The weight of her decision settled over Seojin like a noose.
Xiang Wu had given her the truth—or at least, a version of it. Project Nocturne. Her father's involvement. The war that was about to unfold.
But just because she had chosen to fight didn't mean she trusted him.
She couldn't.
She wouldn't.
"Where do we start?" Seojin asked, her voice void of emotion.
Xiang Wu didn't hesitate. "We find what's left of Project Nocturne."
A few keystrokes on the console and another classified file appeared on the screen. A new set of coordinates flashed—somewhere deep within the Himalayan mountains.
Minji frowned. "That's… an abandoned research facility."
Xiang Wu nodded. "Not just any facility. It was your father's last known location before he disappeared."
Seojin's heart skipped.
Kade glanced at her. "Are you sure about this?"
Seojin took a deep breath. "I need answers."
Even if she wasn't sure she could handle them.
The trip to the Himalayas was grueling. Seojin, Kade, and Minji boarded a private jet, provided by Xiang Wu's network. It felt wrong, working with him, but for now, they needed his resources.
The facility was hidden high in the mountains, its entrance buried beneath layers of ice and rock. It had been abandoned for years, yet the security was still intact—automated defense systems, motion sensors, surveillance drones.
"Someone still wants to keep people out," Kade muttered as they approached the entrance.
"Or keep something in," Minji added.
Seojin didn't like the sound of that.
They bypassed the security using a stolen clearance code from Xiang Wu. Inside, the air was stale, filled with the scent of old machinery and dust.
The walls were lined with abandoned research stations, broken monitors flashing with static.
Seojin's fingers traced over the faded logo on one of the walls.
Project Nocturne.
Her father had walked these halls. He had worked here, built something here.
But what?
As they ventured deeper into the facility, Minji suddenly stopped. "Guys… look at this."
She pointed at a glass chamber at the center of the room.
Inside, lying on a medical table, was a man.
A man who should have been dead.
Seojin's blood ran cold.
"Is that…?" Kade whispered.
Her father.
Seojin's hands trembled as she approached the glass. Her father lay motionless, preserved, connected to tubes and wires, his body unnaturally still.
Minji scanned the system. "He's alive. Barely."
Seojin's breath caught in her throat. "How?"
Kade moved toward the terminal, reading the old data files. His face hardened.
"This isn't a prison," he muttered. "It's a cryostasis chamber."
Seojin's stomach turned.
They hadn't killed her father. They had kept him alive.
But why?
Minji's voice was tight. "Seojin… there's something else here."
She pulled up a file on the nearby monitor.
PROJECT NOCTURNE: PHASE TWO
STATUS: ON HOLD.
The description made Seojin's blood freeze.
The compliance system had only been Phase One.
Her father had been kept alive because he was the only one who knew how to activate Phase Two.
Seojin's mind raced. If Phase One had been about controlling people…
Then what the hell was Phase Two?
Seojin turned to the terminal. A choice loomed before her.
She could wake her father—demand answers, force the truth out of him.
Or she could end it now—shut down the system, erase Project Nocturne before it could ever be used.
Her hands hovered over the controls.
Kade and Minji were waiting for her decision.
Her father's life.
The fate of the world.
The secrets of the past.
Which one mattered most?
Seojin took a deep breath.
And made her choice.
End of Chapter 113