Blood-red alarm lights flashed frantically, bathing the entire restricted zone in the color of hell.
"Warning: Unauthorized genetic sequence detected. Target locked. Initiating... Purge Protocol."
The cold, synthesized mechanical voice echoed through the steel labyrinth like a death sentence.
Shit!
I didn't even have time to curse before the clatter of countless mechanical joints unfolding erupted from all directions, as dense as a metallic rainstorm.
On the ceiling, inside the walls, deep within the stacks... the security robots that had been motionless just moments ago all sprang to life! Their red scanning beams formed an inescapable net, instantly cutting off all my paths of retreat!
Calm down! Vex, you have to stay calm!
Like a cornered beast, I pressed my back hard against the cold metal shelves. My heart hammered so violently it felt like it would explode.
Escape! I have to get out!
My "Engineer's Eye" whirred frantically, scanning everything around me. I saw it! At the other end of the restricted zone, there was an inconspicuous ventilation duct! It was the only blind spot not directly covered by those mechanical monsters!
Without a moment's hesitation, I shot out from the shadows of the stacks like a bullet!
"Target moving! Fire!"
"Sizzle—sizzle—sizzle!"
Searing energy beams grazed my body, punching molten holes into the metal racks behind me. The air was instantly filled with a pungent, scorched smell!
I didn't dare look back, relying purely on instinct as I frantically ducked, jumped, and rolled through the labyrinthine corridors! Every dodge drained my last ounce of strength; every time, I felt the scythe of death graze my neck!
Finally, I lunged for that ventilation duct!
No time for tools! I raised my foot and kicked the rusted iron grate with all my might!
"Bang!"
The iron grate snapped!
Like an eel, I desperately squeezed insideThe narrow, dark duct, thick with dust and the smell of rust, became my only refuge. Behind me, the relentless pounding of energy beams striking the walls made the entire duct vibrate.
I scrambled on all fours, crawling frantically through the passage. I knew that damn woman Ilana and her lackeys must have already sealed off every exit from the library.
Heading out through the main entrance would be walking straight into a trap.
But they didn't know that the jammer I'd thrown at the surveillance camera was more than just a jammer.
I used my personal terminal to quietly trigger the backdoor program YF010 had left behind.
Instantly, after a burst of static, a clear female voice, dripping with haughty superiority, drilled into my ears.
It was Ilana!
"...Team Three, hold the main west gate! Anyone comes out—kill on sight!"
"Team Four, seal the east emergency exit! Don't let a single fly get out!"
"Teams One and Two, follow me and breach the restricted area's main entrance! I want that rat crushed inside!"
I sneered as I listened to their comms while crawling through the darkness.
Idiots.
They thought I was done for, unaware that their every deployment was laid out before me like a transparent map.
They had concentrated all their forces at the library's main exits... but they had overlooked one place.
The escape route they considered the least likely and most inconspicuous.
The skybridge to the Engineering College!
I abruptly changed direction and crawled toward their weakest defensive point!
*Creeeak—*
I slipped out of a maintenance hatch on the third floor of the academic building, returning to the pre-dawn darkness like a true ghost.
The cold night wind brushed against my face, cooling my adrenaline-soaked brain.
Not far away was the glass skybridge spanning the two academic buildings. Once across, I could enter the complex terrain of the Engineering College and vanish completely from their dragnet.
My heart was racing, but my steps were as steady as if they were rooted in the ground.
Closer... closer...
I planted one foot onto the bridge
Right then, my body went rigid, and my blood seemed to freeze in an instant!
At the other end of the bridge stood a figure.
A tall, imposing silhouette stood there silently, as if he had been waiting for me for a very long time.
He was dressed in an immaculate uniform, the faint pre-dawn light outlining the cold, hard contours of his profile. Those eyes, sharp as an eagle's, pierced through the darkness and locked onto me.
Hawke Anderson!
My pupils instantly contracted into dangerous pinpricks!
It was him! The man who murdered my parents! What was he doing here?!
Had he received the alarm and come to handle the intrusion?
No... that wasn't it! His gaze was too calm—so calm it was as if he had long expected me to emerge from here. He wasn't here to catch a common intruder; he was waiting for me!
He knew! He must know something!
My hand instinctively reached for the wrench in my pocket as a wave of icy murderous intent surged from my very marrow. I wanted nothing more than to rush him right now and shatter his throat with that wrench!
But he didn't make a move, didn't even raise the alarm. He just watched me calmly, as if examining an interesting collectible.
Then, he spoke.
His voice was low, yet it hit me like a sledgehammer.
"What are you looking for?"
Boom!
My mind went blank!
The question was like a bolt of lightning, tearing through my cover! He wasn't testing me; he was stating a fact he already knew!
He knew what I was looking for! He knew I was searching for the secrets of the "Ghost Engine"!
He might have even... guessed my identity long ago!
I couldn't answer! Not a single word!
To admit it would be a death sentence!
I stared him down, offering no answer. Instead, a wild, provocative smile curled onto my lips.
My other hand, hidden in my pocket, quietly pressed the activation button on the last gadget I had prepared.
It was a small, one-time-use electromagnetic pulse device I'd cobbled together from scrap parts!
*Zzzzt!*
An invisible electromagnetic wave instantly erupted, blasting outward from me!
Every light on the bridge, the surveillance cameras at its ends, and even Hawk Anderson's personal terminal let out an ear-splitting crackle in unison before plunging into absolute silence.
The entire world was dragged into three long seconds of absolute darkness.
Now!
Instead of charging at him, I spun around and vaulted over the bridge's railing.
"You—!"
I heard his low growl, a mix of shock and fury, following a brief moment of stunned silence.
But I didn't wait for him to charge.
Grabbing the maintenance rail on the side of the bridge, I slid down as light as a feather, vanishing into the shadows of the sprawling complex below.
The moment my feet hit the ground, I stole one last glance back.
The brief darkness had passed, and backup power flickered on, casting a dim glow.
Hawk Anderson stood alone on the bridge, making no move to follow. He just stood where I had vanished, staring down into the void, his face dark as thunder.
He knew that the little mouse from the junkyard he'd been watching wasn't a mouse anymore.
She had become a viper.
A viper that had already sunk its fangs into his heel, ready to inject its lethal venom at any moment.
And he finally realized that the nightmare he had buried with his own hands twenty years ago had returned.
I raced through the darkness without a moment's pause.
But as I passed a maintenance tunnel that should have been locked tight, I stopped short.
The heavy blast door was slightly ajar.
As if... someone had intentionally left a path open for me.
I didn't have time to dwell on it; I slipped inside and vanished completely from the academy's security grid.
My mind was a whirlwind.
Hawk Anderson...
That anonymous message...
And this door left ajar...
This web was far more complex than I had imagined.
But it didn't matter.
No matter who was pulling the strings, Hawk Anderson... your life is mine.