The moment Elias Kane stepped out of the subway node, he knew the city had changed — or maybe, it was just him. The Blackridge night air felt heavier, sharper, as though it too had felt the ripple the system sent across the underworld.
The message still burned in his mind.
*You're not the only one.*
His breath steamed in the cold as he crossed the cracked pavement back to Vire Alley, boots splashing in yesterday's rain and blood. Dizzy trailed behind, muttering about ghosts, but Elias tuned him out. His mind was running simulation after simulation.
If there were others… they could claim, expand, and possibly kill with system reinforcement just like him.
He couldn't afford to be reactive.
He had to go on the offensive.
But first — build a foundation that wouldn't collapse the second another "Player" stepped into his radius.
**
[Territory Update: Subway Node Secured – Passive Surveillance Radius Expanded (North Blackridge District)]
[Unlocked: Ghost Line Pings (Node Detection Tool) – Active Cooldown: 24 Hours]
[Skill Gained: Signal Jammer Lv.1 – Temporarily scrambles enemy comms within 50m radius – Duration: 30 seconds – Cooldown: 10 minutes]
[Remaining CP: 10]
**
"You really just bought a whole damn underground," Dizzy said, shaking his head as they entered the safehouse. "Who are you, man? Batman?"
"No caped crusading," Elias muttered. "Just strategy."
He pulled up the overlay again. Vire Alley was now deep orange — semi-stable. The Subway Node blinked with a white core, marking its active surveillance radius. He zoomed out.
Other pulses. Barely-there tremors — as though the system was deliberately fuzzy.
Maybe it wanted competition.
Or maybe… someone else had just claimed a node too.
He toggled the Ghost Line Ping.
**
[Ghost Line Ping: ACTIVATED]
Scanning radius: 3.5km…
>> 2 Low-Signal Node Pulses Detected
>> 1 Unstable — Possible Contest Ongoing
>> 1 Active Signal Intercept: Origin – East Hills
[System Warning: DO NOT INTERFERE WITHOUT SUFFICIENT RANK]
[System Suggestion: Consolidate territory – prepare for escalation]
**
Elias frowned. "East Hills."
"That's Syndicate turf," Dizzy said, looking up from his burner. "And not the small-time ones either. They got guys in suits, judges in their pockets. Real organized crime."
"Then we avoid direct conflict."
"For now?"
Elias didn't answer.
**
By morning, they had reinforced their current nodes — Vire Alley, West Vire Storage, and the Subway Hub — with traps, visual surveillance, and hidden routes using the old underground tunnels Dizzy knew like the back of his hand. The stash house Elias took over had an empty crawlspace he converted into a panic bunker using looted Scavenger gear and lockpicks.
Elias crafted their next move like a chessboard.
He would claim **East Vire Clinic**, a minor but well-located defunct medical outpost, often ignored by gangs because it wasn't profitable.
But it had *data access points* — ports once used by emergency responders, now abandoned but still functional if rerouted. A network foothold.
And in this new game?
Intel was gold.
**
[System Alert: Territory Expansion Opportunity – East Vire Clinic is eligible for Claim]
Condition: Secure Interior – Defend for 15 Minutes – No Alert Trigger
Reward:
– +5 CP
– Unlock: Data Spider Protocol (System Tool)
**
"Ready?" Elias asked as he loaded a fresh mag into the Glock.
Dizzy sighed. "Man, can we at least get tacos after this one?"
*
The clinic was a two-story brick building with broken windows and graffiti scrawled across the sign. "GET OUT" was painted in red over a faded FirstAid cross. The place looked haunted.
But Elias had eyes on the power routing.
They entered through the side, sliding past shattered glass and navigating through moldy corridors. No gang posted here — but that didn't mean it was empty.
Halfway up the staircase, a loud thump echoed from the second floor.
"Not empty," Dizzy whispered.
"Hold position. I'll flush it."
Elias tapped his burner. It now had short-range signal jamming thanks to his new skill.
**
[Skill Activated: Signal Jammer Lv.1]
[Area Secured: 50m Radius – Enemy Comms Disabled – 00:29 Remaining]
**
He kicked open the stairwell door and moved fast. A man with a shotgun pivoted from a corner room, but the delay in his comms saved Elias — the ambush had no backup coordination.
Three bullets stitched the man across the chest.
A second figure ran, but Dizzy caught him from behind with a lead pipe. They secured the upper floor, barricaded the hallway, and started the system sequence.
**
[Claim in Progress – Defend Zone: 15 Minutes Remaining]
[Detected: 3 Hostile Signals Approaching]
**
Gunfire erupted outside five minutes later. Elias positioned himself by the broken reception window, tapping into the clinic's remaining power lines to charge his HUD overlay.
Shots peppered the front entrance, but the Syndicate grunts weren't prepared for a clinic reinforced with booby traps. Dizzy's pressure plates and old-school tripwires downed one before he even reached the door.
