The night over New York had grown quieter.
Most of the city had begun slowing down, but two minds remained fully awake.
One inside a luxury penthouse in Manhattan.
The other is inside the Carter estate library.
Both were studying each other.
Inside the Carter mansion, Bruce Carter stood by the window, looking at the city lights in the distance.
The small drone rested quietly on the desk behind him.
Victor Hale had sensed the observation.
That alone proved something important.
Victor's instincts were sharp.
Very sharp.
Bruce folded his arms slowly.
"So you prefer psychological warfare."
Aron Turner had played this kind of game many times in his previous life.
The rule was simple.
The first one to lose patience loses the war.
Bruce had no intention of being that person.
Instead, he decided to change the board entirely.
Bruce closed his eyes.
His consciousness entered the space world.
The familiar farmland stretched endlessly under the bright sky.
The glowing river flowed quietly through the fields.
Bruce walked toward the castle again.
Inside the archive room, the holographic world map activated immediately.
Victor Hale's location still blinked in Manhattan.
Bruce studied the surrounding network carefully.
Black Serpent assets.
Financial channels.
Communication routes.
Then Bruce opened another system interface.
Manufacturing system.
Several blueprints appeared.
Tools.
Devices.
Technology.
Bruce selected one.
A small device began assembling automatically.
Within seconds, it appeared in his hand.
A signal ghost transmitter.
Bruce smiled faintly.
"This should be interesting."
Inside Victor Hale's penthouse.
Victor sat calmly reviewing the drone footage from earlier.
Bruce Carter is standing beneath the oak tree.
Bruce is solving the puzzle.
Bruce is returning the package.
Every movement had been recorded.
Victor paused the video.
He zoomed in on Bruce's face again.
"You're too calm."
Victor leaned back in the chair.
"Which means you've already faced people like me before."
That was impossible.
Bruce Carter was only ten years old.
Yet everything about him suggested experience.
Victor whispered.
"Who trained you?"
At that moment, one of his surveillance monitors flickered.
Victor frowned slightly.
"What's that?"
The subordinate checked the screen.
"Sir… we're receiving a strange signal."
Victor walked closer.
The screen displayed a new location.
Another surveillance point.
Near the Carter estate.
The signal appeared identical to Bruce's drone signature.
Victor raised an eyebrow.
"He's deploying more drones."
The subordinate nodded.
"Should we intercept them?"
Victor shook his head.
"No."
Victor studied the signal carefully.
Then he noticed something unusual.
The signal split.
Then multiplied.
Three.
Five.
Seven.
Victor smiled slowly.
"Ah…"
"He's playing with us."
Inside the Carter estate library.
Bruce activated the signal ghost transmitter.
Immediately, multiple fake drone signals appeared across the city.
Each signal carried the same signature as Bruce's real drones.
Now Victor's system would detect multiple surveillance points.
Real ones.
Fake ones.
Impossible to separate instantly.
Bruce leaned back in the chair.
"Let's see how you handle misinformation."
This was a classic tactic from Aron Turner's previous life.
Overload the opponent's information channels.
Force them to question every signal.
Bruce whispered.
"You want to observe me?"
"Then observe everything."
Inside the penthouse.
Victor watched the signals multiplying across the city map.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Twenty.
The subordinate looked confused.
"Sir… we're detecting drone signatures all over Manhattan."
Victor chuckled softly.
"He's scrambling our sensors."
The subordinate frowned.
"Should we shut down the monitoring network?"
Victor shook his head.
"No."
He leaned forward slightly.
"This is his first real move."
Victor's eyes glowed with interest.
"Bruce Carter…"
"…you're attacking my information system."
Victor smiled.
"Good."
Victor picked up the tablet again.
"Let's respond."
Back at the Carter estate.
Bruce suddenly noticed something new in the drone network.
Victor Hale's penthouse signal had gone silent.
Bruce narrowed his eyes.
"You disabled your sensors."
Bruce leaned back slightly.
"Smart."
Victor Hale had chosen the safest option.
Instead of chasing fake signals, he simply shut down the network temporarily.
That meant Victor refused to waste time on uncertainty.
Bruce smiled.
"You're cautious."
Bruce stood up from the chair.
The city lights flickered in the distance.
Bruce whispered.
"Then let's increase the pressure."
Inside the penthouse.
Victor sat quietly, watching the dark screen.
The subordinate looked slightly nervous.
"Sir… we're blind now."
Victor shook his head.
"No."
He pointed at the screen.
"We removed his advantage."
Victor poured himself a small glass of whisky.
"Now he must make the next move."
Victor took a slow sip.
"If he wants to observe us again…"
"He'll have to reveal another method."
Victor leaned back calmly.
"And when he does…"
Victor's eyes grew slightly colder.
"…we'll learn something new about him."
Back inside the Carter mansion.
Bruce looked at the quiet drone interface.
Victor had removed the entire surveillance network.
Bruce chuckled softly.
"So you're forcing me to adapt."
Bruce turned toward the window again.
The night sky stretched endlessly above the city.
Bruce whispered.
"Good."
"That makes things more interesting."
Outside the library door.
Luna Carter stood silently again.
She had heard Bruce speaking to himself.
Again.
Her silver eyes narrowed slightly.
"You're definitely not talking to yourself."
She whispered.
"…are you?"