The countdown continued.
29:47
29:46
29:45
The numbers on the screen felt louder than any explosion.
The facility was dying.
And everyone inside knew it.
Dmitri moved quickly through the controls.
"I can slow it down."
Nikola looked at him.
"Can you stop it?"
A pause.
Dmitri's fingers froze.
"No."
Mikhail looked toward the exits.
"Then we leave."
But nobody moved.
Because they all saw the same problem.
The subjects.
The people who had spent their entire lives trapped inside.
Ω-1 stood silently.
Watching the others.
Watching the people who were fighting for them.
"We should go," they whispered.
Artyom looked at them.
"No."
Ω-1 shook their head.
"You don't understand."
A pause.
"If this place collapses…"
Their voice lowered.
"We collapse with it."
The words hit the room.
Because the facility wasn't just a building.
It was connected to them.
Dmitri looked back at the data.
"The core isn't powering the facility."
Everyone turned.
"It's connected to the subjects."
Valentin's expression changed.
"The original design…"
He stopped.
Roman looked at him.
"Say it."
Valentin's voice was quiet.
"The facility was never holding them."
A pause.
"It was keeping them alive."
Silence.
Artyom looked toward the chambers.
All those empty rooms.
All those numbers.
All those forgotten lives.
They weren't experiments.
They were survivors.
Viktor stepped beside him.
"What are you thinking?"
Artyom looked at the countdown.
Then at the subjects.
Then back at Viktor.
"We don't run."
Viktor didn't question it.
"Then we fix it."
A small smile almost appeared on Artyom's face.
Not because things were okay.
Because for once—
Someone chose the same thing he did.
The group split.
Dmitri and Nikola headed for the core system.
Mikhail took the main corridor.
Yelena monitored the incoming forces.
Roman and Valentin stayed with the subjects.
And Artyom?
He walked toward the center.
Ω-2 followed.
"Where are you going?"
Artyom answered:
"To the place this all started."
The central chamber.
Where the first decision was made.
They entered.
The room was empty.
Except for one thing.
A chair.
The original chair.
Artyom stopped.
Memories he never had flashed through his mind.
A child.
A voice.
A hand reaching out.
Then—
The room activated.
A recording appeared.
Elias Voss.
Younger.
Calm.
Confident.
"If you are seeing this, the final phase has begun."
Artyom stared.
Elias continued.
"The purpose of Origin was never dominance."
A pause.
"It was adaptation."
The recording changed.
Images appeared.
Wars.
Empires.
Families destroying themselves.
"Humans repeat the same mistakes."
"So we created something that could survive beyond them."
The recording paused.
Then:
"Artyom Sokolov."
His name.
Directly.
"You were not created to rule."
A pause.
"You were created to decide."
The recording ended.
The room went dark.
Ω-2 spoke softly.
"He believed in you."
Artyom looked at them.
"No."
A pause.
"He believed in his creation."
Suddenly—
The door opened.
Someone entered.
Slow footsteps.
Everyone turned.
Subject Prime.
But he wasn't angry.
He looked tired.
"Elias is wrong."
Artyom watched him carefully.
"About what?"
Prime looked at the chair.
Then at Artyom.
"About you."
A pause.
"He thinks you're the end of the project."
Prime's eyes darkened.
"But you're the reason it failed."
The countdown continued.
14:59