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Location: New Eden Outskirts – Undisclosed RuinsTime: 02:19 A.M.
The wind howled through the husks of old glass towers. Moonlight splashed pale silver across twisted metal, and far below, the ArcNet hum had finally gone still — like a sleeping predator... not a dead one.
Inside what used to be a corporate data vault — now their hideout — Maya crouched over a rusted terminal, plugging in a half-melted neural jack.
Behind her, Kai muttered, "It's two in the morning. Either you're hacking the Matrix or binge-watching weird old hentai, and I'm too tired to hope it's the former."
She didn't turn. "This isn't about hope. It's about history."
"You're gonna have to translate that from cryptic to human."
Maya tapped the screen. Ancient logs flickered to life — encrypted fragments Ethan and even Aly had overlooked.
