Babel's Ledger: Zero Point

Episode 21 — The Blood-Stained Balance Sheet, and Cerberus's Roar

Crumbling Numbers, and an Epidemic of Fear

The underground bunker of London's 'The Summit Club' was pure pandemonium. Mere hours ago, the members of the 'Inner Circle' had manipulated global financial markets from the palms of their hands; now, they stared blankly, helplessly, as their 'Empire of Numbers' crumbled before them.

On the giant holographic screen, stock graphs of major investment banks, hedge funds, and reinsurance companies linked to the 'Babel Foundation' were plummeting vertically, as if vomiting blood. The 'Revelation of Truth' unleashed by Kai and Lilith, and the resulting global distrust in the financial system, had shaken the foundations of the Tower of Babel of greed they had painstakingly built over decades, all within a few short hours.

"Chairman! Losses on the Metropolis UVD products have… already surpassed fifty billion dollars! We're seeing chain-reaction margin calls on the Neo-Frankfurt 'Public Safety Collapse Option' and our Neo-Tokyo yen short positions as well! At this rate, most of our key assets will be… on the brink of bankruptcy!"

A young fund manager reported, almost wailing, but Julian Adler remained silent. His vacant eyes were fixed only on the holographic screen, staring at the newsflashes of 'bank runs' erupting simultaneously worldwide and the emergency asset freezes and investigations launched by major governments into companies linked to the 'Babel Foundation.'

Anya Sharma, her face pale, stared down at her data-pad. The predictive models of her 'Kairos Engine' – a system she had dedicated her life to building, a system that quantified even human despair and fear into precise numbers to generate profit – were now utterly useless in the face of this uncontrollable chaos. If anything, the 'Kairos Engine' was, at this very moment, simulating in real-time, with horrifying accuracy, just how swiftly and catastrophically their empire was collapsing, displaying it all before her eyes. It was a living hellscape, more terrible than any disaster scenario she had ever imagined.

Anya: (Muttering, almost unhinged) "This can't be… No… My calculations were perfect… I had all variables under control… Where… just where did it all go wrong…?"

Beside her, Marcus Thornhill, the former head of an intelligence agency, sneered coldly.

Marcus: "Anya, it seems your 'perfect calculations' had one fatal flaw. You underestimated the unpredictable 'butterfly effect' born from human rage and despair. And… the foresight of that madman they call the 'Prophet of the Apocalypse.'"

A Fracturing Empire, and Hyenas Shifting Blame

In the desperate situation, voices of dissent slowly began to erupt from within the once-impregnable 'Inner Circle.'

"Chairman Adler! This whole mess is the result of your arbitrary decisions and complacent responses! You couldn't even handle one upstart brat like 'Kingdom Builder' and put the entire empire at risk!" "Anya Sharma! What in the world was your precious 'Kairos Engine' doing? Do you really think it's acceptable that it failed to detect an attack of this magnitude beforehand?"

Accusations and blame flew thick and fast. Lucian Drake watched it all, his lips pressed firmly together, but his eyes glinted with a colder, more ruthless light than ever. He seemed to be already calculating whom to abandon and whom to escape with from this sinking ship.

Julian Adler finally shot up from his seat. His face bore the emptiness of a man who had lost everything, yet also a chilling, venomous madness—a resolve to exact revenge even if it meant destroying everything.

Adler: "Silence, all of you! This isn't over! If those rats dared to stain Babel's balance sheet with blood, then it's time to make them pay dearly! They attacked our money and our system? We will erase their very existence from the face of this planet!"

He roared at the control system.

Adler: "Anya! What's the status of 'Protocol Zero'! Wake up 'Cerberus' at once! First, snuff out those damn ghosts, Kai and Lilith, or whatever they're called! Find them wherever they're hiding and erase every last trace of them!"

Cerberus's Roar, and a Final Smile

Despite Adler's frenzied command, Anya Sharma replied in a remarkably calm voice. Perhaps she, too, was reveling in this whole situation.

Anya: "'Protocol Zero' is already active, Chairman. Immediately after the catastrophic 'information leak incident' (Codename: Pandora's Box) that threatened the Empire's very existence, the 'Kairos Engine' reverse-tracked billions of data packets and pinpointed the core pathways to the digital lairs where these wraiths are hiding. Heh, foolish enough to touch the heart of the Empire."

She displayed a web of tangled data streams on the holographic screen, with intensely glittering anomalous signal points at their intersections. Towards them, like invisible blades, the detection algorithms and attack subroutines of 'Cerberus' were shown already deeply infiltrating, marked by eerie red lines. Scenes of the wraiths' data havens exploding and vanishing one by one followed.

Anya: "The 'Cerberus Protocol' is no mere counter-attack system, Chairman. It is the living sword of judgment that enforces the will of the 'Babel Empire.' At this very moment, Cerberus, the gatekeeper of hell, has finally been unleashed from its seal to deliver the most horrific despair to our enemies by brutally severing their connections. All nodes involved in the data leak, and the foundations of the forces behind them, will completely evaporate from the system within the next hour. We'll be sure to collect every one of their thrashing, final screams, of course. Wherever their main base, their so-called 'sanctuary,' might be, it will have no choice but to reveal itself when this inferno is over. Not that they'll have any strength left to resist by then."

No sooner had she finished speaking than in the Parisian underground bunker, before the eyes of Kai and Lilith, who were huddled together, seemingly resigned to everything, relying on each other's warmth—all screens in the bunker were instantly flooded with blood-red warning displays! The urgent and desperate synthesized voice of AI Cassandra shattered the silence.

Cassandra: "[WARNING! Direct, simultaneous strikes from 'CERBERUS' detected across the entire system! This is far beyond a simple automated counter-attack protocol! They… they are tearing through our firewalls like paper, seizing key system nodes! My core algorithms are being corrupted! [Screens flash crimson as Cassandra's voice begins to distort violently] No… Losing control! All defense systems are starting to be turned against us! External access is already cut, but the collapse from within… Aaaargh! The network is burning! Survivability… unquantifiable! This can't be… This is a one-sided… slaughter…!]"

All color drained from Lilith's face. She looked at Kai in disbelief. "Cerberus… Only heard of in legends. Babel's final line of defense, and its most brutal offensive system. We… we really poked the heart of the sleeping beast, Kai."

For the first time, a desperate yet chilling smile touched Kai's lips—the kind only a man who has gambled everything could make. He seemed to sense, beyond the crimson-flashing screens, the last throes of their unseen enemies. Then, he spoke softly, yet with a resolve that resonated throughout the bunker.

"Well then, Lilith… It's time to start the final game. To live, or to die."