Chapter 176: The Night That Didn’t Sleep 2

Meanwhile, A different kind of storm broke out.

Not in the skies. But online.

It began quietly.

A single post. Then another.

Then suddenly— every feed, every forum, every corner of the internet seemed to pulse with the same name.

Themis.

She had released a new piece.

At first glance, it looked like just another article—long, dense, almost academic in tone. But those who clicked out of curiosity found themselves pulled into something far stranger.

She wrote about a forgotten language of Azuverda.

An ancient tongue no one remembered.

There were no records in modern databases. No verified origin.

And yet— her post was meticulous, structured, and convincing.

She cited fragmented manuscripts, archived forums buried deep in the web, and obscure texts attributed to authors no one could trace.

Names that existed—until you tried to find them and could not.

The deeper people dug, the stranger it became.

“What the hell is this alphabet?”

“Is this real?”

“Why does this feel… familiar but unfamiliar?”

The post spread like wildfire. Threads dissecting every line.

Within hours, Themis was climbing the trending charts, clinging to headlines like a persistent shadow.

And just as the world began to fixate—

Another piece surfaced.

There was no name, no identity.

Just an anonymous upload. At first, people dismissed it.

Until they opened it, and silence followed.

Then—it exploded like fireworks.

It was a detailed map.

Labeled in careful strokes was a place no one had ever seen in reality—

Hevenfort Palace.

Corridors twisted like a labyrinth.

Hidden passages marked with deliberate intent.

Rooms annotated with symbols that some claimed resembled fragments of Azurverda itself.

The post came with a single statement:

“Drawn based on the descriptions from Themis’ work.”

That should have made it fiction.

An imagination, a fan creation.

But something about it felt… wrong.

It was too coherent and too intentional.

As if it wasn’t inspired— but remembered.

Threads ignited instantly.

“Wait—this matches the structure uncovered in Isla. The walls and the East Gate.”

“No way someone just MADE this.”

“Or… is this real?”

The internet didn’t just buzz anymore.

It roared because of two unknown creators.

No faces. No identities.

Yet somehow, they were building something.

Piece by piece.

And without realizing it—

Millions were already watching.

Waiting.

Falling deeper into a mystery that no one could yet explain.

…

What had started as whispers—fragments of theory, scattered posts, half-believed myths—had now become a full-blown frenzy.

And nothing escaped his notice.

The nameless man known only as X.

Not when it reached this scale.

Deep beneath layers of reinforced steel and silence, inside a chamber that officially did not exist, X sat in the dim glow of countless monitors.

Screens covered the walls from floor to ceiling.

Dozens. No— Hundreds.

Each one alive with information.

News broadcasts. Live excavation feeds.

Forum discussions scrolling at impossible speed.

Stock market tickers flashing green.

Every angle. Every reaction.

Every lie—and every truth buried beneath it.

On one screen, drones hovered over Isla Island, capturing footage of the ongoing excavation—workers like ants against ancient stone, dust rising as if something long asleep was being disturbed.

On another, headlines screamed:

“The Lost Empire of Azurverda—Myth or History?”

“Unearthed Clues Suggest a Forgotten Civilization”

“Are the Zuvels Descendants of Royal Blood?”

X’s gaze lingered there. The rumors had evolved.

They always did.

Now, they spoke of bloodlines.

Of power that never truly vanished—only changed hands.

The name Kromwels resurfaced like a ghost dragged from the depths of time.

An ancient royal family. Rulers of Azurverda.

Said to have governed an empire that endured for centuries before it disappeared without a trace.

And now—

The narrative twisting itself into something dangerous: That the Zuvels were not merely wealthy.

Not merely powerful.

But heirs to something far older.

Far greater.

X leaned back slightly, fingers steepled, eyes reflecting the flickering chaos of the screens.

“Damn It…” he cursed.

Because while the world chased myths—he watched the numbers.

And numbers never lied.

Another screen pulsed.

Zuvel Conglomerate — Stock Price: Rising.

Higher. And higher. And higher.

Billions flowed in like a tide that refused to recede.

Public curiosity had turned into market confidence. Speculation into investment.

And just like that—

A legend was becoming profit.

A faint smile touched X’s lips. He had seen it coming. Long before the first headline. Long before the first rumor.

Quietly, methodically, he had moved his pieces.

Orders given in silence. Assets redirected. Men deployed.

Land acquired, specifically—around Calma, a seemingly insignificant region.

Until it wasn’t.

Until Isla became the center of the world.

His gaze shifted to another screen—this one displaying a detailed land map.

Plots highlighted. Ownership records. Transactions.

His influence spread like veins across the terrain—

Carefully and strategically placed.

Controlled.

But then, he paused.

His expression dimmed.

Because there was one detail he had not anticipated.

One variable that refused to fall neatly into place.

“…Ares Zuvel.”

The name left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Almost the entire area surrounding Isla—

Didn’t belong to corporations.

Didn’t belong to the government.

It belonged to one man. to one family.

Ares Zuvel.

X’s fingers tapped lightly against the armrest.

He had managed to secure fragments.

Small portions of land purchased from desperate homeowners—people too blinded by immediate wealth to understand what they were giving up.

Fools! He muttered.

But even combined, they were not enough. Not when the core territory remained untouched.

Ares Zuvel was indeed a formidable opponent.

Because Ares would not sell, not a single inch.

And that was a problem.

X’s eyes narrowed slightly, the glow of the screens sharpening his features into something colder.

More calculating.

“…So you are already there,” he muttered.

Not luck. Not a coincidence.

That kind of positioning didn’t happen by accident.

Which meant Ares knew. Or at the very least, he suspected.

The room fell silent except for the hum of machines and the endless stream of data.

Outside, the world drowned in speculation.

Inside—

A far more dangerous game was unfolding.

And for the first time since this began—

X realized he wasn’t the only one who had been preparing.

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