The city did not thank them. It screamed.
The revelation at the Clarity Center did not create an army of defiant citizens. It created a tidal wave of panic. Riots erupted. Not against the Architect. Against the clinics. Against the government that had endorsed them. And against Arden Vale, the woman who had ripped the blindfold from their eyes and forced them to see the abyss.
She was no longer a savior. She was a pariah. A symbol of the horrifying truth they had willingly ignored. Deputy Mayor Chen, his political career in flames, branded her a domestic terrorist. Her face was on every screen, not as a hero, but as a wanted criminal.
"This was your plan?" Jian's voice was a blade of accusation in the tense silence of the substation. "To turn the city against us? We are isolated. Hunted."
