Chapter 214: Chapter 214: The Net Tightens
The sky above the ruined district lit up in white fire. Not the red flares of the scavenger militias, with their crude weapons and desperate hunger, but clean, surgical streaks of light that burst into blossoms of silver-white. They hung in the air like artificial stars, casting stark shadows across the collapsed buildings and broken highways.
Min-joon froze mid-step. His breath came out ragged, his lungs pulling in the dust-choked air as if it had turned to ice. "That’s not them," he whispered, his voice trembling.
Keller’s face hardened as the light reflected off the edges of his jaw. "No," he growled. "That’s surface military."
The sound followed soon after—low, methodical rumbles that weren’t scavenger trucks but armored transports rolling across crushed concrete. Floodlights swept across the ruins, erasing shadows, exposing everything. A mechanical whine cut through the silence as drones buzzed overhead, their red sensors scanning the streets like predators sniffing the air.
Hwan’s hand clutched his walking stick tighter. His usually sly expression was gone, replaced by something older, grimmer. "They’re not here to save anyone," he murmured. "They’re here for him." His chin tipped toward Lin.
Lin’s stomach twisted as though something inside him had been caught in a vice. His chest felt heavy, his veins burning. The chains writhed faintly under his skin, vibrating with a sharp, metallic hum. He could feel the detectors sweeping the ruins. Each sweep brushed against him like invisible barbs, prodding, sniffing, testing.
"They’re hunting me," Lin muttered. His voice cracked, barely audible.
"Of course they are," Keller snapped, pulling him into the shadow of a collapsed billboard. "You’re glowing like a fucking beacon to them. Whatever abyss-tracking toys they’ve got, you’re lighting them up."
The ground shuddered as another vehicle turned into the boulevard ahead, its mounted lights slicing across the road. Soldiers moved in disciplined formation behind it, helmets gleaming, weapons trained on every possible hiding spot. No chaos. No scavenger shouting. No sloppy brutality. Every step was calculated. Every shot they fired—at fleeing scavengers—landed clean and merciless.
A militia fighter tried to fire a makeshift rocket at the convoy. The reply was immediate—three sharp bursts from a railgun. His body hit the ground in pieces before the smoke from his weapon had even cleared. The rest of the militia scattered like rats, the wreck of their war-beasts abandoned in fear.
Min-joon pressed closer to Lin, eyes wide with panic. "We can’t fight them. We can’t even move
in this light. They’ll see us. They’ll hear us.""We’ll find a way," Keller said, voice iron. But the tension in his knuckles betrayed him. His finger hovered near his trigger, though even he knew his rifle was useless here.
Lin’s body jerked. His chains thrashed once beneath his skin, lashing against the inside of his ribs like snakes desperate to break free. His knees buckled, and he nearly collapsed.
Min-joon caught him by the shoulders. "Lin! Stay with me. Don’t let them take you. Please."
Lin’s vision blurred. Every floodlight burned too bright, every sound rang in his skull like a gong. His heart hammered in his chest, but it wasn’t beating to his rhythm anymore. It was syncing—syncing with something outside him.
He gasped, clutching his chest. "They’re... pulling me."
"No," Min-joon said firmly, gripping his face and forcing Lin to meet his eyes. "Not them. Not again. You’re stronger than this. You don’t belong to them."
But Keller’s jaw clenched. His gaze tracked the soldiers as they fanned out, sweeping the district methodically. "He’s not wrong. They’ve got abyssal resonators tuned to frequencies even the beasts can’t ignore. It’s why your chains are going wild. They’re not hunting us—they’re dragging you out like blood in the water."
Another surge. Lin’s chains erupted under his skin, ripping out from his wrists in jagged black arcs before he could stop them. They clattered against the ground, gouging deep furrows in the concrete. Min-joon flinched, but didn’t let go.
The soldiers stopped. Their visors turned toward the sound in perfect unison.
A cold, metallic voice echoed from a loudspeaker on one of the armored vehicles. "ABYSS ENTITY DETECTED. GRID 07-B. CONFIRM CAPTURE PRIORITY."
Searchlights whipped around, slamming onto their hiding place. The billboard’s shadow dissolved.
"Run!" Keller roared.
They sprinted, Lin half-dragged by Min-joon as his chains writhed violently around him. The sound of boots thundered behind them—measured, relentless. Drones buzzed lower, their spotlights blinding. Bullets sparked off rebar and shattered glass around them, sharp cracks echoing through the ruins.
Hwan hobbled fast for someone his age, his face pale, sweat streaking down his temple. "We can’t outrun them forever. They’ve mapped this district better than we ever could!"
"We don’t need forever," Keller barked, shoving Lin ahead. "We just need a hole big enough to vanish."
But Lin stumbled again, doubling over as his chains lashed out against the walls around them. They struck with such force that chunks of concrete exploded, collapsing half an alley. His scream tore from his throat, raw and ragged.
"They’re—" He gasped. His voice broke into a sob. "They’re not afraid of me. But the chains... they are."
Min-joon blinked, confused. "What do you mean?"
Lin clutched his head as black coils writhed like living serpents around him. His voice came out hollow, almost not his own. "The abyss doesn’t fear soldiers. It doesn’t fear bullets. But those weapons—they’ve been built for us. The chains feel it. They want to fight. They want to kill them before they can kill me."
Keller swore under his breath. "Then they’re already inside you deeper than you admit. You’re their weapon, whether you like it or not."
Lin’s eyes burned with pain. For a moment, he looked at Keller with raw desperation. "Then tell me what to do."
But Keller had no answer.
Ahead, the ruins split into a shattered plaza, wide open, nowhere to hide. Floodlights converged on it from all sides. Soldiers were already moving to encircle the square. Their rifles glowed faintly, abyssal resonators humming at their cores. Each weapon was designed not to kill scavengers, not to kill humans—but to kill things like him.
Min-joon’s hand squeezed Lin’s, hard. "You don’t let them decide who you are. Not them, not the abyss. You hear me? You’re Lin. That’s all."
Lin swallowed hard, his breath shaking. The plaza opened before them like a stage, the soldiers closing in, white flares still burning above like cruel stars.
The chains thrashed higher, louder, screaming through the air as if they were alive, as if they hated the sound of those abyssal weapons.
And for the first time, Lin realized—they did hate them.
The abyss feared.
The thought froze his blood even as the floodlights bore down, and the soldiers raised their weapons.
The net was closing.