The final chime of success echoed not in celebration, but in the deepest, most isolated corner of Alex Stone's consciousness.
Four years, Four goddamn years of living as a phantom, a criminal mastermind existing solely within the confines of his own mind. For the hundred-thousandth time, he had executed the impossible, pulling off crimes that would make seasoned detectives weep in frustration.
The internal log flickered behind his closed eyelids, a cascade of encrypted data that only he could access. Each entry a testament to his dark education, each simulation a masterclass in the art of getting away with murder.
«CRIMESYNC™ Simulation Complete: Five-star difficulty case—locked-room serial murders in downtown Crescent City. Criminal skills granted: God-level scene manipulation and God-level disguise mastery. Warning: Psychological barriers at 12% integrity.»
Alex lay motionless on his narrow dorm bed, staring at the water-stained ceiling tiles that had become his unwilling confidants.
The CRIMESYNC™ system prowled through his neural pathways like a digital predator, a failed experimental government initiative that had transformed him into something that shouldn't exist. They'd marketed it as a revolutionary training tool to forge the perfect law enforcement agent, what they'd actually created was far more dangerous—and far more unstable.
The system had filled his mind with forbidden knowledge that made him question the very nature of good and evil. Psychological profiling that could break a person's will in minutes.
Forensic deception so sophisticated it could fool the most advanced crime labs. Lock-picking techniques that made master thieves look like fumbling children.
He could pilot everything from motorcycles to military aircraft, infiltrate government databases, and craft alibis that were works of malevolent art.
But the knowledge came with a terrible price that grew heavier each day. Every night for four years, his dreams had been a relentless carnival of simulated atrocities.
A mental bootcamp where failure meant capture and the only reward was another, increasingly twisted case. He hadn't just studied crime—he had lived it, breathed it, become it.
He had worn the skin of bank robbers who vanished like smoke, cyber-terrorists who could bring civilization to its knees, serial killers who turned murder into terrifying poetry, and master thieves who could steal a person's identity along with their valuables.
The weight of those hundred thousand crimes pressed down on him like the accumulated guilt of history's greatest monsters. He knew the exact pressure needed to snap a neck.
The precise angle to slide a blade between ribs without hitting bone. The chemical composition of seventeen different untraceable poisons that could mimic natural death, he could forge documents so perfectly that even their creators would be fooled.
Every dark corner of human depravity had been mapped and catalogued in his mind with clinical precision.
«CRIMESYNC™ Status: Final Cycle Complete. All specialized criminal skills mastered to perfection. Warning: Subject showing signs of moral degradation. Psychological profile suggests 73% probability of criminal conversion within six months.»
The system's voice carried an undertone of satisfaction that chilled Alex to his core. He had become its greatest success story—a walking arsenal of criminal knowledge wrapped in the deceptive package of a twenty-two-year-old college student.
But buried deep within the data streams was a darker truth: CRIMESYNC™ wasn't just training law enforcement officers. It was creating something else entirely.
«CRIMESYNC™ Directive: From this day forward, perfect crimes will manifest in the real world. The question remains: Will you be the architect... or the investigator?»
The directive hung in his mind like a loaded gun pressed against his temple. But Alex Stone harbored a secret that could either save countless lives or damn the world to chaos.
He hadn't volunteered for this program to become a criminal—he had endured the sleepless nights, the simulated terror, the gradual erosion of his moral compass for a single, burning purpose: to become the perfect detective.
He was a walking contradiction wrapped in layers of deception. A ghost trained to be the most effective predator imaginable, but one who had chosen to hunt other predators instead.
He understood the criminal mind not through textbooks or psychological profiles, but through intimate, terrifying experience. He had thought like them, planned like them, and succeeded like them in ways that defied human comprehension.
The dormitory door exploded inward with enough force to rattle the windows. Kevin Ross, his roommate and the closest thing he had to an anchor in the normal world, stood silhouetted in the doorway like an overeager messenger of fate.
Kevin's enthusiasm was both infectious and exhausting—a stark contrast to Alex's carefully controlled darkness.
"Alex, get your sorry ass out of bed!" Kevin's voice carried the manic energy of someone riding a caffeine high and pure adrenaline.
"Today's the day we report to the Crescent City Metro District Criminal Investigation Bureau for our internship. Chief Inspector Miller doesn't suffer fools, and showing up late would be the fastest way to end our careers before they start."
Alex swung his legs out of bed, his movements fluid and predatory—muscle memory from a thousand simulated escapes and pursuits.
His body had been conditioned by the program, every reflex honed to lethal perfection. He looked like any other college student, but beneath the surface lurked something that made hardened criminals wake up screaming.
"I'm ready," Alex said quietly, his voice carrying an undertone that made Kevin's smile falter for just a moment. There was something different about his roommate today, something that felt like standing too close to a caged predator.
As Alex stood and stretched, memories of his recent breakthrough flooded back with disturbing clarity. Three months ago, he had walked into the police recruitment exam with the casual confidence of someone who had already lived through every possible scenario.
The written portion had been child's play—questions about criminal psychology, forensic procedures, and investigative techniques that he could answer while planning his next simulation. The practical sections had been even easier.
While other candidates struggled with basic crime scene analysis, Alex had reconstructed entire criminal timelines with surgical precision, identifying motives and methodologies that the test designers hadn't even considered.
A perfect score. In the exam's fifty-year history, no one had ever achieved a perfect score. The proctors had initially suspected elaborate cheating, but after three separate investigations, polygraph tests, and a battery of psychological evaluations, they had been forced to accept the impossible: Alex Stone was simply that extraordinary.
What they didn't know—what they could never be allowed to discover—was that Alex had already solved every type of case they could imagine. He had committed these crimes, perfected them, and then dissected their weaknesses with the methodical precision of a surgeon.
He was living proof that to catch a monster, you had to become something even more monstrous.
«CRIMESYNC™ Psychological Analysis: Subject maintains facade of heroic motivation while exhibiting classic signs of criminal megalomania. Recommend immediate field deployment to accelerate moral breakdown.»
As they prepared to leave for their first day, Alex caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. The face staring back looked ordinary enough—unremarkable features that could disappear in any crowd.
But his eyes held depths that belonged in maximum security psychiatric facilities. They were the eyes of someone who had seen too much, done too much, even if it had all existed in the twisted reality of his simulations.
Kevin gathered his things with the enthusiasm of someone about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime, completely unaware that he was rooming with potentially the most dangerous person in the city.
«CRIMESYNC™ Final Log Entry: Subject demonstrates optimal integration of criminal methodology with law enforcement protocols. Psychological barriers at critical levels. Field deployment authorized. May God have mercy on whoever gets in his way.»
The system's parting message felt like both a benediction and a curse. Alex Stone was about to enter the real world, armed with the accumulated knowledge of history's most notorious criminals and the moral flexibility of someone who had crossed every line imaginable. He would either become the finest detective the world had ever seen, or its most perfect predator.
The game was about to begin, and Alex Stone was the only player who understood that the rules were written in blood—and that he might have already decided which side he was really on.
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CRIMESYNC™ REPORT // LOG 01.END
› Subject: ALEX STONE
› Status: UNSYNCED
› System Awakening: TRIGGERED
› Cognitive Interference: MINIMAL
Observation:
"Every hero has a starting point.
His started with a corpse."
⛔ External Awareness: NIL
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⟿ END OF CHAPTER 1
⟿ TO BE CONTINUED...
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