[Location: GDA Headquarters — Main Command Wing, New Chicago]
A low hum filled the control room, broken only by the quick rhythm of keyboards and the soft clicking of data screens.
A map of the continent was projected on the central wall — a red pulse flickered near the eastern sector.
"Is that confirmed?" Director Halden asked, stepping closer. His sharp eyes darted between the analysts.
"Yes, sir. Energy signature matches the Genesis incident parameters — eighty-three percent match."
The room fell quiet. Someone exhaled too loudly.
Halden rubbed his temple. "That shouldn't be possible. The Genesis facility was erased three years ago."
"Not entirely," another tech replied, hesitant. "The ruins are still there. And, sir… the signature originated from that area."
Halden's jaw tightened. "Wake Lorne. And send a team. I want visual confirmation."
The tech hesitated again. "Sir, the interference is… abnormal. Standard drones aren't locking onto the signal."
Halden turned. "Then send humans."
[Location: Subterranean Lab Complex — Sector Nine, East Continental Zone]
A faint alarm light pulsed through the dim hallways. Inside one of the secure labs, Dr. Lorne stood before a containment screen.
The monitors behind him showed incomplete readings — static mixed with bursts of energy waveforms.
"Is it him?" a voice asked from the comms.
Lorne smiled faintly. "It's the same pattern. Same frequency drift. He's back."
The voice on the other end grew tense. "The subject was presumed erased. If he's active again—"
"He's not active," Lorne interrupted. "He's leaking. Whatever world he was sent to, it's destabilized his core. That signature isn't a weapon — it's a wound."
He leaned closer to the monitor, his reflection ghosting over the faint readings.
"And that makes him vulnerable. Easier to recover this time."
[Location: GDA Field Operations — Northern Gridline, Near City Outskirts]
Mark hovered above the industrial ruins, visor active. The air shimmered faintly — the kind of distortion that only high-energy fields caused.
"Readings look bad," he muttered into his comm. "Is this another Genesis experiment fallout?"
"Negative," came the reply. "Central Command says it's localized. Not an explosion — an entry."
Mark frowned. "Entry from where?"
The channel went quiet for a beat too long.
"Unknown," the voice finally replied.
Mark sighed, landing near the cracked asphalt. The heat from the anomaly still radiated through the ground.
He glanced up at the faded Genesis logo on a collapsed building.
"Feels like déjà vu," he said quietly.
[Location: Unregistered Broadcast — Encrypted Network Feed]
The broadcast cut through the usual noise of underground networks.
"Unconfirmed reports suggest a resurgence of anomalous energy events across three sectors. Experts suspect remnants of Project Genesis."
Another voice followed, lower, more deliberate.
"If the Genesis subject survived, it changes everything. Governments, labs, corporations — they'll all move again. The race starts anew."
Static ended the transmission.
[Location: Ruined Industrial Outskirts — Eastern Sector, Nightfall]
A faint blue shimmer flickered above the cracked street. The air trembled, reality bending like heat over metal.
Then — silence.
The distortion collapsed in on itself, and a single figure fell from it — hitting the ground hard.
He stayed still for several seconds, breathing heavily, dust swirling around him. His right hand sparked faintly, uncontrolled.
Ren pushed himself upright, coughing. His vision blurred between colors. The night air was heavy — not just from smoke, but from familiarity.
He looked around. Rusted buildings. The faint glow of an abandoned lab complex in the distance.
"…No way."
He swallowed hard. His internal readings buzzed against his senses — faint electromagnetic ripples, same as the Genesis environment.
I'm back…?
He tried to steady his mana, but it pulsed irregularly — unstable, raw.
Not yet, he thought. Not in control.
In the distance, lights began to move — search drones scanning the horizon.
Ren clenched his jaw and forced his breathing to slow.
Same world. Same hunters. Different me.
He turned toward the shadowed alleys and disappeared into the dark.
[Author's Note]
Ren's return to the Invisible World begins here. This chapter shows how the world reacts before he takes any action — giving perspective from different organizations and setting the tension for the chase that follows. The next chapters will dive deeper into how each faction moves to capture or control him.
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