The Carter mansion was quiet.
Midnight had already passed, and most of the estate had fallen asleep. The long corridors were dimly lit by soft golden lights, and outside the tall windows, the wind rustled gently through the trees.
Inside the library, Bruce Carter still sat alone.
The room smelt faintly of old books and polished wood. On the desk in front of him rested a closed notebook and a pen that he hadn't used.
Bruce's eyes were calm, but his mind was active.
Victor Hale had shut down his surveillance network.
That meant the information battlefield had temporarily gone silent.
Bruce leaned back in the chair.
"You're cautious."
Victor's decision confirmed something important.
He wasn't impulsive.
He preferred forcing his opponent to reveal new strategies.
Bruce looked toward the window.
The distant city lights flickered quietly in the darkness.
"Fine."
"If you want the next move…"
Bruce whispered.
"…I'll give you one."
He closed his eyes again.
Inside the space world, the familiar landscape appeared beneath a bright sky.
Golden farmland stretched endlessly around the castle, and the glowing river shimmered under the sunlight.
Bruce walked straight toward the castle's central control room.
The system interface activated as soon as he entered.
Several panels floated in the air.
Drone control.
Manufacturing.
Defence systems.
Archive intelligence.
Bruce opened the manufacturing panel again.
Hundreds of blueprints appeared.
Small devices.
Surveillance tools.
Encryption systems.
Bruce studied the options carefully before selecting a new one.
Quantum relay beacon.
A device capable of transmitting signals across multiple channels while masking its origin.
The system began assembling the device instantly.
Within seconds, the small object appeared in Bruce's hand.
Bruce examined it briefly.
"This should work."
Back in the real world, Bruce opened his eyes.
The beacon appeared quietly on the desk beside him.
It was small.
No larger than a coin.
Bruce picked it up and walked toward the library window.
The night air was cool.
Bruce placed the device outside on the window ledge.
Then he activated it.
A faint pulse spread across the city.
Invisible.
Undetectable by normal equipment.
But powerful enough to trigger certain encrypted networks.
Bruce returned to his chair calmly.
"Now let's see how you respond."
Across the city in Manhattan.
Inside the penthouse suite, Victor Hale sat quietly beside the darkened monitoring screen.
His surveillance systems were still offline.
But Victor didn't appear worried.
Instead, he was reading a thin file containing Bruce Carter's orphanage records.
The story described a quiet, weak child.
Bullied frequently.
Physically injured.
Transferred between orphanages.
Victor frowned slightly.
"It doesn't match."
Everything about Bruce Carter's past suggested a fragile boy.
Yet the child he had seen solving puzzles and manipulating surveillance networks was completely different.
Victor closed the file slowly.
"Something happened."
At that moment, a small alert appeared on his tablet.
Victor raised an eyebrow.
"What's this?"
His subordinate checked the signal.
"Sir… we're receiving an encrypted broadcast."
Victor leaned forward.
"Source?"
The man hesitated.
"We can't identify it."
Victor's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Open it."
The signal decoded slowly.
Then a simple message appeared on the screen.
"Observation works both ways."
Victor stared at the screen silently.
Then he began laughing.
Not loudly.
But genuinely.
Inside the Carter estate library, Bruce smiled faintly.
"Got your attention."
Victor leaned back in his chair.
His subordinate looked confused.
"Sir… was that the boy?"
Victor nodded slowly.
"Yes."
The man looked stunned.
"How is that possible?"
Victor stood up and walked toward the window again.
The city lights stretched endlessly below.
"That boy…"
Victor whispered.
"…just crossed a line."
The subordinate asked carefully,
"What line?"
Victor's eyes reflected the skyline.
"The line between prey and hunter."
Back inside the Carter mansion.
Bruce deactivated the beacon.
He leaned back in his chair again.
The room returned to silence.
Victor Hale now understood something important.
Bruce Carter wasn't just reacting.
He was actively participating in the game.
Bruce whispered.
"You wanted confirmation."
"Well…"
Bruce's eyes grew colder.
"…now you have it."
Outside the library.
Luna Carter stood quietly in the hallway.
She had returned.
Through the slightly open door, she had heard Bruce speaking softly.
Not clearly.
But enough to notice something strange.
Luna leaned against the wall.
Her silver eyes were thoughtful.
"You're definitely not talking to yourself."
She whispered.
"Who are you talking to, Bruce?"
For the first time since the night of the attack…
Luna began considering a new possibility.
What if Bruce wasn't hiding a weakness?
What if he was hiding power?
Far away in Manhattan.
Victor Hale stared out over the city skyline.
His voice was calm.
"Prepare a meeting."
The subordinate blinked.
"With who?"
Victor smiled slightly.
"With Bruce Carter."
The man looked shocked.
"Sir… he's only ten."
Victor's smile didn't change.
"Yes."
"That's why this will be interesting."
Inside the Carter Mansion library.
Bruce suddenly felt a strange instinctive chill.
He looked toward the distant city.
Victor Hale had just decided something.
Bruce didn't know what it was yet.
But he knew one thing.
The game was about to escalate.
Bruce whispered.
"Good."
"I was getting bored."