"R-Raka."The Collector, the man who previously considered himself a god, was now trembling violently. His ivory-white suit was stained with the blood of the Chimera that lay dead a few meters away from him.He stared at Raka, who was still clutching his suit collar. The young man's vertical blue eyes radiated a heat that scorched the skin of the Collector's face. Behind Raka's scaled chest, the Dragon Heart thundered."W-wait! Don't kill me!" The Collector stammered in panic. His still-intact left hand fumbled through his suit pocket in a desperate motion. "You... you can take it all! Take your goose! Take everything in this museum! I have old-world gold coins in my vault! As much as you want!"Raka stared at the man without blinking. The offer sounded incredibly cheap to his ears."You think all this is about gold?" Raka's voice vibrated.He glanced toward Baginda, who was still huddling in the corner of the room, trembling and with dull feathers. That sight reignited the remnants o

"This is a heavy-grade Cryo-Stabilizer," Vanya explained as the blue liquid flowed into Raka's artery. "This will instantly cool your blood and slow down your mechanical heart's metabolism to ten percent of its normal speed. You will feel like you're freezing to death, but this will stop your heart from shattering." The sensation of the liquid spread very quickly. Raka could no longer move his fingers. The pain he felt earlier slowly began to fade, numbed by an incredibly sharp cold. Along with the cold, an irresistible drowsiness began to creep into his brain. Luna stared at Raka's face as it gradually relaxed; the young man's breath was no longer gasping, but changed to slow and very calm. "He's sleeping, Luna," Vanya explained while withdrawing the injector. "Help me lift him to the truck. We have to go before the fire from the building attracts Corporate patrol helicopters." Vanya stood up and ad

The Toxic Goose truck slowed down. Its large wheels smeared with dust from the Northern Sector slowly stopped at the edge of the highway whose asphalt had long been broken swallowed by dry moss. Luna turned the ignition key with a very slow movement, as if the metal friction on that keyhole was a great sin that could trigger a disaster. The roar of the diesel engine that usually became the background music of their journey slowly dimmed, subsided, until finally died out leaving a very unnatural silence. Raka opened the cabin door and jumped down. His feet landed on a pile of dry leaves scattered on the sidewalk. CRUNCH. The sound of that crushed leaf was actually ordinary, but in this place, that sound was heard like a cannon explosion breaking the silence of the world. Raka froze instantly. He pulled back his other leg, holding his breath until his lungs felt stiff and stinging.

"Press that pillow harder, Raka!" whispered Vanya. "Your heartbeat sounds like a drill machine trying to tear down this whole city!"Vanya's voice almost resembled a snake's hiss behind the cloth mask she wore tightly.Raka Adhitama was huddling behind the ruins of a two-meter-tall concrete pillar already covered in dry moss. His back pressed against the cold cement surface, while his black-scaled left hand pressed a shabby sofa pillow.That pillow was loot from a furniture store on the previous block. He hugged the pillow tightly right over his left chest. He did that to absorb the turbulent vibrations inside his chest cavity.Whirrr—THUMP. Whirrr—THUMP.That sound was heard again. In a place like that, it sounded so very loud. Raka growled softly."I've pressed it until my ribs almost cracked, Vanya!" replied Raka with a whisper full of restrained anger.His vertical blue eyes flashed restlessly in the shadow of the pillar."This thing has a will of its own!" Raka said again. "The m

"What? My heart... stops beating?"Raka repeated Vanya's words with a voice that was barely audible as if he had just been asked to stop breathing voluntarily.Beneath the soles of his feet, the asphalt vibration grew stronger. That made Raka hold his breath instantly.Small cracks began to spread like a spiderweb, splitting the white road marker line. The Vibration Seekers or giant-sized blind earthworms were already right under the concrete layer, ready to explode themselves to the surface.Raka swallowed hard seeing all of that in front of his eyes."You mean... you want me dead?" Raka stared at Vanya with vertical blue eyes narrowing suspiciously."Technically? Yes. But only temporary suspended animation," answered Vanya flatly.The woman in the white coat reached into her medical bag and pulled out an automatic syringe whose shape was different from the previous adrenaline injection.Inside that transparent tube, there was a neon blue liquid that was very thick and appeared glowi