The tunnels curved downward, swallowing the team in layers of echoing dark. Each step stirred up clouds of dust and age-old rust, mixing with the smell of scorched metal. Dim blue lights pulsed along the walls — the residue of Elysium’s neural lattice, long dormant but still breathing faintly, like a sleeping giant.
Ethan led the way, his pulse syncing involuntarily with the glow. Each flicker seemed to answer him — soft waves of light tracing the rhythm of his heartbeat. It was as if the network remembered him.
“Sector 09 should be another three levels down,” Hannah murmured, checking the scanner on her wrist. “But these passages weren’t on any Resistance map.”
“That’s because they weren’t built by the Facility,” Dr. Myles said quietly. Her tone carried a weight of guilt. “These tunnel
