The reek of old iron, the suffocating dust of railway ties, and the damp chill of the earth welcomed them inside the carcass of a decommissioned commuter train car stranded on the dead-end tracks of Sector 8. In this quiet, forgotten refuge far beneath the neon gloss of the modern city, Gilang's group had established their second underground safehouse following the previous night's warehouse explosion.

The sole illumination inside the pitch-black railcar came from the bluish glow of Nara's laptop screen and the projection of a portable holographic projector resting on a rusted iron utility box that once served as a passenger seat.

"Less than twenty-four hours before the SoulSync global launch countdown hits zero," Nara's voice rasped, breaking the underground night silence. Her fingers danced rapidly across her mechanical keyboard, punching in complex lines of code. "If we don't manage to sever their satellite network transmission before tomorrow morning, millions of users worldwide are going to lose their soul essence permanently."

Gilang stood leaning against the graffiti-tagged metal wall of the railcar. He crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes fixed intently on the three-dimensional projection of Ant Corp's central tower spinning slowly over the table. Beside him, Rania sat curled up on a pile of jackets, hugging her knees with a weary face yet a fierce determination still burning in her eyes.

"We don't have many options other than a physical breach straight into the heart of the tower," Gilang spoke up, his tone calm yet carrying the absolute authority of a veteran freelancer. He pointed out defense nodes on the hologram with a laser pointer. "Nara, concentrate all your processing power on hacking their orbital satellites and knocking out external communications. Once those birds are blinded, the security forces inside won't be able to call for backup from the outside."

Nara glanced up, letting out a soft huff as she adjusted her glasses. "Easy for you to say, Lang! Hacking one of Ant Corp's commercial satellites is like a mosquito trying to direct an elephant. Their quantum encryption has layers upon layers. But... don't worry, I've already cooked up a backdoor virus scheme that'll knock their orbital comms completely offline for roughly twenty minutes. That's the maximum window we get."

"Twenty minutes is more than enough if we move fast," Renata replied, standing on the opposite side of the holographic table. The sharply suited woman looked far more composed after catching a few hours of sleep, though streaks of exhaustion still lingered across her features. She shot Gilang an appraising look. "And what about the physical infiltration strategy, street commander?"

Gilang shifted his gaze to Renata, the corners of his lips lifting into a challenging, faint smirk. "We aren't walking through the red-carpet front door, and we aren't using the sewer ventilation routes again. We're going in through the underground water pressure maintenance line in the Sector 3 utility basement."

"Basement level three?" Nara widened her eyes, halting her typing for a second. "That's a high-tier technician-only maintenance corridor! The security system's bound to be locked down tight with infrared sensors and autonomous laser traps."

"That's why we need our beloved former Director of Operations' expertise to crack the locks from the inside," Gilang countered casually, shifting his full attention back to Renata. "You still remember the director-level emergency authorization codes, right, Renata?"

Renata paused for a fraction of a second, then nodded slowly with a grave expression. "Those access codes were stripped from my primary profile the moment I was fired. But... I know the backdoor loopholes in the manual maintenance protocols that the board of directors never bothered patching because they were too arrogant."

"Good," Gilang nodded decisively. "That means we have a clean vector in without tripping the main lobby alarms."

Rania, who had been listening in silence, slowly lifted her head. Her voice trembled with hopeful anxiety. "Boss... is it really true that on the hundredth floor... my brother and the other victims are locked away?"

Gilang stepped closer to Rania, dropping to one knee before the young girl, and looked gently into her eyes. "Yeah, kid. All the souls harvested by that app are stored in quantum tubes inside the main server room. The moment we shatter the core server, those soul essences will snap right back to their respective physical bodies in the real world. Including Wira."

Rania wiped away a stray tear threatening to spill, then nodded with absolute conviction. "I believe you, Boss. Please... save my brother."

"Definitely," Gilang answered briefly yet firmly.

