The sudden incident threw the highway into complete chaos.
Clearly, an extraordinary disturbance had erupted in the city. Faced with the terrifying danger ahead, many abandoned their vehicles and ran for their lives.
"What's happening!?"
Skye was shaken to the core. The bus that had just come crashing down, smashing several cars flat, had landed frighteningly close to the Porsche she and Herman were in.
A flying tire had already smashed into the car's hood.
Just a little closer and…
Seeing the blood splattered across the cars ahead, Skye knew the drivers and passengers inside were as good as dead. Terror filled her face, her legs trembling—an ordinary teenage girl had never witnessed anything like this.
"Quick… quick… let's run too!" Skye clutched Herman's arm with both hands, her voice shaking.
"I don't think running is a good idea. Stay in the car! I'll go check it out." Herman's face darkened.
His eyesight was far sharper than any normal person's. He could clearly see what was happening further up the road—something Skye couldn't.
On the distant highway, a man whose skin pulsed with glowing red lines, like molten lava flowing beneath the surface, was rampaging wildly.
He possessed terrifying strength, lifting trucks with ease and hurling them into the fleeing crowd.
A mutant?
Herman couldn't be sure who this destructive maniac was. All he knew was that his brand-new Porsche, the first luxury car he had ever driven, was totaled. He was furious—and someone was going to pay for it.
"Damn it!"
He shoved open the car door in anger.
Shit! Even the door was bent out of shape.
"What are you doing!? Don't try to be a hero! That guy up ahead has to be a mutant—they're all terrifying monsters!"
Skye tried to hold Herman back, desperate to stop him from throwing himself into danger.
She had hacked into enough encrypted sites to know exactly how dangerous mutants were. The government had gone to great lengths to keep information about them suppressed.
"Even if he's Homelander himself, he still has to pay for my Porsche!" Herman's heart ached at the sight of his wrecked car.
"You—!"
Skye couldn't stop him. She could only watch as he stormed toward the wreckage, fury in every step.
She bit her lip, hesitated, then decided to follow.
"If you die too, I'll have no family left!"
Only now did Skye realize how much Herman meant to her.
She didn't know he wasn't just an ordinary man. To her, he was simply a wealthy, eccentric boss who loved making movies. But he was also the first person who had ever made her feel what it was like to have family.
"Wait for me!"
Skye was certain that this time, she and Herman were walking straight to their deaths.
Damn rich people. Always doing something crazy. Risking your life over a car? Did he really think money meant he could do whatever he wanted!?
And what about my salary… now I'll die without ever seeing it.
She hurried after Herman, running as fast as she could, too distracted to pay attention to her surroundings.
"Thud—"
As she passed the wreck of the bus, something caught her foot. Skye stumbled hard and crashed onto the ground, hissing in pain.
"What the hell is this?"
Skye pushed herself up from the ground, brushing dust off her clothes as she turned to see what had tripped her. Annoyed, she picked up the culprit.
It was a black leather briefcase, stamped with the numbers [084] and the words [TOP SECRET].
"Top secret?"
She lifted the case.
It didn't require any kind of password. She popped it open with ease and pulled out the contents—just a metal ingot.
It looked flashy on the outside, but that was all.
It probably fell out of the wrecked bus… The passengers inside were already beyond saving. Whoever had bought this chunk of metal must've really gone out of their way to pack it like some top-secret artifact. What, were they planning to gift it to some friend with a bad case of chuunibyou?
"What a screwed-up world…"
Skye's gaze drifted to the bus wreckage beside her, where the passengers inside lay lifeless. Fear gnawed at her, but at the same time, a heavy sorrow settled over her chest.
Inside the bus, she spotted the mangled body of a young girl—only half of her remained. And then Skye realized with a jolt: this was the very bus she and Herman had been on earlier.
"If we hadn't gotten off…"
A chill ran down her spine, leaving her cold with dread.
"And things aren't any better now! Damn director! Always trying to play the hero, sticking his nose where it doesn't belong! Does he really think he's some kind of superhuman!?"
In her eyes, Herman's charge into the chaos wasn't anger or recklessness—it was him playing at being a hero.
Way too deep into the role.
And besides! Even Homelander wouldn't just rush out and risk his life for strangers!
Skye wasn't some saint.
She only wanted to protect herself and the people she cared about…
Clenching her teeth against the sharp pain in her twisted ankle, she still forced herself forward, determined to go after Herman.
She tightened her grip on the strange metal ingot and had barely lifted her foot when suddenly the world spun violently around her.
"What… what's happening…"
Her vision blurred, her ears filled with a relentless buzzing. Before she could even process what was happening, her consciousness gave out, and she collapsed hard onto the ground.
The ingot in her hand flickered with strange light. Runes flowed across its surface, glowing and dimming rhythmically, like the steady pulse of human breath.
...
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