**10:00**
The computerized voice echoed through every carriage.
**"PROTOCOL ASHES ACTIVATED."**
**"All Phoenix records will self-destruct in ten minutes."**
Red emergency lights flashed throughout the Midnight Train.
The once elegant compartments were now bathed in crimson.
Smoke drifted through the shattered windows.
Outside, the helicopter circled above the railway, its spotlight sweeping back and forth across the train like the eye of a predator.
Lily stared at the glass case containing **The Complete Truth**.
So close...
Yet still beyond her reach.
Jonathan looked around the compartment.
"There has to be another release mechanism."
Lucas was already searching the walls.
Every second mattered.
Every heartbeat counted.
---
### **9:17**
Another explosion rocked the train
