Babel's Ledger: Zero Point

Chapter 20 — Plan Oasis: The Three-Day War

1. D-DAY: Prelude of the Heatwave, and the First Streams of Oasis

At last, the 'promised day' dawned. The murderous heatwave blanketing the entire Northern Hemisphere, as if in response to Kai's declaration, began to trap major metropolises within a colossal heat dome from its very first day with ferocious intensity. Metropolis, New Frankfurt, and Neo-Tokyo. These three cutting-edge cities, one after another, shattered all-time high temperature records, sweltering like blast furnaces, the entire urban infrastructure groaning towards its breaking point. The Babel Foundation's avaricious predictions were about to become brutal reality.

Inside the Parisian subterranean bunker, a giant hologram wall displayed the temperature fluctuations of the three cities alongside real-time power consumption graphs, which precariously flirted with the red line like a racing heartbeat. Kai and Lilith, after a night where they had acknowledged each other's presence and shared a brief but intense vow, had not slept a wink. Yet, their eyes, instead of showing fatigue, burned with the fierce light of warriors before a battle that would stake everything. Around them, vast amounts of data analyzed by their AIs, Micah and Cassandra, floated in dozens of auxiliary holographic windows, interweaving and shifting like living constellations as they checked for any final, overlooked variables.

Micah: "Master Kai, in New Frankfurt, during an emergency shutdown of the central cooling system, there's an average delay of 3.7 seconds before the backup system engages. If we can seize control within that 3.7-second window and overload the entire system… theoretically, it's possible. Of course, the probability of our infiltration traces being detected during that process would also increase exponentially. It would be like… performing a sword dance blindfolded on a tightrope."

Cassandra (to Lilith): "Mistress Lilith, due to Dr. Valerius's betrayal concerning Metropolis Substation No. 3, the internal information we previously secured is highly likely to be compromised. However, within the last data packet he handed over, there's a 0.023% probability of a cleverly concealed additional Backdoor (Backdoor: a secret passage designed to bypass system security) existing. It's an almost negligible chance, but it might be our only hope there."

Lilith: "All conditions are met, Kai. Metropolis Substation No. 3 is exactly 57 minutes from critical overload. The water level in New Frankfurt's central cooling system has already surpassed the danger mark, and Cassandra's analysis predicts a 98.7% chance of system shutdown within three hours. The anomalous vibrations in Neo-Tokyo's undersea power cable are also exceeding predicted ranges. The Babel Foundation's disaster scenario is just about to turn its first page. Now, this very instant, is the time."

Kai's gaze seemed to look beyond the vulnerability analysis data for each city's power grid, towards a larger picture – the avaricious face of 'Babel,' seeking astronomical profits from all this chaos. His eyes were those of a seasoned commander who had already fought countless invisible battles. A faint, yet chillingly confident smile, one that could overturn worlds, touched his lips.

Kai: "Very well. Our first objective is to shatter their arrogant 'predictions' and scatter ashes upon their extravagant banquet table. Lilith, deliver the final instructions to our inside collaborators in each city. Immediately… activate 'Plan Hades'!" At his command, the Parisian bunker transformed into the high command center of an invisible war. The breathtaking three-day war of finance and information had finally, bloodily, begun!

(Cross-cutting scenes: Parisian Bunker / Metropolis / New Frankfurt / Neo-Tokyo / London 'The Summit Club' Babel Foundation boardrooms and trading floors)

Metropolis Day+1: The Unquenchable Heart, A City's Miracle and Its Shadow

A record-breaking heatwave bore down on Metropolis, threatening to paralyze the entire city. As power consumption reached its critical point, precisely as Kai had predicted, Substation No. 3 erupted in a flash of light, a massive fire caused by overload! Key areas, including the city's financial heart, were instantly plunged into darkness. Citizens were gripped by terror. Elevators stopped, life support systems in hospitals flickered precariously, and the streets filled with only screams and wailing sirens.

Babel Trading Room: "It's happening! Metropolis blackout! Just as projected! UVD (Urban Vulnerability Derivatives) yields are skyrocketing! Release the defense on bottled water futures and let the price soar to infinity! Tonight, we'll be showered in money!" The avaricious cheers of young fund managers erupted. On their screens, their profit graphs, inversely proportional to the collapsing city functions, glowed with a golden light.

