Kie lowered his voice and brought a hand to his chin in contemplation. "Little did they know they were being watched. Suddenly, they heard a loud 'Rah!'" Kie yelled, startling Miko, who shrieked and jerked back into her chair. The others merely blinked, unimpressed.

  Leaning back with a smirk, Kie placed a hand before his lips, speaking through his fingers. "Startled and frightened, they all jumped away, only to witness Nagato emerging from behind the dumpster, barely able to walk from laughing his head off."

  Tee furrowed her brow, struck by the uncanny resemblance between Nagato and Kie himself. It was almost too perfect, as if Kie’s mannerisms had been mirrored in Nagato’s every movement. She couldn’t shake the nagging thought gnawing at the back of her mind.

  "What's the big idea, huh? Not cool. I knew we should have left him, one of the troopers muttered in regret. But another couldn’t let Nagato off so easily. He stormed up to him, gripping his collar with one hand and lifting him slightly off the ground. Do you think this is funny, huh, punk? Try that again, and I'll wipe that grin off your face permanently!”

  Trembling, Nagato promised never to repeat his actions. But just as the troopers were caught up in the tense moment, the alleyway lights began flickering on, one by one. Over their heads and behind Nagato, a bright light shone down, illuminating everything with an almost unnatural intensity.

  The senior trooper, preoccupied with Nagato, and the others, glaring at him, failed to notice the slow, creeping movement at the corner of the alley. The blinding overhead light made it impossible to see clearly, hiding the creature lurking there, inching closer with a silent, predatory patience.

  Miko hugged herself tightly, trying to find reassurance from Kie’s earlier mention of a happy ending. Hope flickered in her eyes, fragile but persistent, driven by the anticipation of a positive outcome.

  Then, without warning, a thick, dark tentacle shot out of the shadows and wrapped around Nagato’s leg, yanking him from the senior trooper’s grip. He crashed face-first onto the hard ground, breaking his nose, his scream piercing the night air. The force of the pull tore several of his nails from his fingers as he clung desperately to the concrete, leaving streaks of blood across the alley.

  Eyes widened and jaws dropped in shock. For the first time, the listeners realized that Kie wasn’t telling a story from imagination—he was recounting real events. His words painted vivid scenes, as though they were watching a suspenseful movie unfold before them.

  Blinded by the intense rays of the overhead light, the remaining troopers could do nothing but hear the horrifying sounds of Nagato’s body being dragged across the rough ground. His screams abruptly ceased, replaced by sickening cracks of bones snapping and the wet splatter of blood against the walls.

  The troopers on the surrounding rooftops, unaware of the horror unfolding below, had already departed. Help would not return. From behind, the other troopers watched in terror as the senior trooper, frozen with fear, wet his pants.

  A gasp of terror escaped Zod’s lips, while Tee and Saeda bit theirs in silent shock. Miko’s wide, trembling eyes remained fixed on Kie, who continued recounting the events with an unsettling grin that seemed to grow with every word.

  Kie’s voice carried the weight of looming danger. "Being on the ground level with the Xenosapian forced the troopers to confront a daunting challenge—climbing the metal ladder attached to the side of the nearby buildings to reach the rooftop. This meant they would have their backs turned to whatever lurked in the shadows."

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  A collective sense of unease filled the room as Kie’s words sank in. "Caught in the grip of shock and terror, their minds clouded by fear, they froze in place. Their inability to react proved fatal, and the Xenosapian seized the opportunity to strike once more."

  Kie’s tone shifted, tinged with sorrow, as he spoke of Lana, one of the girl troopers. "A long, menacing tentacle pierced through the rays of the overhead light, snaking around Lana’s neck and yanking her into the abyss of darkness. Despite someone’s desperate attempt to hold her hand, the combination of sweaty palms and lack of gloves made her grasp slip away, and she vanished without a sound."

  "They sound too close," Tee muttered, her voice betraying her growing concern. But Kie pressed on, undeterred, as though the urgency of his story outweighed any distraction. Tee’s mind wandered, imagining an evolved Xenosapian with appendages capable of stretching over great distances, while the thought of her own MegaSapian sparked a mixture of fear and fascination.

  "Then, there were four. Two girls, two boys," Kie continued, his voice resolute and deliberate. "Having regained the left side of their brains, they mustered the strength to take cautious steps backward. Soon, the horrifying sounds of jaws snapping and bones breaking fell silent."

  A glimmer of hope appeared as Kie described the troopers’ next move. "One of the girls quickly retrieved her voice-com, adhering to standard Mid-Guard protocol. She prioritized stating their location before providing further details.

  "The other three formed a protective circle around her, blades drawn, scanning every direction for potential threats. Troopers within range received the distress call—I was one of them. We numbered around twenty."

  Tee let out a relieved sigh, reaching the point in the story where Kie would make his appearance. Despite her lingering doubts about its authenticity, she was drawn in, as were the others. Their curiosity and tension hung thick in the air.

  Kie’s voice carried tension and intrigue as he continued. "We traveled above ground, vigilant for any unusual sights or sounds. When we reached the designated location, only two troopers had made it to the rooftop. Their trembling bodies and incoherent speech painted a harrowing picture.

  "With flashlights, their bloodied lips bitten in anxious anticipation, they seemed like fragile statues ready to collapse. As new patrollers, none of us judged them. The others—Ames, Nagato, Luna, and Matana—they were all dead."

  "A different squad leader, who had accompanied us, took charge of the interrogation," Kie continued. "What kind of adversary are we facing? What rank? Their answers were barely audible amidst shivering. They mentioned its extraordinary speed and the blinding brightness of a single light. And its size—nine by four."

  Tee’s surprise escaped in a blur. "How is a Xenosapian that’s nine feet tall and four feet wide able to move that fast? How long was it alive for, half a year?"

  Assuming it rhetorical, Kie curled the corner of his mouth. "I’m not sure. May I continue?"

  Tee averted her gaze, fixing her eyes on the table, silently granting permission. Her mind raced with possibilities: the creature must have survived in the sewers, growing stronger until its insatiable greed propelled it to the surface. It lurked in shadows, snatching victims before curfew. And yet, it was considered unintelligent? Tee questioned the prevailing assumptions.

  "From our point on the rooftop, we witnessed a spectacle below. Every nearby light had been switched on. The new squad leader assigned two of us to escort the newbies back to the train station to alert MG officials. Realizing the survivors’ limited usefulness, he left his hoverboard behind, walked to the edge, and leaped to the ground."

  Tee couldn’t help but marvel at the squad leader’s audacity. Not because he left his hoverboard, but because he dared to search for the creature at ground level despite the increased risk.

  "We all followed suit, leaping down to the ground," Kie revealed, confirming her expectations.

  The tension in the room was palpable, every listener caught between fear and fascination. Kie’s words were vivid enough that it was easy to imagine the alleyway, the screams, the crawling darkness, and the relentless Xenosapian. Every detail—Nagato’s crash, Lana’s disappearance, the faltering troopers, the desperate voice-com call—added layers of dread that made the story impossible to ignore.

  Miko swallowed hard, hugging herself tighter. Zod’s fists clenched involuntarily. Tee’s lips pressed into a thin line. Every listener felt as though they were there, feeling the heat of the fire, hearing the echoes of screams, smelling the faint tang of blood in the air. Kie’s storytelling had drawn them into a nightmare that was almost tangible.