The exfiltration was clean and professional. The "Iron Vultures," true to their reputation, vanished into the night with the precious, sealed vial containing the Devourer's tissue. Lin Mei's squad, "Nomad," set up a temporary defensive perimeter, their adrenaline slowly being replaced by a bone-deep weariness as they tended to Xiao Zhang's stabilized but badly broken leg. The colossal corpse of the Devourer lay cooling behind them, a silent, monstrous testament to their impossible victory.
Hours later, in the secure void of [Channel: Zero], the three operatives gathered once more. The atmosphere was different now. The initial tension and uncertainty had been burned away in the crucible of combat, replaced by a shared sense of triumph and a newfound respect for the anonymous figures they were working with.
Nomad-Lead delivered the after-action report, her text precise and devoid of emotion.
Nomad-Lead: Exfiltration complete. The Vultures have transferred the sample to the designated dead-drop. My tech specialist, Xiao Zhang, is in stable condition. The cost was one broken leg. The reward was empirical proof that a Level 4 threat can be neutralized through superior strategy and specialized tools, not just overwhelming force. The Vultures were impressed. They will not talk.
Hephaestus was practically vibrating with impatience on the other end.
Hephaestus: Never mind the war stories, Captain. The sample! What are the findings? Don't hold out on me, Oracle! I've already sketched out three different prototypes for the OSE-2 based on my theories of Devourer armor composition, but I'm working blind without the raw tissue analysis!
Old-Man-Jiang provided the final, strategic summary. Old-Man-Jiang: The true victory tonight was not the monster's death, but the successful, seamless coordination of three independent cells under a unified command structure. This operational model is viable. Oracle, your design has been proven in the field.
A moment of silence passed, and then the Oracle username lit up, its presence drawing their immediate, undivided attention.
Oracle: Report received. Acceptable losses for a pilot program. The objective was met.
As they read the cold, clinical assessment, a series of notifications bloomed in the channel interface, each one sending a jolt through the three members.
[NOTIFICATION: Bounty 1001: 'Tissue Sample Required' has been marked as COMPLETE.]
[NOTIFICATION: 500 Contribution Points (CP) have been awarded to the following users for joint completion: Nomad-Lead, Hephaestus, Old-Man-Jiang.]
Lin Mei stared at the number. 500 CP... each? She had assumed they would be splitting the reward. This amount of CP was a small fortune in Oracle's new economy. Hephaestus let out a sharp, audible laugh in his workshop. This was far more generous than he had expected.
[NOTIFICATION: Blueprint: OSE-Model 2 (Armor-Piercing Variant) is now UNLOCKED in The Archive.]
Hephaestus vanished from the chat almost instantly, presumably having dived headfirst into The Archive to devour the new blueprint. Lin Mei felt a wave of profound relief. With 500 CP, she could acquire technology that could better protect her team. This wasn't just a reward; it was an investment in their survival.
Just as they were processing this, Oracle's text appeared again.
Oracle: The bounty system is now fully operational. This concludes Phase Two. It will now run in the background, providing the necessary tools and resources for our continued operations.
Oracle: We begin Phase Three immediately.
The two remaining members froze. Phase Three? So soon? They had barely caught their breath from the last mission.
Old-Man-Jiang: So soon, Oracle? May I ask what the objective of this new phase is?
The reply from Oracle was simple, yet it fundamentally shifted their understanding of the war, of their purpose, of everything.
Oracle: The current human strategy against the Abyss is fundamentally flawed. It is entirely reactive. We wait for a Rift to open. We wait for a monster to emerge. We defend. We contain. We bleed. We celebrate victories that are, in essence, merely successful defenses of a territory that was ours to begin with. This is the strategy of a losing side.
A cold dread mixed with a thrilling excitement began to dawn on Lin Mei and Jiang Wei.
Oracle: Phase Three is Proactive Warfare.
Oracle: We will no longer wait for the Abyss to bring the war to us. We will take the war to them. We will predict their movements. We will disrupt their supply lines. We will assassinate their field commanders *before* they can become a threat to Earth.
The sheer, monumental arrogance of the statement was breathtaking.