Parisian Bunker (Kai commanding): "Local team, now! Immediately activate the Decentralized Microgrid (Decentralized Microgrid) system and backup battery network we secretly installed over the past week! Top priority: major hospitals, emergency shelters, and facilities for the elderly and vulnerable! Valerius's betrayal blocked our primary route, so execute Plan B: utilize the citizen network! Cassandra, disseminate the 'Metropolis Emergency Drinking Water Supply Locations' and 'Temporary Power Support Zones' information we secured, anonymously, in real-time through all SNS, local radio channels, and every disaster alert app we have access to! We must fundamentally block the fear from spreading like their algorithms, like a virus, and reverse that fear into hope!"

Metropolis – On the Ground: Miraculous events began to unfold in the pitch-black darkness. Lights flickered back on in the emergency rooms and neonatal units of previously darkened hospitals, air conditioning units hummed back to life in major shelters, and people, guided by safe drinking water information relayed via smartphones, moved calmly. Volunteers wearing 'Kingdom Builder Foundation' logos, sweat pouring down their faces, distributed bottled water to the elderly and children, and provided portable emergency power – a single ray of light in the despair. On social media, posts like "What on earth is the government doing?! A nameless foundation is saving our city right now!" spread like wildfire. But simultaneously, anonymous SNS accounts operated by the 'Babel Media Group' began to systematically disseminate fake news: "An unidentified organization has hacked the power grid, paralyzing the city, and is selectively supplying power only to specific areas, inciting social chaos."

New Frankfurt Day+2: Thawing an Icy Heart, A Cyber Showdown

The next day, the heatwave's demonic tendrils reached New Frankfurt, the financial heart of Western Europe. A 'cause unknown' critical error occurred simultaneously throughout the city's central coolant supply system, transforming the entire metropolis into a gigantic steam bath. Hospitals were overwhelmed with heatstroke victims, the stock market suspended trading immediately after opening due to server overload, and city functions were on the verge of complete paralysis.

Babel Boardroom (Julian Adler, Anja Sharma): Anja reported with a cold smile. "New Frankfurt's 'Social Chaos Index' is rapidly rising, precisely as predicted by our 'Kairos Engine.' The 'Public Safety Collapse Option' and 'Euro Value Collapse-Linked Derivatives' we invested in will soon enter their astronomical profit realization phase."

Parisian Bunker (Lilith responding): Lilith's fingers flew across the holographic keyboard like a storm. Her eyes, sharper and more intense than ever, blazed. "Cassandra, emergency analysis of New Frankfurt's coolant system error logs complete! This is no simple accident or external hacking attempt! It's a highly sophisticated system-destroying malware, planted directly from within 'Babel,' designed to activate only under specific conditions! They are manufacturing their own disasters! The hacker's IP obviously doesn't exist, because it's them! Immediately transmit our secured 'Cryogenic Alternative Cooling Technology' patents, emergency recovery protocols, and the analysis and removal algorithm for this malware to our allied engineering group 'Neue Hoffnung (New Hope)' via ultra-secure encrypted channels! Objective: partial system recovery within 12 hours, full normalization within 24 hours, and… securing irrefutable evidence of their heinous crime!"

New Frankfurt – On the Ground: T

he local anti-Babel underground engineering group, 'Neue Hoffnung,' having received Lilith's encrypted information, risked their lives to infiltrate the core of the central coolant system and worked through the night on repairs. In the process, they engaged in a breathtaking cybernetic battle of wits against Babel's automated internal security systems, and several members were injured. But they did not give up. And finally, at dawn the next day, the city's cooling systems, one by one, miraculously began to reactivate. The massive casualties and horrific social chaos predicted by 'Babel' failed to materialize; moreover, crucial evidence of their crime was now in the hands of 'Neue Hoffnung.'

Neo-Tokyo Day+3: Flames of Counterattack, The Yen's Revenge and Truth's Proliferation

On the final day, the shadow of disaster fell upon Neo-Tokyo, East Asia's largest financial metropolis. A series of unexplained undersea power cable severance incidents occurred, plunging 40% of the city into darkness and temporarily paralyzing the Neo-Tokyo Stock Exchange, one of the world's top three financial markets, immediately upon opening. Simultaneously, fake news, alleging that an unidentified hacker group was attacking Neo-Tokyo's major banking networks to cripple the entire financial system, began to be massively disseminated by the 'World Tribune.'

Babel Trading Room: "This is the golden opportunity! Neo-Tokyo market is panic selling! All the Japanese corporate stocks we shorted are plummeting! The Yen's value is in freefall too! Sweep up everything in sight! Today, we rewrite history!"

A festival of greed erupted with frenzied cheers. On their screens, the Yen's collapse graph was drawn like a sheer cliff.

