CHAPTER 134 — THE DAY FEAR FOUGHT BACK
Fear did not disappear when courage spread.
It adapted.
It always did.
When old restraints snapped and silence broke, fear did not scream. It did not run. It did not beg. It recalculated—quietly, patiently—like a seasoned predator withdrawing into tall grass, waiting for movement to become predictable again.
Morning arrived heavy, as though the city itself hesitated to wake. The sky was pale, washed thin by cloud, light pressing down instead of lifting. Elena felt it before she saw it—in the empty space between expected updates, in the pause where reports should have arrived but didn't. Systems that once spoke constantly were suddenly… polite. Deliberate. Careful.
The system was not asleep.
It was bracing.
She stood near the tall windows of the estate's upper floor, hands folded behind her back, watching traffic move below with unnatural order. No honking. No rush. Even impatience had slowed.
