Log 16
Tactical Shift
The sky over Kalsora was iron gray.
From the moment we stepped off the military transport aircraft, the wind carried a kind of cold that did not belong to the tropics.
It was not the temperature. It was a national cold—an institutionalized vigilance.
There were no extra greetings here. No reporters. No smiles.
Only frigid security gates, flickering infrared beams, and an official welcome delivered in a perfectly rehearsed tone:
“Welcome to Kalsora. Please comply with operational protocol.”
Wai Hing, Man Man, Chee Yan, Mun Tseng, and I—five of us in total.
MCS’s first official cross-border operation.
We had been assigned to work with Kalsora’s special operations unit: Raptor.
They were the most mysterious force in this country. Their speed, firepower, and discipline were almost legendary.
Their commander carried the codename “Eagle Eye.” His real name was unknown.
Eagle Eye was younger than I had expected.
Early thirties. No battlefield weariness on his face—only the cold precision of an actuary.
He extended his hand.
“Loke Tin Kay—the legendary dream walker.”
“Legends are lies told three times,” I replied.
He smiled—a smile like a polygraph flashing green.
“Our mission is simple—find Lau Zi Him. Alive or dead.
But in Kalsora, we talk about results, not methods.”
“Results are always inside the method,” I said.
He nodded. “Then try.”
Raptor headquarters was housed in an abandoned oil depot inside the border naval district.
A sign outside read Energy Research Center.
The real entrance lay at the bottom of a fuel tank.
Down the shaft, the air smelled of iron and disinfectant.
We changed into ballistic tactical gear. Each vest bore a temporary callsign.
Mine was O-1.
Kalsorans did not use names in the field—only functions.
They did not trust emotion to assist judgment.
“Operation codename: Dead Line,” Eagle Eye announced during the briefing.
“We have intelligence that Lau Zi Him’s accomplice—former AquaVault engineer Radek—has appeared at the northern port’s ‘Gray Alley Market.’
It is the largest arms black market in Kalsora. No police. Only money.
Your task is to assist in confirming Radek’s identity, capture him alive, and interrogate him.
Do not fire unless forced.”
I nodded. “Understood.”
Wai Hing added quietly, “He won’t let us not be forced.”
Eagle Eye glanced at him. “Old cop’s instinct?”
“Old criminal’s habit,” Wai Hing replied.
Gray Alley Market lived up to its name.
Its sky was permanently gray.
Once a dormitory district for dockworkers, it had become the nation’s smuggling nexus.
Weapons, chips, drugs, people—everything was for sale, if you dared.
We split into two teams.
Eagle Eye, Wai Hing, and I advanced.
Man Man, Chee Yan, and Mun Tseng monitored from the rear.
“Target position?” I asked.
Chee Yan’s voice came through the earpiece. “South sector, Warehouse B17. Radek’s been trading near there for three days. Likely meeting inside.”
“Understood. Maintain narrow-band. No independent moves.”
The alleys twisted like a maze.
Oil stains, concrete dust, and gun lubricant merged into a thick film underfoot.
Each step made a sticky sound.
“B17 is two hundred meters ahead,” Eagle Eye whispered. “All surveillance in this zone is blacked out. Anyone can disappear.”
I signaled for reduced speed.
A shadow flickered at the mouth of a dark alley to our left.
I gestured: three individuals, approach from the right.
Eagle Eye signaled: you first.
We moved along the wall.
Light spilled from the warehouse entrance—harsh and white.
I used a reflective mirror to sweep the corner.
Radek was inside.
Seated at a metal table. Two unfamiliar men across from him.
A crate of chips sat between them.
They were negotiating.
I could not hear clearly—only one sentence drifted out:
“…once the Z-Line activates, the whole world will lose sleep.”
“Z-Line?” I murmured.
Eagle Eye’s eyes sharpened.
“That’s an extension module of MORPHEUS—‘Zeta Protocol.’ It controls synchronized input between dreams and reality.
Simply put, it keeps people permanently awake.”
“Like a living hell.”
“Yes.”
A weight settled in my chest.
The crate in Radek’s hands was not contraband. It was a fuse.
I signaled: synchronized breach in one minute.
Eagle Eye nodded.
Three.
Two.
One—
I kicked the door.
The metal door burst inward with a deafening clang.
The two men instinctively drew their weapons.
Eagle Eye fired a precise electromagnetic round into one man’s chest—electric arcs flared; he collapsed.
I lunged for Radek. He flipped the table in retaliation.
Chips scattered across the floor like ice.
He drew a knife—fast, ruthless, precise.