Parisian Bunker (Kai's Counterstrike): Kai, his voice calm yet as cold as ice, directed the final counter-offensive. His eyes, as if already certain of victory, held an almost transcendental serenity. "An expected scenario. And this is the final move we prepared. Immediately activate all emergency energy storage systems (ESS) stockpiled at the Neo-Tokyo branch. Restore power to the financial district's core grid first, and mobilize all our Yen assets acquired as 'war funds' to defend the currency. Simultaneously, Micah! Disseminate the analysis data of 'Babel's' system-destroying malware we secured from New Frankfurt, and the irrefutable evidence (satellite surveillance data, intercepted internal communications, etc.) proving their involvement behind this Neo-Tokyo cable severance incident – not through the 'World Tribune,' but through every third-party trustworthy global media channel, every SNS platform we have access to, and every hacker forum on the dark web, simultaneously, with a very… 'user-friendly' explanation! Every profit they sought to gain through fear, we will return to them in kind, no, with tens of times more excruciating pain and humiliation. This is what we call 'An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, bloody tears on their balance sheet, and the revelation of truth to the entire world'!"

Neo-Tokyo and Global Scene: The financial district miraculously recovered power swiftly, and the Yen's value, bolstered by massive defensive buying and the global exposure of Babel Foundation's market manipulation attempts, actually began to rebound! Instead, the market exposed the excessive short positions and illegal market manipulation tactics of specific hedge funds suspected of links to the 'Babel Foundation.' They began to suffer colossal losses in reverse, and international financial judicial authorities launched emergency joint investigations. The internet blazed with the 'Babelgate,' and their hideous true face had nowhere left to hide.

London's 'The Summit Club.'

The emergency board meeting of the 'Babel Foundation' was sheer pandemonium. On the holographic screen, a hellscape of collapsing global financial markets unfolded alongside their own plummeting stock prices and fund yields. Some shrieked, some slumped in their chairs in utter despondency, and the sound of an expensive crystal glass shattering on the floor cut through the tense silence.

"What… what in God's name is happening! Metropolis, New Frankfurt, Neo-Tokyo… all our meticulously designed scenarios, built over decades, have turned to dust in a mere three days!"

"The direct losses are in the tens of billions of dollars! No, even as we speak, the losses are snowballing! Factoring in derivative losses… it's unimaginable!"

"Who… who on earth is capable of piercing our system's vulnerabilities with such precision? This is no mere market disturbance. This is a clear, and terrifyingly intelligent, attack!"

Julian Adler, his face a mask of pale fury, slammed his fist on the table. For the first time, raw fear, mingled with the desperate rage of a man who might lose everything, contorted his features.

Adler : "They… they dare to stain our balance sheets with blood? Unforgivable… Absolutely! Activate 'Protocol Zero' immediately! Find those rats, whoever they are, wherever they are hiding, and make them pay a price that will melt their very bones!"

The Parisian Bunker.

Kai and Lilith were visibly exhausted, yet their eyes burned with an incandescent light in the dimness. The holographic screen relayed in real-time the freefall of 'Babel Foundation' related corporate stocks and the panic gripping major financial indices. The single grain of sand they had jammed into the works was making the entire colossal empire of Babel creak and groan. Lilith finally let out a long, shaky breath, her voice almost a whisper. It was laced with exhaustion, and yet, an almost incredulous awe at what they had accomplished.

Lilith: "The first fissure… we've definitely created it, Kai. I can almost hear their sacred numbers screaming all the way from here." She smiled faintly, but her eyes, simultaneously, were deep and dark, as if foreseeing the even greater storm this fissure would unleash.

Lilith: "But… this isn't the end, is it? The real war… might just be starting now."

Kai nodded silently. His gaze seemed to look beyond the plummeting stock graphs, into a much deeper abyss.

Kai: "Numbers don't lie, Lilith. The red ink they've shed today might offer a small solace for the tears of Rael and Asha's grandmother. But… this isn't the end." His voice was low and calm, yet the resolve within it burned like a furnace.

Kai: "So they can never again 'write off' anyone's life as a worthless 'loss,' we must dismantle their very system of world domination, from its very roots."

Precisely at that moment, all screens in the bunker were engulfed in a blood-red warning display. Cassandra's urgent, synthetic voice cut through the silence.

[WARNING! Activation of emergency response protocol 'CERBERUS' detected within 'Babel Foundation' internal network. This is an automated counter-attack system deployed only in response to a highest-grade threat, utilizing all available resources for direct retaliation and protection of core assets. No recorded usage in the past several decades. Immediately severing all external connections and transitioning to defensive posture!]