The roar of heavy tactical engines mingled with the crack of assault rifles, tearing through the silence of the earth's belly inside Aethel Corp's subterranean facility. Flames jetted from blown-out concrete walls, creating absolute chaos that threw the corporate special forces into disarray. Yet upon the suspended hanging bridge directly overlooking the cosmic chasm, the situation stood on the brink of a far deadlier catastrophe.

Aftershocks from the reactor sector explosions caused the steel bridge structure where Zulfa and Vian Pratama stood to groan horribly. Thick steel anchor bolts the size of a grown man's arm snapped one by one, showering bright sparks into the air.

Vian Pratama, who had been pitched aside by the violent tremor, staggered to his feet. His once-cool and calculated face was now consumed by wild panic. He stared at the bridge flooring as it slowly cracked down the middle.

"Damn it... the bridge is collapsing!" Vian shrieked hysterically, scrambling backward toward the main platform.

Across from him, Zulfa was dragged down onto his knees at the sharply tilting edge of the deck. His footing gave out, and within seconds, the youth's body slipped downward, sliding freely toward the edge of the cosmic chasm radiating a blinding purple energy vortex.

"Zulfa!" Naya screamed hysterically from inside the cabin of the newly breached resistance tactical vehicle.

Without a second thought, the girl vaulted out of the side door, sprinting hard through billowing dust and concrete rubble toward the abyss edge where Zulfa was on the verge of falling.

Zulfa caught the lip of the steel bridge plate with both hands using every last ounce of strength he possessed. Below him, high-pressure cosmic wind wailed fiercely, sucking everything nearby into another dimensional void. His grip began to slip from sweat and fine dust.

"Naya...! My... my hands are slipping!" Zulfa choked out, staring in terror at the deadly energy vortex below.

"Zul! Don't let go! Grab my hand!" Naya shrieked, tears spilling down her cheeks. She went prone on the tilting platform floor, stretching both arms as far as possible past the chasm's edge.

At the same exact moment, Captain Danu leaped out from the tactical vehicle's driver's seat, sprinting after Naya while lugging a high-strength military nylon tow rope.

"Naya, pull him! Danu, grab my legs!" Danu commanded swiftly without a hint of hesitation.

With lightning-fast coordination amid the falling debris and dimensional gale, Captain Danu secured a tight grip around Naya's waist as she hung over the abyss edge, while Naya managed to lock her fingers around Zulfa's wrist right before the youth slipped away entirely.

Sreett—Boom!

With a synchronized, desperate heave of shared strength, Naya and Danu hauled Zulfa upward, slamming him back away from the edge just as the entire hanging bridge structure snapped clean and plummeted into the void below.

"Hosh... hosh... hosh..." Zulfa panted heavily, lying flat on his back on safe concrete flooring while clutching his tight chest. He stared up at the collapsing ceiling above with ragged breaths.

Naya dropped immediately to Zulfa's side, cradling the youth's head while sobbing in relief. "Zulfa... oh god, you're safe... You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Naya trembled, hugging Zulfa tight.

Zulfa smiled weakly, returning Naya's embrace slowly even as his entire body ached with deep bruises. "Thank you, Naya... Captain... you were right on time."

Across the chasm—now a wide cleft—Vian Pratama was hauled up by the remaining corporate special forces into the upper emergency evacuation lift. Vian glared at Zulfa with a gaze burning with raw vengeance before the steel elevator doors sealed shut, whisking the corporate director away to the surface.

"We don't have time to catch our breath, kids!" Captain Danu barked, springing to his feet and brushing dust from his shoulders as he tracked the underground cavern walls beginning to cascade in a chain reaction of reactor-induced collapses. "Corporate forces are calling in reinforcements from every sector. If we stay here, we'll be buried alive!"

Zulfa and Naya scrambled to their feet. Behind them, the resistance tactical vehicle blared its primary headlights, revving hard to charge down the remaining deep evacuation tunnel.

"Get in! Load up, fast!" Danu ordered the remaining resistance members.

Zulfa and Naya scrambled back into the tactical vehicle's rear cabin. Captain Danu slammed his boot to the floor, rocketing the armored vehicle away from the main control room ruins and plunging straight into the dark tunnels of the earth's deepest strata.

The vehicle tore forward, shaking the cabin violently through every sharp turn of the subterranean tunnel. Yet before they could catch their breath over escaping the enemy, an unexpected sight brought the vehicle to an abrupt halt.

Screeech—Thud!

Captain Danu slammed on the brakes, stopping the car dead before a massive dead end.

Zulfa and Naya, seated in the back, pitched forward. Zulfa righted himself immediately, directing his gaze forward through the dust-caked windshield.

The primary tunnel path meant to serve as their escape route was now blocked entirely by a colossal pile of collapsed concrete and ancient bedrock—cut off permanently by aftershocks.

There was zero gap for a vehicle to force its way through.

"Damn it! The main route caved in!" Danu growled, spinning the mini-wheel and slamming his palm against the steering column in pure frustration. "We're trapped!"

Naya pressed against the window, flashing a mini flashlight toward the gaps in the rock pile ahead. "Captain, look to the right... Behind that rock pile, there's a small tunnel gap."

Zulfa narrowed his eyes, studying the wall structure behind the concrete collapse. Based on his civil engineering instincts, he instantly recognized the architectural masonry behind the stones.

"That isn't an Aethel Corp concrete tunnel," Zulfa said quietly, pushing open the side door and climbing out with his tactical flashlight. "Those are dark red brick walls laid out in symmetric rows... architecture signature to an old colonial-era tunnel network abandoned centuries ago."

Captain Danu hopped out behind him, standing beside Zulfa while raising his high-beam flashlight. "A colonial-era tunnel? That place isn't on any military digital navigation map, Zulfa. We have no clue where that passage leads."

Zulfa stared at the dark gap behind the rubble, sitting in absolute silence as though holding a million ancient secrets untouched by modern humans. The air around them grew markedly colder, accompanied by a soft underground draft breathing out from deep within the passage.

Behind them, the engine roar of corporate reinforcement vehicles began drifting faintly from the cross-tunnel, closing in fast.

Their time for debate had run out.

Zulfa glanced at Naya and Danu, then gave a firm nod. "We don't have any other choice. We have to go on foot and step into that colonial tunnel maze right now."