The air inside the drainage tunnel was damp and heavy, smelling of a mix of rust, moss, and something sweetly unpleasant—perhaps rotting organic waste somewhere. Azure moved slowly, relying on his Shadow Sense which spread ahead like a fine spiderweb. He felt the vibrations of dripping water, rats scurrying, and the brittle structure of the concrete.

  According to Akari, the meeting was scheduled for midnight sharp. Azure arrived early to observe. He found a dark, spacious enough alcove to hide in and enveloped himself with the Cloak of Umbral. His upgraded black cloak—with the faint 'A' visible on the chest—absorbed almost all light, making him one with the darkness.

  He waited.

  Right as the imaginary clock in his mind struck twelve, a sound of scraping metal echoed from afar. Not footsteps, but the sound of wheels pushing something on a small track? Then, a dim flashlight beam swept across the tunnel wall. The beam moved erratically, as if its holder was checking every corner.

  Azure remained still, observing.

  The figure finally appeared. Not as he had imagined. Not a large, burly person, but someone relatively short and thin, wearing overalls full of patches and a respirator mask covering half his face. On his head was an old miner's helmet with a lamp. He was pushing a small handcart full of scrap metal.

  The Scavenger.

  The man stopped about ten meters from where Azure was hiding, turned off his helmet lamp, and just stood there, as if waiting. Silence.

  Azure decided to reveal himself. With a smooth motion, he released his Cloak and stepped out of the alcove, deliberately making his footsteps audible.

  The Scavenger immediately turned his helmet lamp back on, shining it directly at Azure. "Who?" His voice was neutral, distorted by the respirator.

  "The chatty blue-head sent me," Azure replied, repeating the code given by Akari.

  The helmet lamp shifted, illuminating Azure's face briefly before dimming again. "Identifier?"

  Azure extended his hand, showing the scrap of paper with the three interlocking gears.

  The Scavenger nodded, then removed his respirator. The face revealed was that of a middle-aged man with sharp, narrow eyes, skin dulled by industrial dust, and a short, messy beard. "Name's Kaito. The guide. You?"

  Azure remembered Akari's warning not to use his real name. "Just call me Oil," he said.

  Kaito frowned, then gave a short chuckle. "Oil? Alright then. You want to go to zone 7-B, huh? The 'noisy' place?"

  "Yes. I need to see what's happening there."

  "Many want to see. But few come back in one piece," Kaito muttered, looking Azure up and down. "You trained? Or just reckless?"

  "Trained enough," Azure answered, trying to sound confident.

  "We'll see about that." Kaito put his respirator back on. "Follow me. Keep your distance. Don't touch anything. Don't turn on your own light source. My helmet lamp has an infrared filter, it won't show up on regular cameras. But if you turn on a regular flashlight, we'll be like a candle at a party."

  Azure nodded. "Understood."

  The journey through the tunnel maze was far more complicated than Azure had imagined. Kaito didn't take the main paths. They crawled along narrow waste pipes, through half-collapsed ventilation shafts, and even had to briefly dive through a stream of warm, oily wastewater. Azure was grateful for his breath control and calmness training. He followed carefully, relying on his Shadow Sense to map the surroundings and avoid traps in the fragile structures.

  "Zone 7-B used to be an energy research center back before the Federation," Kaito whispered as they stopped at an intersection. "Lots of secret tunnels for evacuation or dumping hazardous waste. The Federation seems to be using them for similar things now."

  After nearly an hour of walking, Kaito stopped in front of a seemingly ordinary concrete wall. He pressed a series of specific bricks in a certain sequence. With a low rumble, a section of the wall slid aside, opening a narrow gap just wide enough for one person to squeeze through.

  "From here, we're under their main warehouse," Kaito whispered. "Look up. There's a vent."

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  Azure looked up. In the tunnel ceiling, about four meters above, was an old iron grate. From there, bright white light streamed down, along with the low hum of machinery and… deep, animal-like snorts?

  Kaito gave a hand signal. This was the place.

  Azure nodded. He needed to see for himself. With the help of Umbral Thread, he created shadow steps that helped him climb silently to the ventilation grate. He pressed his eye to the gap.

  The view below made his breath catch.

  The room was vast, like an aircraft hangar. In the center stood a gigantic cage made of metal bars as thick as a man's torso, crackling with electrical currents that gave it a blue glow. Inside the cage was something.

  The creature was massive, three stories tall, with a body of dark gray scales that shimmered under the spotlights. Its form resembled a bipedal lizard, with long arms and sharp claws. But the most striking feature was the row of blue crystal spines running along its back, emitting static electrical sparks. Its eyes glowed red, full of suffering and confusion. From its snouted mouth came low, rumbling groans, followed by exhales that released small electrical sparks.

  A lightning-element monster. But something was unnatural. Its form was too symmetrical, too… designed.

