Luther’s POV
I stared at the notification.
Then at the girl.
Then back at the notification.
[NEXUS CONNECTION ESTABLISHED]
“…What?”
James was the first to speak.
“That’s impossible.”
He rushed toward her.
“Let me see your system.”
The girl looked confused.
“My what?”
“The screen!”
James pointed toward the floating notification.
“You can see it, right?”
She nodded slowly.
“I can.”
Ariel stepped closer.
“But…”
“Why would NEXUS connect to her?”
Nobody answered.
I couldn’t.
Because there was one possibility I didn’t want to consider.
She wasn’t just a survivor.
She was connected to the game.
Maybe even more than we were.
James started typing furiously into his system.
“Come on…”
“Give me something.”
His screen filled with data.
Then suddenly
ERROR
ERROR
ACCESS DENIED
James froze.
“…It won’t let me.”
“What won’t it let you access?” I asked.
“The NEXUS signal.”
He looked at me.
“My system was tracking it perfectly a minute ago.”
“Now?”
He turned the screen toward us.
The signal had disappeared.
“What?”
Ariel looked around.
“So NEXUS isn’t here?”
James shook his head.
“Or…”
He swallowed.
“…It knows we’re here.”
The thought sent a chill through me.
The game was learning.
It had already created monsters specifically to slow us down.
What if it had now realized that we were tracking it?
Then the girl suddenly grabbed her head.
“Ah…”
She stumbled.
Ariel caught her.
“Are you okay?”
“I…”
The girl squeezed her eyes shut.
“I remember something.”
Everyone went silent.
“What?” I asked.
She looked at me.
“Your game.”
My heart stopped.
“What did you say?”
“Your game.”
She looked confused.
“I’ve seen it before.”
James stepped forward.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
She held her head.
“But I remember…”
“…a room.”
“What kind of room?”
“A huge one.”
“Machines everywhere.”
“Monitors.”
“People…”
Her voice became quieter.
“And someone was talking.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“Who?”
She looked at me.
“I don’t know.”
“Was it a man?”
“A woman?”
She shook her head.
Silence.
Then
Ding.
Another notification appeared.
This time, it appeared before all four of us.
NEW OBJECTIVE.
Locate the Origin
NEXUS has detected your presence.
Escape before the next update.
Time Remaining: 23:59:59
The timer began counting down.
23:59:58.
23:59:57.
James stared at it.
“…What the hell?”
Ariel looked at me.
“Luther…”
I already knew what she was asking.
“Yeah.”
I stared at the countdown.
“We’re out of time.”
Then the ground beneath us began to vibrate.
Not violently.
Almost…
Deliberately.
The trees around us flickered.
For a brief moment, I saw something that shouldn’t have been there.
A massive building.
Black walls.
Hundreds of glowing screens.
A symbol I’d designed myself years ago.
NEXUS.
Then it disappeared.
I stared at the empty space.
“It isn’t hiding from us…”
James slowly realized it too.
“It’s hiding itself.”
I nodded.
“And somehow…”
I looked at the girl.
“…she’s the key to finding it.”
The girl looked frightened.
“Why me?”
I didn’t have an answer.
But somewhere deep inside…
I already knew.
Whatever she was…
NEXUS had been waiting for her.