A chill spread through the formation.
No one said it out loud. But everyone felt it.
The air around the area suddenly grew heavy, as if something were pressing down on it. Mist drifted silently through the ranks of soldiers, sliding past blades and spear tips aimed forward.
Even the elite troops under Dane subtly shifted their stance.
Fingers tightened around their weapons.
The powered exoskeleton frames emitted faint mechanical whines as servo joints tensed with the movement of their arms.
Dane narrowed his eyes.
He felt it too.
Something… was wrong.
He stepped forward half a pace, his gaze locked onto the white-clad figure ahead.
His voice dropped, cautious.
"Professor?"
The sound carried into the fog.
No reply.
Only a faint breeze passed through.
The figure stood there.
Motionless.
One second.
Two seconds.
Then—
crack
The shadow began to move.
At first, it was only the slightest tremor.
Then the "professor's" shoulder tilted at a strange angle.
His back bent.
crack
The body twisted.
Not like a human movement.
The neck rotated.
The shoulders slipped.
The entire figure began writhing, like a mass of soft material being twisted from within.
One soldier sucked in a sharp breath.
"What the hell—"
BOOM.
The entire "body" exploded.
Not a normal explosion.
It shattered.
Disintegrated into a dense red mist that burst into the air.
The blood fog shot straight toward the formation.
One soldier instantly stepped half a pace forward, moving in front of Dane on pure training reflex.
The crimson spray slammed directly onto his knight armor.
Mask.
Shoulders.
Chest.
His entire body was drenched in red.
The whole formation froze.
Dane narrowed his eyes.
A single thought rang clearly in his mind.
Not human.
Not the professor.
His voice came out sharper now, urgency mixed with barely hidden suspicion.
"How's the radar?"
No one answered immediately.
A soldier behind him finally crouched over the portable radar device.
He looked at the screen.
Then froze.
"..."
A beat of silence.
He swallowed.
"Report… the radar—"
His voice turned hoarse.
"There's no signal anymore."
At that exact moment, another soldier spoke up through the comms channel.
"Report, sir! We've also lost contact with Team Alpha."
Dane snapped his head around.
The soldier continued, voice hurried.
"I'm trying to reconnect with the other teams… but I can't establish a link!"
A cold shiver ran down Dane's spine.
The scattered pieces of information in his mind suddenly locked together.
The professor appearing in monster territory.
The signal disappearing.
A fake body.
Blood mist.
Loss of communication.
His mind reached the conclusion instantly.
It's a trap.
"Damn it."
I was too careless.
Too reckless.
"—All units—"
He was just about to give the order to retreat.
Then—
The light above suddenly dimmed.
A massive shadow fell over the formation.
Battle instinct made every soldier look up at the same time.
And they saw it.
In front of the formation—
A little girl.
Brown hair.
A small body floating in midair.
But around that body—
Countless dark red tentacles.
Dense.
Coiling.
They moved slowly, like enormous snakes swimming through the air.
Slowly.
As if… sniffing out prey.
No one knew when it had appeared.
No one had seen it approach.
No device had detected it.
A soldier behind them swallowed.
The dry sound echoed clearly through the silent comm channel.
Dane didn't take his eyes off the creature.
His brain had already made the decision before fear could spread through the entire unit.
His voice snapped out, sharp as a blade.
"Deploy knight exosuits!"
"Scatter immediately!"
"NOW!"
------
Lam Huy Trường stood still in the cold corridor.
A faint static sound buzzed beside his ear.
Just like interference from an old radio.
Thin.
Dry.
As if a signal had just been pulled out of empty space.
He looked around, wondering what the sound was.
And when he turned back—
An interface window had appeared in front of him.
Wow—what the—?
It floated in midair.
Pale blue light.
Transparent.
There were only two large sections displayed on it.
Main Mission
Hidden Mission
Two bold lines stood out against the cold interface.
Lam Huy Trường frowned.
What is this? Why did it suddenly appear?
He reached out and touched the interface.
Dragged left.
Nothing.
Dragged right.
Still nothing.
No sub-window.
No hidden menu.
"…It really is a bugged version."
He muttered.
Finally, Lam Huy Trường tried dragging up and down.
This time, the interface reacted.
The mission list scrolled up.
Then scrolled down.
That was it.
No other functions.
Lam Huy Trường cursed silently.
Then his gaze stopped on something.
Hidden Mission
Under that line was the familiar choice.
Yes / No
Lam Huy Trường narrowed his eyes.
Right below the Yes / No text was a tiny symbol.
Three dots.
[…]
His finger lightly tapped it.
The interface immediately zoomed in on that section.
A new line of text slowly appeared.
Hidden beneath the interface layer.
Time Remaining: 02:13:47
Lam Huy Trường froze.
His heart clenched.
As if someone had suddenly grabbed it and squeezed.
"…What?"
A cold sensation ran down his spine.
**02:13:46**
**02:13:45**
The numbers were counting down.
Without stopping.