3:14 AM | +11 Minutes Since Reset
"YOU… ARE THE ERROR I CAME TO ERASE."
Its voice wasn't sound. It bypassed my ears.It crawled directly into my bones — like a parasite looking for a way in.
I couldn't move.Not out of fear — but because the air itself had become hostile.
The System interface jittered violently. Icons flickered.Then:
[SYSTEM NOTICE: Proximity Alert]
[ENTITY-CLASS BEING IS FOCUSING ALL AGGRO ON YOU]
[EVASION RECOMMENDED — 9 SECONDS UNTIL IMPACT]
"MOVE!" I shouted, shoving the girl to the side.
The suited man tripped as he tried to escape — but I didn't have time to help him.
The Devourer raised its right arm.It bent unnaturally backward, like a glitch in human form — and then launched a spear of blackened bone and electricity right at me.
SHRAAAK.
I rolled left, barely dodging. The spear impaled the pavement where I'd been, cracking it open like paper.
A second later, the impact radius collapsed into a swirling vortex — and everything within three meters vanished. Concrete, steel… even light.
[WARNING: Reality Tear Created]
It could erase space.
I scrambled to my feet, dragging the girl behind a flipped car.
"What's your name?" I asked between gasps.
"Rin!" she panted, eyes wide.
"Can you run?"
"No."
"Can you scream?"
She blinked. "What?"
"Do it."
She screamed — just as I lunged out with my cracked crowbar, flinging it at the Devourer's head. It didn't even flinch.
But it did track the movement.
That was all I needed.
Distraction successful.
Run now or die later.
3:18 AM | +15 Minutes Since ResetLocation: Utility Tunnels under Sector 3C
We ducked into a side alley and through a broken grate leading into what looked like a sewer, but the System tagged it differently:
[Zone Discovered: Sub-Environment 03X "Forgotten Artery"]
[Light Source: None | Hostility Rating: Medium]
We were safe.For now.
Rin was crying silently. Her knees were scraped. Her hands were shaking. But she was alive.
The suited man never made it. I didn't see how he died. Just heard the scream behind us — and then silence.
"We should have helped him," Rin whispered.
"If we had, we'd be dead too."
I didn't say it to be cruel. Just real.
But she turned away, jaw clenched, tears falling.
3:24 AM | +21 Minutes Since Reset
I opened my menu.
[Tactical Genius - Battle Map I Active][New Evolution Branch Unlocked: "Tactical Command Node"]
But before I could select it, another notification hijacked the screen:
[WARNING: SYSTEM AUTHORITY OVERRIDE INCOMING]
[Anomaly Detected: "Void-Linked Trait Resonating With Host"]
[Unique Mutation Activated]
[Ability Gained: SIGHT OF THE FRACTURED] You can now see fractures in the System. Truths never meant to be found. Use it wisely — or not at all.
"What the hell..."
Rin looked at me. "What did you say?"
But I didn't respond. I was staring at the tunnel wall.
It was covered in glowing fractures now. Lines of light — words written in a language that wasn't mine.Like code from a reality not made for me.
And in the middle of it all, a single phrase stood out, blinking in crimson:
"DO NOT TRUST THE SYSTEM."
Before I could process it, Rin's screen lit up.
[Side Quest Triggered: Lost Sister in Sector 7G]
[Objective: Find Kaede. Status: Potential Player]
[Reward: Evolution Token ×1 | Trait Upgrade Chance]
She gasped. "Kaede… she's alive?"
"We don't know that," I said.
"But I have to try."
I hesitated.Going to Sector 7G meant leaving the current zone and risking more Devourers, traps, maybe even PvP players.
But I nodded.
"We'll go. First light."
4:01 AM | +58 Minutes Since Reset
We finally found shelter: an old subway station, rusted but intact.
I set up barricades using broken benches.The System said nothing. No monsters nearby.
For now.
Rin was asleep, curled up near an emergency lamp I'd jury-rigged with my last battery. Her face looked peaceful.
She reminded me of someone.Someone I used to know.
My hand reached for my back pocket. I pulled out the photo.
It was bent, soaked in blood, but the smile in it never faded.My little brother.
Kaito.
The reason I'd lived for so long before the Reset.The reason I died.
But the world forgot that part.
The System erased it.
Or so I thought.
Then I noticed a new notification waiting in my log — something backdated. Something I never saw before.
[Hidden Memory Restored: "Death Event #4578-K"]
[You did not die of natural causes.]
[You were... disconnected.]
Disconnected?
Suddenly, a voice echoed in the tunnel.
"You should've stayed dead."
I froze.
The light flickered.
And then from the shadows — a figure stepped into view.
A boy.
Wearing my brother's face.
But his eyes?
They weren't human anymore.