The sharp snap echoed through the night.
Liya's eyes shot upward.
The massive construction crane was tilting.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
Metal cables whipped wildly through the air.
The enormous steel arm groaned under its own weight.
And it was falling directly toward the street.
Directly toward them.
"ETHAN!"
He grabbed her hand instantly.
"RUN!"
They sprinted down the street.
Behind them, the giant crane continued tipping.
The sound of bending steel filled the air.
Screws snapped.
Bolts tore loose.
The entire structure leaned farther and farther over the road.
Pedestrians nearby screamed and scattered.
Liya's lungs burned as she ran.
The ground trembled beneath their feet.
Ethan glanced back once.
"Not good!"
"Don't look back!" she shouted.
The crane's arm crashed into a nearby building first.
Glass exploded outward.
Then the rest of the structure collapsed toward the street.
The massive steel frame slammed into the asphalt with a thunderous boom.
The impact shook the entire block.
Dust and debris filled the air.
Metal screeched as the structure twisted against the ground.
For several seconds, the world felt like it was shaking.
Then silence slowly returned.
Liya and Ethan stopped running several streets away.
Both of them bent over, gasping for breath.
Liya looked back down the road.
The crane now lay across the street like a fallen giant.
If they had been standing there a few seconds longer…
They would have been crushed.
Ethan straightened slowly.
"…Okay."
"That one was definitely personal."
Liya wiped rain and sweat from her face.
"Do you finally believe me?"
"Oh, absolutely."
He stared down the street at the wreckage.
"Fate just dropped a building-sized object on us."
Sirens began echoing through the distance again.
Emergency vehicles were already heading toward the crash site.
Ethan checked his phone.
11:33 PM.
"Twenty-seven minutes left."
Liya felt her stomach tighten.
Every attempt was getting bigger.
More violent.
More desperate.
"What if the next one is even worse?" she asked quietly.
Ethan thought about it.
Then nodded.
"Probably will be."
"That doesn't worry you?"
"Oh, it definitely does."
He looked up at the night sky.
"But it also tells us something important."
"What?"
"Fate is running out of patience."
Liya frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"The attacks are happening faster now."
He held up his phone.
"The train crash was at 10:49."
"The tunnel train was at 11:11."
"The crane just fell at 11:32."
Her eyes widened slightly.
"They're getting closer together."
"Exactly."
"And stronger."
He looked directly at her.
"That means something."
"What?"
"It means fate is getting desperate."
Liya crossed her arms.
"Or it means we're losing."
"Maybe."
He suddenly smiled again.
"But if we were losing…"
"…I'd already be dead."
She couldn't argue with that.
They had survived everything so far.
Truck accidents.
Falling branches.
Runaway trains.
A collapsing crane.
And somehow Ethan was still standing.
But the clock was still ticking.
Ethan checked the time again.
11:35 PM.
"Twenty-five minutes," he said.
Liya looked around the quiet street.
Everything felt strangely calm again.
Too calm.
"You know what scares me?" she said quietly.
"What?"
"The biggest accidents don't happen because of small failures."
He tilted his head.
"Then what causes them?"
She pointed toward the skyline.
"Chain reactions."
Ethan followed her gaze.
In the distance…
The damaged construction crane had hit the side of a building.
Several floors of scaffolding were now hanging dangerously loose.
Loose metal beams swayed in the wind.
One of them suddenly slipped free.
It crashed onto the street below.
Then another beam loosened.
And another.
Ethan slowly exhaled.
"…Yeah."
"That's definitely a chain reaction."
The unstable scaffolding began collapsing piece by piece.
Metal clanged against the building.
Debris rained down onto the street.
And the entire structure began pulling part of the building façade with it.
Liya felt her chest tighten.
"Ethan…"
He checked the time again.
11:36 PM.
His voice dropped slightly.
"…This might be the big one."
Because the falling debris wasn't stopping.
It was spreading.
Across the entire construction site.
And the street they were standing on… was directly in its path. ⏳