The next morning, the building didn't sound like a team house.
It sounded like a crime scene.
Security badges revoked.
Servers sealed.
Officials from the league combed through our systems like surgeons searching for a tumor.
Ashen paced near the door, voice clipped. "They're saying our logs match the breach timestamp."
"They're wrong," I said.
"Then prove it."
I opened my tablet and scrolled through the encryption history.
No gaps. No anomalies.
But the timestamp — 03:12 a.m. — was familiar.
Because at 3 a.m., I was still online.
Not on team systems.
On a private call with him.
---
At 3:12 a.m., Lao K had messaged first.
> Lao K: Can't sleep either?
Me: Reviewing replays.
Lao K: You never stop.
Me: Neither do you.
It was harmless. It was human.
But in a league obsessed with perception, harmless was dangerous.
---
Now, the investigators wanted access to my entire communication record.
And if they saw that message… the narrative would write itself.
Luna looked at me, worry tightening her face. "Ruo, tell them the truth."
"I am."
"I mean all of it."
I hesitated. "Not everything helps."
---
Later — Parking garage
The air smelled of concrete and rain.
I leaned against my car, phone in hand, half-expecting a message.
Instead, I heard footsteps.
Lao K.
"Don't come here," I said softly. "If anyone sees you—"
"They already have," he interrupted. "Doesn't matter now."
He handed me a flash drive.
"I traced part of the breach," he said. "It came from a mirrored IP. Someone wanted it to look like you."
I frowned. "You got this through league channels?"
"No," he said. "Through my own."
"That's a risk."
He smiled faintly. "So is talking to you."
For a second, the world blurred — the hum of the city, the flicker of lights, the quiet pulse between us.
"You shouldn't be protecting me," I said. "This could backfire."
He stepped closer. "Maybe I'm just returning the favor."
---
That night — ECLIPSE HQ
I ran the data.
He was right.
The breach was internal — a ghost route piggybacking through our own system.
Someone inside had opened the gate.
Ashen? No. Too careless.
Luna? Too loyal.
That left only one other with root access.
I stared at the screen.
The last login ID was mine.
Or… someone using it.
A single line of code blinked at the bottom of the log:
> // the queen always moves first
My throat tightened. That wasn't random.
It was a message.
---
Outside, thunder rolled over the city — low and distant.
I looked at my reflection in the glass: steady, unshaken, but something had shifted.
For the first time since I woke in this world,
I wasn't sure who was playing the game anymore.
---
✨ End of Chapter Eleven — "System Breach."