Apocalypse Trade Monopoly
Chapter 149: : Fault State

Chapter 149: : Fault State

The next room wasn’t a room.

It was a tunnel. Straight, narrow, steel-lined. No lights. No exit in sight.

Lucas stepped inside first. The floor shifted under his boot like walking on static.

Ava followed. Her bracer pulsed once, then dimmed again.

[SYSTEM STATE: INTERFERENCE FIELD – PASSIVE SCAN ONLY][CAUTION: ENVIRONMENT MAY BE SIMULATED OR PHASE-SPLIT][NOTE: YOU HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE]

She frowned. "No, I haven’t."

Lucas glanced over. "What?"

"My system just told me I’ve been here before."

"Charming. Mine says it doesn’t exist."

He smacked the side of his bracer—no response.

[MONOPOLY SYSTEM: ERROR 502 – VALUE LOGIC UNMAPPED]

Lucas narrowed his eyes. "This place doesn’t have values. That’s the problem. My system runs on comparative worth. Everything in here is blank."

"So it’s a trap."

"It’s worse," Lucas muttered. "It’s a waste of my time."

They walked ten steps farther.

The tunnel didn’t end.

But behind them? The entrance had vanished. Seamless wall now. Like it had never been open.

Ava raised her bracer again.

[QUERY: EXIT MAPPED?][RESPONSE: ERROR – LOCATION DATA SUSPENDED][INTERNAL STATUS: TRACKING – "GOOD GUESS" MODE ENABLED]

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Your system’s being smug again."

"It says we’re guessing."

Lucas turned toward the nearest wall and kicked it, hard. The sound it made wasn’t metal.

It wasn’t anything.

No echo.

No impact.

Just... nothing.

"This isn’t a tunnel," Ava said. "It’s a corridor with no physical rules. Which means—"

Before she finished, the floor dropped.

Not all of it.

Just his side.

Lucas fell two meters straight down into another room—bracer blinking red as he landed in a crouch, teeth gritted.

Ava knelt at the edge, peering down. "Lucas?"

"I’m fine," he called up. "It just hates me personally."

He stood slowly.

And saw the room.

This one wasn’t blank.

It was filled with versions of himself.

Photos. Holos. Scenes pulled from sync memory archives.

A younger him winning a trade war at sixteen.

Him handing Ava her first energy bar outside the ruins.

His father, unconscious, at Bai Manor. And beside him—a younger Lucas crying.

Every image froze mid-motion.

Every frame flickered with heat.

Then the screens turned.

And all of them looked at him.

Lucas blinked.

"What the hell?"

Ava’s voice echoed faintly above. "What do you see?"

"My worst enemy."

"Who?"

He didn’t answer.

A screen beside him—one showing Ava bandaging his ribs—glitched. Then changed.

Now it showed her walking away.

Lucas tensed.

Another screen showed William. Bloodied. Kneeling.

Then falling.

The audio buzzed.

"You think control saves you?"

Another screen flashed.

Lucas standing over a burned marketplace.

Alone.

"You only trade with what you’re afraid to lose."

Lucas’s fists clenched.

"System re-engaging..."

[MONOPOLY SYSTEM: OVERRIDE DETECTED][ACCESS ROUTE: PERSONAL TRAUMA FEEDBACK][STATE: CRITICAL LOOP IMMINENT]

"AVA!" he shouted. "My system’s trying to kill me with emotions!"

Above, she knelt. Scanning. Watching.

[AVIS: SYSTEM LOGIC CORRUPTED – COMPANION SYSTEM UNRELIABLE]

[SUGGESTION: INTERRUPT FEEDBACK MANUALLY]

"How do I interrupt trauma?" Ava muttered.

A square hatch slid open beside her.

A single, small device sat inside.

Labeled: [TRUST FALL]

Ava blinked.

"Of course it’s called that."

Without asking, she dropped down after him—rolling hard, hitting the ground beside Lucas.