Elias gunned down the other two with practiced calm.
**
[Claim Successful – East Vire Clinic Secured]
+5 CP
[New Tool: Data Spider Protocol – Passive Scan for Digital Footprints, Active Trace Option on Known Devices]
[Remaining CP: 15]
**
"You see that?" Dizzy said, eyes wide. "We're becoming something."
"No," Elias said. "We already are something. Now we just have to outlive it."
He tapped into the newly acquired system tool and activated a digital sweep.
Ghost trails lit up — conversations from stolen phones, intercepted text logs from rival gangs, fragments of location pings. One log stood out.
A conversation.
Encrypted — but partially reconstructed:
> [Unknown]: "We got confirmation. He's got it."
> [Unknown]: "So Kane's the node-taker? That's what HQ thinks?"
> [Unknown]: "Either he dies this week, or he dies harder next."
**
[System Alert: Marked for Surveillance – "Black Flag Protocol" Initiated by Rival Faction]
Response Options:
– Go to Ground: Reduce presence, limit activity (−50% CP gain, -50% enemy aggression)
– Accelerate: Trigger Turf War Mini-Event (Risk: Extreme)
**
Elias exhaled slowly.
"Boss?"
"They know my name now."
"Like… your real name?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"Well… s—"
"Language."
"Sorry. Well… crap. Now what?"
Elias turned toward the north-facing window. The lights of Blackridge flickered, indifferent to who ruled its veins.
Now wasn't the time to retreat.
He opened the Crime Shop.
**
[Crime Shop – Tier I Access]
CP: 15
– [Bandit's Vest] – 10 CP
– [Random Skill Boost (Lv.1)] – 15 CP
– [Low-Grade Drone Kit] – 8 CP
– [Encrypted Comms Channel] – 5 CP
– [Blackridge Node Pulse Scanner] – 12 CP
**
He hesitated, then selected the *Random Skill Boost*.
**
[Skill Gained: Urban Predator Lv.1 – Passive: +15% Stealth, +10% Tracking Accuracy in City Environments]
[Remaining CP: 0]
**
The new edge surged through him like instinct sharpened by concrete and smoke.
"No more hiding," Elias said quietly.
He wasn't just fighting thugs anymore.
He was fighting the *system within the system* — a shadow empire with eyes, ears, and blood money.
And he was going to take it from the inside out.
One node at a time.
———————
The moment Elias Kane stepped out of the subway node, he knew the city had changed — or maybe, it was just him. The Blackridge night air felt heavier, sharper, as though it too had felt the ripple the system sent across the underworld.
The message still burned in his mind.
*You're not the only one.*
His breath steamed in the cold as he crossed the cracked pavement back to Vire Alley, boots splashing in yesterday's rain and blood. Dizzy trailed behind, muttering about ghosts, but Elias tuned him out. His mind was running simulation after simulation.
If there were others… they could claim, expand, and possibly kill with system reinforcement just like him.
He couldn't afford to be reactive.
He had to go on the offensive.
But first — build a foundation that wouldn't collapse the second another "Player" stepped into his radius.
**
[Territory Update: Subway Node Secured – Passive Surveillance Radius Expanded (North Blackridge District)]
[Unlocked: Ghost Line Pings (Node Detection Tool) – Active Cooldown: 24 Hours]
[Skill Gained: Signal Jammer Lv.1 – Temporarily scrambles enemy comms within 50m radius – Duration: 30 seconds – Cooldown: 10 minutes]
[Remaining CP: 10]
**
"You really just bought a whole damn underground," Dizzy said, shaking his head as they entered the safehouse. "Who are you, man? Batman?"
"No caped crusading," Elias muttered. "Just strategy."
He pulled up the overlay again. Vire Alley was now deep orange — semi-stable. The Subway Node blinked with a white core, marking its active surveillance radius. He zoomed out.
Other pulses. Barely-there tremors — as though the system was deliberately fuzzy.
Maybe it wanted competition.
Or maybe… someone else had just claimed a node too.
He toggled the Ghost Line Ping.
**
[Ghost Line Ping: ACTIVATED]
Scanning radius: 3.5km…
>> 2 Low-Signal Node Pulses Detected
>> 1 Unstable — Possible Contest Ongoing
>> 1 Active Signal Intercept: Origin – East Hills
[System Warning: DO NOT INTERFERE WITHOUT SUFFICIENT RANK]
[System Suggestion: Consolidate territory – prepare for escalation]
**
Elias frowned. "East Hills."
"That's Syndicate turf," Dizzy said, looking up from his burner. "And not the small-time ones either. They got guys in suits, judges in their pockets. Real organized crime."
"Then we avoid direct conflict."
"For now?"
Elias didn't answer.
