The valleys of Kashmir carried more than just cold in the air—
fear was moving with the wind.
Army trucks rolled endlessly across the roads.
Armed soldiers stood at every checkpoint,
and suspicion lingered on every passing face.
The moment Rohan entered the area,
the cold calm in his eyes
and the confident, almost careless way he walked
were enough to put the soldiers on alert.
"Stop him."
Within minutes,
Rohan was taken into military custody.
A sealed room.
An iron chair.
An interrogation table in front of him.
He was searched thoroughly.
Every pocket. Every belonging.
"Name?"
"Where are you from?"
"What is your purpose here?"
Rohan didn't answer a single question.
Inside his mind, Reaper's voice echoed—
This is your problem.
And you will solve it yourself.
So Rohan remained completely silent.
Soon after, military officers fed Rohan's data into a secure identification terminal.
SUBJECT NAME: ROHAN SHARMA
The initial file opened successfully.
Basic details appeared on the screen.
But the moment an officer clicked on "Life Profile / Background Access"—
The screen froze for a second.
Then, without warning, an encrypted alert flashed across the display:
⚠ CLASSIFIED PROFILE DETECTED
ACCESS LEVEL: RESTRICTED
AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED — HIGH COMMAND ONLY ⚠
The control room fell into complete silence.
The system automatically blocked all further access.
None of them had ever seen security clearance at this level before.
One of the officers spoke quietly—
"Call the Lieutenant General. Now."
Moments later,
the Lieutenant General entered the interrogation room.
The sound of his boots alone
was enough to silence the entire space.
The moment his eyes fell on Rohan,
he spoke without hesitation—
"Everyone out."
"I want to speak to him alone."
The officers paused for a second…
then left the room without a single question.
The door closed.
The Lieutenant General sat across from Rohan.
"To be honest," he said,
"I don't know who you are."
"But if you exist in the system
and are visible only to High Authority…"
"…then suspecting you would be pointless."
Inside his mind, he thought—
I don't know much about this man…
but one thing is certain—
he is no ordinary individual.
The Lieutenant General looked straight at him.
"So why are you here?"
Rohan replied calmly—
"I don't see why I should tell you."
"I came for my own purpose."
"And I want you to stay out of my way."
The Lieutenant General remained silent for a few moments, then said—
"We won't interfere."
"But can you at least tell me
what your objective is?"
Rohan paused briefly…
then delivered a carefully planned lie.
"I've received information that a terrorist organization has a base here."
"I was given a mission to wipe them out."
"That's all I'll say."
(The truth was—Rohan had received no such mission.
He was here for revenge. Nothing else.)
The Lieutenant General thought to himself—
Perhaps fate is on our side…
that it sent him here.
(He knew nothing about HELL.
Only that sometimes,
when a crisis becomes unbearable,
certain individuals appear—
solve the problem—
and disappear without leaving a trace.)
Aloud, he said—
"If that's why you're here,
then there's something I need to show you."
"The army has patrolled this area before," he continued,
"but a deployment at this scale
hasn't happened in a long time."
"Members of this terrorist organization
have been kidnapping civilians."
"Kidnapping alone would have been one thing…"
"But they kill them afterward
and discard the bodies anywhere."
"Someone loses a hand."
"Someone an eye."
"Someone their tongue."
"These aren't one or two cases."
"There are many."
The Lieutenant General pushed his laptop forward
and played a video.
Several masked men appeared on the screen.
Their faces covered—only their eyes visible.
In front of them stood—
a young man,
a child,
and a girl.
The video showed them being brutally tortured.
In the end, they were killed.
A distorted voice spoke—
"We will take control of India."
"Kashmir will be the beginning."
"Until you hand Kashmir over to us willingly…"
"this will continue."
"And not just in Kashmir," the voice added.
"We will do this in many other parts of India as well."
The video ended.
Rohan spoke calmly.
"Where did you get this video?"
The Lieutenant General replied—
"They uploaded it to the dark web recently."
"They're trying to push it onto the surface web."
"Our systems are barely stopping them."
"And this is just one video."
"There's no telling how many more they've recorded."
"If all of them go public,
there will be nationwide chaos."
"We need to stop this—fast."
The Lieutenant General took a deep breath.
"Many people have already gone missing."
"We can't even track them."
"I want you to help us."
Rohan replied without hesitation—
"Leave this to me."
(He said this because Reaper had already given him the exact location of the terrorist base.)
Rohan continued—
"I'll attack their base alone."
"You focus only on rescuing the hostages."
The Lieutenant General answered firmly—
"That part…
leave it to me."