The silence in the library felt heavy and deep after Silica spoke. Her words seemed to echo in the quiet space, charged with a meaning Ace was still struggling to grasp. The one with a logo.

He stared at the face on the monitor—the girl named Silica. She was pale and serious, with eyes that held a storm of intelligence. This was the person who had been his unseen enemy, a digital ghost haunting his every move, and then an unlikely source of hope. Now, here she was, real and direct. The only sound was the soft, whirring hum of the computer fan, a constant reminder of the digital world she ruled.

"A logo?" Ace repeated, his voice barely a whisper. The idea of a vast, shadowy "system" as their enemy was a scary, but vague, concept. But a corporation? That was different. A corporation was a real thing. It had office buildings you could point to, employees who wore ID badges, and a friendly public image used in advertisements. That made the threat feel frighteningly real and close.

"OmniCorp," Silica said, and the name fell from her lips with a heavy, serious weight. "You've seen it everywhere. Their name is on construction site fences, on the boxes of new phones, on the sides of public buses. They are involved in everything: power plants, roads, internet data, and private security. They are the city's silent partner, influencing everything from behind the scenes. Their newest, biggest project is called the 'Riverbend Renewal Initiative.' It's a multi-billion-dollar plan to completely rebuild the docklands and the poorer east side neighborhoods."

Ace's mind raced, remembering the news reports Kaito had shown them. There had been articles talking about "urban renewal" and a "brighter future for the city." At the time, it had just sounded like empty promises from politicians. Now, those words took on a dark and menacing meaning.

"What does a big company's construction project have to do with us?" Ace asked, a hint of doubt in his voice. "What does it have to do with a gangster like Ramos?"

Silica's expression became even more intense. "It has everything to do with you. Think, Ace. Don't just use the power in your head for small tasks. Think bigger. Why would a gigantic, rich corporation care about a gang war in a run-down part of the city?"

Slowly, like puzzle pieces snapping together, Ace began to understand. The mysterious computer-like System inside his mind sensed his concentration and started working, pulling together information.

<<<>>>

CROSS-REFERENCING: 'OMNICORP' AND 'RIVERBEND RENEWAL'.

- PUBLIC RECORD: THE PROJECT WAS ANNOUNCED A YEAR AND A HALF AGO. IT'S BEEN DELAYED BECAUSE OF "TROUBLE BUYING UP THE LAND" AND "PROTESTS FROM LOCAL RESIDENTS."

- WHAT WE CAN INFER: THE DOCKLANDS ARE A MIX OF OLD WAREHOUSES, SMALL BUSINESSES, AND THE ILLEGAL OPERATIONS RUN BY RAMOS, VINCENZO, AND OTHERS.

- THE LIKELY ANSWER: TO GET THE LAND CHEAPLY AND EASILY, THEY NEED TO GET RID OF THE CRIMINAL ELEMENTS. THIS WOULD ALSO MAKE REGULAR PEOPLE SUPPORT THE PROJECT.

<<<>>>

"They need the area cleared out," Ace said, the full realization hitting him like a physical blow. "They can't just roll in with bulldozers. There's too much fighting back. Too much money and violence tied to that territory."

"Finally, you see it," Silica said, and for a second, he saw a flash of approval in her stormy eyes. "They needed the local rats to kill each other. They needed a war to do their dirty work for them."

"And you?" Ace pressed, leaning closer to the screen. "Where do you fit into all this? Why are you telling me this now?"

For the first time, the cool, collected mask Silica always wore slipped away. A raw and powerful emotion broke through—a deep, personal sadness mixed with a cold, burning rage.

"My real name is Elara," she said. The name sounded soft and human, a stark contrast to her fierce codename, 'Silica.' "I wasn't always a ghost hiding in the machine. I had a teacher, a guide. Dr. Aris Thorne. He was a true genius, and more than that, he was a good man. He believed that information and data could be used to help people and build a better society, not just to control them. He worked for OmniCorp, in their research department, on a project meant to integrate city data."

She stopped for a moment, her eyes losing focus as she looked at a painful memory. "Aris found out the terrible truth about the Riverbend project. It wasn't about renewal or helping the community. It was about wiping that part of the city clean. OmniCorp was using data to find and systematically destroy anyone who stood in their way—every homeowner who refused to sell, every community leader who organized protests, and every criminal organization, like Ramos's, that controlled the territory."

Ace listened, a feeling of dread growing in his stomach. This was a level of evil he had never imagined. Ramos and Vincenzo were violent thugs, but you could see them coming. This plan by OmniCorp was like a sickness, spreading invisibly in the background.

"He decided to expose them," Elara continued, her voice becoming as cold and sharp as ice. "He brought all the evidence to me. We were a team, ready to release the truth to the world. But the next day, he was dead. The official report called it a car accident. It was too perfect, too neat. All the data he had gathered vanished. OmniCorp even released a public statement, pretending to be sad about the death of a 'brillant employee.'"

She looked directly back at Ace, her eyes blazing. "I am the secret he died to protect. I am the evidence he tried to release. Since that day, I've been completely alone, training myself, gathering proof. But I am a scalpel, Ace. I am precise. I can make careful cuts in the digital world, I can sneak into systems, but I cannot fight a full-blown war on my own. I needed a hammer. I needed a force of chaos to smash OmniCorp's perfect plan."

Suddenly, everything made sense to Ace in a devastating, sickening way. "You used us," he said, the realization making him feel violated. "All this time, we were just your tools."

