James woke at dawn in the forest, bloodied, feverish, and in pain, realizing he had been unconscious and vulnerable for hours. He confirmed his bones were intact and noted the unusually slow recovery, deducing the prior night’s attack had been especially brutal. He braced himself against a tree, furious at the continued attempts on his life and aware that surviving to morning meant his enemies had more planned.

Noticing a squirrel watching him, James killed it and dissected the body, finding a subtle blue glow permeating its anatomy and a nearly undetectable chip embedded in its brain. He removed the chip, recognizing it as critical evidence of Ark’s control over wildlife and pocketed it to bring home for analysis, believing it could help them understand the enemy’s technology.

As his fever broke and strength returned, James began climbing a towering evergreen to get an aerial look at Ark Island, enduring minor mishaps with branches and a spiderweb and briefly interacting with a chipped bird. Reaching the top, he finally obtained a clear, high vantage point.

From above, James studied the island’s layout: a carefully planned, bustling center with tall buildings, encircled by organized residential zones, schools, bridges, airports, farmland, and research or medical facilities. He reflected on how The Reestablishment’s elite had escaped to this prebuilt sanctuary and how early cyberattacks and assassinations followed their rise, connecting the island’s development to long-term planning by regime founders, including his father, who used shell companies to acquire and fortify the island well before seizing power.

On a final scan, James identified an anomalous cluster of small, simple buildings in a remote valley, separated from the main zones by wild forest and a steep ravine. The sheds appeared wooden with wisps of smoke from their roofs, suggesting concealed activity, yet there were no roads or visible infrastructure leading in or out. He concluded the isolated site likely hid something significant, and his curiosity sharpened into intent to investigate.