He didn’t look at her.

Just stared at a screen showing his mother’s face.

Then his father’s.

Then hers again—this time burning.

"You alright?" she asked, low.

Lucas didn’t answer.

His bracer glowed faint red.

Then sparked.

[USER AT LIMIT – INTERNAL CONFLICT DETECTED]

Ava stepped in front of him.

Grabbed his collar.

"Hey. Lucas."

He blinked once.

"Snap out of it."

He shook his head slowly.

"They’re not real."

"I know."

"But they’re mine."

She tightened her grip. "So’s this."

She dropped the device into his hand.

It was cold. Soft.

Like a memory.

Lucas stared at it.

Pressed it against his bracer.

Nothing happened.

Then—

[SINGLE USE LOGIC LINK ESTABLISHED – PARTNER SYSTEM REQUIRED]

He glanced at Ava.

She nodded.

They both touched the device.

A soft chime.

The screens faded.

The lights died.

The heat drained from the room.

Then—

Lucas’s bracer snapped awake.

[MONOPOLY SYSTEM: RESTORED][ERROR FEEDBACK: NEUTRALIZED][VALUE ANCHOR LOCKED – TARGET: AVA ZHANG]

He blinked hard.

Stared at her.

A beat passed.

Then he burst out laughing.

Ava frowned. "What?"

Lucas showed her the line on his screen.

"You’re my value anchor."

She blinked. "That sounds like either a compliment or a weird insult."

Lucas wiped his face with one sleeve, still grinning through the pain.

"No. It’s the only way I got out. The system needed a fixed point. A stable trade worth fighting for."

"And that’s me?"

"Well, it’s not the economy," he said, dragging himself to his feet.

Ava rolled her eyes.

"I should’ve left you in the emotional hall of mirrors."

"I would’ve haunted your bracer."

The floor beneath them lit up.

A square ringed in blue.

The walls folded again—this time upward.

The tunnel returned. A staircase emerged.

Above them: an open room. Glass windows. Light.

Real light.

The system voice returned.

"Stage complete. Partner loop integrity stabilized. External restoration approved."

They climbed the stairs together.

Lucas groaned softly as he moved. "Please tell me the next test is a nap."

Ava stepped beside him, hand light on his back as they ascended the glass-lit stairwell. Her system buzzed faintly—no threat pings, but the tension hadn’t lifted.

She knew better.

They crested the final step into a chamber that didn’t look like a test at all.

It looked like a reckoning.

Metal walls. Clear windows. And three figures already waiting inside.

The first was familiar—tall, red-eyed, grinning through blood-slicked teeth.

Locke.

Slumped against the far wall, blood trailing down one arm, the other shoulder clearly dislocated.

Standing beside him—braced, wary, untouched—was Elias Feng. Ava’s oldest headache. Soldier first, strategist second, pain-in-the-ass always.

Elias had Locke half-supported under one arm, the other hand resting idly on a belt-loop that probably held five knives.

And in front of them both stood Angle.

She looked the same.

Almost.

But not quite.

Hair darker now. Face sharper. Smile missing.

More... neutral.

And far more dangerous.

Ava raised an eyebrow. "Well, this is fun."

Lucas said nothing at first.

He walked forward slowly, eyes sweeping the room like a scanner. Every surface, every placement, every breath.

He stopped halfway between them.

And sighed.

"Of course it’s you," he muttered to the room itself. "The architect of dramatics."

A low voice echoed back.

Mechanical. Subtle.

But definitely amused.

"You were always my best player, Bai."

Lucas turned his head just slightly, gaze flicking toward the ceiling.

"Show yourself, old man."

The room flickered.

And behind Angle, a holo shimmered into place.

Not a man.

A shadow, a figure dressed in outdated military threads, face obscured by pixels. But the voice?

Lucas recognized it.

So did Ava.

Her eyes narrowed. "That’s the Game Master?"

Lucas nodded once. "I thought you retired."

