"Leo, that ugly centipede is turning towards two o'clock! Its antennae are glowing!" Sena let out a muffled scream. The girl pressed her back against a red crystal trunk. The blistering heat from the monster ahead made the burnt skin on her face feel like it was being rubbed with coarse salt."No need to be a sports commentator, Sena. My ears still work," Leo grumbled. The blind man turned his head quickly. His radar mapped out the scraping of the monster's hundreds of crystal legs across the silicate floor.Leo felt for the tactical knife on his belt. The melted remains of his right arm throbbed in time with his heartbeat. "El, listen to my instructions! This creature is blind, it is hunting for the heat of our blood. Lure it to the purple crystal pillar at your four o'clock!""Four o'clock?! That is heading straight into its nest!" Elena argued. The white-haired girl was already standing tall, holding a piece of scrap iron from the capsule wreckage. Her legs were shaking, but her ey

"Wake up, you failed executive! Playtime in your dream world is over!" a guard barked.A hard slap hit Raka's right cheek. Raka's head snapped to the side. The smell of burning rubber and copper from the Neuro-Interrogation machine on his neck suddenly cut off. Raka gasped, opening his eyes with ragged breaths. The hallucinations of an alien world, bionic legs, and silver blood faded like fog blown by the wind.Raka found himself sitting back in the metal chair of the interrogation room. His blue shirt was soaked in cold sweat. The steel door that Darma had closed earlier was now open. Two well-built men wearing the signature black suits of Artemis & Associates security stood in front of him. One of them held an electric stun baton."An hour in that hallucinogen machine is enough to turn your brain to mush. So, where is the flash drive with Bianca's footage?" the first guard asked, grabbing Raka's shirt collar roughly."Ask the parking attendant," Raka answered with a hoarse voice. He

"Don't let that dog crawl back up! Put a bullet in his head now!" the shout cut through the thick smoke and the hiss of hot metal.The metal gondola shattered into pieces after crashing onto the glass canopy roof of the lower Artemis lobby, leaving a heap of sharp glass shards in the side courtyard. Raka crawled out of the glass ruins, gasping heavily for air, while his eyes burned intensely from the lingering chlorine fumes he had inhaled earlier. His vision was almost completely blurry, barely able to catch the vague shadows of three thugs in black suits walking toward him, their gun barrels aimed straight at his chest."Boss Darma doesn't need you breathing anymore, Raka," the lead thug said, squeezing the trigger.Suddenly, the loud roar of an old engine shattered the tension, followed by the screech of tires grinding hard against the wet asphalt. A dented gray van plowed into the side courtyard, smashing a large metal trash can and clipping one of the

"Don't take another step, Raka, or I will scream right now!" Anya threatened, her hands trembling in the darkness of her penthouse.Raka stood unsteadily at the threshold of the glass balcony door, clutching his right shoulder, which was still soaked in fresh blood from the raid on Leo's garage earlier. He had been forced to use his old keycard to slip inside without triggering the alarm, leaving Leo behind, who was fighting recklessly to hold off Darma's men downstairs. The luxurious penthouse bedroom felt freezing, carrying only the faint scent of cigarette smoke drifting out of a slightly open sliding window."Go ahead and scream, Anya. The garage I was hiding in just got destroyed tonight, and I have absolutely nothing left to lose anyway," Raka hissed."You are seriously reckless, Raka. Why did you even come here? You know we're both being watched by them, right?" Anya asked coldly."Because you are my first ex-contract wife, Anya. You know e

"Don't take another step, Elena! Put your hands up right now!" Raka shouted, his hoarse voice nearly drowned out by the downpour at the old port.Heavy rain poured over the cracked asphalt of the port, kicking up cold splashes of salty seawater that stung his face. Elena stood shivering under a flickering street lamp, her drenched body looking incredibly fragile in the middle of the storm. Haris's revolver felt cold and heavy in Raka's grip, ready to fire at any second if the woman in front of him made a suspicious move."Raka, please lower your gun. I didn't come here to trap you," Elena whispered, looking at him with eyes wet from the rain."How can I trust you after being betrayed over and over by Artemis people? Tell me the truth, Elena!" Raka barked."Darma is holding my brother hostage, Raka. He forced me to facilitate Bianca's insurance scheme," Elena confessed, defeated.Elena slowly reached out her right hand, which was trembling violently in the freezing, wind-driven rain of