**
By morning, they had reinforced their current nodes — Vire Alley, West Vire Storage, and the Subway Hub — with traps, visual surveillance, and hidden routes using the old underground tunnels Dizzy knew like the back of his hand. The stash house Elias took over had an empty crawlspace he converted into a panic bunker using looted Scavenger gear and lockpicks.
Elias crafted their next move like a chessboard.
He would claim **East Vire Clinic**, a minor but well-located defunct medical outpost, often ignored by gangs because it wasn't profitable.
But it had *data access points* — ports once used by emergency responders, now abandoned but still functional if rerouted. A network foothold.
And in this new game?
Intel was gold.
**
[System Alert: Territory Expansion Opportunity – East Vire Clinic is eligible for Claim]
Condition: Secure Interior – Defend for 15 Minutes – No Alert Trigger
Reward:
– +5 CP
– Unlock: Data Spider Protocol (System Tool)
**
"Ready?" Elias asked as he loaded a fresh mag into the Glock.
Dizzy sighed. "Man, can we at least get tacos after this one?"
*
The clinic was a two-story brick building with broken windows and graffiti scrawled across the sign. "GET OUT" was painted in red over a faded FirstAid cross. The place looked haunted.
But Elias had eyes on the power routing.
They entered through the side, sliding past shattered glass and navigating through moldy corridors. No gang posted here — but that didn't mean it was empty.
Halfway up the staircase, a loud thump echoed from the second floor.
"Not empty," Dizzy whispered.
"Hold position. I'll flush it."
Elias tapped his burner. It now had short-range signal jamming thanks to his new skill.
**
[Skill Activated: Signal Jammer Lv.1]
[Area Secured: 50m Radius – Enemy Comms Disabled – 00:29 Remaining]
**
He kicked open the stairwell door and moved fast. A man with a shotgun pivoted from a corner room, but the delay in his comms saved Elias — the ambush had no backup coordination.
Three bullets stitched the man across the chest.
A second figure ran, but Dizzy caught him from behind with a lead pipe. They secured the upper floor, barricaded the hallway, and started the system sequence.
**
[Claim in Progress – Defend Zone: 15 Minutes Remaining]
[Detected: 3 Hostile Signals Approaching]
**
Gunfire erupted outside five minutes later. Elias positioned himself by the broken reception window, tapping into the clinic's remaining power lines to charge his HUD overlay.
Shots peppered the front entrance, but the Syndicate grunts weren't prepared for a clinic reinforced with booby traps. Dizzy's pressure plates and old-school tripwires downed one before he even reached the door.
Elias gunned down the other two with practiced calm.
**
[Claim Successful – East Vire Clinic Secured]
+5 CP
[New Tool: Data Spider Protocol – Passive Scan for Digital Footprints, Active Trace Option on Known Devices]
[Remaining CP: 15]
**
"You see that?" Dizzy said, eyes wide. "We're becoming something."
"No," Elias said. "We already are something. Now we just have to outlive it."
He tapped into the newly acquired system tool and activated a digital sweep.
Ghost trails lit up — conversations from stolen phones, intercepted text logs from rival gangs, fragments of location pings. One log stood out.
A conversation.
Encrypted — but partially reconstructed:
> [Unknown]: "We got confirmation. He's got it."
> [Unknown]: "So Kane's the node-taker? That's what HQ thinks?"
> [Unknown]: "Either he dies this week, or he dies harder next."
**
[System Alert: Marked for Surveillance – "Black Flag Protocol" Initiated by Rival Faction]
Response Options:
– Go to Ground: Reduce presence, limit activity (−50% CP gain, -50% enemy aggression)
– Accelerate: Trigger Turf War Mini-Event (Risk: Extreme)
**
Elias exhaled slowly.
"Boss?"
"They know my name now."
"Like… your real name?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"Well… s—"
"Language."
"Sorry. Well… crap. Now what?"
Elias turned toward the north-facing window. The lights of Blackridge flickered, indifferent to who ruled its veins.
Now wasn't the time to retreat.
He opened the Crime Shop.
**
[Crime Shop – Tier I Access]
CP: 15
– [Bandit's Vest] – 10 CP
– [Random Skill Boost (Lv.1)] – 15 CP
– [Low-Grade Drone Kit] – 8 CP
– [Encrypted Comms Channel] – 5 CP
– [Blackridge Node Pulse Scanner] – 12 CP
**
He hesitated, then selected the *Random Skill Boost*.
**
[Skill Gained: Urban Predator Lv.1 – Passive: +15% Stealth, +10% Tracking Accuracy in City Environments]
[Remaining CP: 0]
**
The new edge surged through him like instinct sharpened by concrete and smoke.
"No more hiding," Elias said quietly.
He wasn't just fighting thugs anymore.
He was fighting the *system within the system* — a shadow empire with eyes, ears, and blood money.
And he was going to take it from the inside out.
One node at a time.