Chapter 4.0: The Unbelievable

The murmurs in the room swelled like a tide, crashing against Ryan’s resolve. The air was thick with disbelief, heavy with doubt. The moment he had feared—the moment they'd all turn on him—had arrived. Every glance, every whisper, every shuffle of discomfort etched deeper into his skin. He had to cut through it. Now.

He raised his hands, his voice louder than he intended. “Five minutes. Just give me five minutes to tell you the truth.”

The room didn’t go silent, but the noise dipped enough to catch their attention. A pause. A breath.

Alisa, who had instinctively moved closer to him the moment things had started turning sour, looked up at him. Her eyes searched his, her voice low and careful. “Ryan, are you sure about this?”

He could hear the worry, the tension in her words. It wasn't the fear of danger—it was fear for him. Concern that wrapped itself around his heart like a vine. How could she care so deeply already? And how could she feel like home… when they’d only just met?

“I don’t have another choice,” he whispered to her.

Then he turned, scanning the room filled with people he needed to wake up—before it was too late. His voice rang out, steady and cold. “My world was just like yours. A lie.”

That stopped them. The skeptical laughter died in throats. Faces tightened. Silence didn’t just fall—it pounced.

Jason frowned. Emma folded her arms. Sarah looked away.

Ryan stepped forward slowly, like he was entering enemy territory. “You think this is real. This village. These parents. Your future. But it’s all designed—crafted like a stage play. And we’re the actors.”

“Actors in what?” someone muttered.

“A lie,” he repeated. “Just like I was. Just like you are.”

More rustling. A chair scraped backward. A throat cleared.

Ryan kept going. “There was a time I believed everything I was told. That I was sick. Dangerous. That I had to stay isolated for the good of the world. But I started asking questions. And the answers? They didn’t come from teachers or books. They came in screams. Locked doors. Missing children.”

Gasps. Uneasy shifting. He felt their minds wrestling with disbelief.

Alisa clutched her sleeve. “Ryan…”

“I need you to see it,” he said. “Because you’ve been there too. You just don’t remember it yet.”

And with that, he lifted his arm. The tiny device embedded in his palm shimmered to life, casting a ghostly light across the ceiling. A hologram buzzed into view—flickering images of a giant steel building surrounded by snow-covered mountains. Metal gates. Barbed wire. A sign that read: Mountainview Institute for Infectious Youth.

Gasps broke out.

“Proof,” Ryan said, turning back to them. “This is where we were born. Raised. Programmed.”

The crowd wavered like a flame in the wind—unsure whether to burn with belief or flicker out in fear.

And just like that… they were listening.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***