Pietro froze.
The voice came from above, as clear as if someone were standing right in front of him. But there was nothing in the sky except rolling smoke and the distant glow of fires. That wasn't the point, though.
The point was: how did the source of this voice know his name?
Pietro's heart hammered against his ribs, and that dizzying sensation returned to cloud his mind. How had they found him? He instinctively looked down at the Absolute Exclusion Harness on his chest. Its metallic edges reflected the faint, orange-red glow of the surrounding fires.
The harness was clearly still functioning. Just moments ago, the Mobile Task Force agents had walked right past him without seeing a thing. Why was this happening? Was it someone from the Foundation? Or one of those other anomalous organizations he'd heard rumors about?
During his days at Exclusionary Site-06, Pietro had heard plenty of rumors about "anomalies." The veteran staff loved to brag about insider info during breaks: the Chaos Insurgency, the Global Occult Coalition, the Serpent's Hand... bizarre names accompanied by stories of questionable authenticity. Back then, he thought they were just talking nonsense.
But now, those names flooded his mind, each making him more hesitant. Which side did this person belong to? And had the harness failed, or had he been exposed from the very beginning?
"We need your help," the youthful voice spoke again. it was flat and devoid of emotion, as if stating an established fact. "Pietro, haven't you always wanted to know the truth? Deactivate your harness, and we will tell you everything."
Pietro wavered. The truth? He did want to know. Why was the Foundation slaughtering humanity? Why had the Task Force bathed his site in blood? What was the meaning of the devastation he had seen since his escape?
But... something was wrong. How did they know what he was thinking?
Pietro opened his mouth to ask a question, but before a sound could escape, a sharp ringing exploded in his ears. It felt as if countless red-hot steel needles were being driven into his ear canals, drilling through the nerves toward the depths of his brain. The pain turned his vision black. His legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees.
"Ah—!"
He clutched his ears, his fingernails digging into his scalp. But the pain wasn't external—it erupted from within his skull, like a drill churning through his brain matter.
In the sky, the voice continued. "██████"
However, the voice had become blurred and distorted, as if heard through thick glass or coming from a vast distance. He could only make out a few syllables that failed to form a meaningful sentence.
What was happening? Who was preventing him from communicating with this voice?
As soon as the thought emerged, a sharper surge of pain hit him. Pietro curled into a ball on the ground, his body trembling uncontrollably. Cold sweat poured down his forehead, soaking his dust-covered collar and stinging his eyes, but he lacked the strength to even wipe it away.
What was this? A sonic weapon? But if the harness couldn't defend against sound, why would the Foundation build it? Pietro had read the technical manual—though he didn't understand the underlying principles, it clearly stated it could defend against most physical and energy attacks, including shockwaves and high-frequency sonar.
If the harness hadn't failed, then the problem was... himself?
The moment that thought took hold, the pain intensified, as if his brain were being physically torn in two.
"Ugh... ah..."
Pietro curled tighter as his vision blurred. His spasming fingers accidentally brushed against the old radio on the ground. Driven by some inexplicable impulse, he pressed the power button.
The static crackle returned. This time, the voice inside was clearer: "Run... worked so hard... run..."
Run? Pietro laughed bitterly in his mind. In this state, how can I run?
He forced his head up, looking through eyelashes blurred by sweat toward the sky. There, against the backdrop of burning smoke, a familiar symbol flickered—the Foundation's triple-arrow circle. Then, countless overlapping lines of text appeared in the sky, twisting and intersecting as if written by an invisible pen across the firmament. The text was dense and layered, obscuring half the horizon.
But before Pietro could read a single word, numerous black boxes appeared simultaneously, like a giant black marker blotting out the sky, covering the text piece by piece.
[REDACTED].
[██████]
Pietro stared with wide eyes. This scene... it was too familiar. He remembered seeing this constantly in the documents he had taken from Foundation members. Large blocks of text covered by black squares, vital information erased, leaving only nonsensical fragments. At the time, Pietro thought it was just the Foundation's overly secretive filing style.
But thinking about it now—what was the content being hidden? Why was there always a force preventing him from seeing the truth, no matter where he was?
More text appeared in the sky, and more black boxes rushed to cover them. The overlapping images felt as if they were trying to burrow into his eyes, blocking his sight and blurring his consciousness.
At this moment, Pietro was almost driven to a fit of angry laughter. Fine. If that's how they wanted to play, he wouldn't be polite.
Pietro gritted his teeth, his trembling hand reaching for the harness on his chest. Once, Pietro had wanted to be a detective. Not for any noble ideal, but simply because he couldn't stand the unknown. With the Absolute Exclusion Harness, he could have found a safe house and hidden forever; no one would have threatened his safety. But Pietro hated being kept in the dark. He couldn't stand seeing something right in front of him without being able to see it clearly.
Though this trait had caused him much suffering and often led to bad outcomes, Pietro couldn't change his nature.
Whoever you are, go to [BEEP]!
Pietro's finger found the release button on the harness. Then, he pressed it.
In that instant, the world changed.
Limitless agony flooded his consciousness like a tsunami. It wasn't physical pain, but something deeper and more fundamental—as if something were prying open his brain, forcing in countless streams of data while gouging out his own thoughts.
"AAAAAAAAAAH—!"
Pietro opened his mouth in a piercing scream. The sound echoed over the burning ruins, too shrill to be human. He felt his consciousness being torn apart and his physical form being crushed; every particle composing his body seemed to wail.
Yet even so, Pietro's hand remained clamped firmly over the button.
The Absolute Exclusion Harness was deactivated.
His figure emerged from the void, kneeling on the scorched earth. In that moment that felt like an eternity, the pain abruptly ceased, as if a switch had been flipped.
Before Pietro could react, a flash of light descended from the sky. As the light burst open, he felt the entire world solidify. His consciousness was frozen, and his body was rendered completely immobile. Pietro's expression was locked in a distorted scream, tears mixed with cold sweat frozen on his face. He remained in the posture of clutching his ears, like an insect trapped in amber.
Everything vanished.
A second later, a void gate tore open beside the burning ruins.