Inside the Long Nation's Supreme Command communication hub, buried deep underground. This was currently one of the few "logic islands" on the Blue Planet where physical constants remained stable.
The massive screen was forcibly split into two viewports. In the central seat, the Chief's face was as still as deep water.
He had just closed a briefing on the probabilistic collapse occurring in the "Liquidation Zones"—under those black rifts, it wasn't just aircraft carriers stalling; even human physiological metabolism was beginning to suffer from bizarre logical glitches.
Before he could organize his thoughts, video requests from two "old acquaintances" popped up simultaneously with pinpoint precision. The Chief took a deep breath, preparing himself for a round of power-brokering or diplomatic rhetoric.
However, the moment the connection was established, his fingers paused on the desk.
"Disheveled" was no longer enough to describe the scenes on the screen.
In the left window, the B.E.N. President's tie was crooked like a noose, and his expensive white shirt was soaked with cold sweat until it was translucent, clinging to his chest. He was neurotically tugging at his collar as if the air there had thinned to its absolute limit.
In the right window, the Green PheasantCountry Prime Minister looked even more pathetic. His signature hair, usually groomed with silver-threaded precision, now looked like withered grass ravaged by a gale, messily obscuring one eye.
From his background, a continuous, sharp sound of metal twisting and disintegrating echoed—the Cabinet Building behind him was undergoing molecular-level "logic fatigue" due to the stripping of karma.
Before the President could even open his mouth, the Green Pheasant Prime Minister erupted first. His voice was shrill and hoarse, leaking a desperate madness: "We agree! The immigration agreement for 'Sato'—the Cabinet passed it unanimously! No additional clauses needed!"
He lunged forward, his face swelling in the camera lens, eyes bloodshot. "But he must... he must immediately beg the BeastGod for mercy! The probabilistic constants in Nichigetsu City are collapsing! Our nuclear power plants... the cooling logic is vanishing! The logic itself is disappearing, do you understand?!"
"According to... UN agreements... we demand... AH!!" The Prime Minister's words were cut off by a piercing scream.
Under the Chief's shocked gaze, the Prime Minister tremblingly grabbed a ballpoint pen and drove it directly through the palm of his own left hand. Splat— blood dripped down the tip of the pen onto the expensive mahogany desk.
This extreme act of self-mutilation wasn't for masochism; it was to use intense physiological pain to combat the "logical vertigo" that was stripping away his brain's functions.
"...Your nation... lend a hand." The Prime Minister's voice was broken, large beads of sweat sliding down the pen's barrel as his sanity struggled on the brink of collapse. "Pain... keeps me... clear. Please... save our civilization."
Looking at that trembling pen, the Chief felt for the first time that so-called "human civilization" was more fragile than a sheet of paper the moment the Divine Beasts reclaimed their Providence.
Seeing this, the B.E.N. President's prepared bargaining chips were choked back into his throat. He opened his mouth woodenly, then finally closed it in dejection, silently acquiescing to this undignified surrender.
The Chief looked at the faces of his two "old rivals" written with despair. Just as he was about to speak, the heavy isolation doors of the conference room were burst open.
"Report! The Ribi City People's Hospital is under sudden attack!" The adjutant's face was ashen, his voice squeezed through gritted teeth. "The attackers used high-frequency interference and chemical smoke. Confirmed to be the B.E.N. CIA special unit—'Medusa'. They are launching a heavy assault on the VIP isolation zone!"
The Secretary's voice broke under the weight of sheer terror. "They deployed undisclosed stealth fighters, bypassing the long-range early warning radars that had already failed due to the logic degradation!"
The Chief's pupils contracted sharply. He slowly turned his head, his gaze piercing through the screen like an ice blade directed at the B.E.N. President. It was a look reserved for a self-important, single-celled organism—filled with a sense of the absurd and undisguised loathing.
"Is this your idea of asking for a favour?" The Chief pointed at the screen, his voice cold enough to freeze. "Requesting a lifeline with one hand while sending assassins to strike the only connection point with the other?"
At that moment, the B.E.N. President's heart sank. Guilt and terror swept through him like a tide.
Damn it... I forgot to rescind the order.
In his frantic bid to stabilize his own nation, he had issued countless "Shadow Directives" to eliminate "unstable assets".
