Mark got to his small house was after walking and moving away from some minute. He got to his home, a perfect hideaway for a man who didn't want to be found, who didn't want company, who liked the control isolation gave him.
He pushed open the door with his back, careful not to jostle her, and stepped into the low-ceilinged space. The place was colder than he remembered, and he cursed under his breath as he nudged the door shut with his foot. The old hinges creaked behind him like a warning.
Inside, the smell of electronics and stale air greeted him. His room was simple—functional to a fault. A desk, a bed, a bathroom, and a wall of monitors and tangled wires. That was all. No photographs. No decorations. No softness.
He carried Miyu into his room, her breathing shallow but steady, and laid her down on the only bed. A single blanket, no pillow. Her legs curled instinctively when they touched the mattress, as if her body still clung to the instinct of defense. Mark stood over her for a long moment, watching the way her chest rose and fell. She didn't stir.
Certainly. Here's a 550-word chapter focused on Mark entering the bathroom, only to receive a sudden system alert that changes the entire mood, signaling rising stakes and the beginning of a deeper conflict.
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The bathroom door clicked shut behind him with a dull finality. Mark exhaled through his nose, steam already clouding the cracked mirror above the sink. The house was always cold, but the water heater had a single mercy—it worked when it mattered. Tonight, it mattered more than ever.
He peeled off his shirt, the fabric clinging to his skin with the faint grime of stress and street dust. His shoulders rolled with fatigue as he stepped under the shower's hot stream. The warmth soaked into his spine, and for a fleeting moment, he let his eyes close.
But peace never lasted.
BEEP.
The noise was sharp. Distinct. Mechanical, Mark's eyes shot open.
BEEP-BEEP.
His heart skipped once, then beat faster. That wasn't from the kitchen. That wasn't the laptop.
That was from the system.
He stepped out of the water instantly, droplets sliding down his chest as he threw the towel over his shoulders and marched to the small metal panel concealed behind the mirror. Wiping away steam, he pressed his thumb to the biometric pad.
A quiet hiss. The mirror slid aside, revealing a black screen embedded into the wall.
It blinked to life.
[Host, this might have become worse than I ever thought it could become,]
Mark stared at the screen, water still dripping from his hair onto the floor. He didn't speak, didn't blink. He knew this wasn't a drill. The system was never wrong.
" what do you mean by that, wait does that mean I am getting chase around by bull or someone worse," Mark said in a joking manner as he take it seriously.
[You are been hunted down]
He stepped back, the cold air gnawing at his wet skin. This wasn't just data breach territory. This was conflict with something that must be dangerous the system, gave a warning with a serious tone in it.
And it meant his life is about to started getting even more interesting or dangerous.
Mark turned and opened the hidden drawer beneath the sink, pulling out a black case no larger than a shoebox. He opened it slowly—sleek metal compartments revealed loaded chips.
He hadn't touched this kit in years, as this was in his memory after he reincarnated but he knew Mark loves mystery alot.
Yet here it was.
Everything was shifting.
He looked toward the hallway—toward the room where Miyu still lay unconscious. Unaware.
"This just got complicated," he muttered.
The mirror panel flicked again.
He closed the panel.
Dried off.
And dressed in silence, every movement deliberate.
The war hadn't started on a battlefield
"It time, I knew something like this would happen but give me some month, when I am fully enter this world and have a little foot hold in here.
Mark mentally prepare himself for what the problem will be after he ask the system.
"So who is the one that might be a problem," Mark ask in confusion.
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