[Kaltain]
When Vesna left, we knew there was no point in wandering aimlessly through that slum area. It wouldn’t do us any good. If anything, it would only drag us down. And to preserve both her sanity and ours, we needed to find a different path.
So, we roamed the sector.
Barren. That much was obvious.
Other than the slums, there was nothing here—no settlements, no real signs of life. The ground was covered in algae and wild overgrown grass, untouched for what seemed like decades. It was as if nature had reclaimed the land long ago, and no one had bothered to fight back.
Even the spatial portals were clearly visible, standing unobstructed in the distance. That was how empty this place was.
Yet, despite the desolation, something felt off.
……
“Kaltain,” he said, breaking the silence. “Don’t you think this place is strangely confusing? It’s like a maze—intentionally designed to trap people.”
I turned to him, my mind already on the same track.
I had noticed it too.
This place wasn’t random. It wasn’t just some abandoned wasteland. There was a pattern to it—a structure beneath the chaos.
“I’ll be blunt,” I said, crossing my arms. “Yes, I do. This place feels… eerily familiar. Like I’ve seen this structure before.”
He crouched, brushing his fingers through the dirt-covered leaves scattered on the ground.
“Notice these?” he muttered. “These leaves don’t belong here. There isn’t a single tree in this entire vicinity that has these kinds of leaves.”
I frowned, my eyes scanning the landscape.
He was right.
If there were no trees with these leaves, then how the hell did they get here?
“Wind?” I offered, though even I didn’t believe my own words.
He shook his head.
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“The wind has been mild at best since we arrived,” he said. “It wouldn’t have been enough to carry leaves this far, let alone place them in specific locations.”
Which meant—
Someone had put them here.
I exhaled, my breath slow and measured.
But why?
What was the purpose of luring people into a maze?
“I know what you’re thinking, Kal.” He stood, dusting off his hands. “This isn’t some petty kidnapping scheme. The people in this sector aren’t stupid enough to try something like that. They’re criminals—but smart criminals.”
I nodded in agreement.
If anyone here was dumb enough to start abducting people, the rest of the sector would put an immediate stop to it. Life was too valuable to waste on nonsense like that.
No, this had to be something else.
“Then what’s your guess?” I asked.
Because I had plenty of theories.
An illegal experiment? Possible. Maybe even likely.
Spite, hatred, jealousy? Those were human nature, after all. People were petty. They were easy to manipulate.
Hell, for all we knew, some madman might be leading them toward a rebellion.
“Kaltain,” he said, eyes sharp. “You’re on the right track.”
He smirked.
“But since you don’t want to say it out loud, I’ll do it for you.”
I rolled my eyes.
“People here are definitely involved in something illegal. And that’s what’s causing the combined portal breaches.”
Sector 56 had already collapsed because of it. And now, this place was next.
That was why Junia hadn’t dropped us in Sector 56 in the first place.
Because it was already too late.
“You knew?” I raised a brow.
It was a bluff. But it was a good one.
I’d been so focused on the big picture, I had overlooked the breach itself. Maybe I was getting rusty.
“Or,” I countered, “this could just be another one of Madam Larrisa’s tests.”
I watched his expression carefully.
And sure enough—his brows furrowed slightly.
He hadn’t considered that possibility.
Larrisa was known for her unconventional methods. If this was her way of testing us…
Then we needed to pass—and not just barely.
With flying colors.
“For now,” he said, brushing off the thought. “Let’s find their experiment and figure out what the hell is going on.”
……
By 2 PM, we still had nothing.
No leads. No answers.
So, we made the call.
We were going into the slums.
Vesna should be calm by now. Probably.
As soon as we stepped in—
The smell hit me like a punch to the gut.
Rotten flesh. Polluted water. The unmistakable stench of creature carcasses left to decay in the open air.
I immediately covered my nose, barely holding back a gag.
Meanwhile, a certain someone strolled through the filth like it was a morning walk in the park.
I narrowed my eyes.
Interesting.
“Don’t be dramatic,” he scoffed. “The stench is bad, sure, but it’s just decomposing bodies and stagnant water. You’ve cleaned up worse.”
I muttered something under my breath.
He was right, but that wasn’t the point.
He was too comfortable here.
Had he been here before?
His past had always been a mystery. He never talked about it much.
But now?
I had a hunch.
And I was going to test it.
I forced myself to keep my expression neutral, but inside?
I was grinning.
He liked to read people. Liked to analyze their expressions.
And I loved playing him in his own game.
He usually saw through me, but sometimes—just sometimes—he faltered.
……
As we moved deeper, I could feel it.
The eyes.
They were watching us. Studying us.
The people here didn’t trust outsiders. That much was obvious.
But their hostility wasn’t just because we were strangers.
No.
They genuinely believed they were better than us.
And that was what made it annoying.
At college, people buttered me up because they knew my strength.
Here?
These people looked down on us because they thought we were weak.
It was almost laughable.
Humanity really was pathetic sometimes.
……
We had searched every alleyway.
Every corner.
And still—no Vesna.
“Kaltain,” he said, his voice unusually sharp. “Have you noticed?”
I looked at him.
“She’s not here,” he continued. “Do you think she found a way to the next sector, or…?”
I met his gaze.
“She found the place where their experiment is being conducted.”
His lips pressed into a thin line.
“The latter, then.”
I nodded.
“We’ve checked everywhere else,” he muttered. “Which means the only place left is…”
I exhaled.
“Interrogating people.”