Chapter 25: The Forgotten Signal
The morning never came in Dead City.
Even though time passed, the skies above remained the same—murky, colorless, and weighed down by an endless fog. After the battle with the Revenant Hunters, both squads found shelter in a half-collapsed police station not far from the intersection where they had fought.
Zayn leaned against a rusted locker, the Core Server orb floating quietly beside him. Its glow had dimmed, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat.
\[Signal Calibration: 87%]
\[Archive Fragment Detected – Coordinates: 103.77° W, 46.21° N]
\[Estimated Distance: 1.4 km | Location Type: High-Security Bunker]
"High-Security Bunker…" Zayn muttered. "Sounds welcoming."
Across the room, Reina unrolled a stained map on a metal desk, pointing to a zone labeled only as *Sector Black*. "That location matches the old military block. We scouted it on day three. Too many corrupted zones, motion-triggered spikes, and code anomalies. My squad lost one man trying to breach it."
Max clicked his tongue. "Sounds like fun."
"No one said Project N would hand us anything," Reina said.
Kira sat nearby, cleaning her blade in silence. The tension between the squads hadn't lessened since the battle. While they had fought together well, there was still an unspoken wall of distrust. Zayn understood it. Out here, trust could be a liability. But they needed to find that archive fragment.
He stepped closer to the map. "We'll go together. The way this place works, they'll throw something new at us the moment we split."
Reina gave him a long look, then nodded. "Fine. But don't expect backup if you trip another AI trap."
Iris looked up from her tablet. "I scanned the path ahead. We'll have to go through an old subway tunnel beneath Sector Black. Most of the upper streets are coded dead zones—gravity shifts, zero visibility, memory wipe glitches."
"Sounds like the tunnel's our best bet," Zayn said. "Let's move before the next wave hits."
\[Objective Updated: Retrieve Archive Fragment 1/4 – Bunker Access Required]
\[Environmental Alert: Code Corruption Zone 0.3 km Ahead – Caution Advised]
They set off again.
Two squads, moving like ghosts through a city of the dead.
The subway entrance was buried under debris, but Reina's squad had left markers—a trail of broken LED strips and crushed flare casings. They cleared rubble for nearly twenty minutes before finding the staircase.
As they descended into the underground, the fog gave way to pitch blackness.
Only the soft blue glow from the Core Server orb lit their way.
"Reminds me of Sector 9 back during the Iron Event," Reina muttered, flashlight sweeping over old graffiti.
Max chuckled. "Except Sector 9 didn't have flesh-eating zombie code crawling on the ceiling."
The air was thick here. Heavy with decay and something older—like forgotten data still clinging to the walls. As they walked along the rails, Iris's device began to beep.
\[Code Distortion Detected – Proximity 15 Meters]
\[Signature: Unstable Data Echo | Origin: Project N Internal Log]
"What is it?" Zayn asked, turning to her.
Iris squinted at the screen. "Some kind of memory. A data echo. It's… repeating something."
A nearby wall flickered, and then—without warning—it played a scene.
Not a cutscene. Not a video.
A memory.
Projected in translucent code, like a hologram stuck in glitch.
A scientist stood before a console in a white lab. Behind him, soldiers marched past glass chambers filled with unconscious test subjects.
"Project N requires more test cases," the scientist said, voice trembling. "The Grave Sector simulation has stabilized, but we still lack data on player cohesion. AI override is unstable. Recommend fragmenting the Core Server."
Then the memory faded.
\[Memory Echo Captured – Log Fragment 1/8 Acquired]
\[Progression Boost: System Awareness +2%]
The tunnel returned to darkness.
Zayn blinked. "This place… it's built on memories. Real ones."
"They weren't just testing combat," Reina murmured. "They were testing us."
Further ahead, the tunnel opened into a collapsed maintenance station. Pipes hung low from the ceiling. Dust floated like ash. The bunker entrance lay beyond—a rusted steel vault door half-open, its locking mechanism long since melted.
But guarding it were sentries.
Zayn froze.
Three towering figures stood in front of the bunker. Not zombies.
Something worse.
Humanoid, armored, glowing with internal energy. Their heads were enclosed in cracked visors, and code leaked from joints like smoke.
\[New Entity Detected: Guardian Sentinels – Phase 1]
\[Weakness: Pulse Charges | Behavior: Zone Defense Protocol]
Reina swore under her breath. "We've fought one before. Took two of us down."
Max grinned. "Let's make sure they don't walk away this time."
"Stick to cover," Zayn ordered. "Iris, use the Core Server's pulse. Let's see if it disrupts them."
\[Activating: Core Pulse – Synchronization Mode]
\[Success – Sentinel Response Lag: +3.1 sec]
They struck fast.
Iris launched a pulse bomb from the server orb, distorting the air and slowing the Guardians. Kira and one of Reina's teammates looped left, drawing fire while Max tossed an EMP charge that cracked the first sentinel's visor.
The machine staggered.
Zayn blinked forward, slamming a shock blade into its core.
Sparks flew.
The second sentinel roared, its voice glitched and animalistic. It charged Reina, its arms swinging with terrible force, knocking her back. She rolled, fired a shot straight through its chest, and leapt for cover.
Kira's blade pierced the last one from behind as Iris unleashed a second pulse.
In less than a minute, all three Guardians lay crumpled, their code dissolving into static.
\[Zone Cleared – Access to Archive Fragment Unlocked]
\[Warning: Memory Vault Unstable – 5-Minute Window Before Collapse]
They rushed inside the bunker.
The interior was lined with rows of ancient servers, blinking red.
A terminal in the center lit up.
Zayn approached and pressed a hand to the screen.
The Core Server orb responded instantly.
\[Downloading Archive Fragment 1/4…]
\[Fragment Acquired – Containment Level: Red]
\[Project N Archive: Subject Transfer Logs, Phase Zero Initiated]
A second memory echo played.
This time, Zayn stood silently as a younger version of himself was shown entering a pod in a hidden lab—eyes closed, face peaceful.
The log played a voice: "Subject ZN-02… full neural link achieved. Preparing simulation."
The light flickered.
Then the bunker began to tremble.
"Time's up!" Reina shouted. "Move!"
They fled the bunker seconds before it collapsed, dust blasting out into the tunnel behind them. No one spoke for a while. Not even Max.
Zayn finally broke the silence. "We're not just players in this world."
Reina looked over, her eyes serious. "We never were."
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Author's Note:
Thank you for reading Chapter 25! Zayn and the team have uncovered their first Project N fragment, but more questions now surround his true identity—and what this simulation really means. I appreciate you sticking with this arc! Stay tuned for Chapter 26, where tensions between the squads will rise and the next signal leads them deeper into Dead City.