"A game of... death?" Stanley frowned at the text on the card. He struggled to understand what it could mean, aside from the obvious of course. The words seemed cryptic too, making him wonder who put it there.

On top of that, the word ’Nexus’ had caught his attention. Nexus and Silence.

’Silent Nexus?’ Stanley wondered. He had heard the words from the person he had to capture during his first mission. The man had been worried that Stanley had been sent by the Silent Nexus.

Further research had proven futile for some reason, with even the AAA being unable to figure out what the organization had been about. They guessed that the Silent Nexus had been the organization behind the recent incidents where individuals had had their powers evolved.

Had Stanley accidentally stumbled into their lair?

’Accidentally?’ Stanley thought wryly. He had been in East Vanli the last time he remembered and now he was here. Someone had to have done it. There was no accident there at all.

He turned the card around and noticed some metallic square printed on the back of it that he didn’t recognize. He shook his head and put the card on the orange cloth before looking at the other 3 things.

He picked the matchbox next and looked inside to see a few dozen matches inside. He wondered who put it there, but didn’t question it much. Next, he picked up the glass bottle and heard something rattle inside.

The bottle looked at thought it could hold about 3 regular cups of water, and had a twisting cap, which he untwisted to find a small silver ball inside. He took the ball out and was unsure what it was exactly. It looked like some form of silver, but he was bad at recognizing metals anyway.

He put the silver ball into the glass bottle and twisted the cap back on it.

Then, he looked at the metallic box that was about a handspan and a half in both length and width and half of that in depth.

Opening that was harder than Stanley would have thought it to be. There was no place to put his fingers to pry open the lid and with just one hand working, he couldn’t get a proper grip on the thing as well.

As he tried searching for ways to open it, his fingers brushed across something that made a handle pop out of the box. Stanley slowly took the handle and pulled on it.

There was a click and then the entire lid came off.

Warm steam wafted across Stanley’s face, carrying waves of smell and flavor. Inside the metallic box were 4 compartments with a steaming hot soup on one, some sort of rice on another, and some roasted meat on the third one.

The smells made Stanley’s stomach growl. Only then did he realize just how hungry he was.

The fourth compartment was filled almost completely with something white. Stanley looked closely and tasted a few grains of it to realize it was salt. "So much salt!" he couldn’t help but cry out. He wondered why that was.

After searching for a moment, Stanley found a spoon on the inside of the container’s lid. He took it out and started eating.

The food was just what he needed right now. With hunger making itself apparent to him, he needed this desperately. As he ate, his mind drifted to other things he had to think about.

The first obvious question was his location. But it didn’t seem like there was an answer for Stanley. How was he supposed to know?

Another question that was obvious to him was how long it had been since the explosion. Was he healed there? Was he the best they could do?

The right side of his stomach still ached, and his left arm was useless. But other than that, Stanley didn’t feel much other pain. More than just a few days had certainly passed. Could it be a week? Or had he actually been healed and only a day had passed?

"No," Stanley thought, looking at his surroundings. "This region has to be too far from where I was before. Someone took the time to take me here, so more than a few days had passed.

He looked at his clothes and sighed. That had been changed as well. Hopefully, there haven’t been much more changes than that.

Stanley continued eating in silence, remembering the people he had left to die. He sighed again. He didn’t want to think about it, but he was forced to. There was nothing else to think about.

After finishing the meal, all but the salt, he closed the lid to the metal box and it snapped into place.

Stanley tried opening it again and was thankful that he could. Once done, he wrapped up all the things in the orange cloth and stood up to take it back to where his sleeping bag was.

Torn though it was, it was still the only thing that could keep him warm in this climate. At least until he found a town or city nearby. Would he even find one?

"I need to take a piss," Stanley thought and looked at his clothes. How was he supposed to do his deed through this black suit where both the top and bottom half were completely connected?

He touched around his body, wondering if he had missed something, and found a zipper on the back. He tried reaching for the zipper to tug on it when suddenly he envisioned something hurtling toward his back.

Without hesitation, he jumped to the side as something blasted through the large tree he had been beside. Pain filled Stanley’s body again, especially the right side of his guts, but he quickly got back up to see who had attacked him.

A young woman wearing the same type of suit as he had held a surprised expression. She hadn’t expected Stanley to dodge at all.

Stanley looked at the girl and frowned.

"Who are you?" he asked. "And why did you attack me?"