The safehouse was supposed to be untouchable.
Anya had chosen it herself - a nondescript apartment in Shanghai's old quarter with lead-lined walls and biometric locks. Yet the explosion that vaporized the front door sent concrete shards flying like shrapnel. Smoke billowed through the gaping hole, carrying the acrid stench of C4 and something darker, something chemical.
I had my pistol drawn before the dust settled, my back pressed against the reinforced kitchen island. Anya mirrored my stance, her knife already in hand. The System flickered to life in my peripheral vision:
[WARNING: MULTIPLE HOSTILES APPROACHING]
[WEAPONS DETECTED: 3x SIG-SAUER P226, 1x CUSTOM SNIPER RIFLE]
[UNKNOWN BIOMETRIC SIGNATURE DETECTED - 89.7% MATCH TO USER DNA]
Then he stepped through the smoke.
A boy. No older than twelve, dressed in a miniature version of my favorite Tom Ford suit. His hair was styled exactly like mine, but the smirk twisting his lips was pure Anya. In one small hand, he held a familiar black ledger. In the other - a pistol he handled with terrifying ease.
"Hello Father," he said, his voice high but unnervingly calm. "Mother. Did you really think you were the only players in this game?"
Anya's knife didn't waver. "Impossible."
The boy - our son, the System confirmed with a DNA match that made my stomach lurch - chuckled. "Time loops make for messy family trees." He tossed the ledger at my feet. "Grandmother Mu sends her regards."
I didn't need to open it. The System projected the contents directly into my vision:
**PROJECT SECOND CHANCE: FINAL PHASE**
PRIMARY TARGET: LU CHEN PRIME (ASSET D)
SECONDARY TARGET: TANG ANYA (ASSET E)
TERTIARY TARGET: SUBJECT X (ORIGINAL HEIR)
DIRECTIVE: TERMINATE ALL SPARE HEIRS
The boy drew his pistol with practiced ease. "I've watched you die seventeen times. Let's make this one quick."
Then the walls exploded.
---
Bullets tore through the apartment from three directions. I barely yanked Anya behind the overturned dining table before a .50 caliber round turned our couch into shredded fabric and flying foam. The System mapped the shooters instantly - two in the adjacent building, one on the rooftop across the street.
Anya ejected her magazine, checked the rounds, and slammed it back home with a snarl. "We need to move."
"Working on it." The System scrolled through blueprints. [ALTERNATE EXIT: BATHROOM WINDOW - 12% SURVIVAL RATE]
The boy's laughter cut through the gunfire. "Running won't help! I've seen every version of this fight!" A grenade clattered across the hardwood.
Anya moved faster than thought, kicking it back through the shattered doorway. The explosion shook the building, raining plaster from the ceiling.
[STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED]
[RECOMMENDATION: TERMINATE TEMPORAL ANOMALY]
I met Anya's eyes. Saw the same calculation there. We charged through the smoke as one.
---
The boy wasn't alone. Three Black Sun operatives materialized from the haze, rifles trained center mass. But it was the device in my son's hand that froze my blood - a silver disc humming with familiar energy.
[WARNING: NEURAL INHIBITOR DETECTED]
[SYSTEM INTEGRITY COMPROMISED]
"No more cheats, Father." The boy raised his pistol. "Let's see how you fare without your crutch."
The gunshot came from behind him.
Our son staggered, crimson blossoming across his tiny chest. Behind him in the smoke stood a figure I'd never expected to see again - the original Lu Chen, his custom 1911 smoking, his eyes burning with fury.
"Enough," he growled.
The boy coughed blood, his smile never fading. "See you...in the next loop...Fathers."
Then the world dissolved into white noise.
---
**CHAPTER ENDING CLIFFHANGER:**
I woke up choking on champagne.
Again.
Fireworks burst outside the Grand Hyatt's windows. Liang smiled as she raised her poisoned glass. But this time - this time Anya remembered.
She grabbed my wrist with bruising force. "We've done this seventeen times," she hissed. "He always wins."
[SYSTEM CORRUPTION DETECTED]
[LOOP #18 INITIALIZED]
[NEW RULES: ONLY ONE VERSION SURVIVES]
Across the ballroom, our twelve-year-old son raised a glass of lemonade in mocking toast. Then he shot Liang in the head.
First death of the loop.
And it wasn't mine.
---------------
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