CHAPTER SIX: SYSTEM IN CHAOS

The first glitch should have ended there.

It didn’t.

By the time the next class began, something was already wrong.

Students noticed it in small ways at first.

Schedules updating incorrectly.

Classroom doors refusing to open for a few seconds longer than usual.

Assignment files disappearing… then reappearing.

Minor issues.

Easy to ignore.

Until they weren’t.

Ivy Morgan walked through the hallway, her steps calm, her expression unchanged. Around her, frustration was beginning to rise.

“My schedule just changed again!”

“That’s the third time!”

“Why can’t I access my class?”

A digital panel near the corridor flickered violently before stabilizing.

Then flickered again.

Ivy slowed slightly.

Watching.

The pattern from earlier hadn’t disappeared.

It had spread.

Faster than expected.

Behind her, a group of students rushed past, their voices tense.

“They said the system is malfunctioning across multiple blocks.”

“No way this place has backup systems!”

“Then why is everything glitching?”

Because something deeper was breaking.

Ivy already knew that.

Inside the main academic hall, the situation worsened.

The large display screens that usually ran smoothly were now unstable data flashing, freezing, correcting itself too late.

A sharp error tone echoed again.

Then another.

And another.

SYSTEM ERROR: ACCESS FAILURE

A door at the end of the hall refused to open, even as students tried repeatedly.

“It’s not responding!”

“Step back maybe it’s locked down!”

“No one said anything about a lockdown!”

Panic began to creep in not loud yet, but growing.

Controlled environments made people comfortable.

When control slipped

So did they.

Ivy stood still for a moment, her gaze moving across the chaos.

Every failure was connected.

Every delay… synchronized.

Not random.

Never random.

At the center of the hall, Eliana Scott stood surrounded by her circle, irritation clear on her face.

“This is ridiculous,” she said sharply. “Why hasn’t anyone fixed it yet?”

Aria crossed her arms. “The system team should’ve handled this already.”

Zara glanced around nervously. “What if it’s something bigger?”

Eliana’s eyes narrowed.

“It’s a system,” she said coldly. “It doesn’t just ‘break.’ Someone is responsible.”

Her gaze swept the hall

And for a brief second

It landed on Ivy.

Watching.

Still.

Unbothered.

Eliana looked away.

But the thought lingered.

Across the hall, Ethan Cross stepped forward, his presence cutting through the noise without effort.

“What’s the status?” he asked one of the staff members.

The man hesitated. “We’re… still trying to stabilize the network.”

“Trying?” Ethan repeated, his tone low.

The man swallowed. “The issue isn’t isolated. It’s affecting multiple systems at once.”

Ethan’s gaze shifted to the main display.

Analyzing.

Tracking.

But even he couldn’t see the full picture.

Not yet.

Damien leaned slightly toward him. “This isn’t normal.”

Cole scoffed. “Obviously.”

“No,” Damien said quietly. “I mean it’s structured.”

That caught Ethan’s attention.

Structured.

He looked again.

Past the errors.

Past the visible failures.

Searching for a pattern.

And somewhere in the room

Ivy was doing the same.

But faster.

Cleaner.

Because while everyone else saw chaos

She saw design.

Another loud alarm cut through the hall.

SYSTEM ALERT: CORE RESPONSE DELAY

The message flashed repeatedly before glitching out.

Then

For a split second

The entire network froze.

Lights flickered.

Screens went black.

Silence dropped like a weight over the building.

Then everything came back at once.

Too fast.

Too forced.

Like the system was struggling to hold itself together.

Students gasped.

Voices rose.

Confusion turned into unease.

And still

No one had fixed it.

Ivy exhaled quietly.

This wasn’t just a glitch anymore.

It was a collapse in progress.

And if left alone

It would only get worse.

Her gaze shifted toward the nearest terminal panel.

Then to the main system board.

Calculating.

Timing.

Waiting.

Because stepping in now

Would expose too much.

But waiting too long

Would cost control.

Across the hall, Ethan’s eyes moved again.

Finding her.

Watching.

Because in the middle of rising chaos

There was only one person who looked like she wasn’t surprised.

And that

Wasn’t something he could ignore.

Ivy met his gaze for a brief second.

Then turned away.

Like nothing mattered.

Like she wasn’t already deciding

Exactly when to take control of a system that no longer belonged to anyone else.