The underground facility was deathly silent.
The alarms were still blaring.
Red lights continued to flash.
They illuminated the cold steel corridors.
In front of the containment device.
Everyone stood where they were.
No one spoke.
After the stability rate fell below fifty percent.
The air itself seemed to grow heavier.
The technicians kept checking their terminals.
The data refreshed every few seconds.
Yet the results remained unchanged.
They were even continuing to worsen.
Forty-nine percent.
Forty-eight point seven percent.
Forty-eight point five percent.
The decline was not fast.
But it never stopped.
Like an avalanche that was destined to come.
No one knew exactly when it would truly begin.
But everyone knew.
It would come eventually.
Management Center.
The conference room was brightly lit.
The data on the screens updated simultaneously.
Every change in the numbers.
Made the atmosphere even more oppressive.
The head of the Environmental Department spoke quietly.
"If the containment fails."
"The pollution will enter the groundwater."
The head of the Energy Department added.
"The core power supply areas will also be affected."
"The mining zones will have to be completely shut down."
Everyone fell silent.
Because no one could come up with a better solution.
The Northveil Directorate had survived until today.
Not because it possessed abundant resources.
But because everything was calculated precisely.
Limited resources had to be reused again and again.
Every mineral vein had to have its extraction cycle calculated.
Every underground city had to have its heat loss calculated.
Every expedition outside had to have its risks calculated.
Their ancestors had left behind a saying.
Everyone learned to recite it from childhood.
"Never waste anything that can help you survive."
And now.
The entire eastern region might be forced to be abandoned.
For the Northveil Directorate.
That was almost impossible to accept.
Oksana sat in the main seat.
She did not participate in the discussion.
She simply watched the screen in silence.
She knew.
The problem had already gone beyond what this meeting could solve.
What they needed now was an answer.
And that answer.
Was underground.
Right in front of Irina.
She slowly spoke.
"Bring up all records concerning the eastern mining zone."
The personnel beside her immediately began working.
One record after another appeared on the screen.
The date each mining zone was established.
Pollution treatment records.
Underground facility blueprints.
Registrations of areas left behind from the old era.
Everything was searched through.
Yet the more they investigated.
The quieter everyone became.
Because there was pitifully little information about the containment zone.
As if someone had deliberately erased that part of history.
Or perhaps.
Everyone who knew about it was already dead.
Containment Zone.
The investigation team temporarily withdrew to the outer area.
The medical staff were treating Irina.
Her body temperature had dropped.
Her neurological load had increased.
There was mild frostbite on her palm.
None of this was unexpected.
Phase Domination was a high-load ability to begin with.
The more complex the object.
The greater the cost.
And the analysis she had just performed.
Had already exceeded most of the missions she had handled in the past.
The medic frowned.
"You need to rest for at least two hours."
Irina shook her head.
"No."
"Continuing will damage your nervous system."
"I know."
The medic wanted to say something else.
But ultimately said nothing.
Because everyone understood.
They had no time.
The team leader walked over to her.
He looked toward the containment device in the distance.
"You said just now."
"It is part of the seal."
"Yes."
"What does that mean?"
Irina was silent for a moment.
Then slowly said:
"The seal is not maintained solely by the facility."
"There is a pollution-bearing point in the core area."
"For decades."
"The pollution has been concentrated there."
The technician's expression changed slightly.
"In other words."
"There is something that has been bearing the pollution all this time?"
Irina nodded gently.
"Yes."
The air suddenly fell silent.
Everyone realized one thing.
Pollution did not disappear out of nowhere.
If it had been contained.
Then something had to bear it.
And the containment zone had existed for decades.
So what had happened to the thing carrying that pollution?
No one knew.
Just then.
The containment device shook again.
Crack—
A new fracture appeared.
A deep, muffled sound came from within the ice.
As if something was moving.
The investigation team immediately went on alert.
Every weapon was raised at once.
All the lights focused in that direction.
The next second.
A gigantic shadow appeared behind the ice.
Everyone's breathing stopped at the same time.
It was not human.
At least.
There was no longer anything recognizably human about it.
Its enormous body was covered in crystalline structures.
Like frozen minerals.
Or tissue that had grown completely out of control.
Gray-white patterns continuously flowed across its surface.
The pollution index skyrocketed.
The alarms became even more piercing.
The technician's face went pale.
"Pollution reaction increasing!"
"It's moving!"
The team leader immediately gave the order.
"Fall back!"
Everyone began retreating.
Except Irina.
She stared fixedly at the figure.
Phase Domination continued feeding information back to her.
Massive amounts of structural data flooded into her mind.
And the most shocking thing among them was this.
The core of that thing.
Still retained traces of an ability reaction.
Not pollution.
