"This is not a corporate office." Ethan Caldwell gritted his teeth, his voice as low and muffled as the rumbling thunder before a storm: "This is a Node."

A physical data relay station. HJ Capital was merely a glamorous outer shell. In reality, this entire building was a fortified stronghold, an information relay and power coordination station for CORE, sitting imposingly right in the middle of the most bustling financial center.

And he had just let Julian Sterling step into the tiger’s den all alone.

Without hesitating for another second, Ethan Caldwell ordered: "Notify the assault team. Prepare to break through the siege."

At the exact moment Ethan Caldwell made his decision, an incident had already occurred on the top floor.

Suddenly, the brightly lit LED system on the ceiling of Cedric Harrington’s office flickered continuously a few times before dying out, switching to the blood-red color of the emergency alarm lights.

The block of smart glass behind Cedric Harrington suddenly lost its transparency, lighting up and transforming into a colossal electronic screen. Distorted bands of sound waves ran across the display, right before a voice deformed by an electronic audio filter, raspy and inorganic, echoed and struck their eardrums: "Target A-01 located, initiate purge protocol."

Cedric Harrington did not show the slightest bit of panic or surprise at this occurrence. He only frowned slightly, raising a hand to massage his temples, and let out a sigh full of annoyance: "Faster than I thought."

Julian Sterling immediately took a step back, his entire body entering a defensive state. CORE had made its move without any prior warning signal, which proved one undeniable truth: the person who ordered the purge was absolutely not Cedric Harrington.

The operating system of this organization was clearly being split into two halves.

The heavy, thundering sound of footsteps echoed from the corridor outside. The thick oak door was blasted open by an immensely powerful impact. The group of people storming in were completely unlike the black-suited, earpiece-wearing security guards in the lobby downstairs.

They wore pitch-black tactical combat gear, their heads tightly covered by bulletproof helmets, their hands gripping assault rifles equipped with silencers and laser sights. The smell of gunpowder and bloodlust completely engulfed the entire space.

At this moment, Julian Sterling truly felt the breath of death brushing past the nape of his neck. This was the true form of CORE - ruthless, decisive, and leaving no path for retreat.

Cedric Harrington stood in the middle of the encirclement, his complexion as tranquil as still water. He abruptly swung his arm, tossing the small wooden piece carved with a sun back toward Julian Sterling.

"If you want to live... then you better remember quickly!" His voice hissed through his gritted teeth.

Julian Sterling reflexively reached out to catch the wooden piece. The very instant its rough, uneven surface landed squarely in his palm, a jolt of electricity seemed to flash through his brain. His memories were forced open for a second time, much like a raging torrent breaking through a containing dam, washing away all rationality.

The world before Julian Sterling’s eyes blurred, the metallic scent in the room mingling with the acrid stench of burning flesh and chemicals from the past.

The image of the blazing laboratory materialized clearer than ever before. He saw the woman in the white lab coat, her face covered in blood, using her last ounce of strength to push him forcefully into a narrow crevice of the ventilation duct. All around them were screams and the deafening explosions of gunshots.

But this time, his field of vision was forced to expand further. He did not only see the woman, but his gaze swept past her shoulder, directed toward the colossal tempered glass enclosure on the opposite side of the room.

Inside that glass enclosure, standing tall amidst the erupting flames, was another child.

A child with a stature about his age, but those eyes... those eyes were cold, tranquil, and profound like a bottomless abyss of ice. Surrounding the child was a horrifying scene of death, yet that child was not the least bit afraid, did not cry, nor did it struggle or scream for salvation.

It was standing there, separated by a thick layer of glass, tilting its head, staring intently right at him. That gaze firmly pinned itself onto Julian Sterling’s soul, carrying an oppression that far exceeded its age.

And then, a tender but coldly emotionless voice rang out, unclear whether it was transmitted from reality or pierced straight into his brain through some sort of synchronization mechanism: "Do not let them take you."

That second child... was absolutely not an imprisoned victim like him. That aura, that gaze, it was a completely different creation, an experimental subject that existed outside of all established norms.

"It... is not like me..." Julian Sterling blurted out loud, cold sweat pouring down like a bath, the wooden piece in his hand squeezed so tightly that it left deep marks on his palm.

Crack!

The ear-piercing sound of metal scraping against metal violently yanked Julian Sterling back to the present. The armed soldiers had scattered into a combat formation, their pitch-black gun muzzles simultaneously pointing straight at him. The expansive room had now transformed into an inescapable cage.

Right at this moment, the micro-earpiece hidden inside Julian Sterling’s ear let out a soft static noise. The familiar voice of Ethan Caldwell resounded: "Jules, get down immediately! I am in."

Before Julian Sterling could even react, Cedric Harrington stepped back. He glided past the line of fire like a phantom, standing squarely to block the only escape route leading to the breakable glass area. He did not intend to yield the way for Julian to flee, yet he also had no intention of dealing the finishing blow himself.

He lowered his voice, dropping a freezing sentence amidst the gunfire that was about to crisply erupt: "The next time we meet... you will have to choose."

"Choose what?"

"Kill it. Or be killed by it."