TIME : T-37:35 → T-36:20
Rhea retreated toward the Harvester Nodes, LEDs pulsing 0.8 seconds, like a dying heartbeat.
Marcus roared: "…Subject Kai Lin… fear peak: 99.0%…"
Fuck!
I gripped the EMP, copper leaf still in my other fist—
Edge biting my palm, blood mixing that red tear—warm, thick, 38-second spread.
Rhea snapped, "Kai! Look at me!"
She lunged for the Nodes, jamming the grenade into the honeycomb.
I raised the clamp, scanning.
Behind me, Marcus hummed closer—rotor whine drowning my pulse.
Rhea pulled the pin—
"Three…"
Marcus three meters from my neck.
"Two…"
She turned, "Kai! Look at me!"
"One—!"
She lunged at me.
I threw up my arm—
BOOM!!!
EMP detonated, blue-white arcs crackling like lightning nets.
Nodes warped, Marcus's body convulsed, pupils fizzing gray-white.
Drone rotors clacked dead, crashed at my feet—clatter—lens cracked, blue gel seeping.
Rhea pinned me, breathing hard. Sweat dripped into my arm wound—sting.
She looked up, hair stuck to her temple, corners of her mouth lifting: "…99.0% fear… time to break 100?"
She pushed up, offered her hand.
Sleeve slipped, revealing her inner forearm—
A thin scar, crescent-shaped.
Three years ago. Facility collapse. She'd taken it for my tampered data drive. Real.
But as her wrist turned—
Skin bulged slightly at the elbow bend.
Like a steel bead buried under flesh.
Fuck!
I gripped her hand, didn't release.
Orchid still clutched in my other fist, green light reflecting in her eyes.
"Rhea…" My voice raw as sandpaper. "…last week. Did you still eat red-bean buns?"
She froze.
Mrs. Chen's last words—"Tell Xiao Ya… less sugar…" Xiao Ya was her sister. Died in AURA's first test run.
Her eyes reddened—fleeting as a mirage.
"…Less sugar." Barely a whisper. "She always said… too sweet."
She pulled her hand free, turned, walked.
That slit at her nape—
Copper glinted again in the strobing red.
I clenched the Orchid, metal biting my palm.
Didn't follow.
Waited till she rounded the Nodes, then glanced down—
Orchid screen glowed:
Subject: RHEA VANCE
Status: HUMAN (99.2% CONFIDENCE)
99.2%.
Not 100%.
Above, the dome's crack snapped another inch.
Glass tinked onto my shoulder.
T-36:20.
Minute Twenty: complete.
EMP wreckage still smoking blue.
But in my palm—
Real blood burned.
Thanks for the 99.2% revelation. When the Orchid screen flashed Rhea's status—did your stomach drop? 🔍
Drop a "🔍"—top comment gets Kai's exact reply to Rhea in Ch21!
Doubt is the last real thing. Hold onto it. #Chrono60
"T-36:20. The EMP smoked. But the blood in my palm? Still real.
Thank you for the minute. — K."