In his luxurious apartment overlooking a sea of lights, Kairn wasn't celebrating. He was working. The screen before him displayed a complex web of information: stock movements of "Damian Corp," news reports about "Professor Finch" and his new discovery, and even faint interactions on the city's elite social media. He was observing the ripples caused by the pebble he'd cast.
"The scenario has been burned," he thought coldly, watching an image of Isabella leaving the charity gala with a grim expression, while Damian maintained a cold distance from her. "Her power lay in knowing the future, but when that future changes, her knowledge turns into a burden, into doubt, into weakness."
He had anticipated her reaction. Incarnations who rely on "plot" have predictable patterns. When their meticulous plans fail, they abandon subtle deception and manipulation, resorting to more direct... and more foolish methods.
"She'll try to eliminate the variable she can't control," Kairn whispered to himself. "She'll try to get to Clara."
This wasn't mere conjecture. It was a cold analysis of human nature (or what remained of it in Incarnations). Isabella, having lost her trump card—the "Neural Regeneration Formula"—wouldn't give up the grand prize, Damian and his company. To set things right, or at least to disrupt her new rivals, she would attack the source directly.
Accessing the information networks again, Kairn began to monitor Isabella's digital activities. He couldn't see her private messages—the System didn't grant him such omnipotence—but he could see her traces. Suspicious financial transfers to unregistered accounts, searches for disreputable "private investigators," inquiries about Clara's university lecture schedules.
"As expected. A panicked prey making desperate moves," Kairn thought, a faint smile on his lips. "And that makes her easy to hunt."
Kairn had no intention of directly protecting Clara. That might make him a new variable in the equation and complicate matters. His plan was more cunning. He would let Isabella set her own trap, then he would spring it on her.
He found that Clara, thanks to Professor Finch's support, had moved to a private, high-tech research lab on campus, where she spent most of her time, often late into the night, engrossed in her research with renewed enthusiasm.
Using another digital identity, Kairn sent an anonymous message to one of the investigators Isabella had hired, pretending to be an "inside source" from the university.
The message:"That girl Clara. She'll be alone in the 'North Wing' lab tonight after midnight. The security systems in that wing are old and faulty. Perfect opportunity to 'recover' some important data."
This was the bait. Simple, direct, and exploiting Isabella's desperation and need to act quickly.
Then, he made his second move. He sent another email, this time to the head of security at "Damian Corp," pretending to be a concerned university security employee.
The message:"Sir, I have reliable information that 'Biogene' is planning to steal data from researcher Clara's lab tonight, to disrupt her potential partnership with Professor Finch. They are targeting the North Wing after midnight. If you move quickly, you might be able to catch them in the act and protect a potential future asset."
He had put the chess pieces in place. Isabella would think she was attacking Clara to steal her research. And Damian, now suspicious of everything and fearing the loss of another opportunity, would send his security team to "protect a potential investment" and apprehend the "industrial spy."
The wolf would fall into a trap it had set for others.
---
It was 2 AM. Clara had left the lab an hour earlier, based on a "sudden advice" from Professor Finch, who had called her and told her to get some rest. The call, of course, was not from the professor, but a digitally altered call made by Kairn.
In the darkness, three men dressed in black approached the North Wing lab. They moved confidently, believing their mission was easy. They managed to disable the old electronic locks with ease and entered the dark lab.
"Look for any data servers or notebooks," their leader whispered.
But before they could take another step, powerful spotlights illuminated them from all sides, and more than a dozen heavily armed security personnel, wearing "Damian Corp" security uniforms, surrounded them.
"Don't move! You're surrounded!" shouted the security team leader.
---
The next day, the scandal erupted. Newspapers and news websites were talking about a "failed industrial espionage attempt" on Clara's revolutionary research, and the arrest of three "corporate thieves."
It didn't take long for the three men, under pressure from Damian's legal team, to admit that they had been hired by "Isabella."
That was the end.
Kairn watched from his apartment as Isabella's life crumbled. Damian publicly severed all ties with her, issuing a statement condemning "unethical methods." Her family, which had been relying on her connection to Damian to save them from bankruptcy, declared bankruptcy within hours. Her social reputation turned to ashes.
She had been completely neutralized, without Kairn firing a single bullet or striking a single blow.
A series of messages appeared before him:
[Temporal Anomaly Neutralized: Isabella.]
[Core Paradox Corrected: "Neural Regeneration Formula" now on a secure trajectory.]
[Timeline Stability: 99.98%.]
[Mission Complete.]
[Evaluating Performance...]
[Performance Evaluation: S (Superior). Paradox corrected with high efficiency and minimal direct intervention. Additional reward applied.]**
[Temporal Debt Collected: 6,000 Chrono Units.]
[New Skill Acquired: "Minor Temporal Stasis" (Ability to momentarily freeze the movement of a small inanimate object).]**
[Personal Debt: -9,876,540,300 Chrono Units.]
Kairn looked at the numbers coldly. Six thousand units were just a grain of sand removed from the mountain of his immense debt. But the new skill was interesting.
He was about to ask the System to return him to the Nexus when a new message flashed before him, this time in a warning red.
[Warning! Rogue Debt Collector detected in Target World: Delta-7b. Anomaly Level: High.]
[New Contract Issued: Emergency.]
[Objective: Neutralize Rogue Collector "The Crow" and retrieve the "Echo of Time" he stole.]
Kairn's eyes widened slightly for the first time since his arrival in this world. Another debt collector? Here? "Rogue"? That meant he was operating outside the System's control.
A cold, dangerous smile appeared on his lips. "So, there are other players in this damned game."
It seemed his mission in this peaceful world wasn't over yet. Perhaps... it had only just begun.