?Chapter 1522:


    The screen showed footage of himself from earlier—standing calmly before the camera, speaking with confidence, even a trace of pride visible on his face. His own voice poured from the speaker, each sentencending like a blow. “This isn’t just a research project… It’s our Deification Project… There’s so much worthless trash in the world…”


    Kolton’s mind went nk.


    Everything that had happened—it had all been broadcast live. His entire exchange with the so-called kidnappers had beenid bare before the world.


    Cold sweat broke out instantly, soaking his forehead as thest of the color drained from his face. Only now did he understand. From the very beginning, it had been a trap. None of it was real. They hadn’t wanted to confirm his identity. They had wanted a confession—wanted him to condemn himself in front of everyone.


    “Is… is this real, Kolton?” Jimmie’s voice trembled beside him.


    Jimmie had seen the same alerts and the same video on his own phone. His face was ashen, his body rigid, as though the shock had drained all warmth from him.


    He had followed Kolton not merely out of ambition. To him, Kolton had been a benefactor—the man who pulled him out of the slums, paid for his education, and gave him a future. Even as Cooper Group crumbled and rumors spread everywhere, Jimmie had believed Kolton was being framed by rivals. Yes, Kolton was calcting and ruthless, but Jimmie had still seen him as human—someone who had stumbled and was struggling to rise again. He had been prepared to stand by him, even to give his life if necessary.


    But he had never imagined the truth.


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    Kolton was not simply corrupt. He was a monster—one who had spent a lifetime hiding behind a human face.


    Jimmie stared at the video, his gaze locked onto the screen as Kolton’s contorted face loomedrge. Kolton spoke openly, almost casually, describing those inhumane experiments—living people reduced to tools, discarded when no longer useful. Even children from the slums had been dragged into it.


    Jimmie hade from those slums. He retreated step by step until his back mmed against the wall. His breathing grew ragged, as though the room itself had be suffocating, thick with the invisible weight of spilled blood. It was the body’s most honest reaction to absolute evil.


    In that moment, everything Jimmie had believed in copsed. His world cracked apart, leaving nothing intact. He looked at Kolton again, and where admiration had once lived, there was only naked fear and deep, instinctive revulsion.


    “Stay away from me!” Jimmie shouted. “You freak! Monster! I will never follow you again.”


    He seized several portions of bread and bottles of water from the table and sprinted out the door, vanishing into the vast, empty night without a single backward nce.


    Kolton didn’t follow. He no longer had the strength.


    He lowered his head, staring at the phone in his hand, frozen in ce as shock seeped into his bones. Then the phone slipped free. It struck the floor, bounced once, andnded with a heavy thud—mirroring the sound of something inside him breaking beyond repair.


    “It’s over,” he whispered. “Cooper Group is finished. And so am I. Thomas… the Master of Shadows… his covert operatives must already be on their way.”


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