Rudra did not sleep.
The city did.
The rain stopped.
The sky cleared.
But he remained awake, sitting in the dark, staring at the faint red interface hovering at the edge of his vision.
Wrong Choice Perception — Level 2.
He flexed his injured shoulder. The pain grounded him.
The truck had been real.
The system was real.
Mira was real.
And someone had tried to kill him.
He stood and walked toward the window.
Morning light revealed a normal street below. A milk vendor. A newspaper boy. An old man is sweeping the pavement.
Ordinary.
Too ordinary.
"Show me the wrong outcome if I step outside right now," he whispered.
The interface flickered softly.
Leave Immediately — Surveillance Established (Activation: 6 Minutes)
Remain Inside — Direct Confrontation (Activation: 2 Hours)
He watched the words carefully.
No death prediction.
Not yet.
They weren't trying to eliminate him immediately.
They were observing.
That was worse.
He left the apartment at 9:12 AM.
Calm steps. Relaxed posture.
He walked to the tea stall at the corner and ordered without looking around.
Six minutes passed.
The system pulsed faintly.
Surveillance Confirmed.
He didn't turn his head.
Instead, he used the reflection in the steel kettle beside the vendor.
A man across the road.
Neutral clothing. Still posture.
Eyes slightly too focused.
Rudra sipped his tea slowly.
"Wrong outcome if I confront him."
Confront Directly — Capture (Activation: Immediate)
"Wrong outcome if I run."
Run — Pursuit Initiated (Activation: 10 Seconds)
He finished the tea.
Placed the cup down.
Walked toward the market.
Crowded streets swallowed him.
Noise. Movement. Distraction.
The system remained quiet.
Not because the danger was gone.
But because it had shifted.
He entered a small electronics store and stood near a dusty mirror mounted on the wall.
The man passed by the entrance.
Paused.
Then continued walking.
The interface updated quietly.
Surveillance Reduced to Passive Tracking.
Passive.
So they wanted him alive.
That meant something.
The truck had not been an execution.
It had been a measurement.
Eligible.
Mira's voice echoed in his memory.
"You were tested."
For what?
By afternoon, Rudra stood outside the police station.
The building looked smaller than he remembered.
He stepped inside.
The officer at the desk barely looked up.
"I need to review an old case," Rudra said.
"Which case?"
"Arvind Malhotra. Three years ago."
The officer's typing slowed.
Just slightly.
The system flashed red.
Press Further — Internal Alert (Activation: Immediate)
Demand Access — Monitoring Flag (Activation: 24 Hours)
Leave Calmly — Delayed Suspicion (Activation: 48 Hours)
Rudra forced a neutral expression.
"I just wanted closure."
The officer's eyes hardened.
"Suicide. Case closed."
The word hit harder than it should have.
Suicide.
Again.
Again and again.
As if repeating it would make it true.
Rudra nodded once and turned to leave.
But near the exit, he noticed something.
The same man from the tea stall.
Speaking quietly with another officer.
Watching him.
The system pulsed.
Observer Linked to External Surveillance.
His father's case was not forgotten.
It was guarded.
Night returned slowly.
Rudra walked home through different streets, switching directions without rhythm.
The system warned him twice about proximity risks, but no one approached.
They were patient.
Structured.
Watching.
Inside his apartment, he locked the door and sat in the dark.
"Worst outcome if I ignore all of this," he said.
Fatal Event Probability Within 30 Days.
The answer came instantly.
No hesitation.
This was not something he could walk away from.
He closed his eyes.
His father's face surfaced in memory.
The fear.
The silence before the end.
"If anything happens to me," his father had once said quietly, "never trust the obvious answer."
Rudra opened his eyes.
"There was something you left behind," he murmured.
The old office.
Shut down after the death.
Untouched since.
The system reacted.
Visit Immediately — Surveillance Reactivated (Activation: 8 Minutes)
Visit at 3:40 AM — Reduced Monitoring
Never Visit — Critical Data Loss (Activation: 30 Days)
3:40 AM.
Precise.
Calculated.
He waited.
At exactly 3:40 AM, Rudra stood outside the abandoned office building.
The street was silent.
No movement.
The system remained still.
He stepped inside.
Dust coated the floor.
Furniture lay covered in white sheets like forgotten ghosts.
He walked slowly down the hallway toward his father's old desk.
"Wrong outcome if I open the main cabinet."
Alarm Trigger (Activation: 10 Seconds)
He moved to the desk instead.
Opened the drawer.
Ran his fingers along the inner edges.
A soft click.
A hidden compartment slid open.
Inside was a thin black notebook.
His father's handwriting filled the first page.
If you are reading this, it was not suicide.
Rudra's breathing stopped for a moment.
He flipped to the next page.
Names.
Dates.
Amounts.
And one word circled repeatedly.
Janus.
The system flared violently.
Keyword Detected: Janus
Threat Level Increased
Immediate Extraction Recommended
Footsteps echoed faintly from outside the building.
Measured.
Controlled.
Not random.
The system pulsed red.
Stay and Continue Reading — Containment (Activation: 4 Minutes)
Take Notebook and Leave — Active Pursuit (Activation: Immediate)
Rudra closed the notebook.
Tucked it inside his jacket.
And ran.
Behind him, a calm voice echoed down the hallway.
"Target confirmed."
So they had expected this.
The truck.
The surveillance.
The police.
It had all been containment.
He burst out into the night air.
Headlights turned onto the empty street.
The net was tightening.
But now—
He had something they feared.
The system displayed one final message as engines approached.
Primary Conflict Identified.
Organization: Janus.
Rudra did not slow down.
For the first time since that night on the overpass—
The fear inside him began transforming into something else.
Resolve.
If Janus had erased his father—
Then this was no longer survival.
This was war.