Chapter 7 – The First Encounter with Red Phantom

Lyra’s fingers hovered over the keyboard, her pulse pounding in her ears.

Red Phantom.

The name flashed ominously on her screen, followed by the chilling words:

"I see you, little sister."

She hadn’t heard that name in years.

Not since the night her real family disappeared.

Her hands clenched into fists. He was alive.

The brother she had been told was dead.

The brother she had stopped searching for.

And now, he had found her first.

Her eyes flickered to the message again. The implications were dangerous.

If he knew who she was…

Then how long before Ethan Vaughn did, too?

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to think rationally.

She opened a private channel and began tracing the message.

Red Phantom had always been elusive, a ghost in the cyber world. But if he had tracked her, that meant he had left a trail.

Lines of code appeared on her screen as she worked—

Each one bringing her closer to his location.

Until suddenly—

The screen glitched.

Lyra’s breath caught as a second message appeared.

"Still the same. Still too predictable."

What the—?

Before she could react, her entire system shut down.

A red warning flashed—

"SYSTEM OVERRIDE DETECTED."

Lyra jerked back.

Her own laptop—her untraceable, unbreakable system—had just been hacked.

By him.

She stared as her screen flickered to life again.

This time, a video feed replaced the coding.

A dark silhouette sat in a dimly lit room, back to the camera, only the glow of his screen illuminating the sharp outline of his figure.

Her brother.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke.

Then, his voice—deep, cold, familiar—filled the silence.

"Hello, Lyra."

---

Meanwhile – At Vaughn Industries

Ethan leaned back in his office chair, staring at the data logs from the previous night’s cyber attack.

Shadow Ghost had broken in again.

But this time, she had barely escaped.

A smirk tugged at his lips.

"You're getting sloppy," he murmured, amused.

But something didn’t add up.

The logs showed a second hacker entering the system at the same time as Shadow Ghost.

Not just any hacker.

Red Phantom.

Ethan’s smirk vanished.

So, there was another player in this game.

And that meant one thing—

Shadow Ghost wasn’t the only one he needed to catch.

Now, he had two targets.

And he never lost.

---

Lyra & Red Phantom side

"You're alive," Lyra finally said, her voice betraying no emotion.

Her brother—Leo Xian, now known as Red Phantom—let out a low chuckle.

"Of course I am," he said smoothly. "You didn’t really believe the lies, did you?"

She clenched her jaw. "I stopped believing in anything a long time ago."

A pause.

Then, his tone darkened.

"You should have kept looking for me, little sister."

Lyra’s fingers twitched.

"You disappeared," she shot back. "You erased yourself. And now you want me to act like nothing happened?"

Leo sighed, leaning forward.

"You’re in dangerous territory, Lyra," he warned. "Ethan Vaughn isn’t someone you want as an enemy."

She narrowed her eyes.

"And how do you know that?"

Leo didn’t answer immediately.

Then, with a chilling smile, he said—

"Because he’s been hunting me, too."

---

Ethan Vaughn’s side

Ethan closed his laptop, his thoughts sharp and focused.

Shadow Ghost had escaped him again, but the game wasn’t over.

Not yet.

Because now, he had another lead.

Red Phantom was alive—and if Shadow Ghost was connected to him, then that meant…

Lyra Xian was more than just a scholarship student.

She was hiding a past worth uncovering.

Ethan’s gaze darkened.

And he was going to uncover every single secret she had.

---

End of Chapter 7

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