Chapter 16

Sera Westbrook's POV

Kyle looked at me in silence, his pupils shifting slightly.

He seemed to be wavering.

Kyle said in a low voice, "Sera."

I looked up at him. "What is it?"

Even though I was the one who'd asked for the breakup back then, without any reason, I still felt some guilt toward Kyle. And now Kyle was the captain, with strong leadership over all the team members, and the team all followed his orders—but that wasn't a reason for him to control me.

I didn't know why Kyle had changed. He used to respect my opinion, listen carefully to my reasons and explanations, and never act like a dictator.

Kyle was silent for a few seconds. I thought he was trying to figure out how to argue his way out of it.

Then I waited a long time, and in the end, Kyle only said, in a voice barely audible, "I'm just worried about you."

At those words, I suddenly froze.

I blinked, not quite able to react. "You…"

"That's enough." Kyle turned away and left in a hurry. "If there's nothing else, I'm going."

I watched his back as he walked away, my thoughts still a mess.

But soon, I came back to my senses.

Even if he was worried about me, that still wasn't a reason to control me so strictly.

I knew he was worried—worried I might lose control—but there was no need to keep controlling me like that.

While my thoughts were tangled, the teammates came into the command room before long. Kyle glanced at me, then quickly withdrew his gaze, as if ignoring me.

Kyle spread the route map on the table, and Odysseus flattened it with a projector. The projector's precision was extremely high—even the fold lines cast shadows.

He extended an index finger and pointed at the gray line on the route map. "This route passes through an abandoned logistics base."

Behind him, Taylor's drone feed had already been projected onto the wall. Rows of warehouses, shipping containers stacked higher than the Titan's roof, the corridors between the warehouses so narrow you had to turn sideways to pass. Two twisted figures moved through the gaps in the steel plates, their movements strange.

With that, Kyle's gaze fell on me again.

I met his eyes without expression. After a few seconds, he was the one who looked away first.

Kyle awkwardly changed the subject. "They're Grade B Eroded."

Vera rubbed her chin. "Are there a lot of them?"

Jax said, "Probably quite a few. Is there a panoramic shot?"

Taylor operated the drone. "Yes. There really are a lot of Eroded in the logistics base."

The next second, we saw the panoramic view of the logistics base: a large number of Eroded wandering among the containers, and their levels weren't low.

Dorian reassured us, "It's fine. Just treat it as collecting crystal cores."

Then he added a reminder. "Oh, right—there should be a high-grade Eroded nearby that can drain the crystal core energy of low-grade Eroded. Be careful. It's very likely already set its sights on you."

We nodded to show we understood.

Once we passed through the logistics base, we'd reach the Sequencer outpost.

With everything ready, we arrived at the logistics base.

The yard entrance was blocked by a collapsed loading canopy. The metal panels looked as if something had been pressing on them from both ends, folding them inward. Wind blew in through the gaps, rattling the corridor behind. Five Eroded were scattered at the intake, all inside the containers. Outside the containers, a low-grade Eroded crouched on the warehouse roof, its head turning slowly left and right, and finally looking at us.

When they saw us, the Eroded didn't act rashly. They just watched us quietly—a rather eerie sight.

Kyle observed for a long time, then said, "They're well organized. We can't charge straight through."

Then he assigned the tasks: Cole would handle the entrance and exit, Jax would hold the middle corridor, Vera and he would break in from the flank, and I would stay in the rear and hold the position.

Kyle looked at me. "Understood?"

I gave him a cold look. "Oh."

With that, I turned and walked away, following at the tail end of the group.

I still hadn't forgiven Kyle.

I couldn't say what I wanted right now. Maybe I wanted Kyle to apologize to me—but what I really wanted wasn't an apology. What I wanted was for Kyle to go back to the way I remembered him, teasing me into laughing, close and inseparable.

But I knew that was probably impossible now.

We had both changed too much.

I stood at the very rear, watching the teammates move ahead. At first, the flank was still. Half a minute later, an Eroded ran toward us. Vera walked along the edge of the container toward the Eroded and drew her blade.

But before she got close, it suddenly turned around. It didn't attack her—it retreated deeper into the corridor, dragging its armor as it ran east. The noise it made drew other Eroded—but those Eroded didn't run toward us. They ran toward Jax in the middle.

The Eroded were feinting, pretending to attack Vera while actually attacking Jax.

That only confirmed our suspicion—there was definitely a high-grade Eroded controlling their will.

Just then, Dorian suddenly contacted us over the channel. "Wait—Taylor's scan picked up another wave of unfamiliar energy. It might not be a high-grade Eroded, but a Sequencer that collapsed and went berserk. When a Sequencer dies, because their ability is so strong, it leaves a residual wave, and that residual wave affects those Eroded. That's why the Eroded's crystal cores are lower in quality—because the Eroded are transporting crystal core energy to the Sequencer. This situation is very unusual, very rare. Be careful."

I frowned, not quite understanding the connection.

But the Eroded didn't give me a chance to react.

The middle corridor was quickly lost. My position was supposed to stay safe—and it did, until a Grade B Eroded circled around the container on my left. It didn't charge at me. Instead, it picked up a metal panel from the ground and threw it behind me. The impact of the panel punched through three walls in a row, and the two Grade C Eroded at the end of the corridor followed the sound and stopped about ten feet away from me.

I drew my blade and released a stream of water at the same time, running it along the ground, through the cracks in the concrete, until it reached the Eroded's feet. Then I released the current. The Eroded were all electrified, took the fatal hit, and dropped straight down.

Kyle controlled the Eroded in the distance, steering it back toward the corner where Vera was waiting. Vera was already stationed at the edge of the container and killed the Eroded with a single strike. Meanwhile, Jax finished off the two in front of him, and Cole cut in from the perimeter, driving the last one into a corner.

After a long fight, every Eroded in the logistics base was wiped out. We picked up our bags and began collecting crystal cores.

Because there were many Grade B Eroded in the logistics base, the crystal cores were of higher quality.

Jax dug out a crystal core, wiped it on his sleeve, and held it up to the sunlight. "Grade B Eroded crystals are bigger and better in color."

Cole said, "Grade B crystal cores should be enough to synthesize a mid-level GCI inhibitor, right?"

Dorian contacted us over the channel. "That's right. Grade B crystal cores count as fairly good crystal cores, but B-grade alone is far from enough. We need Grade A Eroded crystal cores."

Jax bagged the Grade B crystal cores separately. "Fine. We'll keep them as backup."

I crouched beside him and helped him sort the rest by color and density into two piles. I put the last crystal into the backup bag and pulled the drawstring tight.

When that was done, I stood up and happened to see Kyle walking toward me.

We looked at each other in silence.

I asked, "Is something wrong?"

Kyle looked at me quietly and asked, "Have you checked yourself for injuries?"

I said, "No."

Ever since Kyle took over my sense of pain, I hadn't checked my body regularly anymore.

I trusted Kyle.

But I still remembered Kyle's attitude toward me.

I said, "If you don't want to keep bearing it, we can cut the link."

"No need." Kyle looked at me steadily. "You weren't hurt today. That puts my mind at ease."

I said, "Oh. Thanks for your concern."

He looked at me as if he wanted to say something, but after a long time, he said nothing and turned and walked away.

Back on the Titan, we went through full-body disinfection, and then Dorian came out to meet us. He dug through the bag of crystal cores and praised them. "Mm, not bad. Today's quality is much better."

With that, he waved at me. "Did you use your ability today? But then again, your numbers are very stable. Keep it up."

He winked at Kyle. "You'd better keep a good eye on her."

I walked to the tea table by the window without looking back. "Who wants him watching over me."