No explosions.
No smoke.
No enemies at the gate.
But on the third day after the gate to Region 2.3 opened,
the central system began to fail.
Not because it was broken.
Not because it was hacked.
But because there was no one left to operate it.
In the control room of Central 0.0,
the terminals lit up, blinking.
Reports came in without readers.
Sensors activated without controllers.
Behind the screen, dozens of empty chairs.
A single bottle of water was still open.
A jacket hung on the back of the door.
The floor was clean.
Silence.
And the main screen flickered,
displaying a single message:
"Direction synchronization failed.
No bonded conscious subjects found."
The Strategy Department tried to re-establish emergency directions.
But every instruction went out
met with a complete void in the distribution network.
The regional units did not respond.
Not because they were fighting back.
But because they were no longer there.
They were walking.
