Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2828

Now that most residents of the outskirts left for the Dream Realm, the vast human hives that had teemed with life and desperation stood mostly empty. There were still people living there, though — even if some dormitory towers only had a few dozen inhabitants instead of tens of thousands.

A family that had once sheltered in a single residential cell now occupied an entire block. Even then, the rest of the floor was empty.

In the dim twilight of the early dawn, a gaunt man emerged into a corridor and leaned on the wall, contorted in a violent coughing fit. His wife was already busy boiling water to hydrate packs of synthpaste for the kids — however, he had to put on his work uniform and depart for an early shift. Wiping his lips, he stumbled toward the laundry room.

A few seconds later, however, he froze and looked ahead in horror.

Out there in front of him, the claustrophobic expanse of the dormitory tower was drowning in cold mist, and for a brief moment, he saw a ghostly silhouette moving through it.

Flesh as pale as that of a corpse, harrowing burns that seeped with scarlet blood... Screaming, the man staggered away.

"G—ghost! Ghost!"

Turning around, he ran as if his life depended on it.

A few moments after the man fled, a pale arm extended from the mist toward the clothesline.

‘It's like I came full circle.'

Jet had grown up in a dormitory hive very much like this one, surrounded by gaunt people with waxy skin who were prone to coughing fits. She had been sickly and neglected, as well, wearing clothes that were threadbare and did not fit her frail figure.

Some clothes were better than no clothes, though.

Putting on a pair of worn pants, a shabby shirt, and a ragged coat, she grimaced when the coarse fabric scraped against her burns and turned into mist. Soon, she was on the ground floor of the dormitory tower, hiding in the shadows of the back entrance awning and looking up. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Out there in the pale sky above NQSC, a storm of crows was painting mesmerizing patterns among clouds as it flowed in a vast murmuration.

Her expression darkened.

‘Old man...’

Jet could tell a lot about what was going on in the city just from how it sounded. On this hazy morning, there were sounds of armored PTVs rolling on the asphalt, sirens howling in the distance, and the hum of sharp voices calling out to each other, muffled by the distance.

These particular noises were different from the usual clamor of the city, as well as from the panicked urgency of an opening Gate. As someone who had been the government's enforcer for many years, Jet knew the nature of this rough melody too well.

This was the sound of a large-scale manhunt.

Things like that happened rarely, since the government preferred to solve most issues quietly. However, she had led a few of such manhunts herself.

Today, Jet was quite sure that the person being hunted... was her.

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