The rain hadn't stopped for two days.
It wasn't the kind that cleansed the city — it was the kind that drowned it in silence.Each drop carried the echo of memory, striking the cracked windowpane of the safehouse where Adrian sat — awake, unblinking, and lost somewhere between thought and code.
Lydia watched from the kitchen doorway, arms folded. "You haven't slept since the subnet."
Adrian didn't answer. His gaze was fixed on the flickering hologram of his father's research journal — decrypted fragments that Ava had recovered.
Ava looked up from her terminal. "Most of the files are corrupted, but I found something under an old encryption tag. Your father's personal log… dated twelve years ago."
Adrian's jaw tightened. "Play it."
The hologram shimmered — then stabilized into a grainy recording. Raymond Vance appeared, older than Adrian remembered, eyes tired but burning with purpose.
"If you're seeing this… then Nadir failed. Or maybe it succeeded too well.I built this project to prove humanity could evolve beyond death. But somewhere along the way… they turned it into a weapon."
He paused, rubbing his temple.
"Charles warned me. Said the Board would take it from us. He was right. They want control — immortality, but for profit.I had no choice but to split the core."
Adrian leaned forward, heart pounding.
"Half went to them. Half… I hid. Where no one could find it. Not even you, Adrian.If you ever learn the truth, son — remember this: not every resurrection is a gift. Some are cages."
The video froze. Static bled across the projection.
Adrian whispered, "Where did you hide it, Dad?"
Ava frowned. "The data cuts off right after that. No coordinates. Just an encrypted signature — something like a biometric lock."
Lydia stepped closer. "Meaning only someone in the Vance bloodline can unlock it?"
Ava nodded. "Exactly. But we don't know what triggers it — a phrase, a location, maybe even emotional resonance."
Adrian's reflection glimmered in the hologram's light. "Then we start where it all began. The original Vance estate."
[Vance Estate – Outskirts of the Old District]
The place looked like a mausoleum of glass and ruin.The house had burned down during the incident twelve years ago — but the underground lab remained, sealed beneath layers of scorched metal and time.
Ava pried open the rusted panel, sparks flying. "Power grid's still responding. Someone's been here recently."
Adrian crouched beside her, tracing the faint symbol carved into the entrance console — Nadir's insignia.
"Open it," he said quietly.
The door hissed and slid open.
Inside, the air was thick with dust and faintly humming circuits. Rows of old data terminals lined the walls, each labeled with his father's initials.And in the center — a sealed glass pod. Inside, a flickering core of light pulsed like a living heart.
Lydia's breath caught. "That's it. The other half."
Adrian stepped forward.
But as his hand brushed the control pad, the room lit up — and a holographic recording materialized, life-sized, standing just in front of him.
Charles Ward.
"Adrian," the hologram said, voice calm but weary. "If you're seeing this, it means the first layer has been breached.Your father wanted you to have the truth. But truth comes with a cost."
Adrian's fists clenched. "You knew all along."
"I did," the recording continued. "Raymond's vision was never about power — it was about redemption. But Nadir wasn't ready.You weren't ready."
Adrian's pulse quickened. "Why hide it from me?"
"Because," the hologram said, looking directly at him, "you died in the first test."
The words struck like a blade.
The lights flickered, the hum of the machinery deepened — and suddenly, Adrian's head filled with noise. Fragments of memory — the lab, the fire, his father shouting, Elena crying — all flashing in a blur.
Ava's voice echoed faintly. "Adrian? Hey, stay with me!"
He staggered back, gripping his head. "I— I saw it… I was there. I died here."
The hologram flickered again — and for a split second, the image of Charles Ward changed.The same face, but different eyes — cold, metallic.
"You were always meant to return," it said."Project Nadir was never just an experiment. It was prophecy."
The pod in the center of the room suddenly pulsed violently — the core's light expanding, flickering, reacting to Adrian's presence.
Ava shouted, "It's responding to his neural field!"
Lydia grabbed Adrian's arm. "We need to get out—"
The core released a surge of energy — the entire lab shaking. Glass shattered, alarms screamed, and a beam of white light shot upward through the ceiling.
As the light engulfed him, Adrian's mind filled with a single voice — distant, familiar, yet not his own.
"You were never brought back to live, Adrian. You were brought back to finish what your father couldn't."
[Ward Mansion – Charles's Study]
Charles Ward watched the live feed on his monitor.The light from the estate's explosion painted his face in cold blue.
He set his glass down slowly. "So it begins again."
Behind him, a woman stepped from the shadows — tall, poised, her eyes hidden behind tinted lenses.
"Shall I intervene?" she asked.
Charles shook his head. "Not yet. He has to see the truth himself."
The woman tilted her head. "And if he doesn't survive it?"
Charles looked back at the screen, his expression unreadable.
"Then my daughter died for nothing."