LifeNet: The Price of Immortality

Chapter 5: The Warning

Chapter 5. The Warning

"Alright, Elara, time to call it a night," she muttered to herself, rubbing her temples and leaning back in her chair. The screen in front of her was filled with files, data logs, and cryptic notes she’d gathered on LifeNet.

Hours had slipped by in a blur, her focus so sharp she’d barely registered the passing time. Each new detail she uncovered only seemed to raise more questions, making the mystery feel like a black hole, pulling her deeper with every moment.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a soft chime on her terminal, a single ping that echoed in the quiet room. Elara frowned. The message wasn’t from any of her usual contacts, nor from the encrypted channels she sometimes used for research. It was just a blank notification with a blinking icon on her screen.

“Huh… That’s strange,” she mumbled, hesitating before clicking on it.

The screen flickered once, then the message loaded:

“Stay out of this. Your life depends on it.”

Elara felt a chill creep down her spine. Her eyes darted around the room, half-expecting to see someone watching her. She reread the message, hoping she’d misinterpreted it. But there it was, in plain text—simple, direct, and very unsettling.

“What… what does that mean?” she whispered, feeling her heart pick up its pace.

Suddenly, her terminal chimed again, and the message blinked once before disappearing. She tried clicking around, refreshing her screen, even searching through her logs, but there was nothing left—no trace of the message at all. It was like it had never existed.

“Come on, Elara, think,” she muttered to herself. She sat back, forcing herself to breathe, to think logically, but her mind was racing with a thousand possibilities.

Who could have sent that? Someone within LifeNet? Someone who knew she’d been digging into restricted files?

The more she thought about it, the more the dread settled in. She’d suspected for some time that LifeNet had eyes everywhere, tracking its users’ behavior. Still, she hadn’t expected them to catch on so quickly to her own searches—or to warn her so directly.

A new notification popped up on her screen. This time it was from Nyx.

“Hey, you still awake?”

For the first time in what felt like hours, she smiled, feeling a bit of relief at seeing a friendly name.

“Yes, unfortunately,” she replied, typing back. “Got something weird. I think… I think someone at LifeNet knows I’ve been digging.”

It took only a few seconds for Nyx to respond.

“What?? Are you serious? What happened?”

She took a deep breath before typing, trying to summarize it quickly.

“Someone sent me a message. It was… threatening. Telling me to back off, that my ‘life depends on it.’ It vanished right after I read it. Do you think it’s some kind of intimidation tactic?”

The pause between her message and Nyx’s reply felt like an eternity.

“Elara, this isn’t a joke. If they’re already reaching out to warn you, it means they’re watching you closely. Maybe closer than you think. I think we need to be careful.”

Elara chewed her lip, fingers hovering over the keyboard. She could feel the tension building inside her, half excitement, half fear. She’d always known LifeNet was a powerful organization, but the fact that they were monitoring her so closely… It was both thrilling and terrifying.

“But this only proves there’s something there, Nyx. Why else would they be trying to shut me down?”

Nyx responded almost immediately.

“Maybe. But what’s your next move? This is dangerous, Elara. LifeNet isn’t going to take this lightly.”

Elara leaned back, reading his message. Her gaze drifted to the files she’d collected, to the notebooks where she’d been scribbling notes, theories, and names. There was something there, she could feel it—something worth protecting, something they didn’t want people to know. If she turned back now, she might never find out what her mother had suspected all those years ago, or why LifeNet was so intent on hiding the truth.

“I don’t know,” she replied, hesitating. “But I can’t stop. I need to know.”

For a few moments, there was no response. She could almost feel Nyx weighing his words, probably wondering how far he was willing to go with her.

Finally, his message appeared on her screen:

“Alright. If you’re going to do this, let’s at least do it smart. Meet me at the library tomorrow. I’ll bring what I’ve found. Maybe together, we can figure out what’s really going on.”

Elara let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. Relief mingled with excitement, a spark igniting within her. She didn’t have to do this alone.

“Deal. See you there.”

She leaned back in her chair, her mind racing as she tried to piece everything together. But before she could close her terminal, another chime echoed through her room, sending a shock through her system.

It was the same blank notification, the same one as before.

Her pulse raced as she clicked it open, half-expecting another threat. But this time, the message was different:

“Last warning. You’ve been identified as a risk. Cease all activities. You won’t receive another notice.”

Her breath caught, and her fingers hovered over the keyboard. She typed a quick response:

“Who are you?”

She waited, watching the screen intently, but there was no answer. Seconds ticked by, and just as she was about to give up, the message blinked again, this time with a simple reply:

“Someone who knows what LifeNet can do.”

Elara shivered. The text faded, leaving her staring at a blank screen once more, the silence around her suddenly feeling stifling.

“Someone who knows…” she whispered to herself. That was the second warning, and whoever had sent it clearly meant business. But even as the fear gnawed at her, another thought pushed its way through: she had to know what they were hiding. If LifeNet had gone to these lengths to scare her off, it meant the truth was even more dangerous—and valuable—than she’d imagined.

She shut down her terminal, rising slowly from her seat and pacing her small apartment, her mind spinning. Someone within LifeNet knew she was onto them, and they were willing to go to extreme measures to protect their secrets. But now that she’d started uncovering the truth, there was no going back. The message, the threat—it all only fueled her desire to expose whatever dark secrets LifeNet was hiding.

And somewhere, deep down, she could almost hear her mother’s voice, warning her. But this time, her mother’s warnings weren’t enough to make her stop.

In the quiet stillness of her apartment, she made her decision.