Islamabad – March 2027
When old systems lose control, they don't surrender—they strike.
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The Pushback Begins
Within a month of the Forest Protocols going public:
A PTV "special report" aired, linking SeedNet to foreign funding.
A Supreme Court petition questioned the legality of "parallel local systems."
Mysterious tax audits hit 14 Seed-aligned local leaders.
One SeedNet server in Gilgit mysteriously went offline.
(Ali would later trace the breach to a retired bureaucrat's nephew in IT ministry.)
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The Capital's Conspiracy
In a private golf club in Islamabad, a gathering of legacy powerbrokers—retired generals, industrialists, and top bureaucrats—met under the banner of a newly formed think tank: Pak Integrity Forum.
Their stated goal: "Restoring National Unity."
Their real goal: Roll back the forest.
They drafted a three-phase plan:
1. Legal Disarmament – Use judiciary to ban unregistered civic networks.
2. Narrative Warfare – Paint the movement as elitist, foreign-funded, or sectarian.
3. Divide the Roots – Pit traditional unions and biradaris against the Seed-led local reformers.
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But Rayan Was Waiting
He'd expected this.
He hadn't "lost control." He had released it.
But he still had one lever left—the Shadow Protocol.