Bang!
Bang! Bang!
A strange sound came from inside the box.
Three minutes earlier, outside the Command Center, now fallen silent within City Hall, steel-clad soldiers had already surrounded the area.
Led by the Judicial Bureau personnel, they had taken complete control of the building in less than five minutes before sealing it off layer by layer.
The once-impenetrable City Hall had become a prison.
Even so, the tense screening and prisoner processing continued, ensuring that every participant lost the ability to fight back. All Ascenders who surrendered were implanted with Source Matter seals and locked in the basement to sleep. Those who resisted were killed, while everything they carried was inspected.
This included every participant's belongings, weapons, relics, and equipment.
Most of it consisted of paper documents and agreements, but there were still large quantities of weapons and equipment. Under the Judicial Bureau team's investigation, they even uncovered enough alchemical explosives to blow half of City Hall into the sky, leaving everyone drenched in cold sweat.
Yet amid the inspection, a strange sound came from a suitcase among the piled luggage.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Something alive seemed to be striking the inside of the wooden suitcase, bouncing incessantly. Everyone's expressions instantly tensed as they raised their weapons.
After confirming there were no dangerous Source Matter fluctuations or explosion risks, the captain brutally smashed the lock and opened the case. Its contents immediately rolled out.
An electric razor, two changes of clothes, a pair of lightweight running shoes, a wristwatch, a stack of handwritten documents sealed in a waterproof bag, a bottle of perfume, and... a bottle.
Inside the bottle, a shriveled black heart beat slowly, repeatedly striking the bottle's surface and cracking it.
At that instant, as though it had sensed the danger outside, it suddenly leaped up. After