The countdown on Mira’s laptop ticked down slowly.
03:48
The glowing white signal in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean pulsed like a heartbeat.
It was larger than any node I had seen so far.
Daniel leaned closer to the screen.
“That thing is huge.”
Mira nodded.
“Core nodes are the backbone of the Network.”
“How many exist?” I asked.
“Three.”
Daniel raised an eyebrow.
“Only three?”
“Yes.”
“And this is the first one to activate.”
I exhaled slowly.
“So whoever controls it gets a massive advantage.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel folded his arms.
“Viktor is definitely going for it.”
Mira zoomed out on the map.
“Actually…”
She pointed at two signals already moving toward the core node.
A dark red signal.
And a silver one.
Daniel squinted.
“Let me guess.”
Mira nodded.
“Viktor and Li