The voice smiled.

"I did. But I left the board on autoplay. You kept moving pieces. I had to step in."

Ava looked between them. "You know this guy?"

Lucas nodded again. "He used to run AI logic scenarios for the Collective. Built war games before the war existed. Taught me half my playbook."

She blinked. "And you’re just mentioning this now?"

Lucas smiled, faintly bitter. "Because I didn’t know he was still alive. But this setup?" He gestured at the room. "Only one man programs punishment like a philosophy class."

The Game Master’s voice returned.

"The rules remain simple. One room. Two doors. Only two of you leave."

Ava’s bracer pinged.

[TRIAL: REVERSE BETRAYAL][VICTORY CONDITION: CHOOSE THE TWO WHO LEAVE. PERMANENT CONSEQUENCES.]

Locke groaned. "This again? You’re bleeding me for drama now?"

Elias looked down at him, dry. "You bleed so well."

Angle didn’t speak.

Not yet.

Lucas walked forward until he was eye-to-eye with her.

"Still working for them?" he asked softly.

"No," she said. "They work for me now."

Ava scoffed. "That’s not comforting."

Lucas didn’t flinch. "You set this trap."

Angle shrugged. "You walked in."

Lucas turned his head. "So what’s the play, then? Make us pick favorites? Break alliances? Humiliate the support characters?"

The Game Master chuckled.

"I just want to know how far you’ll go."

Lucas exhaled slowly and turned his back to the center.

Faced the wall.

The real wall.

The one no one else had paid attention to.

Then, calmly, he raised his hand and pointed.

"That’s the door."

Everyone stared.

Even Ava.

"Lucas—there’s nothing there."

"There is," he said. "It’s cloaked. Optical fail safe. Can’t be mapped unless you know the ratio offset."

Ava’s voice lowered. "How?"

Lucas smiled.

That sharp, calculating smile.

"The vent air flow is uneven. Room temperature gradient drops by point-two every meter until that corner. Means an open escape route or a cooldown loop. The floor pressure’s irregular—three micro vibrations over ten seconds, but only in a twenty-square section. Same frequency used in the old Bai trade labs. Means retractable tile. They didn’t think we’d notice."

Elias snorted.

"Still too smart for your own good."

Lucas shrugged. "Smart keeps me alive."

He turned to Ava.

"Want to know why I played the game?"

Ava tilted her head.

"Because the final room isn’t about the system," he said. "It’s about confirmation. That this whole thing—every route, every trap, every lie—is a cover for one last question."

"Which is?"

"Who’s rewriting the end."

Angle stepped forward.

"I was," she said. "Until you showed up."

Ava’s fingers twitched near her bracer. "So you’re admitting it."

Angle tilted her head. "We all did our part. You just got lucky with yours."

Lucas stepped past her without flinching.

He walked to the wall, crouched, pulled a tool from his belt, and wedged it into the corner crack.

A soft click.

A hiss.

The door shimmered into view.

The Game Master’s voice returned, more amused now.

"You broke the board. Again."

Lucas stood. "You left the edge unguarded. Again."

"And what do you think waits on the other side?"

Lucas looked back at Ava.

Then Elias.

Then even Locke.

He didn’t smile this time.

"I don’t care what’s behind it," he said. "Only who I take with me."

The rules pulsed again on Ava’s bracer.

[CHOOSE TWO. ONLY TWO. OTHERS REMAIN LOCKED.]

Ava frowned.

Lucas turned to her.

"You trust me?"

"Too often."

"Then pick the third."

She blinked. "What?"

"You and me. That’s non-negotiable. You pick the third."

Ava stared at Elias.

At Locke, still bleeding.

At Angle, who stood with nothing in her face but silence.

Then—

She pointed at Elias.

"Let’s go."

Elias arched a brow. "Didn’t expect that."

"You didn’t trade me for a data packet. That’s worth something."

Lucas opened the door.

And the light behind it was real.

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