Forbidden Zone Ruins

The air before the alloy door hung heavy and stifling, as if the entire forest was suppressing a secret that should never have existed.

Ryan stood before the hatch, carefully inspecting his surroundings. He did not rush forward. Instead, he crouched first, checking for trigger traps or alarm mechanisms between the door seam and the ground. Though the sealing marks on the door were mottled, the residual Nen flow indicated they had not been disturbed for at least a year.

He took a small Nen-energy probe from his backpack and slowly inserted it into the gap inside the door seam, reading the energy-field data reflected from the space beyond. On the terminal screen, faint yet irregular Nen waves continued to flicker behind the hatch. They did not resemble a natural Nen field, but rather the remnants of some living entity or anomalous energy flow.

Ryan had already reached a conclusion.

He raised his right hand and pressed two fingers against the door.

"Break."

The instant Nen flowed in, the sealing pattern inside the door glimmered faintly and let out an almost inaudible crack. Then the alloy door slowly loosened, releasing an aged odor mixed with disinfectant, mildew, and damp metal.

The door did not open fully, leaving only enough room for one person to squeeze through sideways.

Ryan did not hesitate. He put away the probe, drew his short blade, moved Eye into the forward guidance position, then lowered himself and entered the passage.

Inside was a corridor sloping downward. Old signs clung to both walls, their lettering nearly worn smooth by time. Only words such as "Administration Area," "Sample Storage," and "Passage C" could barely be made out. Many shattered glass containers lay in the corners, some still bearing dried insect limbs stuck to their surfaces, like traces left