A genuine ability signature.
A signature belonging to an Ability User.
Her pupils contracted slightly.
She finally understood.
"So that's how it is…"
The team leader turned around.
"What did you find?"
Irina stared into the depths of the ice.
Her voice was slow and low.
"It used to be human."
The air seemed to freeze.
Everyone was stunned.
"What do you mean?"
"The core of the seal."
"Was once an Ability User."
No one spoke.
Because the answer was too heavy.
Irina continued.
"He voluntarily bore the pollution."
"He voluntarily maintained the seal."
"For decades."
"He never left this place."
The technician swallowed with difficulty.
"Then why did he become like this?"
She looked at the spreading polluted structure.
And spoke softly.
"Because no one can endure pollution for decades."
"Not even an Ability User."
"Not even them."
The air grew heavy.
Everyone stared at the figure.
Suddenly realizing.
The thing before them was not a monster.
It was someone who had protected their country for decades.
Only the years had gone on for too long.
So long that even his name had been forgotten.
So long that no one remembered who he was anymore.
Management Center.
The conference room had fallen silent as well.
Everyone had heard Irina's words.
No one had expected the truth behind the seal to be like this.
An Ability User.
Decades.
Alone underground.
Bearing the pollution.
Maintaining the seal.
Until he had completely lost his human form.
The head of the Environmental Department slowly lowered his head.
He said nothing.
Because if it had been him.
He could not have done it.
Most of the people in the conference room could not have done it either.
Perhaps even the entire country.
Could not find a second person like him.
Oksana stared at the screen.
She remained silent for a long time.
Then spoke.
"Investigate."
The person beside her froze.
"Investigate what?"
"All records of Ability Users from the old era."
"Everyone involved in the pollution treatment project."
"Find them all."
"Yes."
The order was immediately issued.
Massive amounts of records began to be retrieved.
But the results were far from ideal.
Too much time had passed.
The records were severely incomplete.
Many names no longer existed.
Some documents contained nothing but identification numbers.
As if those people had vanished from history.
Inside the underground facility.
The gigantic figure moved again.
Gray-white patterns continued to spread.
The pollution began creeping through the ice.
Crack.
Crack.
Crack.
More and more fractures appeared.
The stability rate fell to forty-seven percent.
Forty-six percent.
Forty-five percent.
The alarms almost merged into one continuous sound.
The technicians kept reporting the situation.
Their voices had already begun to tremble.
"It's continuing to fall."
"The pollution release rate is increasing."
"The containment structure is becoming unstable."
Every word struck everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.
Just then.
Irina suddenly stepped forward.
The team leader immediately reached out and stopped her.
"What are you doing?"
"Re-stabilizing the pollution."
"One person can't do it."
"Someone has to try."
The team leader fell silent.
Eventually, he slowly lowered his hand.
Because he knew.
In the entire Northveil Directorate.
Apart from Irina.
There was no second choice.
She slowly walked toward the ice.
One step.
Then another.
Her footsteps echoed through the vast facility.
The temperature around her grew lower and lower.
Frost began forming in the air.
Deep within the ice.
Those eyes already covered by pollution slowly moved.
As if they had sensed something.
Their gaze fell upon Irina.
Two pairs of eyes stared at each other through the thick layer of ice.
On one side was a sixteen-year-old girl.
On the other was a guardian who had been forgotten for decades.
One had only just begun to shoulder the responsibility of a nation.
The other had shouldered it for so long.
That he had lost himself.
Irina placed her palm against the ice.
Phase Domination activated once again.
In an instant.
Massive amounts of information flooded into her mind.
She saw the structure of the seal.
She saw the flow of pollution.
And she also saw countless traces of repairs.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Dozens of times.
Hundreds of times.
That Ability User had not simply remained asleep all this time.
Over the past several decades.
He had repaired the seal again and again.
Reinforced the structure again and again.
Forced the pollution back into the core again and again.
Until he could no longer maintain it.
At that moment.
Irina suddenly felt something indescribable.
Without this person.
The Northveil Directorate might have ceased to exist long ago.
Countless mining zones.
Countless towns.
Countless residents.
The fact that they had been able to survive until today.
Perhaps all of it was connected to him.
And no one even knew his name.
For the first time.
Irina felt fear.
Not fear of pollution.
Not fear of death.
But fear of the future.
Fear that one day.
She might become like this too.
Become part of the machinery that kept the nation running.
Become a function.
Become a tool.
Become a facility.
Until eventually.
Even her name was forgotten.
And deep within the ice.
Those eyes that had long since lost their reason.
Seemed to tremble slightly.
As if they had heard something.
Or perhaps.
After decades of endless solitude.
They had sensed the presence of their own kind for the first time.