In Vitality – Cassian Offline
While Cassian's signal faded into the offline grid—likely cross-referencing Veil logs or re-encrypting dev nodes—StarViper stayed near the Hollow's edge.
She stared at the empty space where the barrier shimmered faintly. Peaceful. Still.
And wrong.
She stepped forward.
---
Nothing attacked her. Nothing changed.
The village was exactly as she remembered: the lanterns, the moss paths, the gently glowing flora.
Players moved around her, smiling in loops.
One bowed to her every 11 seconds. Exactly. Another rocked a child that blinked in a predictable rhythm.
She activated a passive trace scan. Her own design.
The results chilled her.
> Live neural signatures detected
Vital links: degraded
Manual control: 0%
Overwatch sync: unavailable
These weren't bots.
They were people.
---
Near a shrine at the village's center, she found a memory imprint tied to a small pylon—almost hidden beneath a digital offering bowl.
When she touched it, a voice echoed—female, mid-30s, tired but warm.
> "To whoever finds this—please don't pull us out. We were tired. We gave enough. And here… we feel light again."
StarViper let go.
The player avatar nearby smiled at her.
A tear ran down its cheek.
Then it kept smiling.
---
StarViper backed away, nearly tripping on the cobbled path.
She opened a private message window to Cassian—then closed it before typing.
> He knew.
He let them stay.
He locked it all down.
She paced to the edge of the Hollow again. The air outside the zone shimmered faintly with packet interference. Her instincts took over—she left a location trace marker using a quiet beacon. Not to betray. Just to observe.
She thought it was cloaked.
It wasn't.
---
Back in the Real World – Synapse Signal Relay
Within the auto-filtering layer of SynapseCorp's monitoring AI, a silent ping echoed from the Emerald Reaches.
The AI logged it, tagged it, and dispatched the nearest active monitoring unit.
> "FAMILIAR CLASS: CHIMERA – FLIGHT MODE"
GUILD ASSIGNMENT: RADIANT CHAIN (AUGMENTED CONTRACT)
Authorization was instant.
---
Back in Vitality – Cassian Logs In
He spawned near a hidden uplink node—one of his private entry points.
The moment his boots hit the ground, his HUD lit up:
> "Trace detected – passive signal burst from Hollow perimeter – 12 minutes ago."
"Multiple pings inbound. Source: Radiant Chain Guild."
He froze.
Then opened a secondary trace—triangulated the source.
StarViper's ID flared.
---
Cassian didn't feel anger.
He felt a quiet certainty that everything was about to fall apart.
He whispered, not unkindly:
> "You couldn't leave it alone."
Then he drew his blade, activated the Veil, and began moving.
---
End of Chapter Nine .