CHAPTER 15: THE THIRD HEIR**
The safehouse was supposed to be untraceable.
Anya had chosen it herself—a nondescript apartment in Shanghai's old quarter, its walls lined with lead to block signals, its doors reinforced with steel. Yet the explosion that shattered the front door sent splinters flying like shrapnel. Smoke billowed inward, acrid and thick, stinging my eyes before the ventilation system could hiss into action.
Through the haze, a small figure stepped into the wreckage.
A boy.
No older than twelve, dressed in a tailored navy suit that mirrored my own, his hair swept back in a way that made his resemblance to me undeniable. But his smirk—that was all Anya.
In his gloved hand, he held a single sheet of paper, its edges charred as if rescued from a fire.
"Hello, Father," he said, his voice eerily calm. "Mother. Did you really think you were the only heirs?"
Anya's gun was drawn before he finished speaking, her stance wide, her finger already applying pressure to the trigger. I barely had time to process the impossibility of his existence before the **[System]** flooded my vision with data:
**[DNA Match Confirmed]**
▶ Paternal: 100% Lu Chen
▶ Maternal: 100% Tang Anya
▶ Anomaly: Birth date predates first encounter by 8.2 years
Anya's breath hitched. "Impossible."
The boy—*our son*—tilted his head. "Time loops are messy things."
Then he tossed the ledger page at my feet.
I didn't need to read it to know what it said. The **[System]** projected the words in glowing red text before my eyes:
**Project Second Chance: Final Stage**
▶ Objective: Eliminate all spare heirs
▶ Primary Target: Lu Chen Prime (Asset D)
▶ Secondary Target: Tang Anya (Asset E)
▶ Tertiary Target: Subject X (Asset C – Original Heir)
The boy smiled. "Grandmother Mu sends her regards."
The walls exploded with gunfire.
---
#### **The Firefight**
Bullets tore through the room from unseen shooters—**positioned in the adjacent buildings, their muzzles flashing through the shattered windows.**
Anya dragged me behind the overturned dining table, her movements precise even as her pupils dilated with adrenaline. "We need to move. *Now.*"
I grabbed the ledger page, my mind racing. "He's from the future. A loop we haven't lived yet."
"Or one we already lost." She ejected her magazine, checked the rounds, and slammed it back in. "How do we kill a ghost?"
The boy's laughter echoed through the gunfire. "You don't."
A grenade rolled into the room.
Anya kicked it back through the ruined door just before detonation. The blast shook the building, raining plaster from the ceiling.
**[System Alert]**
▶ Structural integrity compromised
▶ Exit routes: 1) Bathroom window (12% survival odds) 2) Front door (3% survival odds)
▶ Alternative: Terminate temporal anomaly (68% success rate)
I met Anya's eyes. "We're not running."
Her lips curled. "Finally, you're learning."
We charged into the smoke.
---
#### **The Revelation**
The boy wasn't alone.
Three Black Sun operatives flanked him, their rifles trained on us. But the boy—*our son*—just sighed, as if disappointed.
"Every iteration, you choose the same path." He tapped his temple. "I've seen all eighteen versions of this fight. You lose seventeen times."
Anya's bullet took one guard in the throat. "Then let's make this the first win."
The **[System]** pulsed with a new warning:
**[Temporal Interference Detected]**
▶ Causality breach: Subject X (Original Heir) is active in this timeline
▶ Immediate threat: Third heir carries a neural inhibitor (disables System functions)
The boy raised a device—a sleek silver disc that hummed to life. The **[System]** flickered, then began to dissolve from my vision.
"No more cheats, Father." He aimed a pistol at my forehead. "Let's see how you fare without your crutch."
Then—
A gunshot.
But not from his weapon.
The boy staggered, a bloom of red spreading across his chest. Behind him, in the shadows of the hallway, stood a figure I'd never expected to see again.
**The original Lu Chen.**
Alive.
Angry.
And holding the smoking gun.
"Enough," he snarled.
The boy coughed blood, his smile never fading. "See you in the next loop, *Fathers*."
Then the world went white.