Chapter 15: Illegal Alien (13)
[I will give you the location of the child you are looking for.]
Pale stared at the flickering text on his wrist terminal, unable to pull his eyes away.
It wasn't just the message itself—it was the specific choice of words that gnawed at him.
[The child you are looking for.]
How do they know I'm looking for a child?
On paper, the operation was a simple crackdown on illegal ACU users.
The public pretext was spotless: eliminate mages hiding in the Lower Levels and bust the unlicensed clinics and black-market organ rings.
It was a plausible enough cover story.
He had briefed his subordinates strictly along those lines, revealing the true objective to only a handpicked few.
Even then, he had never spoken her name or referred to her as a child—she was merely designated as a high-value subject exhibiting the unique circuit resonance of Seraph.
Yet this anonymous sender knew Pale was searching for a child.
Is it a trap?
That possibility crossed his mind first.
If so, who?
A faction inside Seraph keeping him in check?
Remnants of the old executives trying to keep the target alive?
An agent from the rival MegaCorp that requested the assassination?
Or perhaps just a mercenary hidden in the Lower Levels?
Or if not that…
Pale narrowed his eyes.
For some reason, the young man he had seen in front of the stall came to mind.
A gut feeling, nothing more.
Is it him?
It was possible, but he couldn't be certain.
After all, the Lower Levels were crawling with rats.
He tapped his wrist terminal to trace the message's origin path.
However, the attempt proved futile.
[Trace route failed.]
[Multiple proxy networks detected.]
[Origin point: UNKNOWN.]
"Not bad."
A subordinate, carefully reading his demeanor, asked.
"Sir Pale? Your orders?"
Pale didn't answer, silently staring at his terminal.
A second later, the terminal chimed again.
[LL-15 Abandoned Residential District C-9.]
A short map coordinate followed, and Pale verified the location.
LL-15.
It was an abandoned residential district with an unstable mana grid.
More than half the surveillance network was offline, with no official civilian records on file.
It was an ideal hideout for squatters and syndicate scum—and an even better venue for an ambush.
A fairly obvious trap.
Yet Pale knew exactly what he was capable of.
Tier 6.
It wasn't a title handed out lightly in the Upper Levels.
Merely being able to handle an ACU of that level granted immense wealth and authority.
Money and luck could buy your way to Tier 5, but Tier 6 was in an entirely different class.
Beyond that threshold, individuals were evaluated less as people and more as strategic assets.
A weapon capable of locking down an entire sub-district single-handedly, the true backbone of corporate security.
Pale was a mage whose name top corporate brass knew by heart.
So even if it was a trap, he could simply crush it without batting an eye.
Still, he was no fool.
"Get ready."
His subordinates moved immediately.
Pale pulled up the schematics for LL-15 on his display.
It was an outdated layout, untouched for years, but the main corridors, drainage pipes, ventilation shafts, and transport routes shouldn't have shifted significantly.
That was more than enough to work with.
Tapping a few points with his finger, he quickly deployed his subordinates to key positions.
"Squad 1, take the north entrance of C-9. Squad 2, secure the wastewater junction. Squad 3, lock down the south stairwell and emergency elevator shaft."
"Yes, sir."
"Don't launch drones. If they can hide their signal like that, they can easily reverse-trace a surveillance drone."
"Understood."
"Switch mana detectors to manual. Turn off the auto-scan. Even if you pick up a signal, do not breach without my command."
At that moment, a subordinate asked.
"Rules of engagement, sir?"
Pale answered briefly.
"No live captures."
A heavy silence fell over the squad.
The men exchanged brief, uneasy glances.
Pale swept a cool gaze across his team, gauging their readiness.
"If the target is breathing, eliminate them on the spot. Our priority is a confirmed kill."
"Understood."
"And anyone else?"
Pale tightened his gloves and replied.
"If they get in the way, kill them."
"Yes, sir!"
Pale glanced down at the schematic for Abandoned Residential District C-9 one last time.
