Chapter 363 - 363: A Baffling Discovery, the Vane Revelation

Connor knelt beside the wheelchair, his eyes dropping to the handwritten signature on the physical medical chart. He repeated the name under his breath, tracing the faded letters with his thumb before looking up at her face.

"Reviel Vane," Connor whispered, his shoulders stiffening as the realization settled in. "You share a family name with Redmond Vane. Are you related to him?"

The woman turned her gaze away from the glass window, her dark eyes locking onto his expression. "Redmond Vane is my father," she answered, her voice quiet.

Ophelia froze near the medical monitor, her hand hovering above the control panel as a gasp escaped her throat. In the basement safehouse, Ilyas and Leo stared at the audio receiver in disbelief, their paper charts slipping onto the wooden table.

"That is impossible," Connor said, shaking his head as his brow furrowed in confusion. "Redmond Vane was summoned into the game during the 2024 reunion, yet you appear to be in your early forties."

The woman let out a quiet sigh, her fingers tightening around the edge of her blanket. "I cannot tell you how that is possible," she admitted, looking toward the glowing artificial stars of the ceiling. "Time is a funny concept."

Ophelia took a step toward the wheelchair, her posture rigid. "What about the girl with the silver hair and silver eyes on the cover of the game? Who is she?"

"That is my mother," Reviel explained, her features softening as she looked at the yellowed photograph in Connor's hands. "Her name is Raven."

Over the radio feed, Ilyas adjusted his headset, his breath hitching as he remembered the digital background files they had scanned in the municipal archive. He pulled the printed report closer to the lamp, his fingers tracing the bold ink of the old police investigation.

"Redmond Vane's parents were labeled as corporate terrorists and executed when he was twelve," Ilyas spoke into the transmitter, his tone filled with shock. "Were you referring to those exact people just now?"

Reviel nodded slowly, her shoulders slumping under the weight of her memories. "Yes, they worked on Project Civilization during its earliest stages, before the conglomerate seized control of the research and erased their names from the public registry."

Connor stood up from his kneeling position, taking a step back as the staggering truth crashed over him. Ophelia gripped the edge of the metal desk to support herself, her mind spinning from the revelation.

The teenagers in the basement safehouse sat in total silence, unable to process the tangled web of corporate lies and temporal distortion. They stared at each other in bewilderment, trying to comprehend the sheer scale of the secret.

"Redmond has spent his life believing his parents were common criminals," Connor murmured, his voice trembling as he looked at Ophelia.

Ophelia wrapped her arms around herself, her gaze fixed on the quiet woman in the wheelchair. "I cannot even fathom how Rubedo will comprehend any of this when he finally learns the truth."

Connor leaned over the edge of the wooden desk, keeping his eyes on the middle-aged woman in the wheelchair. "What about Redmond Vane's parents, and were they truly executed for treason or did something else happen to them?"

Reviel Vane turned her gaze toward the dark glass window, her shoulders slumping as she drew a quiet breath. "I do not know the full truth of what happened to my grandparents, because the corporation classified and scrubbed every single file regarding their disappearance long before I was born."

Ophelia stepped closer to the desk, her fingers tracing the smooth edge of her beaded clutch. "The public archives claimed they were enemy combatants, meaning the conglomerate altered the official narrative to justify seizing their research."

Reviel nodded slowly, her fingers tightening over her knitted blanket. "My mother told me my father searched for the truth his entire life before the summoning, but the company buried their records beneath layers of corporate security until the trail went cold."

Suddenly, a loud physical alarm rang from the wall bracket behind the desk. A red emergency light flashed across the wooden paneling, shattering the silence of the clinical study.

Reviel looked up at the flashing light, her posture stiffening with sudden urgency. "The secondary biometric scanners have triggered and the building lockdown is initiating, so you must leave before you are unable to leave."

Connor folded the yellowed photograph and slid the paper back into his jacket pocket. "We are leaving right now, and we will make sure your father's legacy is preserved."

Ophelia pulled the handle open, checking the dim corridor to ensure the hallway remained clear. "The stairwell access is still open, so we have a small window to reach the lower access tunnels."

Connor gave Reviel a final respectful nod before slipping through the doorway. "Thank you for sharing what you know with us."

They sprinted down the darkened service stairwell, their rubber-soled boots making soft thuds against the concrete steps. The red alarm lights flashed at every landing, but the analog security overrides Leo had severed below kept the solid fire doors from locking.

Ten floors beneath the gallery, they burst into the damp maintenance access tunnel. Leo, Lucy, Nelson, Evan, and Ilyas were waiting near the breaker box, their faces pale under the green glow of their datapads.

"The main grid is rebooting, so we need to clear the perimeter before the corporate scouts seal the lower gates," Leo reported. He turned toward the doorway as Connor and Ophelia arrived.

Ilyas gestured toward the drainage conduit leading out of the spire. "Follow me into the drainage conduit, because the utility access leads straight to the lower sky-bridge."

The seven teenagers moved quickly through the dark concrete pipe, emerging into the freezing night air near the base of the tower. They crossed the rusted iron walkways of the lower district without attracting the attention of the municipal surveillance drones.

Within twenty minutes, they reached the secluded pine grove where their manual utility truck was parked. Snow fell in thick white sheets through the dark canopy, covering the vehicle in a layer.

"There is our truck!"