On Collective maps, it was labeled Sector G-5/White Zone — a clean, stabilized, restored outpost where sync systems were perfectly integrated, public order was maintained.
Lucas raised one eyebrow at that.
"They're trying to keep us out."
Ava adjusted her bracer's outer display, frowning at the sync radiation levels spiking as they got closer.
"No pinging from the surface grid," she said. "But there's bleed. Something's buried."
They arrived just before dusk, parking the car in the shadow of a collapsed bridge that had been half-swallowed by ivy and storm-cracked pavement. A faint hum under the ground buzzed through her boots — low-voltage sync pulses, the kind used to keep systems calibrated inside the city limits.
The city's entrance had no guards.
Just a sync barrier — invisible until they crossed it.
Ava's system shivered the second they stepped through.
[PUBLIC SYNC FIELD DETECTED][SYSTEM MASK ACTIVE]
[WARNING: ALTERED DATA NETWORK – AUTHENTICITY NOT VERIFIED]
