The days following the successful "Chimera's Cradle" operation were a golden age for the independent hunters of the Asia-Pacific sector. The Oracle Alliance platform, architected by Hephaestus and moderated by Nomad-Lead, had become the new heart of their community. It was a thriving ecosystem of information, cooperation, and merit.
Hunters eagerly shared intel on monster movements and Rift fluctuations on the "Intel Exchange" board, earning Reputation Points that elevated their status within the Alliance. Squads that were once rivals now collaborated on bounties posted by Oracle, pooling their resources and CP to acquire new technology from The Archive. The success rate of independent missions climbed steadily, and for the first time in a long time, there was a palpable sense of optimism, a feeling that the common hunter finally had a fighting chance.
The major guilds and the government were hemorrhaging influence. Their attempts to discredit Oracle had backfired spectacularly after his prophecy proved true, and their efforts to find him were like trying to catch smoke with a net. They were losing the hearts and minds of the very people they claimed to protect.
Amidst this seismic shift in the world's power dynamics, Qin Mo's life remained a portrait of undisturbed mundanity. He went to school. He aced his physics tests. He endured the silent, watchful gaze of Su Liying, a game of unspoken knowledge that had become a silent, daily ritual. The contrast between the storm he was orchestrating in the world and the placid stillness of his personal life had never been sharper.
He was the eye of his own hurricane, a point of absolute calm at the center of a world he was secretly tearing apart and rebuilding in his own image.
One evening, he decided the time for consolidation was over. It was time for the next lesson. He summoned the three core members of Project Zero to the secure channel.
They arrived promptly, their text signatures radiating a newfound confidence and purpose.
Nomad-Lead: Oracle. The Alliance is stable and has grown to 734 vetted members. We are ready for the next objective.
Hephaestus: The analysis of the Devourer tissue sample has been fascinating. Its ability to secrete acid is linked to a unique protein structure. I have some ideas for a corrosive-resistant alloy, but I need more data on its cellular regeneration. What's the next monster we're dissecting?
Old-Man-Jiang: The balance of power in the underworld has shifted, Oracle. The major guilds are losing their grip on the independent factions. Your influence is solidifying. What is your next strategic move to capitalize on this momentum?
Oracle's reply was not what they expected. It was colder, graver, and held the weight of a terrible new truth.
Oracle: Your work has been commendable. You have proven you can hunt the beasts that wander into our world from the Abyss.
A short pause hung in the chat.
Oracle: But you have been fighting symptoms, not the disease. You have been fighting the rabid dogs that have been let into our yard, not the master who holds their leash.
The three of them processed the cryptic message. A sense of unease began to settle in.
Hephaestus: What are you talking about? The master is the Abyss itself, isn't it? Some dark god or hive mind on the other side.
Oracle: The Abyss is a force of nature. It is chaotic, hungry, and driven by instinct. It is a dangerous but ultimately simple enemy. Our true enemy is far more complex, and far more insidious. Because our true enemy is human.
Before they could react, Oracle uploaded a new file into the channel. It wasn't a blueprint. It wasn't a bounty. It was a massive, heavily encrypted intelligence dossier.
[DOSSIER: Project Prometheus - Unvetted Analysis]
"What is this?" Lin Mei murmured in the real world, her fingers quickly working to download and decrypt the file.
What she saw made her blood run cold.
The dossier was a horrifying mosaic of fragmented data. It contained leaked corporate documents, intercepted satellite images, forensic analysis from "unsolved" monster attacks, and chilling excerpts from what appeared to be personal journals. Pieced together by the multiversal knowledge of Qin Mo, it painted a picture of a conspiracy so vast and monstrous it was almost unbelievable.
It detailed the existence of a clandestine, global human organization that called itself the "Prometheus Initiative."
Their goal was not to defeat the Abyss. It was to control it. They were a cabal of brilliant but fanatical scientists, corrupt corporate leaders, and power-hungry Awakened who believed that humanity's next stage of evolution lay not in resisting the Abyss, but in merging with it. They saw the Abyssal invaders as a source of limitless power, a key to godhood.
The dossier provided evidence. The tissue sample from the Devourer they had hunted showed clear signs of sophisticated genetic tampering—tampering that was not of Abyssal origin. It had been captured, studied, and modified. The dossier showed satellite data of strange energy signatures from supposedly abandoned research facilities, perfectly coinciding with the disappearances of small hunter squads in those areas. It included a translated journal entry, its source redacted:
"...the test subjects from the nearby town were successfully exposed to the nascent Rift energy. As predicted, 99% perished, but the 1% who survived exhibited fascinating mutations. Project Chimera is a success. We are one step closer to engineering a human vessel capable of containing the consciousness of an Abyssal Lord..."
Lin Mei felt a wave of pure, cold fury wash over her. Every friend, every comrade she had lost... was it possible some of them hadn't just died fighting monsters, but had been sacrificed as lab rats by other humans?
Hephaestus was silent in the chat, but in his workshop, he slammed his fist down on his workbench with enough force to dent the steel. This was not science. This was a perversion, a grotesque blasphemy against the natural order.
Only Old-Man-Jiang seemed to grasp the full, terrifying strategic implications. He felt a deep dread settle in his heart. The war was not what they thought. Humanity's greatest enemy was not the monster at the gate. It was the traitor within the walls.
Old-Man-Jiang: A war on two fronts... he typed slowly, his fingers feeling heavy.
Oracle: Precisely. The beasts of the Abyss are simple. They are predictable. The Prometheus Initiative is driven by human ambition, greed, and a twisted, messianic ideology. They are intelligent, they are patient, and they are hidden within the very institutions we trust. They are far more dangerous.
Oracle: This is the true enemy. This is the focus of Phase Three.
The declaration hung in the air, a death sentence for their previous, simpler worldview. Before they could even begin to process the revelation, a new notification appeared on the Bounty Board.
It was not a monster hunt.
[INVESTIGATIVE BOUNTY: The Silent Lab - ID: 2001]
[OBJECTIVE: The attached dossier suggests a high probability of a hidden Prometheus Initiative research laboratory operating in the abandoned 'Sector 9' industrial zone of City T. The primary objective is infiltration and data retrieval. Gather any and all information on their research, personnel, and connection to the Abyss. This is a reconnaissance mission ONLY.]
[RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: Do NOT engage Prometheus personnel directly unless absolutely necessary for survival. Avoid all contact. You are ghosts. Retrieve the data and escape unseen.]
[REWARD: 2000 Contribution Points (CP).]
The three core members stared at the new bounty. The war had fundamentally changed. Their target was no longer a mindless beast of chitin and fury. It was a shadowy cabal of human zealots, scientists, and soldiers who were likely more ruthless and intelligent than any monster they had ever faced.
The risk had just escalated by a factor of a thousand. They were being asked to transition from monster hunters to clandestine spies, to wage a secret civil war against an enemy they didn't even know existed an hour ago.
Old-Man-Jiang, the wise strategist who had seen half a century of war, felt a tremor of true uncertainty for the first time since joining this channel. He typed a slow, deliberate message, a question directed at the silent, all-knowing entity that had led them to this precipice.
Old-Man-Jiang: Oracle... what have you gotten us into?
In his bedroom, staring at the old general's question on his screen, Qin Mo knew the answer.
He hadn't gotten them into trouble. He had simply, finally, shown them the real war.