The night grew deeper. The abandoned industrial zone had become a graveyard of silent steel.

  Kane did not return to Blackrock Town. He didn't waste a single second on rest.

  Stowing The Cyclone, he arrived once more before the jagged scar that tore through the earth.

  With his prior experience, crossing the chasm felt like walking on level ground.

  A sprint, a leap, an aerial step.

  His figure landed soundlessly on the base of the signal tower.

  Kane didn't climb the exterior. Instead, he circled to a massive breach torn open by an explosion and found a maintenance shaft leading inside.

  The data chip Felix provided was already burned into his memory. The "Emergency Life-Support Channel" leading to the underground lab was located on the side wall of the main elevator shaft, 120 meters deep.

  Climbing from the outside was too loud and risked exposure to unknown surveillance.

  Infiltration from within was the only option.

  Inside the tower, he was greeted by a thick cocktail of machine oil, dust, and the rot of unidentified substances.

  Kane clicked on his tactical flashlight. A beam of stark white light pierced the heavy darkness.

  Following severed cables and peeling walls, he descended the maintenance ladder rapidly, soon reaching the main elevator bank.

  The doors of the four massive freight elevators were warped and mangled, frozen on their tracks.

  Below the shaft lay a bottomless abyss. Wind rushed up from the depths, letting out a ghostly wail.

  Target: Shaft Number Two, 120 meters underground.

  Kane stepped to the edge, his tungsten steel dagger held in a reverse grip.

  Without a hint of hesitation, he leaned back and plummeted into the void.

  Weightlessness instantly enveloped him. The wind shrieked in his ears.

  The altimeter on his personal terminal ticked down frantically.

  -80m…

  -100m…

  -110m…

  Now!

  The moment his body was about to fly past the 120-meter mark, he lashed out with the tungsten dagger, driving it deep into the metal interior wall of the shaft!

  Screeeech—!

  A long trail of blinding sparks erupted in the darkness. The tip of the blade ground violently against the wall, producing a metallic shriek that tore through the air.

  The terrifying momentum of the fall was instantly choked out.

  Kane hung suspended in mid-air, his body jolting violently from the massive impact.

  His other hand flashed out to grip a seam in the wall, stabilizing himself. The movement was fluid, as if practiced a thousand times.

  The tactical light swept across the shaft wall.

  On the left, a square hatch—almost perfectly flush with the wall—appeared at the edge of the beam.

  Without a map, it would have been nearly impossible to spot with the naked eye.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Kane braced his feet against the wall and gave a precise swing, landing steadily on a narrow ledge in front of the hatch, barely wide enough for one person.

  The electronic lock had long since failed.

  He pulled out The Cyclone and aimed it at the cylinder.

  Zip!

  With a faint whistle of air, the lock was precisely blown apart.

  He holstered the gun and hauled the heavy metal door open.

  Creak—

  An even denser, stranger scent of mold and decay billowed out from behind the door, as if he had opened a tomb sealed for a century.

  Kane stood to the side of the entrance for two seconds. After confirming no living things were rushing out, he slipped inside.

  Beyond the door lay a long, narrow alloy corridor.

  On the walls, a few emergency lights flickered with a ghostly green glow, illuminating the path ahead like a hallway leading straight to hell.

  At the end of the corridor was an even thicker, circular airtight door.

  That was the true entrance to the laboratory.

  Kane advanced step by step, his nerves pulled taut like a bowstring.

  When he was less than twenty meters from the door, a cover disguised as a ventilation duct on the metal ceiling slid open silently.

  A pitch-black cannon barrel poked through.

  A red scanning beam locked onto him instantly!

  [ SYSTEM ALERT: UNAUTHORIZED BIOLOGICAL INTRUSION DETECTED... ]

  [ INITIATING PURGE PROTOCOL... ]

  A cold, synthesized electronic voice rang out.

  An automated defense turret!

  A blinding energy light gathered within the barrel. The threat of death was imminent!

  Kane’s reaction was faster than the alarm.