  Around the cage, technicians in white and green lab coats busily operated consoles. Several Federation security officers stood guard. And on an observation platform stood someone Azure recognized from the news: "Voltter," an A-class lightning-element hero. He wasn't wearing his shiny stage costume, but a more serious operations uniform. His face looked grave, not the usual confident expression he showed in ads.

  "Increase power to the dorsal spines! We need more stable output!" Voltter shouted.

  "But, sir, the subject is already showing signs of extreme distress—" a technician protested.

  "Do it! Project 'Raijin' must be completed before next month's audit! If we can create a controllable lightning monster, we won't need to wait for natural attacks to boost ratings anymore!"

  Azure felt his blood boil. They were creating monsters. They were deliberately making living creatures suffer just to use them as tools for rating manipulation and budget justification. This was worse than he had imagined.

  Carefully, Azure pulled out the small device Nox had given him—a mini spy camera with a low-light lens. He aimed it through the grate and took several photos: the giant cage, the monster, Voltter, and the console screens showing biological diagrams and electrical data.

  Click. Click. Click. The sound of the camera shutter was almost silent, but apparently not silent enough.

  One of the guards below, who possibly had enhanced hearing, suddenly looked up. "A sound! In the vent!"

  "Shit," Azure cursed in his mind.

  "You're made! Get down now!" Kaito hissed from below.

  But it was too late. Voltter had already looked in his direction. "An intruder! Apprehend him!"

  Azure jumped down from his shadow steps. As his feet touched the ground, two guards had already opened an emergency door and entered the tunnel, followed by Voltter, who floated down surrounded by an aura of electricity.

  "Run, follow me!" Kaito yelled, already darting into the secret wall gap.

  Azure ran after him. Behind them, the sounds of footsteps and electrical bursts grew closer.

  "Intruder, halt! Or you will feel the wrath of lightning!" Voltter shouted.

  Azure didn't stop. He ran as fast as he could through the narrow tunnels, following the nimble Kaito around bends.

  Suddenly, ahead, Kaito stopped. "Dead end! But there's an emergency hatch to the hot waste channel! Get ready, it's gonna be hot!"

  He opened a large valve, and hot steam burst out. Behind it was a channel filled with water boiling from factory waste.

  "We have to cross that?!" Azure asked, panicked.

  "No! Look up!" Kaito pointed to an old pulley bridge above the channel. "Hurry!"

  They climbed a rusted iron ladder up to the bridge. As they reached the middle, Voltter and the guards arrived below.

  "Seize them!" Voltter commanded, releasing a ball of electricity towards the bridge.

  Azure turned around, extending both hands. "Shadow Bind!" His shadow surged, forming multiple black tendrils trying to entangle the electrical ball. But lightning was pure energy, too fast and hot. His shadow shattered, the ball of electricity shot forward, hitting one of the bridge's support cables.

  CRACK!

  The bridge swayed violently. Kaito almost fell, but Azure reflexively used Umbral Thread to catch him and pull him back.

  "You have the shadow element? Rare!" Voltter shouted, now intrigued. "Better surrender and join us for research!"

  "Never!" Azure shouted back. He channeled all his anger. This was for his father, for all the Federation's victims. "Shadow Snuff!"

  He didn't attack Voltter, but aimed at the tunnel lights. Dense black shadow spread like ink, extinguishing all light sources in an instant. The tunnel plunged into pitch darkness.

  "Thermal vision! Now!" a guard's voice shouted.

  But in the darkness, Azure had the advantage. His Shadow Sense told him the position of every person. "Kaito, this way, now!" he yelled, sensing a small opening in the wall that had gone unnoticed before.

  They jumped from the swaying bridge onto a narrow ledge, then squeezed into the opening. It was an old, narrow ventilation pipe. They crawled as fast as they could.

  Behind them, curses and electrical sparks could still be heard, but growing fainter.

  After a few minutes of crawling, they emerged into an abandoned pump room. Kaito closed the entry behind them and locked it with an emergency lever.

  "We… we made it," Kaito panted. "You're crazy, Oil. But lucky you're pretty strong."

  Azure leaned against the wall, his heart pounding. He reached into the inner pocket of his cloak. The small camera was still there. The evidence was intact.

  "We have to get out of here as fast as possible," Azure said. "They'll alert the entire zone."

  Kaito nodded. "I know another way out. But it's longer and more dangerous. Ready?"

  Azure looked towards the door, beyond which the sounds of the search could still be heard distantly. They weren't safe yet. But he had gotten what he came for: real proof of the Federation's corruption.

  "I'm ready," he replied, his eyes blazing with new determination. "Let's go."

  They continued their journey, leaving behind the labyrinth and the roar of the caged, engineered monster, carrying a secret that would one day shake the foundations of Asterion City.

  (To be continued)

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