He rose back to his feet and walked toward the far end of the railcar away from the holographic table crowd, gesturing with a tilt of his head for Renata to follow. Renata caught the cue, walking over to join Gilang in the dim corner of the carriage, out of earshot from Nara and Rania.

The atmosphere in that corner felt far more private. The clacking of Nara's keyboard echoed faintly in the distance, blending with the drip of water from a leaking tunnel ceiling.

Renata folded her arms over her chest, resting her shoulder against the cold metal wall of the railcar. She stared intently at Gilang with an unreadable gaze. "What is it, Gilang? Why deliberately pull me over here? The infiltration plan is clear enough, isn't it?"

Gilang fell silent for a moment, sliding both hands into the pockets of his bomber jacket. He watched the lines of Renata's face illuminated faintly by the distant emergency lights. "I just wanted to make sure of one thing before we roll out tomorrow morning."

"Make sure of what?" Renata asked, a single eyebrow arching upward.

"Make sure you're actually ready," Gilang's voice softened, shedding the cynical edge or playful banter he usually carried. "Tearing down the Ant Corp tower means destroying the entire life you built for yourself, Renata. Your career, your status, your world... everything's going to vanish the second we hit that detonation switch."

Renata froze for a moment. She looked down at the filthy floor of the railcar, then offered a small smile—a bitter smile carrying the crushing weight of a very heavy past.

"What life did I build, Gilang?" Renata whispered softly, lifting her gaze back to lock eyes with Gilang without hesitation. "The world behind tailored suits and glass towers isn't a life. It's a gilded cage built on the suffering of people like Aris and millions of other innocent victims. I died inside that system long ago. Walking away from it and standing right here... is the most alive I've ever felt."

Hearing that response, Gilang felt an unusual warmth ripple through his chest. He hadn't expected the cold-hearted woman he had pegged as a corporate executive just days prior to stand beside him with such unvarnished sincerity.

Gilang stepped closer, narrowing the gap between them. The faint scent of lavender clinging to Renata's suit still registered amidst the musty odor of the old train car. "You know, Renata... fighting alongside a deranged corporate ex-director was never anywhere on a street freelancer's life roadmap."

Renata gave a soft chuckle, the sound melodic against the underground night's silence. She raised her right hand, lightly brushing the torn fabric of Gilang's jacket sleeve near the shoulder—a scar from their previous skirmish. "And teaming up with a cynical freelancer who loves hunting for trouble never appeared in Ant Corp's operational manual either, Gilang."

The space between them closed until the rhythm of their breathing nearly brushed against one another. Renata's sharp, resolute gaze melted into Gilang's warm, protective stare. Without another word, the emotional tension that had simmered since the warehouse explosion found its natural outlet, cementing an unbreakable bond between two souls cast out by the system.

Suddenly—

Beep!

Kriet... blip!

A bizarre digital shrieking sound abruptly shattered the silence of that carriage corner. The noise originated from Nara's primary laptop across the table.

Gilang and Renata snapped back to reality, instantly breaking apart and whipping their heads toward the center of the car.

Nara sprang up from her workstation, knocking her plastic coffee cup to the floor where it spilled everywhere. The disheveled girl's face turned stark white behind the lenses of her glasses, which reflected monitor screens flashing into a wash of blood-red.

"Nara? What is it?!" Gilang yelled, striding rapidly toward the console desk, followed closely by Renata.

Nara swallowed hard, her fingers trembling as she pointed at the monitor graph displaying their local network status.

"S-something's wrong..." Nara whispered, her voice choking in her throat, her breath catching in sheer panic. "Our early-warning system... just detected an incoming intrusion probe."

Gilang furrowed his brow, tension spiking instantly to its absolute peak. "An intrusion probe? You mean Ant Corp's security system traced our IP address to this railcar?"

"It's not tracking us from the outside, Lang..." Nara trembled, staring wide-eyed at the screen. "The local IP address accessing our data... was just detected active right outside this carriage door. Someone... or something... is standing directly outside our entrance right now."