Chapter 1214:

Carter’s eyes moved from Ares’s motionless body to the surrounding faces, now hardened with alertness and thinly veiled hostility. A trap — carefully planned and flawlessly executed — one that boxed him in completely with no way out. Even then, he could not grasp why Kristen would do such a thing. The entire situation defied logic.

“I didn’t do this!” Carter yelled, struggling to hold himself together. “Yes, I left my gun on the plane — but I never imagined Kristen would take it! This is a frame-up! She’s clearly not herself — you can all see that! Someone manipulated her!”

“That can be discussed later, Carter,” the head of security said coldly, making a sharp gesture. “Remove him — now.”

The guards rushed at Carter in a tight formation, moving like a pack of predators closing in on a cornered target. He reacted on instinct and tried to resist, but the icy barrel of a gun shoved against his temple — alongside several other weapons aimed squarely at him — made it painfully clear that fighting back would only make things worse. His arms were roughly twisted behind him, and metal cuffs were clamped around his wrists before he could react.

“Search the entire room — every inch of it. Secure all exits and seal this place off,” the security chief barked, then turned to Carter and fixed him with the cold, detached gaze of someone looking at a corpse. “Take him to interrogation. Keep him breathing until the higher-ups decide what to do with him. And someone had better figure out exactly what happened here.”

𝗢𝘳𝘨𝖺𝗇𝘪𝘻𝖾 𝘆о𝗎𝗋 𝘭𝗶𝖻𝗋a𝗿у 𝗈ո 𝘨a𝘭n𝗈v𝗲𝘭𝘴.с𝗈𝘮

The sudden, unthinkable death of Ares sent shockwaves through Ares Global, throwing the entire organization into panic and disarray.

Carter, meanwhile, found himself confined in an interrogation chamber buried three levels underground — a suffocating space drowned in absolute darkness, without even the faintest trace of light. The only moments when light pierced that darkness were when interrogators stepped in with their tools, dragging him through endless rounds of questioning and brutal torture.

Having analyzed the chip’s fluctuation pattern, Britton quickly notified Rylie that the mission had been successfully carried out.

Not long after, Rylie arrived at a nameless island deep in international waters, accompanied by Felix, Kendrick, Brad, and a senior weapons development officer from Eshea.

Viewed from the air, the island resembled a dark, heart-shaped fortress wrapped in steel and stone, quietly pulsing within the vast and endless ocean. The helicopter carrying Brad and Rylie’s relatives descended slowly, passing through several invisible scanning layers before touching down on a landing platform embedded into the rugged cliffs along the island’s eastern edge. The moment the cabin door slid open, a strong wave of salt air swept inside.

The island’s structures held no trace of decoration or beauty — nothing but dull gray metal alloys and thick reinforced concrete, their sharp, angular designs resembling fortresses carved directly into the mountainside. Staff dressed in identical black tactical gear and full helmets moved swiftly along designated pathways, communicating almost entirely through hand signals and encrypted channels. Despite the base’s massive scale, the atmosphere remained eerily silent. Automated weapon turrets, shield-generating systems, and stealth drones hovering just above the ground were positioned throughout the facility.

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