawns, it'll target the greatest threat first. Which means it'll come for me." He smiled grimly. "I'm the Marionettist. The final boss. The system will try to protect me while simultaneously trying to kill everyone who's captured me. It creates intere