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As Lin Mo activated his Sandevistan, the world around him shifted.
Time slowed to a crawl, like watching a movie in slow motion. The world became a still-life painting, yet Lin Mo remained sharp, his movements untouched by the drag of time.
Sasha stood frozen mid-gesture, her hand still holding an "OK" sign, her eyes wide with anticipation. In the distance, the scavengers in the control room were stuck in a bizarre limbo, their voices stretching out into long, distorted drawls. Every movement was exaggerated, every sound warped.
For Lin Mo, it was exhilarating.
The stillness of the world around him felt almost serene. The colors seemed muted, like someone had drained the life from everything except him. He was the only vivid thing in a world that had forgotten to move.
The rush of power was intoxicating.
He exhaled slowly, feeling his body temperature rise as his metabolism kicked into overdrive. The Sandevistan demanded a price for its gift—his body was forced to its limits, his cells burning like a high-performance engine. But with power like this at his fingertips, it was worth it.
Unsheathing his Black Unicorn blade, Lin Mo marveled at how even the gleam of his sword seemed to dim in the face of the Sandevistan's power.
One step forward—and then he was in motion.
Normally, Lin Mo could cover ten meters in a second, but under the influence of the Sandevistan, it felt like nothing. The distance between him and the control room compressed into a heartbeat, a fleeting moment.
To the scavengers, it was like seeing a ghost. One second, everything was normal; the next, a shadow flickered at the edge of their vision, a gust of cold air sweeping through the room.
They didn't even have time to react.
Lin Mo's blade flashed, slicing through the air—and through flesh. Heads toppled from necks, their faces still frozen in shock. Cards slipped from their fingers, blood yet to spill. Before the first drop hit the ground, Lin Mo had already retreated, back to where he started.
The world snapped back to its normal speed with a jarring rush. And with it came the exhaustion.
Leaning against the wall outside the control room, Lin Mo was drenched in sweat, his body trembling as he fought to catch his breath. He flicked his katana, clearing the blood from its edge.
Inside, the once-casual scene of scavengers playing cards was now a bloodbath. Headless bodies slumped in their chairs, blood spraying from their necks like fountains, pooling around the discarded cards. The control room had turned into a slaughterhouse.
Sasha blinked. She was still holding the "OK" gesture, and when she glanced at the control room, her pupils contracted sharply at the sight. What had once been a group of scavengers was now a gruesome scene of carnage. And there was Lin Mo, casually leaning against the wall, breathing heavily.
"Lin Mo, are you okay?" Sasha hurried over, her hand resting gently on his back.
"I'm fine. Just didn't expect the aftereffects to hit this hard," Lin Mo replied, his smile weak but trying to play it off.
The moment the Sandevistan disengaged, the strain hit him like a freight train. It felt like he'd run a full sprint behind a speeding vehicle. The suddenness of the fatigue was overwhelming, more intense than he had imagined.
No wonder the Sandevistan had such a notorious reputation.
Along with the exhaustion, Lin Mo felt a subtle heat radiating from the back of his head, where the implant was lodged near his brainstem. The intense strain on his nervous system was impossible to ignore, especially now that he understood the limitations firsthand.
The Dynalar Sandevistan MK. III could run for up to 16 seconds before overheating. Any longer, and he'd risk permanent damage. Once it hit that limit, it needed a 15-second cooldown before it could be used again. But this wasn't a game—he could disengage early and, if he felt reckless enough, push it past the limit before the cooldown was over. The risk, though, was frying his brain.
Still, for all its flaws, the Sandevistan was unmatched.
After all, what other tech could make time itself bend?
"You don't have to push yourself so hard, you know," Sasha teased, lightly patting his head. "You're still young. It's okay to rely on me a little more."
Lin Mo's expression darkened slightly. He hated being treated like a kid, but it was hard to argue back, especially when his body felt like it had just run a marathon.
...
Sasha moved past the blood-soaked bodies without a second thought, heading straight for the control terminal. She extended a data cable from her wrist and connected it to the system, quickly diving into the local network.
Lin Mo watched through the window, noticing that the security cameras across the facility had gone still, their feeds frozen.
"It's a shame," Sasha sighed, sounding mildly regretful. "I should've told you not to kill them all so fast. It would've been useful to keep one alive."
Lin Mo shrugged. "Not my fault."
With his enhanced reflexes, his body often moved faster than his mind. By the time he realized holding back was a better option, it was already too late. The scavengers were dead, and the blood was already dripping from his blade.
Sasha chuckled, retracting the data cable as she smiled at him. "I guess I can't blame you. It's your first time using that implant. You'll get used to it with practice."
"I've got control of all the cameras in the facility," Sasha continued, glancing at the monitors. "But I couldn't find any sign of a basement or hidden cells. Our target's not in this building."
"Any leads on where they are?" Lin Mo asked, frowning slightly.
"There are a few other buildings in this complex," she said, turning the terminal's large screen toward him. "But I did find something useful."
She pointed at the display, revealing chat logs between scavengers.
"Looks like they're keeping the target in Warehouse 3."