In the southern seas, on North Island, in a small but luxuriously furnished room, Charas paced back and forth in a crisp formal suit.
His gaze repeatedly drifted to the digital clock on the wall, then casually flicked toward the door. His restless expression was practically written all over his face.
Just then, there came three soft knocks from outside.
As if receiving some sort of signal, he immediately strode over and pulled open the door, revealing a young officer in uniform standing outside.
"Come in."
Before the man could speak, he grabbed the officer and pulled him inside. After carefully checking that no one was following outside, he slowly shut the door.
"How did it go?"
Facing the expectant Mr. Charas, the officer spoke with a tense expression.
"Something happened."
The moment he heard those words, Charas's heart sank to the bottom, and his brow immediately furrowed.
Before he could ask anything, the officer rapidly continued without pause.
"...Gunfire lasted for over an hour. From the sea to the beach, there was blood and bodies everywhere—human ones, and mutant ones too."
Hearing that there were both human and mutant corpses, Charas quickly asked with his last shred of hope.
"Were there more human bodies, or mutant bodies?"
The officer replied grimly.
"Human... But those people didn't seem to be from The Alliance."
Charas froze and blurted out.
"Not from The Alliance?! Then whose people were they?"
The officer shook his head.
"I don't know. They had no obvious markings, so we can't confirm their identities for now. According to footage taken by our drones, they entered the Baiyue Strait aboard two cargo ships and happened to run into the mutant force Torch sent to Port Fries. Those fish-scaled beasts had no eyes either. The moment they saw people, they