The rain-slicked stone terrace of the ancestral estate felt like a sheet of pure ice.
Damien Vance lunged forward, his boots splashing violently through the deep puddles as he threw a heavy, left-hook punch.
Captain Leo Chang slipped the blow with practiced military precision, counter-striking instantly with the heavy butt of his tactical assault rifle.
The cold steel caught Damien hard across his cheekbone, opening a jagged gash that immediately began to bleed into the rainwater streaming down his face.
Damien Vance stumbled back, shaking his head to clear his blurry vision.
Before him stood the man who had been his shadow, his protector, and his trusted friend for two decades—now revealed as his grandfather’s ultimate sleeper agent.
Captain Leo Chang said to Damien Vance, “You were an excellent student, Damien.
I spent twenty years polishing your edges and watching you grow into the man you are today.
But never forget who designed your combat curriculum.”
Leo Chang swung the rifle again, aiming a brutal strike to shatter Damien’s ribs.
Damien dodged low, ignoring the burning pain in his raw wrists where the titanium handcuffs had ripped his skin.
He grabbed the rifle’s hot barrel, twisting his hips to yank the weapon out of Leo’s hands.
With a desperate heave, he tossed the firearm over the stone balustrade, watching it vanish into the abyss of the rain-drenched valley below.
Now disarmed, Leo fell into a low, crouched combat stance, his knuckles white in the flashing lightning.
Damien Vance said to Captain Leo Chang, “You taught me how to fight by the book, Leo.
But you never taught me how to survive when the book burns.”
Damien Vance rushed forward, tackling Leo into the stone railing.
The ancient balustrade cracked under their collective impact, sending chips of granite falling into the dark void.
Leo thrust two fingers toward Damien’s throat to crush his windpipe, but Damien parried the strike, grabbing Leo’s tactical vest.
With a guttural roar, Damien used Leo’s own momentum, pivoting his hips and hurling the traitor over the fractured stone barrier.
For a terrifying second, Leo’s fingers clawed at the wet stone.
Then, his grip slipped, and he fell silently into the pitch-black canopy of the forest far below.
Inside the ruined study, the air was hot and dry, smelling of melted circuit boards and burnt ozone.
The high-pitched shriek of the overloaded life-support machine vibrated through Evelyn Vance’s teeth, making her head spin.
The small shard of Verdant Jade-9 pulsed in a furious, blinding crimson rhythm, illuminating the entire room in blood-red light.
On the digital display of the main terminal, a countdown timer flashed in jagged red numerals: 00:15
Old Master Vance, lying on the glass-strewn floor, clutched his chest as his weak lungs fought for oxygen.
His eyes were wide with a desperate, primal fear of death.
The containment field is collapsing!
Put your hand on the panel, or the energy release will incinerate us all!”
Evelyn Vance looked down at her left palm.
The white handkerchief Damien had wrapped around her wound was completely soaked in fresh, warm blood.
The rhythmic throbbing in her chest had grown so intense it felt like a heavy hammer striking her ribs.
Her life was bound to this energy.
If the core exploded, she would die anyway.
She took a deep, steadying breath and stepped over the broken glass, approaching the pulsing crimson terminal.
Evelyn Vance said to Old Master Vance, “You wanted my blood?
You wanted my mother’s legacy?
Take it.
But you will never own my soul.”
With five seconds left on the timer, Evelyn Vance pressed her blood-soaked palm flat against the cold, metallic scanner of the bioscanner terminal.
The moment her skin made contact, a violent jolt of static electricity surged up her arm.
She let out a sharp, choked gasp as her knees buckled.
It felt as though a thousand invisible threads were pulling from her veins, extracting her unique genetic code and feeding it directly into the hungry machine.
The terminal flashed rapidly.
A mechanical voice, cold and synthesized, echoed through the shattered room: GENETIC FREQUENCY DETECTED.
BIOMETRIC RESIDENCE LOCKED.
DISCHARGE CODES SINKING.
The screaming hum of the life-support machine began to decrease, dropping octave by octave until it settled into a low, steady purr.
The terrifying crimson glow faded, returning to a rich, brilliant emerald green.
The countdown froze at **00:01**.
Evelyn Vance fell backward onto her hands, gasping for air, her vision swimming with dark spots.
Damien Vance climbed back through the shattered window, his clothes soaked, his face cut and bleeding.
He ran to Evelyn’s side, scooping her into his arms.
Damien Vance said to Evelyn Vance, “Evelyn!
Are you okay?
Evelyn Vance nodded weakly, leaning her forehead against his wet shoulder.
Evelyn Vance said to Damien Vance, “I stopped it, Damien…
I stopped the explosion.”
But their brief moment of relief was instantly shattered by a deep, rumbling laugh.
On the floor, Old Master Vance was no longer gasping.
The green light of the newly stabilized life-support machine was pulsing with an intense, revitalizing energy.
The clear tubes running into the old man’s chest began to pump a vibrant, glowing green fluid directly into his bloodstream.
Before their eyes, the deep, ancient wrinkles on the old man’s face began to smooth out.
His pale, papery skin flushed with warm, youthful color.
With a sudden, explosive motion, Old Master Vance reached up and ripped the medical tubes from his chest.
He stood up from his leather chair, entirely unassisted, his spine perfectly straight.
He looked thirty years younger, his physical frame suddenly radiating an imposing, terrifying strength.
Old Master Vance said to Evelyn Vance, “You foolish girl.
Did you really think my system was going to explode?
The critical countdown was a failsafe.
Your mother designed the system to require a living, blood-synchronized host to authorize remote global activation.
By pressing your palm to that scanner, you didn’t just save your husband—you bypassed my lock and turned the Genesis Core on globally.”
Damien Vance stood up, shielding Evelyn behind his back, his hand reaching for his discarded gun on the desk.
Damien Vance said to Old Master Vance, “This isn’t over.
I will destroy that machine myself.”
Old Master Vance laughed, his voice rich, deep, and echoing with absolute power.
Old Master Vance said to Damien Vance, “It is already over, Damien.
Look at the horizon.”
Through the shattered glass window, Evelyn Vance and Damien Vance looked out past the rainy terrace, toward the distant mountains where the Ross Estate stood.
A massive, brilliant pillar of blue quantum light erupted from the distant valley, tearing through the storm clouds and shooting directly into the midnight sky, turning the heavy rain into glowing, neon mist.
The global Genesis network was online.