"Come on, Neo 7... You were a fool to come here. If you were some kind of spy or something, it clearly didn't end well for you."E7 stared at him coldly, his eyes sharp like blades.Jasper was on his knees, panting. His body wasn't responding properly—he felt like he was breaking apart from the inside out.("It's like I've got several tons crushing me… like my body's being torn apart.")Blood poured from his nose, his eyes, and his mouth, pooling into a dark puddle at his feet. He could barely stay upright."Honestly, you almost had me fooled, kid. I'll admit it. I don't even remember when you showed up... Maybe you were the one Agent 6790 dragged in. Either way, I'll let you explain. I'm not that heartless."E7 smiled faintly and snapped his fingers.Instantly, all the blood that had spilled surged back into Jasper's body, as if time had been rewound. The pain vanished. The pressure in his chest lifted. But just as he tried to sit up, an invisible force slammed him back to his knees.

The mission cards left everyone silent. No one said a word for several seconds. The shock was obvious."Wait a second… That mission was scheduled for next week. What happened?" Suse asked, breaking the silence with a frown."Yeah, cutie, it was. But it looks like Agent R9's research team was wiped out," Slavik replied, his tone now more serious."That can't be. If something like that had happened, we would've been notified. What exactly did you do?" Suse said, visibly annoyed."I did what any responsible leader would do: I accepted the mission on the spot. Any problem with that?" Slavik shot back without hesitation.His cocky grin was starting to make everyone uncomfortable. That's when Jasper spoke up."What kind of leader puts his team at risk without thinking? To me, you're just a show-off. I didn't know Neo X had someone like you in charge."Jasper stepped forward, standing firm."Wow, the newbie's got some guts. You're Neo 7, right? I heard you showed up four days ago. Well, sorr

"I can't believe they sent a bunch of kids to capture us. Ha, they really are desperate," Lidia mocked the group.The skin on her face began to deform as her nails took on a strange blue color. In just a few seconds, her face was nothing more than a skull from which an unusual and striking blue hair sprouted, which she wore as if it were real hair."Kids? I hope you regret those words," Slavik replied in an arrogant tone.He lunged at the woman with agility, and in response, she pulled a shotgun from her belt. The weapon had already been modified—parts of ice covered the barrel."Bam!""Bam!""Bam!"Three shots were fired in the direction of Neo 6, who, standing just a few meters in front of Lidia, spun his electric staff to defend himself, barely managing to deflect each bullet.Without giving her time for another round, Slavik closed the distance and swung his weapon at Lidia. She tried to block the blow with her arms, jumping backward and sliding across the frozen ground."Shit, hey

“What’s going on? It’s like they’ve seen a ghost,” the man mocked as he kept conjuring fire in his hands.Suse scanned the place with her eyes. It was strange. People were watching the scene, but no one was scared—it was as if they didn’t care.“If you’re revealing yourself, that means you plan to turn yourself in, right?” F16 asked, taking another sip of his cocktail.“Hey, I’m the justice around here. That’s supposed to be my line,” the sheriff replied sarcastically.“But I got tired of leaving behind charred corpses. This time, I want to talk to you. Even if I kill you, they’ll just send another group, and it’ll be the same hassle.”F16 noticed he wasn’t lying. He finished his drink, stood up, and left a few coins on the table.“Let’s talk outside then,” he said as he walked out.The man with the wide-brimmed hat smiled broadly as he followed him.“That’s what I like to see. I knew I could reason with you.”Suse and Lin decided to follow them. If things went well, the XCP might sur

"SHHH!"A large white light appeared inside an inn in Ash Hollow. Within seconds, the light split into six different parts."SHSHHS!"Abruptly, the parts scattered at high speed. The sounds of impacts followed immediately.Bam!"Ash, Neo 7, I told you to do it properly!" Slavik complained after crashing into a painting."At least you hit the wall..." Lin commented; he had crashed into a table."Did you copy Neo 8’s ability? Good idea, Neo 7," F16 said as he got back on his feet."Yes, although I don’t fully control it yet. It was something I came up with on the spot. The plan itself was pretty simple," Jasper began to explain."We had a confrontation with an XCP with ice-based abilities in Gallows Creek. We managed to escape thanks to Neo 8, but we couldn’t afford to take that risk again.""So I asked her to explain her ability to me. Her explanation was hard to follow, but I understood the core of it: her power is a distortion of reality based on the meaning she assigns to the words