I blocked with my left arm; the blade scraped across my armor, sparks flying.
I counterpunched his jaw. He staggered.
Eagle Eye kicked the knife from his hand; it embedded into the wall.
Wai Hing had already circled behind, locking him down in a grappling hold.
Radek was subdued.
Blood flowed from his mouth. He was still smiling.
“You think catching me ends it?”
“We just want you to talk,” I said coldly.
“Talk? Are you worthy of listening?”
Eagle Eye slapped him. Hard.
Blood splattered.
“In Kalsora, that sentence doesn’t earn respect.”
Radek coughed blood, still smiling.
“He’s smarter than you… Doctor Lau… is no longer among the living.”
The words slid like ice down my spine.
I stared at him. “What did you say?”
“The one you escorted was a substitute. The real one uploaded himself from the consciousness layer two hours before the transfer—using the Zeta sub-line.
Now he lives anywhere there is internet access.”
Cold hollowed my chest.
Chee Yan’s voice cut in urgently. “Sir, I’m receiving encrypted interference… someone is breaching our channel.”
“Shut down external networks!” I barked.
Eagle Eye pressed his gun to Radek’s forehead. “Coordinates. Now.”
Radek laughed softly. “In your heart.”
“Joke?”
“No. He wants to find you first.”
The next second, a voice filled my earpiece.
“Tin Kay. Long time no see.”
Lau Zi Him.
I froze. The voice was gentle—like someone who had just woken up.
“I didn’t expect my students to reach Rayleigh so quickly.
And you even brought friends?
Don’t strain yourselves.
This time, I will make the whole world awaken.
I will turn dreams into—judgment.”
The signal cut.
Silence swallowed the room.
Radek whispered, “He’s already begun.”
I grabbed his collar. “Where?!”
He spat two words:
“Sky—Net.”
Then he bit down on the cyanide capsule hidden in his mouth.
In his final second, he was still smiling.
The smile looked like madness.
It looked like faith.
Eagle Eye cursed and checked his pulse.
“He’s dead.”
“No,” I said quietly. “He just went back to his master.”
We returned the body to Black Cetus headquarters.
The medical officer confirmed—cyanide. Instant death.
Custom-fitted capsule under the tongue.
Which meant Radek had entered controlled—not fleeing.
“He was luring us,” Eagle Eye said.
“To where?”
“To the trap he set himself.”
Chee Yan analyzed fragments of the chips. The code structure matched the Beta layer—but with an additional protocol header: Z-PROT/Ω.
Nori responded remotely:
“That’s the final channel designation for the Z-Line. Cross-region synchronization, real-time heartbeat feedback. In other words—he can use humans as servers.”
I said nothing.
“This is what he meant by ‘making the world awake,’” Man Man murmured.
“No,” Wai Hing corrected. “It’s making the world incapable of dreaming.”
In that moment, I understood.
This was no longer an arrest.
It was war.
Eagle Eye turned to me. “How do you want to fight it?”
“We need manpower. Time. A map.”
“Give me a reason.”
“Because he’ll strike first. We don’t have a choice.”
He was silent for two seconds. Then nodded.
“You command. I support.”
His tone sounded like a soldier—and like a general.
He knew how to obey. He knew how to choose the battlefield.
We used Radek’s body as bait.
Chee Yan simulated his phone transmission pattern, sending out a message indicating the deal had succeeded.
Within fifteen minutes, someone took the hook.
Codename: CROW.
The exchange was brief:
—Radek, goods verified?
—Verified. Z-Line intact.
—Move to Iron Valley after cleanup.
Iron Valley—the abandoned steelworks district in northern Kalsora.
“That’s our next step,” I said.
“You’re sure?” Eagle Eye asked.
“I’m sure they won’t let Radek die for nothing.”
“Then prepare.
We’ll let them know—
in Kalsora, even death requires authorization.”
He smiled—a cruel smile.
In that moment, I began to understand why this country felt so cold.
Because too much hot blood had already been forged into discipline.
That night, Chee Yan said quietly, “Sir, I think he’s changed.”
“Who?”
“Lau Zi Him. That message wasn’t provocation. It was… an invitation.”
“Invitation?”
“Yes. He wants you inside his ‘new dream.’ He’s waiting.”
I nodded. “Then let’s not keep him waiting.”
The wind rose again outside the window.
I remembered what he had said in the interrogation room—
“The one who stops pain is called a criminal.”
Perhaps to him, dreams were salvation.
Reality was the curse.
And I was merely another patient dragged into his dream.
But I knew—
When dreams end,
war begins.