He had completely forgotten that before the signals collapsed, he had given a standing order to "seize or destroy the target at all costs". He realized now that it was the single most foolish contingency plan they had ever devised.
The President gaped, meeting the Chief's gaze in silence. He noticed with a start that the black rift on the monitor in the Snow Palace seemed to expand further, fueled by this single act of malice.
God has forsaken me.
He looked away, his eyes darting—it was the final, ugly display of the arrogance of power before the arrival of Karma.
"Order Chen Haoran: leave no survivors," the Chief said, withdrawing his gaze and speaking with chilling finality. "Deploy the 'Loong Shadow' sequence across all lines."
At 3:00 PM in Ribi City, the once-pleasant breeze was severed by a cold rain that tasted of rust. The dark clouds hung so low they seemed to press against the rooftops, filling the air with an oppressive leaden grey.
The rain fell without warning. This was no life-giving spring shower; it was the "Tears of Karma", viscous and metallic.
A two-kilometre radius around the People's Hospital had been forcibly cordoned off. The streets were empty, save for the sound of rain drumming on the asphalt. That silence was torn apart a second later by a volley of gunfire.
The empty streets transformed into a bloody action set-piece.
The leader of "Medusa"—a woman codenamed "Cold Snake"—knelt on one knee amidst the downpour. Her special operations suit gleamed coldly in the wet. These CIA cleaners excelled at rain-soaked combat; to them, the downpour was both cover and hunting ground.
As a secret organization that struck fear into the hearts of the international shadow world, they wore specialized nano-ponchos that made their silhouettes appear distorted and elusive in the rain.
Their weapons were not the precision artillery prone to backfiring due to probabilistic failure, but the most primitive, rugged mechanical-action firearms.
Bang!
A sniper round shattered the bulletproof glass on the hospital's third floor.
Inside, Chen Haoran was directing the evacuation under extreme pressure. "Move! All stretchers to Elevator Three! Maintain the oxygen tanks manually!"
Although the doctors and nurses were in a panic, they still managed to evacuate the patients and staffs in an orderly manner.
Chen Haoran's uniform was soaked through with sweat and rain. He confirmed casualties over his radio while personally standing guard at the door of the VIP ward.
"Captain Chen! They've entered the outpatient building! Their movements... they aren't normal!" A SWAT officer's pained grunt came over the comms.
Chen Haoran wiped the rain from his face, his assault rifle locked onto the stairwell.
"Recall the helicopters! The airflow is unstable—the constants are drifting!" Chen Haoran roared. "Everyone switch to melee and close-quarters defence! Protect the core target!"
Inside the VIP ward, the air was so thick with tension that no one dared to move.
Zhizhi sat on a cot, his arms wrapped tightly around Tian Shuangxin. After a night's sleep, his soul—originally so incompatible with a human form—had been forcibly returned to Sato's body under the forced intervention of Divine Power.
His forehead was burning, and every inch of his muscle protested. Perhaps because this was his first time reverting to a rat and then back to a human, the "Sato" shell felt like he was carrying a mountain on his back.
Tian Shuangxin held the "man", who was now nearly as tall as her, yet her eyes never wavered from her comatose mother on the adjacent bed.
"Zhizhi, don't be afraid," she whispered, unsure if she was comforting him or herself.
Her mother lay still, her weak heartbeat maintained only by a manual breathing bag. Outside, the rain intensified, and the specialized ambulance was nowhere to be seen. The sounds of relentless rain were punctuated by the staccato of gunfire and distant explosions.
Tian Shuangxin bit her lip; hearing the reports of wounded officers over the guards' radios made tears pool in her eyes.
As a citizen of Long Nation, she held a deep, innate respect for the military and police. Seeing these young men fall one after another to protect her and Zhizhi made her heart bleed.
Chen Haoran pushed the door open, his face as ashen as if he had just crawled out of a grave. His combat uniform was shredded in several places, and blood seeped from his left arm.
A SWAT officer moved to support him, but Chen Haoran raised a hand to stop him. His expression was grim; no one could remain indifferent while watching brothers-in-arms being harvested by "Medusa".
"The ambulance... the specialized unit is still ten minutes away," Chen Haoran said through gritted teeth. "Those lunatics cut all the hospital's automated power. We have to carry the old lady down manually."
