Chapter 4 – The Man Who Sacrificed Himself
00:29
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Every heartbeat echoed with the relentless countdown.
The crowded street dissolved into chaos.
People screamed.
Parents grabbed their children.
The bakery owner dropped to her knees, unable to believe that the colorful cupcake cart she had proudly pushed onto the sidewalk every morning now concealed enough explosives to destroy the entire block.
Emma stood frozen.
She couldn't understand why everyone was running.
"Grandpa..."
"Why is everyone leaving us?"
The old man pulled her tightly into his arms.
"We're getting out of here."
Now."
But Richard wasn't moving.
Instead, he stared at the bomb.
His face had gone pale.
"I know this device."
The silver-haired man smiled from across the street.
"Of course you do."
"You designed it."
The old man turned sharply.
"What did he just say?"
Richard slowly lowered his head.
"I used to work for him."
Silence.
"I wasn't always an honest man."
Years ago, Richard had been one of the country's top military engineers, secretly recruited by a powerful criminal organization disguised as a global security corporation.
He had designed surveillance systems.
Armored vehicles.
Military-grade explosives.
He told himself he was protecting nations.
Until he discovered who his employers really were.
By then...
It was already too late.
"They owned everything," Richard whispered.
"The police."
"The courts."
"The politicians."
"And anyone who tried to leave..."
"They erased."
Emma's mother stared at him with tears in her eyes.
"You never told me."
"I wanted you to hate me."
"It was safer that way."
The old man could barely breathe.
Everything he had believed for twenty-three years had been a lie.
Richard hadn't stolen his daughter.
He had been hiding her from monsters.
The timer flashed again.
00:18
The silver-haired man checked his watch.
"You have eighteen seconds."
"Choose."
"The child..."
"Or yourselves."
Richard's eyes locked onto the bomb.
Then onto Emma.
He smiled sadly.
For the first time...
Not like a powerful businessman.
Not like a man carrying endless secrets.
But like a father.
He knelt before Emma.
"You remember what I taught you?"
She nodded through tears.
"Always be brave."
He kissed her forehead.
"I'm so proud of you."
Emma wrapped her tiny arms around his neck.
"Daddy..."
"Come with us."
Richard forced a smile.
"I'll be right behind you."
But everyone knew he was lying.
He sprinted toward the cupcake cart.
The old man shouted,
"Richard, don't!"
Richard ignored him.
He ripped open the metal panel beneath the cart.
A tangled maze of wires appeared.
Red.
Blue.
Yellow.
Green.
The timer kept falling.
00:11
His hands moved with incredible speed.
Years of experience returned in an instant.
Behind him, the silver-haired man laughed.
"Even if you stop that one..."
"You'll never stop the others."
Richard froze.
"The others?"
The old man looked around.
His blood turned to ice.
Across the square...
Three flower stands.
Two newspaper boxes.
A parked delivery van.
Every one of them flashed with the same tiny red light.
Not one bomb.
Not two.
An entire network.
The silver-haired man spread his arms and smiled.
"This city was never the target."
He pointed directly at Emma.
"She was."
Richard's eyes widened.
"No..."
The villain pressed another button on the remote.
A giant digital screen on the nearby bank suddenly lit up.
Instead of advertisements...
It displayed an old photograph.
A newborn baby.
Wrapped in a hospital blanket.
Below it were six chilling words:
"Subject Zero Has Finally Been Found."
Emma stared at the screen in confusion.
"Mommy..."
"Who's Subject Zero?"
No one answered.
Because every adult standing there realized the horrifying truth at exactly the same moment.
Emma hadn't become a target because she was someone's granddaughter.
She had been the target...
May you like
Since the day she was born.
To Be Continued...
