Night Hacker

The Wilderness Mobile Task Force was headquartered in the Freight District. Its dormitories, training grounds, and armories were all concentrated there, keeping the operatives close to the northern wilderness for rapid deployment.

The operatives striding along the base's roads always wore trench coats. They rarely smiled, their footsteps swift and heavy.

But inside a waiting room in the medical complex, the air felt frozen.

Everyone present knew exactly what being assigned to this waiting room meant. Only those with severe nerve damage—those whose neural speed had plummeted to second or first gear—were seated here in isolation.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for the death sentences to arrive. A synthesized electronic voice announced the test results:

"Arima Swinburne. Your neural speed test result: Second Speed Tier."

"Julie Dickinson. Your neural speed test result: Second Speed Tier."

Julie's mind went blank at the verdict, yet at the same time, it felt as though a massive boulder had finally dropped from her shoulders.

She had known this was coming. Her body had already lost its extraordinary strength. The Transcendent Program data remained in her mind, but she could no longer open it. Her damaged nerves simply couldn't handle the operation; trying to force it would only crash her system.