Students were slowly returning to their vehicles.
The professors began counting attendance.
The buses' engines came to life one by one.
The trip was ending.
Or so everyone thought.
Ivaan was still standing near the lake.
His gaze casually swept across the parking area.
Not because he was sightseeing.
Because he was counting.
Vehicles.
Entrances.
Exits.
People.
Habits.
Years in the underworld had made it impossible for him to stop.
Then—
His eyes stopped.
A white tourist van.
Parked almost three hundred meters away.
Its engine was running.
But nobody was getting in.
Nobody was getting out.
His expression didn't change.
Not even slightly.
But his instincts did.
His phone vibrated.
ZYAN
📱 ZYAN: Ethan remembered one more thing.
📱 ZYAN: The man delivering the black envelope drives a white tourist van.
Silence.
Slowly...
Very slowly...
Ivaan looked back at the exact same van.
Still parked.
Still waiting.
📱 IVAAN: Confirmed.
Only one word.
Then he slipped the phone into his pocket.
Across the parking lot—
Ishira laughed at something Kiara had said.
Completely unaware.
The driver's door of the white van opened.
A man stepped out.
Baseball cap.
Dark sunglasses.
Tourist camera hanging around his neck.
He blended in perfectly.
Too perfectly.
He raised the camera.
Click.
One picture.
Not of the lake.
Not of the mountains.
Of Ishira.
Another click.
This time—
Of Ivaan.
The camera lowered.
The man smiled faintly.
Then started walking toward the crowd.
At the exact same moment—
Ivaan began walking too.
Not toward Ishira.
Toward the stranger.
Calm.
Unhurried.
Like nothing was wrong.
The distance closed.
Thirty meters.
Twenty.
Fifteen.
Ten.
The stranger glanced up.
Their eyes met.
For only a second.
That was enough.
The man's expression changed.
He knew.
Somehow...
The Devil had recognized him.
Without warning—
He turned and ran.
Immediately.
Students screamed in confusion as the man shoved past them.
The camera hit the ground.
Its memory card flew out.
"Ishira!"
Kiara shouted.
"What happened?"
Nobody answered.
Ivaan didn't chase.
He simply bent down.
Picked up the memory card.
Slid it into his pocket.
His eyes never left the fleeing man.
By the time security reached the parking lot—
The white van was gone.
Vanished.
As if it had never been there.
One of the professors rushed over.
"Professor Mehra, what happened?"
Ivaan's expression remained unreadable.
"Nothing."
He looked toward the highway where the van had disappeared.
"But our trip is over."
A brief pause.
Then, quietly—
"Their game has just begun
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