Hide stood alone on the pristine plaza, his hands deeply buried inside the pockets of his jacket as he stared up at the massive structure in front of him.

It was a colossal dome constructed from dark glass panels and titanium reinforcement beams and surrounded by a dozen of advanced monitoring drones. Looking at the wide structural arcs and the digital banners flickering lazily along the rim, he recognized it immediately.

It was a state-of-the-art game stadium—an indoor playground specifically engineered for high-tier Exterminators to play games without shattering the infrastructure.

The morning air carried a sharp, filtered chill, entirely cleared of the dense industrial grease he was accustomed to breathing back in Area 17. It was still incredibly early, the horizon barely breaking into a pale grey dawn.

Most of Area 5’s affluent population was safely asleep inside their homes. The only people occupying the wide marble-paved avenues were small, scattered groups of workers. Some were heading out for early morning work shifts, while others were trudging back from grueling overnight shifts.

Every single one of them looked thoroughly exhausted, their eyes blankly fixed on the pavement or their communicators as they drifted past. Not a single pedestrian bothered to look twice at the white-haired teenager walking between them.

Thanks to their absolute fatigue, Hide’s transit from the hotel to this facility behind it had been a remarkably easy, unbothered walk.

Getting situated in Area 5 had required a bit of aggressive finesse.

After arriving near the coordinates on the back of Petra. The building they had landed on was the rooftop terrace of a towering, five-star luxury hotel.

Predictably, the rooftop security guards had been utterly furious, pulling out their shock batons and guns.

However, the moment Hide casually reached into his pocket and flashed his Independent Operator identification badge, the guards’ anger vanished instantly.

Their faces had gone pale, and they became more than willing to bow deeply, apologize for the inconvenience, and personally escort him straight to the general manager’s private suite.

Without blinking, Hide had booked two premium luxury rooms for a week. Leaving Kai behind to violently throw up and recover from the sound-speed flight, Hide had set out alone.

A few weeks ago, renting a single room in a place like this would have been an impossible financial joke. But now? Hide could easily afford the most exorbitant lifestyle Area 5 had to offer.

He had millions in his account and whenever he would run low on funds, he could simply browse the system inventory, manifest a high-tier B-Rank weapon or set of reinforced armor, and liquidate it through the premium anonymous trade registries for millions of credits

He was, exceptionally rich.

Hide adjusted his collar, and looked at his communicator. It was 5 : 54. There was still time.

Then he heard footsteps approaching him and also his perception was triggered, but for a very small threat. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

He paused, tilting his head slightly.

A fairly young girl was walking down the promenade, completely distracted by a sleek, communicator clutched in her hand. A premium wireless headset was wrapped around her ears, her fingers rapidly tapping the screen.

Hide’s eyes instinctively narrowed as he processed her appearance.

She was wearing a thick, oversized winter hoodie on top, capped off with a vibrant blue streetwear cap pulled low over her eyes. Yet, beneath the heavy, cold-weather top, she was wearing a lightweight pleated skirt.

Hide stared at her in profound, deadpan confusion.

’What kind of ridiculous aesthetic combination is that?’

If she was cold enough to wear a hoodie, why the hell was she wearing a thin skirt underneath? Weren’t her legs literally freezing in the morning wind?

As if sensing his intense, critical gaze, the girl suddenly paused. She lowered her phone, her eyes lifting to track the silver hair and piercing blue irises of the teenager standing near the steps. She blinked a couple of times, her expression freezing into a look of stunned recognition.

Slowly, she reached up and pulled the headset down around her neck, her finger pointing directly at his face as her mouth fell open.

"You..." she stammered, her voice echoing in the quiet plaza. "You are that Black Justice guy, right?"

’Fuck, ’Hide muttered bitterly under his breath.

Forcing his facial muscles to cooperate, he turned his torso toward her and pulled on fake smile. "No... you’re definitely mistaken, miss. You see... do I really look like a viral vigilante to you?"

Before she could open her mouth to cross-reference his features with the videos, Hide smoothly accelerated his speech, throwing out more words.

"Of course not. I mean, I just happen to have natural silver-white hair, so I thought it would be fun to dress up and cosplay him today. He... he’s a pretty great guy, don’t you think? Safely exposing that rotted old commander and clearing out the scum."

The girl’s eyes narrowed into sharp, deeply skeptical slits. She folded her arms over her hoodie, her posture radiating distrust as she processed the blatant lie.

"Okay..." she said slowly, her tone dripping with disbelief. "Then what exactly are you doing here standing, this early in the morning?"

"Oh, I..." Hide paused, his gaze drifting over to the massive glass arches of the stadium before he smacked his lips dryly. "I was officially called out here today because I’m starting my advanced training as an Exterminator."

The girl stopped, her sharp eyes scanning him from head to toe, tracking the cheap jacket and the lack of traditional combat equipment. Slowly, the skepticism faded from her features, replaced by a bright smile. She took a step closer, extending her right hand toward him in a formal, cheerful gesture of introduction.

"Well, turns out we’re actually classmates, then!" she chirped happily. "My name is Sora. I happened to called and told about all this last night. I’m really looking forward to working alongside you."

Before Hide could reach out to return the handshake, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed from the western side of the promenade. Two more individuals were approaching the stadium steps at a rapid clip.

Hide’s eyes drifted to the pair. The first one was a remarkably lean, scholarly looking guy with incredibly pale skin. He wore a neatly pressed uniform, and a pair of thick, heavy spectacles sat high on the bridge of his nose.

Walking in lockstep besides the scholarly guy was a towering, exceptionally muscular guy with deep, dark skin. He was built like a bunker, his physical mass easily making him look twice the size of the boy standing next to him.

Both of the newcomers stopped dead in their tracks the moment they cleared the perimeter pillars, their eyes widening into massive circles of pure shock as they locked onto Hide’s silver hair.

The massive, dark-skinned giant immediately raised a finger, pointing it directly at Hide’s chest as his voice boomed across the empty plaza.

"Yo! Ain’t that the Black Justice dude from that viral video?!"

Hide immediately slammed his right palm against his forehead, letting out a heavy, miserable sigh as he face primed himself in complete internal defeat. His entire cosplay cover story had been blown to pieces within less than sixty seconds.

But before he could utter a single word of denial, his perception told him to jump back immediately.

BOOM!