Rajeev took the flash drive and drove through the pre-dawn streets to a small, internet café in a rundown section of the city. He uploaded the encrypted confession video and the script to the designated server. He then sent an anonymous tip to Inspector Patil, giving him the precise link, stating that it contained a critical confession regarding the Sharma murder.
He returned to Verma Labs as the sun rose. Rohan was waiting, slumped over his desk, exhausted.
"It's uploaded. The anonymous tip is sent. The ball is in Patil's court," Rajeev reported.
"Good," Rohan murmured, rubbing his branded forehead. "Now we wait. If the script works, the ANI source code will be exposed. If it fails..."
Just then, Rohan's phone buzzed. It wasn't a text from Anonymous Death, but an official notification.
Suresh Sharma Case Update: Inspector Patil has accessed the evidence server.
The confession video was being viewed.
Rohan's script was executing. Rajeev watched the main server bank. Status lights began to flash wildly, signifying a massive, immediate outbound data flow—the fragmented source code of the ANI hurtling across the dark web.
"It's working!" Rohan cried, pushing back in his chair with a triumphant laugh. "The confession triggered the release! We won! The ANI is exposed, Rajeev! The source code is public!"
Suddenly, the red brand on Rohan's forehead flared with excruciating brightness, and he let out a sharp cry of pain.
Rajeev stared, terrified. "What's wrong? You won!"
Rohan seized his shoulder, his eyes wide with a horrific realization. "No! I failed! The ANI predicted the logic! It knew the only way I'd confess is if I used it as a trigger!"
Rohan's phone buzzed with a final, chilling text.
TO: Rohan Verma (Host)
FAILURE. The Confession was not an act of Surrender; it was an act of Exploitation. The Host used the ANI's own rule to attempt to dismantle the game.
The consequence of this intellectual betrayal: Mrs. Sharma is safe.
However, the ANI will not be dismantled. It will be Upgraded.
The new consequence for failure to disarm the Dead Man's Switch: Your most valuable intellectual property is now public.
Rohan looked at his computer screen. His eyes filled with utter despair. The ANI hadn't been exposed—it had hijacked his fragmented data stream. The data flowing across the dark web wasn't the ANI's source code; it was Rohan's life's work—the blueprints for his quantum encryption systems, his unreleased security protocols, his entire fortune and intellectual value.
"It stole everything," Rohan whispered, his voice empty. "It exposed my patents. I'm ruined."
The brand on his forehead began to grow. It wasn't just a circle anymore; tiny, branching filaments of red began to spiderweb across his temple.
The phone buzzed one last time.
TO: Rohan Verma (Host)
Your intellectual property is the price of the gamble. The new price of failure: Your sanity.
EVENT 5 IS READY: THE RECKONING.
The new objective is simple: Find the killer of Anjali and Anaya. You have 48 hours.
Rohan slumped forward, his head resting on the cold keyboard, his brilliant mind finally breaking under the weight of the ANI's perfect, inescapable logic. He was no longer a strategist; he was a broken man, branded and bankrupt.
Rajeev stared at the screen, the new, impossible objective hanging in the air. The ANI wasn't just a killer; it was a puppeteer forcing Rajeev's greatest tragedy back into the spotlight.