Chapter 52: The Mastermind's Gaze

The silence in the central control room was a heavy, suffocating blanket. On the main screen, the simulation ground lay dormant, the last echoes of combat having faded into the sterile, metallic air. The final tally was displayed in stark, glowing numerals that seemed to burn into the retinas of everyone present: Ethan Letherdale, sole survivor, with a kill count that defied all precedent for a candidate designated as ‘bait’. Loyal Darbishire had already stormed out, his face a thunderous...