  The moment the red light locked on, his entire being transformed into a dark green afterimage, exploding toward the side and rear!

  Boom!

  A searing energy beam grazed his previous position, blasting a molten, charred crater into the floor.

  Without waiting for the turret to recharge, Kane’s toe tapped heavily against the wall, triggering a short-range burst of his second jump!

  He launched like a cannonball toward the opposite side of the corridor, once again brushing past the reaper.

  Boom! The energy beam missed a second time.

  The turret's reaction speed was staggering; it gave him no room to breathe. In this narrow, linear corridor, his evasion space was compressed to the limit. Being hit was only a matter of time.

  He had to destroy it.

  Mid-air during another wall-kick, Kane forcibly twisted his body, lunging directly toward the turret!

  He raised The Cyclone!

  The turret’s third attack was about to fire, the lethal energy light coalescing.

  In the middle of the air, Kane slammed his foot down for a second step!

  [ Aerial Step ]!

  Bang!

  The void felt as solid as stone beneath his foot. Amidst a violent airburst, his speed rocketed to its absolute limit!

  Now!

  BOOM!!

  A visible white shockwave erupted from the muzzle!

  The "Airburst," carrying unrivaled kinetic energy, formed a savage concussive wave that slammed into the automated turret on the ceiling!

  The turret's energy beam fired simultaneously.

  Two destructive forces crossed in mid-air.

  The afterglow of the energy beam grazed Kane's shoulder. His Basilisk Stone Armor instantly became scalding hot, but he didn't even blink.

  In his eyes, there was only the turret being swallowed by the white wave of air.

  RUMBLE!

  With a dull, heavy explosion, the reinforced turret—along with the surrounding ceiling armor—was forcibly reduced to a heap of twisted scrap metal, sparks flying in every direction.

  Threat neutralized.

  Kane landed steadily, thin trails of smoke rising from his shoulder plating.

  He walked to the circular airtight door, gripped the massive central mechanical wheel with both hands, and unleashed his full strength.

  Creee... crack...

  He turned the heavy wheel inch by inch.

  As the wheel completed a full rotation, a series of heavy mechanical clangs signaled the unlocking of the gears within.

  The alloy door, half a meter thick, slid slowly to the side.

  A bizarre, nauseating stench of disinfectant, formalin, and blood mixed with the rot of unknown plants billowed out.

  The world behind the door caused Kane’s gaze to freeze.

  It was a massive circular hall.

  But the entire space exhibited a strange "semi-ecological" state.

  Dark purple organic matter, resembling a weave of blood vessels and fascia, clung to the reinforced alloy walls and floors.

  These fleshy membranes pulsed slightly, looking like the innards of a breathing behemoth.

  Eerie fungi emitting a faint blue fluorescent glow sprouted from the cracks in the membranes, serving as the sole light source for this hall of death.

  In the center of the hall lay several scattered, long-decayed corpses.

  Their combat suits were tattered and ruined. Wrapped around their bleached-white bones were those same purple fleshy membranes.

  These were the remains of the three elite hunter teams that had come before.

  Kane’s gaze swept over the bodies and finally stopped at the deepest part of the hall, resting on a skeleton slumped against a control console.

  In its final moments, the person seemed to have been desperately operating something.

  The screen on the console before him was actually still lit!

  The display was covered in static, with only a single small window stubbornly flashing a red light.

  Step by step, slowly, Kane walked toward the console.

  The purple membranes beneath his feet felt slick and soft—an intensely ominous sensation.

  He reached the skeleton. Without touching the remains, he leaned in to look at the flickering screen.

  It was an entry window for an emergency log.

  On the screen, a line of text typed out with blood and final obsession flickered intermittently through the interference of the static...

  Thanks for reading!

  RATINGS and REVIEWS are super important for visibility. If you enjoy the story so far, please take 10 seconds to leave a 5-star rating! It helps more than you know. Thanks!

  Want to read ahead?

  30 Advance Chapters right now on my Patreon!