Kai gripped his ice sword harder. The temperature in the carriage plummeted further as he prepared to slash the stranger sitting beside him.
"Breaking news," the man suddenly spoke. He didn't lower the newspaper. His voice was smooth, carrying a sickening tone of amusement.
"The mother Kai wants to protect has been kidnapped."
Kai's eyes widened in absolute shock. The ice blade in his trembling hand lost its structural integrity.
It slipped from his grip and vaporized into cold mist before it even touched the floor.
What nonsense is he speaking? Kai thought, his heart hammering against his ribs. His gaze sharpened.
"Who are you?"
The man remained silent. He calmly turned the page of the newspaper. Schliff.
"Tomorrow's headline," the man continued, clearly enjoying himself.
"Nyra, recent winner of the Edgar Award, gets into a fatal truck accident on her way home."
Thump. Thump.
Kai's heart began to beat furiously.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Kai yelled.
He lunged forward and furiously grabbed the top of the newspaper, ripping it down to expose the stranger's face.
SHUSH.
Kai stood there, clutching the crumpled newspaper. Cold sweat began to drown his features. His eyes trembled as he stared at the seat.
The seat was empty.
But the cushion was still slightly depressed… as if someone had just stood up. He had vanished into thin air.
The rest of the people in the metro remained completely frozen, staring blankly at their phones.
Kai slowly looked down at the newspaper he had just ripped from the ghost's hands. The paper slipped from his trembling fingers, drifting to the floor.
He was consumed by horror.
The front-page headline didn't say anything about kidnappings or truck accidents.
Printed in bold, massive black ink were just a few words:
From your Number 1 Fan.
The metro screeched, finally reaching the next stop. The frozen passengers didn't move.
The doors hissed open slowly.
Kai couldn't handle the psychological pressure anymore. He needed to escape the glitching reality of this train.
He rushed through the doors, stumbling onto the platform and taking massive, gasping breaths as if he had just survived a torture ritual.
Behind him, the metro prepared to leave. The doors started to close.
The instant Kai was off the train, the System's pause shattered. The frozen NPCs suddenly snapped back to life.
Chaos immediately erupted as the passengers lunged toward the single empty seat Kai had just vacated.
"This is my seat!" a businessman yelled, shoving a teenager.
"No, I kept my bag here!" a woman screamed back.
"Back off, I'm a Level 20 player!" a third person roared.
The people violently fought over the plastic chair like animals. Kai watched them, slowly regulating his breathing.
But as the train began to roll forward, Kai's gaze locked onto a figure standing completely still amidst the chaos of the fighting passengers.
It was the man. He was standing inside the moving train, looking out the window directly at Kai.
The stranger lowered the newspaper. His eyes were as sharp as a predator's, glowing with a vibrant, terrifying purple light.
For a split second, Kai felt a heavy pressure invade his mind. It wasn't a voice, but a projected thought, clear as day: Get ready for what is coming.
The metro accelerated into the dark tunnel, swallowing the man whole.
"What was that..." Kai whispered to himself, unable to shake the lingering dread. It felt like a nightmare he couldn't wake up from.
Hours later, completely exhausted, Kai finally reached his apartment. He unlocked the door and stepped inside.
"Welcome back to my sweet home," Kai muttered, throwing himself onto his bed. He closed his eyes, desperate for sleep.
But the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Something felt wrong.
Kai instantly sat up and scanned the room. "Is anyone here?!" he shouted.
Silence.
He crept out of the bedroom and moved cautiously toward the kitchen. Sitting perfectly centered on the kitchen island was a small, ornate box.
Kai's jaw tightened. Someone broke into my home, didn't rob a single thing, and left a package?
Thump. Thump.
He slowly approached the counter. He reached out and popped the latch on the box.
Kai looked inside. He carefully reached in and pulled the item out.
Instantly, water began to well up in his dry, exhausted eyes. "How..." Kai whispered, his voice breaking.
The moment Kai touched the vial, the mental fog shattered.
The System's override—the one that had sealed his memories in Chapter 42—finally collapsed.
A massive dam in his mind suddenly burst. The mental fog—the corrupted memory cache from his trauma in the Inverse Pyramid and the hospital—finally cleared.
Memories flooded his visual cortex.
Anna. Her mother. His desperate goal to save her.
How could I forget? Kai thought, guilt piercing his recovering heart.
He remembered exactly why he had entered the Inverse Pyramid in the first place. As the original developer of the Endless code, he knew the hidden mechanics.
He had personally designed the fifth floor of that dungeon to drop the Elixir of Life—an item capable of curing any damage or disease.
He stared at the vial in his hand.
But the boss was supposed to drop five vials, Kai realized. Where are the other four?
Another blocked memory surfaced.
Ah, now I remember. When I was dying in the dungeon, the Masked Man forced one down my throat so I could survive.
Kai wiped his eyes. He didn't care about the missing vials right now. He had one left in his hand. As long as he had this, he could save Anna's mother.
For the first time in what felt like years, a wave of genuine, unfiltered happiness washed over Kai.
The dread of the Number 1 Fan faded into the background. He carefully secured the vial, walked back to his bed, and closed his eyes, finally allowing the exhaustion to take