"It seems... you have no intention of paying the reward."
"So, how about you let me go? They're clearly trying to rob us, aren't they?"
At that moment, Pardofelis stood to the side with her hands on her hips, speaking to the Flame-Chaser. Seeing this, the Flame-Chaser sighed and released her grip on Pardofelis.
"Do it."
"Yay!"
The moment the words left her mouth, a grin curled on Pardofelis's lips, and she vanished instantly.
The young man's pupils contracted. He shouted "Fire!" as he spread his fingers and leaped backward.
Gunfire erupted. Bullets poured toward the Flame-Chaser in a frantic torrent, but they merely caused ripples across his form, failing to leave a scratch.
In the next heartbeat, the ten combatants who had opened fire were sent flying simultaneously, slamming violently against the walls.
"How is this possible!" The young man was deathly pale with disbelief. "How can you still use superpowers inside a Superpower Cage?!"
He had previously assumed Cipher had broken out of the Superpower Shackles using some unknown lock-picking technique. After all, while the shackles were designed to suppress abilities, they were essentially just "locks"—rare as it was, it wasn't unheard of for someone to pick them.
But this was a Superpower Cage! One of the AMA's most vital technologies for dealing with Ability Users...
How could it be... that even a Superpower Cage couldn't suppress their abilities!
Then... there was only one truth left...
"You're both S-rank powerhouses?!" the young man screamed, his composure finally shattering.
Before he could say another word, Pardofelis kicked him square into the wall.
"Pfft..."
A spray of blood erupted from the young man's mouth. He stared with wide, bloodshot eyes at Pardofelis, who was casually dusting herself off, and the Flame-Chaser, who remained motionless. Then, he slowly pulled out his Terminal.
"Two S-rank powerhouses... why do you keep targeting... the Countercurrent Alliance..."
"Hmm... because it's a faster way to make money?"
Pardofelis paused for a second before answering him.
"Just for... a few million Credits... two S-ranks... is it really worth it?"
Pardofelis's answer made the young man's face twist even further. Having exhausted his last bit of strength to speak, he collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.
"Of course it's worth it! And hey, don't pass out! I clearly held back! You haven't given us our five million Credits yet!"
Pardofelis jogged over to the young man in a panic, shaking his shoulders vigorously in an attempt to wake him up. However, the young man only managed to crack his eyelids open for a single look before falling back into a deeper faint—seemingly passed out from sheer rage.
Seeing this, Pardofelis set him down, leaned over with her hand on her chin for a moment, and then straightened up with a relaxed expression.
"Hmm... looks like his life isn't in danger for now. Let's see how much money is in the Terminal, meow."
She picked up the Terminal lying nearby, but she froze the moment she saw the screen.
"Recording sent? Did he just record what I said?"
Pardofelis tilted her head in confusion at the message on the screen, but she quickly tossed the thought aside. "Whatever, let him record it. It doesn't affect me anyway."
Taking out her Quantum Storage, she plugged it into the Terminal with high expectations...
"Zero?!"
Pardofelis rubbed her eyes, unable to believe the digits on the screen.
"Why is it zero! Aren't you a squad leader? Where's the five million!"
Fuming, Pardofelis slammed the Terminal onto the ground and walked out through the sealed room doors.
"I don't believe it! There's no way an entire base has no money!"
With that, Pardofelis vanished. Inside the room, the Flame-Chaser also disappeared instantly.
A while later...
Cipher stood in silence, staring at the measly hundred thousand or so Credits added to her Quantum Storage.
To guard against me, they actually moved all the funds from this entire base???
This small sum was only what she had scavenged by pilfering the personal Terminals of the combat personnel!
I would have been better off just stealing from the start! At least I would have had the element of surprise!
Thinking of this, a grumpy Cipher returned to the Ability Suppression Room, gave the young man one last kick, and walked out of the base. As for the man himself, she didn't bother kidnapping him for ransom this time. It was too much of a hassle; she might as well just find another base to rob.
Meanwhile, at the Countercurrent Alliance headquarters, inside a conference room.
After receiving the recording from Xie Huaijiu, the people sitting in the room fell into a heavy silence. Eventually, a middle-aged man sitting at the head of the table spoke up:
"Inside a Superpower Cage, ten armed combatants were defeated in an instant. I don't need to say more about what rank that 'Cifera' belongs to, do I?"
As soon as he finished, a man wearing gold-rimmed glasses sitting in the first seat on the left spoke:
"S-rank at minimum. Estimated S+."
"But why have three S-rank powerhouses suddenly appeared in the Pit Bottom District in such a short time? Powerhouses we had zero information on!" the brawny man in the first seat on the right said with some irritation.
"Is it possible... that 'Flame-Chaser' is a disguise used by the S-rank known as 'Cipher'? Haven't you noticed? That 'Cifera' is a feline genetically modified human, and 'Cipher' is also a feline genetically modified human."
"Two feline modified humans working together to scam us—doesn't that seem perfectly logical?"
The man in gold-rimmed glasses spoke again, placing files on the two cats and the Flame-Chaser onto the conference table.
"Furthermore, our Countercurrent Alliance only just offended that 'Cipher' not long ago, and then 'Cifera' robbed our Experimental Base 036 that very night. Doesn't that seem too coincidental?"
"I agree," a woman in the second seat on the right added.
For some reason, everyone present subconsciously rejected the idea that "Cifera" and "Cipher" could be the same person.
"Then tell me, how should we handle these S-rank powerhouses? If they want to steal from us, we can't stop them no matter what we do." Seeing this, the brawny man dropped his angry act, crossed his arms, and leaned back to ask the man in glasses.
"My suggestion is... to sue for peace."
The man gently pushed up his glasses and slowly uttered those words.
"At the end of the day, our grudge with Cipher started because of that commission and transaction. So... we just need to go and apologize."
"After all, logically speaking, she shouldn't have suffered much loss. There's no need for us to fight to the death with two S-rank powerhouses... especially ones whose powers we can't even identify."
"Sue for peace?!"
The brawny man slammed his fists onto the table with a loud bang. "What about our dead comrades! How are you going to answer for them!"
"They're dead, so what? It's no big deal," the woman said impatiently. "If we don't sue for peace, will you be responsible when we lose even more funding? You couldn't pay it back with a lifetime of wages!"
"You!" The brawny man lunged to his feet, glaring fiercely at the woman.
"Quiet!"
Those two words made the angry man freeze, and he sat back down with some reluctance. It was the middle-aged man at the head of the table who had spoken.
"Do as Number Two suggested. Meeting adjourned."
"Understood."
The middle-aged man pressed a button beside him, and immediately, everyone's figures vanished, leaving the conference room empty once more.
"So annoying! I only got a hundred thousand Credits!"
Back in her room, Cipher flopped onto the bed, feeling dejected. "Sigh... when will the system update finish... there are still several hours left..."
Just as she finished speaking, an electronic voice rang out.
[System update complete. Maintenance has ended ahead of schedule.]