I Got a Notification on my Laptop and Got Legendary Powers-Chapter 53: The Edge of Silence

The world outside the transit station was eerily still. A thin layer of mist clung to the crumbling streets, and distant neon signs flickered weakly, their messages garbled and broken. The city had always been quiet, but this was different. It wasn't just abandoned—it felt watched.

Yumi adjusted the strap of her bag, her fingers instinctively checking the data crystal tucked inside. They had barely gotten a chance to breathe, but her mind was still running through everything they had learned. The Abyss Terminal. The Reset. The fact that she wasn't just interacting with the Echo—she was somehow part of it in a way no one else was.

She hated how Azrael's words stuck in her head. You were never meant to exist within this system.

Eli stretched, groaning. "I know we said we'd take a break, but I kinda hate sitting still. Feels like the universe is about to drop another disaster on us."

Arjun scoffed, still tapping away at his console. "That's because it probably is."

Yumi glanced at him. "You find anything?"

Arjun sighed, rubbing his temples. "Yeah. And you're not gonna like it."

He turned his screen towards them. The display showed a shifting mass of code, its structure unstable, writhing like a living organism.

"The Abyss Terminal is... changing."

Azrael stepped closer, eyes narrowing. "Explain."

Arjun ran a hand through his hair, his exhaustion evident. "The Echo's core isn't static. It adapts, reconfigures itself. But the deeper you go, the less structured it becomes." He tapped the screen. "The Terminal was supposed to be the deepest readable layer of the Echo. A place where data loops endlessly, consuming itself. But this—" He gestured to the shifting mass. "It's evolving."

Yumi frowned. "You're saying the Echo is rewriting itself?"

"More like something is rewriting it." Arjun's expression darkened. "And it's not us."

A cold silence settled over them.

Eli exhaled. "Awesome. Love that for us."

Azrael turned to Yumi. "If the structure is unstable, it means we don't have time to waste. If the Abyss is changing, the trigger might already be moving deeper."

Yumi tightened her grip on her bag. So much for slowing down.

She met Azrael's gaze. "Then we go now."

The entrance to the Abyss Terminal was hidden deep beneath the old city, in a sector long since condemned. They followed a network of underground tunnels, each step leading them further away from the surface.

The deeper they went, the more reality seemed to warp around them. Walls that once held structure now flickered with static. Shadows stretched unnaturally, shapes twisting into things that shouldn't exist.

Eli muttered under his breath, "I swear, if something jumps out at us—"

The tunnel suddenly collapsed behind them.

Dust and debris shot forward, forcing them to stumble ahead. The path they had just walked was gone, consumed by a swirling void of digital distortion.

"Okay," Eli wheezed. "Not exactly what I meant, but sure."

Yumi's pulse raced. "It's closing behind us."

Azrael didn't hesitate. "Then we don't stop moving."

The tunnel sloped downward, and soon they reached a vast underground cavern, lit only by flickering screens embedded in the walls. Each screen showed glimpses of different realities, fractured and unstable—echoes of lives that might have existed, or still did, somewhere within the system.

And at the center of the cavern, a door stood waiting.

It was unlike anything they had seen before—tall, monolithic, formed from shifting code. Lines of unreadable symbols ran across its surface, pulsing like a heartbeat.

Arjun inhaled sharply. "That's it."

Yumi took a step forward. As soon as she got close, the symbols reacted, shifting to form a message.

ACCESS RESTRICTED.

IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED.

A familiar pulse of energy surged through her veins. The same feeling she had when she interfaced with the Guardian.

Azrael was watching her closely. "It's responding to you."

Yumi hesitated. Then, slowly, she placed her hand against the door.

A sharp shock ran through her mind.

For an instant, she was nowhere and everywhere at once. She saw glimpses of the Echo—its endless corridors, its fractured memories. And at the center of it all, a figure stood waiting.

Not Azrael. Not Lucid.

Someone else.

A voice echoed through the abyss.

"You're finally here."

Visit freewёbnoνel.com for the best novel reading experience.

Yumi gasped, yanked back into reality. The door in front of her unlocked, splitting open with a deep, reverberating hum.

Eli whistled. "Okay. That was either really good or really, really bad."

Azrael's expression was unreadable. "There's only one way to find out."

Beyond the threshold, the path into the Abyss Terminal awaited.

And someone was waiting for Yumi on the other side.