Chapter 37: Invisible Shockwaves

In the twenty-four hours that followed Qin Mo's silent, digital assault, three pillars of the Prometheus Initiative's regional operations crumbled into dust.

The first to fall was the money. In his penthouse office overlooking the glittering expanse of New Shanghai's financial district, Executive Director Liao Wen was in the middle of a conference call, arrogantly dictating terms to a corporate rival. That was when his door burst open. A team of stern-faced investigators from the Tianxia Concord's Financial Crimes Division stormed in, presenting him with a warrant that made his blood run cold. His secret offshore accounts, the lifeblood of a dozen black projects including "Mistletoe," had been discovered. An anonymous, untraceable tip, complete with a decade's worth of incriminating transaction logs, had appeared on the agency's secure server an hour ago. As he was being dragged away in handcuffs, his corporate empire began to implode.

The second to fall was the political cover. High-ranking city official Guan Shan was leaving his office, looking forward to a quiet evening, when he was swarmed by a pack of aggressive reporters. "Director Guan!" a journalist from a notoriously ruthless online news agency yelled, shoving a microphone in his face. "Can you comment on these leaked documents that prove your connection to the illegal experiments at the 'Silent Lab'?" The disgraced official could only stare in horror as the news of the scandal hit the net, a digital wildfire that incinerated his career and severed a key artery of Prometheus's political influence in an instant.

The third to fall was the sword. Jiao Long, the elite assassin codenamed 'Specter', and his team were attempting to cross the border into a neighboring sector under false identities. They were stopped at a routine security checkpoint. What should have been a simple scan of their documents turned into a full-scale tactical alert. The border security force, acting on an anonymous tip about a "terrorist cell carrying illegal bio-agents," descended upon them with overwhelming force. Caught completely by surprise and unwilling to cause a public bloodbath, Specter and his team were captured before they could even draw their weapons. They vanished from the world, swallowed by a government black site.

In a dark, encrypted, virtual boardroom, the remaining regional leaders of the Prometheus Initiative convened in a state of pure, unadulterated panic. Three critical, high-level assets, all connected to a single, top-secret operation, had been surgically and simultaneously removed from the board in three completely different ways—a financial investigation, a media scandal, and a security trap.

This wasn't a coincidence. This was a perfectly coordinated, multi-pronged attack. It was the work of a ghost, an invisible enemy that could manipulate the government, the media, and their own finances at will. They were fighting a war against a foe they couldn't see, couldn't find, and couldn't comprehend. The name 'Oracle' was whispered with a new, profound sense of terror.

In the secure digital space of the [Analysis_Core], Su Liying and her new team were watching the world burn. The public news was on fire with the seemingly unrelated scandals. To the rest of the world, it was a chaotic but coincidental series of events. To Su Liying, who held the decrypted personnel roster from the Silent Lab, it was a terrifyingly clear picture.

"Chief... you need to see this," DataGeek typed, his message laced with awe. "The executive, Liao Wen... the official, Guan Shan... and according to the mercenary forums, the leader of the captured 'terrorist cell' was Jiao Long... they're all on our roster. They're all flagged as key personnel for a high-level operation."

The members of the Analysis Core stared at the data, the implication dawning on them. "Are you saying... this was us?" Chronicler whispered. "Did Oracle... did he do all of this?"

Su Liying's fingers felt cold as she typed. She had spent the last week meticulously analyzing Prometheus's structure, trying to find a weakness to recommend for their next mission. And in the space of a single afternoon, Oracle had single-handedly decapitated a plot she hadn't even known existed. The sheer scale and efficiency of it was beyond comprehension.

She compiled her team's findings into a concise, chilling report for the Inner Circle. She didn't have to state the conclusion. It was screaming from every line of data. An unknown force, with god-like intelligence and influence, was waging a silent war on their behalf, and its name was Oracle.

The report landed in [Channel: Zero], and even the veteran members were stunned into silence.

Hephaestus: "By the forge... a financial takedown, a political execution, and a black ops arrest, all in a single day, without a single shot fired from our side? The boy's not just playing chess; he's playing three different games on three different boards at the same time and winning all of them simultaneously."

Old-Man-Jiang: "This is a new level of warfare. It's... total. He didn't just defeat the enemy; he made the enemy's own systems devour them. This is a profound strategic lesson in asymmetrical warfare."

It was Lin Mei who voiced the question that was on all of their minds, a question born of both awe and a sudden, sharp insecurity. Nomad-Lead: "So while we were preparing for our next mission... he had already won the war. What... what does he need us for, then?"

The question hung in the channel, a moment of existential doubt for this new organization. If their leader was an omnipotent god, what was the point of his soldiers?

Oracle came online. His reply was not a reassurance; it was a clarification of their purpose.

Oracle: I can dismantle their digital and political structures from the shadows. I can see their plans before they are enacted. But I am an observer. I am a single consciousness. Oracle: I cannot be everywhere at once. I cannot personally guard every asset. I cannot stop every bullet. I cannot retrieve every piece of physical evidence from a sealed government facility.

Oracle: I am the eye in the sky. I am the ghost in the machine. But you, the members of Project Zero... you are my hands and my sword on the ground. Oracle: I neutralized a plot. Your turn is coming.

As if to punctuate his statement, a new bounty appeared on the board, a direct consequence of the chaos he had just created.

[INVESTIGATIVE BOUNTY: The Black Site Confession - ID: 2002]

[OBJECTIVE: The 'Specter' team is being held for interrogation at the 'Dragon's Maw' government black site. One of the team members is already attempting to cut a deal in exchange for a lighter sentence. We need to know what he is telling them.]

[REWARD: 1500 Contribution Points (CP).]

The next day, in the mundane world of the New Shanghai Sector 7 Central Awakening Academy, Qin Mo walked through the crowded halls. He saw the news reports playing on the school's public screens, detailing the scandals that were shaking the city. He saw the students whispering, oblivious to the true story behind the headlines.

Then his gaze fell on Su Liying.

She was standing by her locker, talking with a friend, but her attention was elsewhere. She looked up, and her eyes met his from across the hall. The look in her eyes was different now. The intense, burning curiosity was gone. The suspicion was gone.

It had been replaced by a new, profound, and almost terrifying reverence.

She didn't just suspect he was Oracle anymore. She was beginning to understand what that name truly, frighteningly meant.

The silent game between them had just been elevated to a whole new level.