He operated under a single baseline assumption: everything was a trap.
False intelligence or bait, it made no difference.
Because whoever it was, they were definitely connected to the target.
"I'm taking the central corridor."
Hearing that, a subordinate spoke up cautiously.
"You're going in alone, sir?"
Pale turned, pinning the man with a gaze cold enough to draw blood.
"Is there a reason I should cower in the rear?"
"N-no, sir."
"Secure the perimeter. Do not breach until I give the signal."
"Understood."
The coordinates displayed on the wrist terminal glowed dimly.
[LL-15 Abandoned Residential District C-9.]
Whatever or whoever was waiting down there, Pale intended to settle this before the day was out.
* * *
Checking his terminal, Pale advanced down the central corridor.
The resonance of mana left a faint but undeniable trail.
A trail extremely close to the unique circuit resonance of Seraph he had been searching for.
"Status report."
An immediate reply crackled over the radio channel.
—"Squad 1, north entrance perimeter locked down."
"Stand by."
—"Squad 2, arrived at the wastewater junction. Thermal imaging clear. Mana signature is…"
As Squad 2's briefing cut off mid-sentence, Pale froze in his tracks.
"Squad 2?"
He sensed things were taking a strange turn.
"Squad 2, respond."
A moment later, Squad 3 began reporting over the same channel.
—"Squad 3, securing the south stairwell. Approaching the emergency elevator shaft. Wait, what was…"
Kzzzt.
A burst of harsh static ripped through the radio before going dead silent.
"Squad 3!"
When no answer came, Pale tapped his wrist terminal to check each squad's vitals.
[Squad 1 Signal Unstable]
[Squad 2 Signal Lost]
[Squad 3 Signal Lost]
The last remaining signal soon turned red.
[Squad 1 Signal Lost]
Pale stared down at his radio for a long moment before muttering to himself.
"Useless trash."
He felt a momentary flash of annoyance at his subordinates' incompetence, but he didn't panic.
He made a habit of anticipating the worst-case scenario.
Of course, that didn't mean he enjoyed accepting the current situation.
Maintaining his composure, Pale stepped deeper into the central corridor.
Right then—
The magitech lamp on the ceiling flickered off and on.
In that brief darkness, a small shadow appeared farther down the hallway.
Recognizing the shadow, Pale let the corners of his mouth curl up slowly.
Snow-white hair.
A petite frame.
Deep blue eyes visible beneath the hem of a worn hood.
It was definitely the target.
She stared at Pale from the far end of the hallway for a fraction of a second, then turned and bolted.
Pale chuckled inwardly as he watched her.
"Finally found you."
She was too slow, so he didn't bother rushing.
Pale strolled forward, taking his time as he closed the distance step by step.
"Running won't do you any good."
His voice echoed down the corridor.
"Wherever you go, wherever you hide... it all comes to light eventually."
The small shadow ahead started running faster, but Pale leisurely trailed behind her.
"Things would have been so much easier if you had just died on your own."
After all the trouble she had caused him, he wanted to savor this moment to the fullest.
"Surviving only made this a needless hassle for a lot of people."
The girl didn't answer and kept fleeing.
However…
She eventually reached a dead end.
Pale approached the girl slowly.
"This is the end of the line."
There was nowhere left to run.
Pale casually raised his finger, weaving threads out of blue mana.
"I need to keep your corpse intact, so I'll make this quick."
At that moment, the girl turned around.
"?"
Pale's hand paused in mid-air.
Something was wrong.
Even though the girl had been running nonstop until now, her breathing was not ragged in the slightest.
Above all, she didn't look like someone cornered at a dead end.
"You seem pretty confident."
Pale narrowed his eyes.
The small figure in front of him flickered faintly as her appearance shifted into that of a young man with black hair and dark eyes.
The same bastard he had seen at the LL-19 Scrap Market.
The young man pulled off his hood and tossed it to the floor.
"For someone who couldn't even see through a basic disguise."
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