Location: Mexico City – Beneath the Old Basilica
Time: 2:12 A.M.
The catacombs under the basilica weren't just ancient — they were modified. Reinforced steel doors hidden behind crumbling stone, biometric locks half-covered in dust, and an electromagnetic buzz beneath your boots.
Cradle Site A.
One of the labs where they made you.
You activated your cloak's adaptive blend mode and slipped past the first checkpoint.
[Skill Active: Stealth Lv. 5]
[Environmental Modifier: Darkness +15% Evasion]
Your HUD tracked four patrol routes. Infrared cameras. A proximity mine grid. Whoever abandoned this place hadn't left it unguarded.
You moved with clinical precision—one breath, one shadow, one step at a time.
⸻
Inside, the halls were lined with old containment pods—most shattered. Names etched into metal. Designations burned into glass.
Subject 003: Failed Adaptation – Burnout
Subject 019: Enhanced Neuro-Reactor – Terminated
Subject 037: Muscle Density Max – Escaped
Subject 001: Singular – LOCKED
You paused.
Singular. You.
[System Notice: Genetic Echo Detected – Subject 001 Memory Fragment]
A child strapped to a cold table.
Alarms blaring.
"It's evolving too fast!"
"We need to freeze him—NOW!"
Then darkness. And silence.
[Fragment Stored – Progress: 2/5 toward Full Origin Memory]
⸻
You passed into the data core. It was still functional.
[Skill Activated: Deep Analysis Lv. 2]
Decrypting Cradle Records…
Files Unlocked: Adaptive Genome Logs | Test Subject Index | Director's Notes
But before you could read further—an alert triggered.
[Warning: Proximity breach – Echo Protocol Unit en route]
You grabbed what you could—a small encrypted drive labelled "Nexus Prime Chain"—and activated Combat Sprint Lv. 1, weaving through collapsing halls as the mercs stormed in.
Bullets flew past. One grazed your shoulder—[HP -18]
But you didn't stop.
You dove through a collapsing passage and detonated your emergency charge.
CRUMBLE.
You were gone before they could find you.
⸻
Location: Safehouse #5 – Outskirts of Mexico City
Time: 4:10 A.M.
You patched your wound with a stolen medkit and set the Nexus Prime Chain drive into your terminal.
The system flickered.
[Nexus Core Node Located: Siberian Site – Deep Cryo Facility]
[Signal Key Fragment Obtained – 1/4]
[Level Up: 15 → 16]
Stat Points: +5 (Auto-distributed)
• STR: 22
• DEX: 22
• END: 22
• INT: 22
• WIS: 22
• CHA: 22
• LUCK: 10
[New Skill: Unshaken Resolve Lv. 1]
While under 30% HP, gain +15% to all resistances and mental stability.
[Adaptation Core – 91% Synced]
⸻
The Cradle burned behind you.
But Nexus lay ahead.
And somewhere, something waited for you beneath the ice.
Something that remembered your name.