Aiden stared at the chip in his hand under the glow of the flickering alley lights. The hourglass symbol pulsed once before going dim.
> SYSTEM STATUS: PASSIVE
TRACE ALERT: LEVEL 1 - LOW RISK
SURVEILLANCE MODE: ACTIVE
He slid the chip into his pocket and moved fast. He didn't know who that woman was or how she found him, but one thing was clear—the Ghost Network was real. And they knew more about the Reckoning than even the so-called "Control Division."
---
He made it back to his state-issued apartment: minimalist furniture, security cameras in every corner, and a mirror that was probably two-way glass.
He activated his console and placed the chip into the auxiliary port. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the screen glitched—lines of code replacing the system menu.
A voice crackled through.
> "You're not hallucinating, Aiden."
"We're inside the system. We left behind breadcrumbs in the Reckoning's source code, waiting for the right survivor to find us."
A ghostly avatar flickered onto the screen: a digital mask with a fractured face.
> "We are the Ghost Network. Survivors. Coders. Broken people. We're the ones who saw through the illusion before the world turned the other way."
Aiden leaned in. "Why now? Why reveal yourselves to me?"
The avatar paused. Then replied:
> "Because you've already been marked. The system thinks it can control you. But it doesn't know what you truly are."
> PLAYER STATUS: MODIFIED SURVIVOR
UNIQUE TAG: ECHO-VARIANT
The console screen briefly showed a file—classified, redacted heavily, but with one line left visible:
> SUBJECT AIDEN SIVAR: ESCAPED PHASE 1. COMPATIBLE WITH CORE LINK.
Before Aiden could ask more, the console shut down.
---
The door behind him clicked.
He turned sharply.
Agent Velra stepped in with two Control enforcers, their visors glowing red.
> "We warned you, Aiden. The game doesn't like players who don't follow orders."
They dragged him toward the wall, activating a glowing wrist restraint.
But Aiden wasn't the same scared boy from the last game.
He slammed his shoulder into the enforcer's gut and dove toward the desk. The chip was gone—vanished into the console.
Alarms screamed.
> SYSTEM ALERT: TRACE LEVEL 3
RESTRICTION ZONE BREACH IMMINENT
Velra pulled a stun rod and jabbed it into Aiden's chest.
Darkness swallowed him.
---
He awoke in a cold, white room—no windows, no clock, just one camera pointed directly at his face.
Then a speaker buzzed.
> "Aiden Sivar. You're about to be reassigned."
"We call it... Hunter Protocol."
---