Late at night in Zero Horizon's underground base. The surrounding space was swallowed by the uncanny silence of the dark hours. Inside the pitch-black computer room, only the blue-gray glow from the computer monitor cast onto Loona's exhausted face and dark-ringed eyes.
She persevered, keys clicking as she scoured every hard drive partition searching for the lost data files:
— "There's no way it completely vanished... Surely some trace must still be left!"
Loona desperately delved deep into every nook and cranny of the system, but was met only with broken file paths and a solid zero. Every glimmer of hope gradually reached a dead end. She was so hyper-focused that she failed to notice a figure standing contemplatively outside the doorway for quite some time.
— "You're still not asleep? It's very late, staying up night after night isn't good for your health."
The sudden voice made Loona jump, turning around abruptly. It was Ren Mikami.
Loona forced a weak smile, replying in a weary voice:
— "I'm just re-investigating the data. I'll head to sleep soon! But Brother Ren, what are you doing up at this hour?"
— "I was just looking for a late-night snack. Saw the light on in the computer room, so I thought I'd peek in."
Little did Loona know, right behind Ren's back, his hand tightly gripped a sharp military trench knife. Seeing that Loona suspected nothing, Ren nonchalantly tucked the knife back into his coat folds, offering a gentle smile:
— "Alright then, I'm gonna go grab something to fill my stomach."
— "Okay!"
Saying so, Ren turned and walked away. Loona turned back to the screen, but an absurdity suddenly flashed in her mind:
'Wait... Brother Ren never had a habit of eating late at night, did he?'
Curiosity piqued. Loona stood up, tiptoeing out of the computer room toward the kitchen. Approaching the corner of the hallway, she peeked in to see Ren opening the refrigerator, pulling out food, and wolfing it down completely naturally. But while she was absorbed in watching, a bone-chilling voice spoke right behind her back:
— "What are you doing here, Loona?"
Loona startled violently, whipping around. Rei Mikami stood behind her, his eyes deep and unreadable.
Loona stammered, hiding her suspicion:
— "Ah... I was just... going to the restroom!"
Rei curled his lips:
— "Ah, go ahead then. Ren and I are grabbing a late-night bite, wanna join us?"
— "Uh... no thanks, I'm not hungry!"
Loona immediately turned to walk away, but Rei's voice sounded again, heavy with implication:
— "That direction isn't the restroom. It's over that way."
— "Ah... I forgot..."
Loona hurriedly switched directions. As soon as she turned away, Rei stealthily stalked behind her. Quietly pulling a thin, ultra-durable reinforced garrote wire from his pocket, he slowly closed in on the girl's back. However, Rei paused, rewound the steel wire, and returned to the kitchen to meet Ren. He whispered as he walked, knowing that acting in the open hallway would create noise.
— "Lucky you."
Rei lowered his voice to a whisper:
— "We should take the chip and move out! Late tonight is the perfect time to make our exit."
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Ren cast a cold glance outside:
— "Wait a little longer. Go handle the Loona kid first."
Rei frowned:
— "What if we get caught?"
— "Tonight we're slipping out of here for good! Before leaving, kill that girl so she can't recover the data or track us down!"
Obeying his older brother's order, Rei turned and strode straight down the hallway. Right then, Loona stepped out of the restroom. Seeing the young girl walking alone in the dark, Rei closed in stealthily from behind like a predatory demon.
Loona felt a chill run down her spine. Just as she was about to turn her head to check who it was—
SWISH!
A large hand clamped firmly over Loona's head from behind, while simultaneously, a wire thin as a razor wrapped tight around her delicate throat! Rei yanked the wire backward with all his strength!
CRUNCH!
The ruthless constriction crushed her trachea, cutting off oxygen to her brain completely.
Loona's throat was choked so tightly she couldn't make a single heartbroken scream. All she could squeeze out were pitiful, ragged gasps:
— "Guh... ack... ugh... B-Brother... Rei... ugh... ack..."
Rei brought his twisted face close to her ear, whispering in a terrifyingly cold voice:
— "Be a good girl now. I'll give you a nice, quick death! Sleep quietly... good girl Loona..."
The strangling force tightened fiercely. Loona thrashed frantically, her small hands clawing desperately at the steel wire embedding deep into her flesh until blood bubbled out. Veins bulged along her neck, her rolled-back eyes spilling painful tears. Loona's vision began to blur, air completely drained from her chest, and her arms slowly drooped, losing consciousness bit by bit…
Rei smiled cruelly:
— "Now isn't that a good girl... I'm so sorry, pretty as you are to die so young. But hey, it's my mission!"
At the same time, near the stone wall outside the base.
Ren Mikami stood in the night rain, patiently waiting for a tall figure to approach.
— "Greetings, Lord Arthur! This is what you need!" Ren respectfully handed over the classified chip containing the complete data from YX-01 to YX-04.
Arthur Pendleton reached out his massive hand to take the chip, examining it under the dim moonlight before letting out an eerie smile:
— "Well done."
Ren bowed, asking further:
— "So what should we do next, sir?"
Arthur slipped the chip into his coat pocket, his eyes instantly turning into twin black voids of lethal malice:
— "Oh, naturally there is no 'next.' Your mission ends right here. What a pity... you happened to know what was inside this chip! See you in hell!"
SWISH!