The radio crackled again with static:
"Captain Chen... Wang... Wang is gone. They've deployed anesthetic gas... hiss..."
Zhizhi heard it. His senses remained razor-sharp even beneath human skin. He could hear the frantic, final breaths of the humans dying to protect him.
He didn't like humans—he really didn't. In the lab, those in white coats had only taught him the meaning of despair. But why are my eyes so full of water? Why is my vision blurring?
In his world, having Mama and Grandma should have been enough. Why were these people different? These police officers surrounding him had even used their own bodies to block shrapnel flying toward the ward during the skirmish.
Zhizhi's thoughts were a chaotic mess. He looked at TianShuangxin, then at the vegetative woman on the bed who represented the extension of the maternal love he craved, and finally back to TianShuangxin's face.
"Captain Chen."
Tian Shuangxin spoke suddenly. She had noticed the unprecedented sense of defeat on Chen Haoran's face. She knew this tough man was blaming himself—blaming himself for being unable to provide a perfectly safe passage for them.
This realization made it impossible for her to remain a passive bystander.
"Zhizhi and I will follow your lead," she said, standing up with a gaze of absolute conviction.
In her heart, she whispered: Mama, I'm sorry, but I can't bear to watch them keep dying. You would support me too, wouldn't you?
Chen Haoran was stunned. He had expected to spend time persuading them or even resorted to a forced tactical transfer. Looking at Tian Shuangxin's thin face, he saw a resolve that transcended life and death.
He solemnly holstered his weapon, straightened his tattered uniform, and gave Tian Shuangxin a deep, respectful bow.
"I'm grateful for your cooperation. As long as I, Chen Haoran, have a single breath left, I will get you out of here."
The transfer began, but the evacuation was a chaotic race against death.
Chen Haoran organized his final remaining strength to carry the stretcher by hand, escorting Mother Tian onto a specially reinforced bulletproof armored vehicle. Zhizhi and TianShuangxin sat side-by-side in the back seat as the rain intensified, blurring all vision.
On the hospital's rooftop, the enemy leader "Cold Snake" watched the vehicle break through the perimeter through her infrared goggles, a cruel curve touching her lips. She wasn't in a hurry to open fire. Just moments ago, she had received a secret transmission from radical factions within B.E.N., bypassing their President.
"Interesting," Cold Snake sneered. "So, the real bargaining chip is here."
The armored vehicle drifted wildly across the slick highway. Chen Haoran drove personally, utilizing his extreme familiarity with the terrain to tear a hole through the encirclement.
However, just as they were about to enter a secure tunnel, a blinding white light erupted ahead. A white van painted with "Rescue Center" markings was parked sideways, blocking the middle of the road.
"Captain Chen, ram them!" Tian Shuangxin cried out.
Chen Haoran was about to floor the accelerator when the light swept across an open corner of the van's rear. There lay an identical stretcher. And the person on it...
"How is that possible?!" Chen Haoran slammed on the brakes. He looked back—Mother Tian's stretcher was still there. But the "Mother Tian" in the van ahead wore the exact same hospital gown; even the angle of the oxygen tube was identical.
It was a logical trap designed by "Medusa"—a mirror anomaly created to cause hesitation.
In that single second of indecision, two motorcycles tore in from the flanks. Grappling hooks accurately caught the rear door of the armored vehicle, wrenching it open with brute force.
Before anyone could react, Mother Tian's stretcher was hauled away. In the ensuing chaos, Tian Shuangxin—who had lunged to protect her mother from secondary harm—was also hijacked.
Cold Snake stepped out slowly, her icy voice echoing through the rain via a megaphone: "Captain Chen, don't bother." She pointed to the "decoy" held in the van. "What the eyes see isn't always the truth."
She held up a hand grenade. "But the fuse on this grenade is very real."
She then gestured toward Tian Shuangxin, who was pinned by her men. Her hand, clutching the grenade, pointed toward Zhizhi, who was watching Tian Shuangxin and his grandma with intense anxiety.
"Hand over that rat. Or watch this beautiful lady and her mother turn into ash… in an explosion." She made a mocking "boom" gesture with her hand.
Zhizhi stared at Cold Snake. Within that thin human frame of Sato, a primal, bestial ferocity began to radiate, making the spines of everyone present turn cold.
He wanted to kill someone.