Nomad-Lead: Assassinate commanders? Disrupt supply lines? Oracle... with all due respect, we are talking about another dimension. We don't possess the technology to project force into a Rift, let alone navigate whatever lies beyond.
It was at that moment that Hephaestus reappeared in the chat, his message a burst of raw, unfiltered astonishment.
Hephaestus: This... this blueprint for the OSE-2... the principles behind the frequency modulation... this is revolutionary! This is two decades ahead of anything Aegis Dynamics is working on! But even with weapons like this, how do you attack a place you can't reach?
Oracle answered their questions with another paradigm-shifting revelation.
Oracle: You are all thinking in three dimensions. You perceive the Rifts as random, isolated doorways. You are wrong. They are strategic beachheads. And they are all connected.
Oracle: The Rifts form an interstellar logistics network of temporary, unstable wormholes existing on a higher dimensional plane. The Abyss does not just appear; it travels. It has supply lines. It has staging grounds.
Oracle: And anything that has a supply line... can be cut.
To punctuate his point, another notification appeared.
[A new file has been added to The Archive. Title: 'An Introduction to Abyssal Rift Cartography'.][Cost: 0 CP. Available to all members.]
Oracle: This is your required reading. Study it. Understand it. Your next objectives will depend on it.
With that final, authoritative statement, the Oracle username dimmed and went offline.
He had left them with their reward, and a mountain of homework.
Lin Mei immediately downloaded the file. It wasn't a simple guide; it was a dense, fifty-page academic paper filled with complex quantum mechanics, temporal equations, and metaphysical concepts that made her head spin. It spoke of "chroniton particles," "spatial harmonics," and "predictive modeling based on Rift energy decay signatures." It was overwhelming, but she gritted her teeth, her determination renewed. If this was the key to taking the fight to the enemy, she would learn it, even if it took her all year.
In his workshop, Hephaestus cackled with glee. He had two new marvels to study: the elegant, practical design of the OSE-2, and a whole new field of science that felt like being an ancient blacksmith who was just handed a textbook on nuclear physics. The boredom he had felt for twenty years was a distant memory.
And in his tea house, General Jiang Wei read the paper with a solemn, grave expression. He wasn't just seeing equations; he was seeing a map of the enemy's highways. He was seeing the key to ambushes, to counter-invasions, to a type of warfare he had only ever dreamed of. Oracle hadn't just given them a weapon; he had given them the enemy's entire playbook.
He understood now. Their secret organization wasn't just a hunter squad or a rebellion. It was the seed of a true shadow government, preparing for a war that humanity didn't even know it could fight.
In his quiet bedroom, Qin Mo closed the connection from the library terminal he had remotely accessed. The first phase of his plan for his new operatives was complete. He had proven his value, rewarded their risk, and bound them to his system with the promise of more knowledge. Now, he had given them their new curriculum. It would take them weeks, if not months, of intense study to even begin to grasp the concepts he had just handed them. This gave him a much-needed buffer.
He leaned back, closing his eyes. The complex equations of Rift Cartography faded from his mind, replaced by a different scene.
His consciousness shifted, crossing the endless void between worlds. He found himself looking through the eyes of his Paladin avatar.
The avatar was kneeling on a velvet cushion in a grand, sunlit cathedral. Sunlight streamed through magnificent stained-glass windows, illuminating the face of a beautiful queen with silver hair. She was holding a gleaming, rune-etched longsword above his avatar's shoulders.
"Arise, Sir Kaelan," the queen's voice rang out, filled with warmth and pride. "First Knight of my Royal Guard, Shield of the Silver Throne."
His Paladin avatar, a being of pure faith and righteous fury, had just reached the pinnacle of his world's hierarchy after decades of service. He had no knowledge of the Abyss, no inkling of the 89,999 other lives his soul was living. His world was one of chivalry, honor, and political intrigue.
Qin Mo, the Observer, watched this ceremony with the same detached interest as he had watched the battle in the industrial complex. It was all just data. It was all part of the grand, endless project.
One avatar was preparing for a proactive war against a cosmic horror. Another was swearing an oath to a mortal queen.
For Qin Mo, it was all just another Tuesday.