In a split second, Arthur raised his hand directly in front of Ren Mikami's face. A brilliant surge of Sophion energy condensed within his palm at maximum compression density.
Ren's face paled, waving his hands in panic:
— "Wait! Lord Arthur, what are you—"
Before he could finish his sentence.
BOOM!!!!!!
A deafening blast ripped through the night! The point-blank Sophion energy burst detonated straight against Ren's face!
In less than a second, terrifying heatwaves and crushing pressure incinerated and blew Ren Mikami's skull, neck, and upper torso into ash! Charred flesh, bone fragments, and scorched internal organs spilled across the stone floor, emitting a pungent, burnt odor.
His lower body lost all balance, twitching violently a few times before collapsing into the pool of dark blood.
Arthur stood there, dusting off his sleeve before taking a cold step forward:
— "The Mikami brothers completed their mission flawlessly... Truly worthy of recognition."
Back inside the base, just seconds before Loona drew her last breath.
Rei was still reveling in the sensation of strangling his victim when suddenly, out of the darkness behind him, two massive hands as cold as ice reached forth, clamping hard onto his chin and the top of his head!
SNAP!!!!!
A horrific snapping sound echoed through the hallway!
Ling Mo exerted brutal strength to twist Rei's head 180 degrees backward! His cervical spine shattered instantly. Rei's entire face spun completely around to face his back, his rolled-back eyes spurting smeared fresh blood. Opening his mouth, he coughed up a thick clump of blood, rasping out his final breath before dying:
— "Ling... Ling... Mo..."
The wire garrote dropped from Rei's limp hand. His body crashed onto the floor like a sack of meat, fresh blood pooling from his neck and staining the hem of Ling Mo's coat.
Loona collapsed onto the floor, her body convulsing. Ling Mo immediately knelt down, gently lifting her head. Loona's lips were purplish from asphyxiation, having fallen into clinical syncope.
Ling Mo patted her cheek gently, urgently calling out:
— "Loona! Breathe, kiddo! Wake up, it's Brother Ling Mo! Breathe, you're safe! I'm right here!"
Ling Mo continually applied gentle chest compressions and rescue breathing. After a few life-or-death suffocating seconds, Loona's body jolted violently. Her mouth opened wide, greedily gasping in a deep breath, coughing violently (Cough! Cough!), greedily gulping precious oxygen into her lungs. Her ash-gray complexion gradually regained a touch of color.
Ling Mo breathed a sigh of relief, immediately scooping up her small body and placing her onto the living room sofa. Drawing a deep breath, he charged straight toward the sleeping quarters, roaring a shout that shattered the silence:
— "WAKE UP! GET UP NOW, STOP SLEEPING! SOMETHING HAPPENED TO LOONA!"
Ling Mo's roar startled everyone awake. Shin burst out of his room first, eyes bloodshot with panic:
— "What happened to Loona?! Where is she?!"
Kento, Seijuro, Roxy, Tae-Joon, Stolas, and Xie Xingchen all rushed into the living room simultaneously. Seeing Loona lying trembling on the sofa holding her throat, Shin—a man who rarely shed tears—felt tears well up from heartache. He knelt beside his little sister:
— "Oh Loona! What happened to you?! Don't be scared, listen to me, breathe steadily... Inhale... and exhale now!"
Kento turned, gritting his teeth as he demanded from Ling Mo:
— "What on earth happened?!"
Ling Mo said in a low voice:
— "It was..."
BOOM!
A brutal explosion from the outer wall of the base echoed inside, shaking the ceiling!
Roxy startled:
— "What was that?!"
Seijuro and Roxy immediately drew their weapons and dashed outside to investigate.
Ling Mo turned back to explain further to the group:
— "It was Rei! He's dead, I finished him off myself. This afternoon, while everyone was busy comforting Loona, I noticed Stolas's suspicious eyes locked onto the Mikami brothers. At night, I checked their room and found only stuffed pillows pretending to sleep. I knew something was wrong so I tailed them immediately, just in time to catch Rei strangling Loona to eliminate her!"
Stolas approached Rei's grotesquely neck-broken corpse on the floor, observing meticulously:
— "When did the Mikami brothers join Zero Horizon?"
Shin choked back emotions:
— "They joined a long time ago... Could it be that all these months, they were undercover moles among us?!"
Right then, Roxy and Seijuro burst back inside, their faces turning grave:
— "Ren is dead too! He died horribly, his entire upper body blown to bits by energy! The data chip is nowhere to be found!"
Only then did Loona struggle to speak in a raspy whisper:
— "Everyone... I... I'm okay now..."
Shin held his sister tight:
— "Little sister, as long as you're okay! The traitors paid the price!"
Kento stood beside them, letting out a bitter sigh:
— "Sigh... The chip is lost. So all those incidents earlier were staged by the Mikami brothers?"
Xie Xingchen grated his teeth, slamming his fist against the wall:
— "I bet the chip was passed out to their puppet master! Without a doubt, all that information has now fallen into the hands of the Federation!"
Shin stood up, his eyes turning colder and more resolute than ever:
— "This Neo-Human Central Sector is no longer safe. Our base has been completely exposed!"
Seijuro narrowed his eyes, asking:
— "So where do we go now?"
Shin turned to look at the entire Zero Horizon squad, slowly uttering:
— "There's only one place left... A place safe enough to protect all of us!"
(To be continued)