Novels by Lysandra

"Get back, Sarah!" Wei Xian lunged forward, grabbing Sarah by the waist and pulling her clear as Gabriel’s body hit the floor with the sound of a falling sandbag.Gabriel’s fingers clawed into the concrete, his nails scraping until they bled. His chest heaved, a wet, rattling sound echoing off the bunker walls."Wei Xian, look at his vitals!" Sarah scrambled to the monitor, her face pale. "His oxygen saturation is bottoming out, and his white blood cell count—it’s not fighting the infection. It’s replicating it!""How long?" Wei Xian knelt beside Gabriel, gripping the Major’s shoulder to keep him still."Minutes. Maybe less. The virus is rewriting his genetic structure in real-time," she stammered, her hands trembling as she grabbed a handful of needles. "I can't stop this with standard antibiotics.""You don't need antibiotics," Wei Xian said, his voice cold and steady. He tapped his temple, the HUD projecting a complex, shimmering helix of light above his palm. "I need you to pull m

The tunnel smelled of stagnant water and old secrets. Wei Xian shoved the grate aside, pulling himself into the humid night air of a back alley in Bukit Timah. Gabriel followed, his breathing heavy and ragged, clutching his shoulder."You good, Gabe?" Wei Xian whispered, pulling his tactical light into a low-power mode."Just a scratch, man. Stop fussing," Gabriel grunted, his face pale under the streetlamps."A scratch doesn't make you sweat like you've been running a marathon in a sauna. That bite looks deeper than you're letting on.""I said I'm fine. Focus on the exit, Tan. The military patrols are already sweeping the main roads.""You heard that transmission, right? 'No survivors.' They aren't looking for patients, they’re looking for targets," Wei Xian said, checking his HUD. "We have twenty minutes before they seal the Bukit Timah expressway. If we don't hit the bunker by then, we're stuck in the open."They stepped out of the alley into a neighborhood HDB block. The silence w

The truck rattled to a halt at the edge of the Newton Hawker Centre. The air was thick with the scent of charcoal smoke and late-night humidity."Why here?" Gabriel asked, his hand still hovering near his holster as he stepped onto the pavement. "You said we were heading for the bunker.""Because you need to eat, Gabe," Wei Xian replied, sliding out of the driver’s seat. "You’re running on adrenaline and military-grade stubbornness. Besides, this is the last place in the city that feels like normal.""Normal?" Gabriel gestured toward the flickering neon lights. "Look at the streets. People are clearing out. The police sirens are getting closer. This isn't a meal, it’s a suicide mission.""One bowl of fish soup," Wei Xian said, walking toward a near-empty stall. "Then we disappear. Come on."They sat on plastic stools, the center humming with the rhythmic clatter of metal spoons against bowls. A few tables away, a man in a damp business suit was slumped over his noodles, his shoulders

The blast at the Marina Bay Sands back-lit the cityscape like a dying sun. The truck lurched, tires screaming as they tore across the pavement, but a second shot shattered the side mirror, sending shrapnel spraying into the cabin."He’s actually going to do it, the bastard!" Ah Beng yelled, wrestling the wheel as the truck fishtailed. "He’s going to put a hole in our heads!"Wei Xian braced his feet against the floorboards, his hand tight around the crates in the back. "He’s not aiming for our heads, Beng. He’s aiming for the tires. He wants us alive to question us.""That’s supposed to make me feel better?" Sarah crouched in the footwell, her eyes wide with shock. "Who is that man? Why does he want to kill us?""He doesn't want to kill us, Sarah. He wants to save the world, and he thinks he’s the only one with the manual," Wei Xian snapped, staring at the side mirror as Gabriel’s black SUV surged through the smoke of the explosion, closing the gap."He’s coming up fast!" Ah Beng shou

The truck’s engine roared, protesting the steep incline as Wei Xian pushed it toward the gleaming facade of Marina Bay Sands. The city was glowing, but the purple tint in the sky was deepening, an ominous, sickly bruise spreading across the skyline."We’re really doing this, right?" Ah Beng gripped the dashboard, his knuckles white. "Targeting a gala at the Sands? That’s suicide, man.""It’s not suicide, it’s a rescue," Wei Xian said, eyes fixed on the road. "Dr. Sarah Low is the only one who knows the actual vaccine synthesis. If she stays in that ballroom, she’s either a government pawn or a casualty.""She’s a genius virologist, not a soldier. You think she’s just going to jump into a truck with a guy who looks like he survived a mud wrestling match?""She will once she sees the numbers," Wei Xian muttered, his neural implant firing a sharp warning spike. [NEURAL INTERFACE: PROXIMITY TO VIRAL CLUSTER - 2.4 KM.]"Wei Xian, your nose is bleeding again," Ah Beng pointed out, his voice

The red light on the monitor pulsed like a dying heart. Wei Xian grabbed the guard, Ah Beng—who had finally managed to stammer his name—and shoved him toward the narrow, slime-slicked drainage pipe."Move! Don't look back, just crawl!" Wei Xian shouted, the hiss of the gas becoming a literal death rattle in the confined space."Bro, is that—is that smoke? Why is it pink?" Ah Beng coughed, his voice cracking."It’s not smoke, it’s a death sentence. Keep your shirt over your nose and keep moving!" Wei Xian jammed the antiviral crate into the crawlspace and kicked the man’s heels. "If you stop, you become a permanent resident of this vault."They tumbled out into the humid undergrowth of the nature reserve ten minutes later, gasping for air. Wei Xian didn't stop to admire the moonlight. He hauled the crates to a hidden cache beneath a tarp, his hands moving with the efficiency of a man who had spent three years preparing for this exact moment."You’re insane," Ah Beng wheezed, wiping mud