The lights in the lobby flickered.
Slowly.
Unsteadily.
WHRRRRRRR—
The sound from underground—
deep.
Heavy.
Like—
the heartbeat of a giant machine.
On the massive screen—
the MBG map continued moving.
At first, slowly.
Then—
not anymore.
One truck changed direction.
Then another.
Blue lines—
turned red.
Farhan stared at his laptop.
His fingers never stopped moving.
"The rerouting is increasing…"
Lila typed faster.
"…they're rewriting the system."
Bimo frowned.
"Explain that in normal language?"
Farhan didn't look up.
"…we're losing control."
Silence.
Rani spoke quietly.
"…if the routes collapse…"
"…the lunches won't arrive."
She didn't finish the sentence.
No one needed her to.
They could already see the outcome.
The man in the hat stood calmly in the center of the room.
Too calm.
"You can see it yourselves."
He pointed at the screen.
"Just a few more minutes…"
"…and this system won't belong to you anymore."
Sinta stepped forward.
"It's not over yet."
The man smiled faintly.
"It already is."
He pointed toward the floor.
"The heart is below us."
A pause.
"…and you won't reach it in time."
Arga didn't move immediately.
He felt it again.
The heat.
Inside his body.
His lunch box—
growing warmer.
The nine rice grains—
pulsing.
Faster.
Heavier.
As if—
they were responding to something.
"…if the core is underground…"
He slowly raised his head.
"…then we go down."
The man in the hat chuckled softly.
"Yes."
"…that's exactly what we want."
The battle exploded instantly.
WHOOSH!
Bimo dashed forward.
One Dominion agent flew backward.
Dika slammed into another from the side.
THUD!
Rani shoved a metal barricade aside.
CLANG!
Two enemies were trapped behind it.
Sinta leapt onto the front desk.
Landing directly beside the elevator.
She slammed the button.
No response.
Farhan shouted,
"The elevators are locked!"
Lila pointed quickly.
"Side corridor!"
"There's a staircase leading down!"
One path.
Only one.
Arga turned immediately.
Sinta nodded.
"To the stairs!"
But then—
"It won't be that easy."
The man in the hat stepped forward calmly.
He pressed something in his hand.
CLICK.
The lights died instantly.
Complete darkness.
One second—
absolute black.
Two seconds—
silence.
Then—
emergency lights activated.
Red.
The entire lobby—
bathed in crimson.
Faces.
Walls.
Shadows.
Everything looked—
sharper.
More unnatural.
Bimo whispered,
"…okay."
"…this officially became a nightmare."
Farhan looked at the screen.
"…the servers are fully active."
Lila's face tightened.
"…the main program is running."
Arga felt the pressure again.
Stronger than before.
His lunch box—
burned brightly.
The nine rice grains pulsed like a second heartbeat.
Not just his.
As if—
connected to something much larger.
"We don't have time."
He stared toward the stairway.
No hesitation.
"We go down now."
The man in the hat didn't stop them.
He simply stood there.
Smiling.
"You're welcome to try."
He pointed toward the screen.
"Every second…"
"…more people lose everything."
Far away—
in another city—
children sat quietly in classrooms.
Lunch boxes hadn't arrived.
Teachers forced nervous smiles.
But the clock kept moving.
And hunger—
was beginning to settle in.
They didn't know what was happening.
They were simply—
waiting.
Back in the lobby—
Arga stepped forward.
One step.
Then stopped.
He turned toward his team.
And for the first time—
his voice no longer sounded like an ordinary teenager's.
It sounded calmer.
Heavier.
"Nutrition Guardians…"
A brief pause.
"…we're going down."
Sinta immediately moved beside him.
Bimo stood up straight.
Dika cracked his knuckles.
Rani took a deep breath.
No one hesitated.
No one stepped back.
The stairway door creaked open.
Dark.
Deep.
Leading underground—
to the place where every decision was made.
To the place where the system would either survive—
or die.
And for the first time—
they weren't running to save one person.
Not one school.
Not one city.
They were running—
to catch something
that had already started collapsing
before they even arrived.