"I guided you," she corrected him, without a hint of apology. "I just helped along what was going to happen anyway. The first time my systems detected you, you were an anomaly—a strange blip with a powerful signature, your 'System.' I saw your potential. I subtly pointed the loan shark, Deke Vance, in your direction. I made sure a bigger predator, Ramos, took notice of you. I even helped you steal his money, because I knew it would make his rival, Vincenzo, bold enough to attack. I needed Ramos's power broken and Vincenzo's brutality exposed to the public. I needed the police to swarm the district. I needed OmniCorp's clean, orderly plan to blow up into a messy, public, and uncontrollable disaster."

A cold wave of anger washed over Ace. Every close call, every night spent in fear, the terror of their families being threatened… had it all been just moves in her game? Were he and his friends nothing more than pawns in her quest for revenge?

"You let our home be destroyed," he said, his voice low and trembling with fury. "You got us captured and thrown in a cell. We lost everything we had!"

"And you found something more important!" Elara fired back, her own calm shattering. "You found the truth! You were always going to be crushed between Ramos and Vincenzo in the end! I gave you a fighting chance by showing you the real enemy! Now you know you're not just fighting a wolf or a jackal. You're fighting the hunter who opened the cages and set them both upon you!"

She took a quick, sharp breath, struggling to regain her composure. "OmniCorp is that hunter. They don't see human beings; they see assets and liabilities. Ramos was a useful liability for years, doing the dirty work they didn't want to touch. Now he's in their way. Vincenzo is just a stupid tool, a wrecking ball. And you? You and your team are a mistake. A glitch in their perfect system. And when a corporation like OmniCorp finds a glitch, they don't fix it—they delete it."

Inside Ace's mind, his System whirred in agreement, its cold logic confirming her terrifying warning.

<<<>>>

THREAT ASSESSMENT UPDATED.

- PRIMARY ANTAGONIST: OMNICORP. PROBABILITY OF HOSTILE ACTION: 99%.

- THEIR METHODS: LYING WITH DATA, CORPORATE SPYING, QUIETLY "DISAPPEARING" THREATS.

- CONCLUSION: TO SURVIVE, YOU MUST UNDERSTAND AND FIGHT THIS ENEMY. SILICA'S KNOWLEDGE IS NOW ESSENTIAL.

<<<>>>

The hot anger inside Ace began to cool and fade, replaced by a tired, frightening understanding. It was a horrible thought, but she was right. He, Ramos, Vincenzo—they were all like ants fighting over crumbs, completely unaware that a giant boot was about to come down and crush their entire world.

"What do you want from us?" Ace asked, his voice empty of emotion.

"The same thing I have always wanted," Elara replied. "An alliance. Not a friendship. A temporary, practical partnership. Think of it this way: you are the hammer, a blunt force. I am the scalpel, a precise tool. Alone, we can only do so much. But together, we can actually hurt them. We can reveal the Riverbend project for the lie that it is. We can protect the innocent people they are trying to sweep aside."

"You expect us to trust you?" Ace asked, the words tasting bitter. "After you manipulated us and put us through hell?"

"I don't need your trust," she said bluntly. "I only need our interests to align. OmniCorp is a direct threat to your survival now. The people they will send after you won't be clumsy thugs like Ramos's men. They will be highly trained, invisible professionals. You need the information I have to even know they're coming. And I need the skills you have—your ability to act in the real, physical world."

She leaned closer, her face dominating the screen. "Here is your first test. Tonight, OmniCorp is moving a truck—a data convoy—from a secret lab to their main headquarters. Inside that truck is a server. On that server are the 'demographic targeting models' for the next phase of Riverbend. In simple terms, it's the proof that shows they planned to target specific neighborhoods and people from the very beginning."

Her voice was intense and challenging. "Your job is to intercept that truck and steal that data. Do what you want with it. Consider this a trial run. Succeed, and I will give you everything I know about OmniCorp's operations in this city. Fail…" She gave a small, dismissive shrug. "Then you weren't the powerful weapon I thought you were."

A window popped up on the screen. A file was transferred. When Ace opened it, he saw a complete mission dossier: the exact time the truck would be moving, its route through the city, the number of guards, everything. It was a full package, handed to him on a silver platter.

"The choice is yours, Ace," Elara said, and her image began to flicker and fade, like a ghost returning to the shadows. "You can keep being a piece in someone else's game, never understanding the rules. Or you can pick up the pieces of your own life and start playing your own game."

With that, the screen went dark, returning to the library's ordinary homepage.

Ace sat in the wooden chair for a long time, the heavy weight of her words pressing down on him. His world had just expanded in the worst way possible, becoming much bigger and more dangerous. The gang war he had been fighting was just a minor distraction on the edges of something far larger. The real battle was for the future of the city itself, and against his will, he had just been drafted.

He stood up, his legs feeling unsteady. He had come to the library looking for a clear enemy and had instead found a general who recruited him for a war he never knew was being fought. He pulled the cheap burner phone from his pocket and sent the one-word message to Kaito they had agreed upon: On my way back.

Then, he walked out of the library's quiet sanctuary and back into the loud, chaotic streets. But the city seemed different now. The streets, the buildings, the people rushing by—it all felt like the top of a game board. And for the first time, Ace felt he was no longer just a piece being pushed around. He was starting to see the other players, and most terrifying of all, he could now see the giant, corporate hand moving them all.

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