Chapter 27: Echoes in the Static
The emergency lights buzzed low overhead, bathing the storage room in a dull red hue. Dust drifted lazily through the air like falling ash, and somewhere beyond the steel doors, the Devourers still lingered. Waiting.
No one spoke.
Zayn sat against the wall, breathing slow, eyes fixed on the Core Server orb. Its glow had dimmed, not from damage, but from exhaustion. It pulsed with a sluggish rhythm, as though the memory fragment it held weighed it down.
\[Fragment Integrity: Stable – 78%]
\[Cooldown Remaining: 1h 2m]
\[Threat Radius: Moderate – Devourers Present]
"Can they smell it?" Max asked softly, voice muffled by pain.
"Not smell. Sense," Iris replied, scrolling through lines of static on her screen. "Like scent trails made of memory. They're drawn to trauma and code anomalies."
Reina stood by the door, rifle in hand, motionless. Her team was quiet—wary. Zayn noticed how they kept a subtle distance from his squad now. Ever since the archive playback showed his face in the simulation chamber.
Reina finally turned to him.
"You want to explain why you're in the Project N logs?"
The words were sharp. Not accusatory—just cold.
Zayn didn't answer right away. Not because he was hiding something. But because he wasn't sure himself.
"I don't remember," he said. "But I saw it. Me. In that pod."
Kira looked up from cleaning her blade. "You're saying you were tested on? Like… before the game started?"
Zayn nodded. "I think so. Maybe I volunteered. Maybe I didn't. But someone in this world—someone real—put me in here."
Reina's eyes narrowed. "If you're part of Project N, then what else are you hiding?"
"Nothing," Zayn said quietly. "And if I was, I wouldn't still be fighting to survive like the rest of you."
Silence settled again. But it wasn't the comfortable kind.
Then—
A sudden whine came from the Core Server.
The orb flickered once, then projected a short wave of static onto the wall. Not a memory. A message.
\[System Priority: Override Beacon Detected]
\[Frequency Origin: Western Dead Zone – Signal Source: Unregistered User]
\[Location Estimated: 2.3 km | Transmission Content: Obfuscated]
"Someone's broadcasting," Iris said. "Not part of the system. This is manual."
Reina crossed her arms. "Survivors?"
Zayn stood, frowning. "Or bait."
The orb flared again.
\[Override Transmission – 7% Decoded]
\[Message Fragment: "—alive. If you hear this—stay away from—"]
Then static consumed the rest.
Kira stepped forward. "It's a trap. Has to be."
"Maybe," Zayn said. "But what if it's not?"
Max groaned. "We can barely handle Devourers. You want to chase a ghost?"
"I want to find answers," Zayn replied.
\[New Side Objective Available: Investigate Override Signal]
\[Reward: Unknown | Risk Level: High]
The door suddenly clicked—just once.
Everyone froze.
Outside, the fog pressed against the narrow reinforced window. A single figure stood just beyond it. A Devourer. It didn't attack. It didn't move. It just… stared.
Its head tilted unnaturally.
Reina exhaled slowly. "It knows."
Then the lights went out.
For a split second, everything was darkness—thick, suffocating.
When the lights flickered back, the window was empty.
"They're testing us," Iris whispered. "Like animals in a maze."
Zayn stared at the window, fists clenched.
"No. They're warning us."
\[Cooldown Complete – Next Archive Signal Available]
\[Fragment 2/4 Detected – Location: Override Beacon Zone]
"Well," Max muttered. "That settles it."
Zayn looked at the group. "We go west. To the signal. Whatever waits for us out there—answers, traps, survivors—we won't know until we face it."
Reina hesitated, then gave a stiff nod. "We'll go together. But if it turns out to be bait…"
"Then we make sure we're the hunters," Zayn finished.
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Author's Note:
Thanks again for reading Chapter 27! The story edges closer to the truth behind Zayn's connection to Project N, and a mysterious signal might lead to more revelations—or deeper danger. Dead City won't let them go easily. Your support keeps this world alive—see you in Chapter 28.