The Heartbeat at Our Door

"W-What the hell is that thing?" Wang Zi Chen's voice shook.

John's expression was stone-cold. "Two theories are circulating among players. First: something in the deep ocean mutated marine life, making them gigantic. Second…" He swallowed, a quiver entering his voice. "These creatures were always this big, lurking in the abyss. Apocalypse Online just brought them up and unleashed them on us." He tapped the screen. "This footage is from Cangcheng. It was live-streamed seven hours ago. Five hours ago, Cangcheng went dark. No contact, no survivors."

Five hours. Five hours since this beast breached a human city.

Spiky leaned forward, his knuckles turning white. "John, are you saying these deep-sea creatures scramble signals just by showing up?"

"Worse," John said, his voice lowering to a chilling whisper. "It's not passive interference. They decide when to cut us off. They control it."

Silence filled the room, heavy and suffocating. The unspoken truth struck them harder than the rain outside: these monsters were intelligent.

Future-Ethan's voice shattered the tension, cold and urgent. "We need to evacuate. Now. Jiangcheng isn't on the coast, but it's close enough. When the seaside cities fall, we're next."

The others jolted at his words. John nodded sharply. "Agreed. Coastal players are already fleeing, most heading for Everest Base Camp." 

"When?" Wang Zi Chen demanded.

John looked at Future-Ethan. The prophet offered no vision, no warning.

"Dawn," John declared. "Pack essentials. We leave at first light."

Rain lashed against Wang Zi Chen's villa like the fists of a vengeful god. Future-Ethan stood at his window, unconcerned about the game console behind him. Ethan felt the same icy dread knotting in his stomach. Catastrophe-class. The higher the threat level, the lower his chances of survival next cycle. This was a Catastrophe.

KRA-KOOM! Lightning split the night, turning the city monochrome. A scream echoed, raw and distant. Then another.

Future-Ethan threw the window open. Icy rain and wind blasted into the room, scattering papers and overturning a chair. He leaned out into the storm. Was he insane? Ethan braced for a three-story drop. Future-Ethan's hands gripped the wet ledge. He tensed his muscles and vaulted out. His feet landed on the sheer wall. He pushed off and rolled perfectly onto the soaked lawn below. B-grade Combat Mastery, Ethan realized. That's what he had bought.

Rain instantly soaked Future-Ethan's clothes. KRA-KOOM! Another lightning strike illuminated the night. This time, in its brutal flash… a massive shadow loomed at the edge of Jiangcheng's skyline. Indistinct. Unthinkably vast.

THOOM. A low, deep beat vibrated through the ground, up through Future-Ethan's legs and into his chest. His blood froze. THOOM. Louder. Closer. THOOM. Elder Chang's prophecy roared in his mind: Listen to their heartbeats! It was here. The leviathan from John's video was in Jiangcheng.

"FAT WANG!" Future-Ethan shouted through the storm. He scrambled back up the wall like a spider, fingers finding cracks, boots slipping on wet stone. In seconds, he was outside Wang Zi Chen's bedroom window. He pulled the Terminus Shard from around his neck and slammed its pommel against the glass.

THUD! It held. Bulletproof. Wang Zi Chen bolted upright, blinking away sleep. When he saw the wild-eyed, rain-soaked face at his window, he lunged and fumbled the latch open.

"What's happening, Ethan?" Wang gasped, pulling him inside.

THOOM. THOOM. THOOM. The heartbeat drummed now, impossible to ignore. A sound of doom. Wang Zi Chen's face paled. "It's… here?!"

"Call John! We leave NOW!" Future-Ethan grabbed Wang's car keys from the dresser and pulled him toward the door. His combat-honed strength made resistance pointless. They stumbled down the stairs and into the garage. Wang fumbled with his phone, hitting speed dial. He stared at the screen as horror dawned.

"No signal!" Just as John warned. Where the monster walks, silence follows.

"Drive!" Future-Ethan shoved the keys into Wang's shaking hands and jumped into the passenger seat. "Head to John's!"

Wang jammed the key into the ignition. "Wait! The armored truck! In the back garage! It's—"

"NO TIME!" Future-Ethan's voice cracked like a whip. "Drive or we die here!"

Wang flinched and slammed his foot down. The sports car roared to life, tires screeching on the wet concrete as they shot into the pouring night.

They raced toward the city outskirts, toward John's bunker. Future-Ethan scanned the storm-lashed darkness. Another flash of lightning. It illuminated the horizon. The massive shadow he'd seen earlier was directly ahead. Exactly where John's bunker stood.

"TURN AROUND!" Future-Ethan screamed, fear rising in his voice. "THAT'S THE MONSTER! IT'S ON JOHN!"

"What?!" Wang Zi Chen swerved, panic flaring. "But John—!"

Realization hit Future-Ethan like a physical blow. That's why John never warned us… He had already stepped into the silence, swallowed by the leviathan's shadow, cut off from the world.