Several minutes had passed since Ujjwal fell from the building.
The shout he had made before disappearing had drawn Kailash to this floor. By the time he arrived, the place had already returned to silence. Dust covered the unfinished concrete floor, while rows of pillars divided the area into dozens of blind spots. Anyone could hide here without being seen immediately.
Kailash slowly looked around. Ever since entering the building, things had stopped making sense. First Arjun disappeared. Then Ujjwal vanished. Now there wasn't a single sign of either of them. The more he looked around, the stronger his feeling became.
Arjun was still here.
"Split up and search," Kailash said.
The two boys behind him immediately nodded before moving in opposite directions. Neither of them questioned the order. They knew Kailash well enough to understand that he wasn't making guesses.
Soon, only the sound of footsteps remained.
One of the boys walked between the unfinished pillars while casually checking the surrounding area. At first, he wasn't worried. Arjun was only one person. Even if they found him, there was nothing to be afraid of. But as the minutes passed, his confidence slowly began to fade. Every section of the floor looked the same. Every pillar seemed to hide another blind spot. More than once, he found himself turning around for no reason at all.
The silence was starting to get on his nerves.
After checking another empty section, he shook his head and continued forward. Just as he stepped past one of the pillars, a fist suddenly shot out from his blind spot and slammed directly into his face.
The attack was so sudden that he never even saw who hit him.
His body dropped to the floor instantly.
Not far away, the second boy frowned slightly. A faint sound had reached his ears. It wasn't loud enough to identify, but it was enough to catch his attention. After hesitating for a moment, he changed direction and started moving toward it.
The further he walked, the more alert he became.
Then he finally saw someone standing ahead.
Arjun.
The moment he recognized him, he rushed forward without hesitation. His fist shot toward Arjun's face, but the attack missed completely. Before he could react, Arjun had already moved out of its path.
The boy immediately threw another punch, followed by a third. His attacks became faster and more aggressive, but the result never changed. Every strike passed through empty air. Arjun remained calm throughout the exchange, avoiding each attack with the smallest possible movement.
The boy's frustration quickly turned into panic.
No matter what he did, he couldn't land a hit.
Then, for the first time, Arjun attacked.
A single punch crashed directly into the boy's face.
His vision blurred instantly.
The strength left his legs, and his body collapsed beside the first boy.
A few moments later, Kailash arrived.
The moment he saw the two unconscious bodies lying on the dusty floor, his expression darkened. Neither of them had managed to call for help. Neither of them had even put up much of a fight.
Slowly, Kailash lifted his head and looked around.
The unfinished floor was exactly the same as before. The pillars were still standing. The rooms were still empty.
But Arjun was nowhere to be seen.
Once again, he had disappeared without leaving behind a single trace.
Abhishek stood near the edge of the rooftop, quietly watching the unfinished building across from him. Since arriving here, he had spoken very little, spending most of his time observing whatever was happening inside. The vibration coming from his pocket finally broke the silence around him.
Pulling out his phone, he glanced at the screen before answering the call.
For a few moments, he didn't speak.
Instead, he listened.
"We can't hold them back much longer," the voice on the other side said hurriedly. "If this continues, they're going to get through."
Abhishek's expression remained unchanged.
His eyes never left the building.
"Then do something," the person continued. "We don't have much time left."
"Just hold on a little longer," Abhishek replied calmly. "I'll take care of it."
The call ended shortly afterward.
As he lowered the phone and slipped it back into his pocket, Rio found himself staring at him. At first, he hadn't paid much attention to the conversation. But after hearing those few words, he couldn't help thinking about it.
Something felt off.
From the moment they arrived here, Abhishek had been acting as though he already knew more than everyone else. Nothing seemed to surprise him. Not Ujjwal falling from the building. Not the strange silence that followed. Not even the phone call he had just received.
Rio frowned.
"Who was that?"
Abhishek briefly glanced at him before looking back toward the building.
"Someone unimportant."
Rio clicked his tongue.
That answer only made him more suspicious. The problem was that he couldn't figure out why. Every time he thought he was close to understanding something, another piece appeared that didn't fit. It felt as though he was looking at a puzzle with half of the pieces missing.
Meanwhile, inside the unfinished building, Arjun stood quietly in one of the darker rooms. A blue holographic window floated in front of him, casting a faint glow across the concrete walls. The three-dimensional map displayed on the screen showed the entire structure, while several colored dots continued moving throughout the building.
His eyes remained fixed on the display.
Four blue dots.
One red dot.
The blue dots continued searching through different sections of the building while the red dot moved far more carefully than the others. Through the Alert skill, every movement appeared clearly before him, allowing him to monitor the situation without exposing himself.
A faint sound echoed somewhere outside the room.
Arjun didn't react.
His attention remained on the map.
The colored dots continued moving from one area to another as Kailash and his remaining men searched for him. The irony of the situation wasn't lost on him. While they believed they were hunting him down, their every movement was already being tracked.
The countdown of the Emergency Quest continued decreasing in the corner of his vision.
Arjun silently watched the display for several more seconds.
Then, without changing his expression, he slowly closed the system window.
Several minutes had already passed since Kailash last heard from any of his men.
Standing on the upper floors of the unfinished building, he once again pulled out his phone and dialed another number. The ringing continued for several seconds before ending on its own. Just like before, nobody answered. One person might ignore a call. Two people might miss it. But every single one of them? The longer it continued, the more irritated Kailash became.
"What the hell are these idiots doing?" he muttered.
Before he could call again, his phone suddenly vibrated in his hand. Seeing the number on the screen, Kailash immediately answered.
"I don't care what excuse you have," an angry voice said from the other side. "Bring Arjun to me. If you fail, then you already know what happens next."
Kailash's expression darkened.
"You don't need to remind me," he replied coldly. "I'll get the job done."
The call ended shortly afterward.
For a few moments, Kailash stood there in silence before putting the phone away. Ever since entering this building, nothing had gone according to plan. Arjun had disappeared. His men had disappeared. Even now, he couldn't figure out where any of them had gone.
Then suddenly, a small stone landed behind him.
The sound wasn't loud, but inside the quiet building it immediately caught his attention. Kailash turned around almost instinctively, only to catch a glimpse of a familiar figure disappearing into the stairway leading upward.
Arjun.
The frustration that had been building inside him for the past several minutes instantly erupted.
Without wasting another second, Kailash rushed toward the stairs. The sound of his footsteps echoed through the unfinished structure as he chased after the figure ahead of him. Every time he reached a floor, he caught another brief glimpse of Arjun disappearing toward the next stairway.
It was almost as if the boy wanted to be followed.
That thought only made Kailash angrier.
"You think you can keep running?" he shouted while charging up another flight of stairs.
As soon as he reached the final staircase, the space around him suddenly opened up.
The rooftop.
Cold wind immediately struck his face as dark clouds continued gathering overhead. The unfinished rooftop was almost completely exposed to the sky, with construction materials scattered around different sections of the floor.
Kailash's eyes immediately locked onto a figure standing several meters away.
Arjun.
Both hands remained inside his pockets.
His expression was as calm as ever.
For the first time since entering the building, Kailash had finally found him.
A grin slowly appeared on his face.
"Good."
His voice carried across the rooftop.
"I finally found you."
As he stepped forward, something else entered his field of vision. Not far from Arjun, two familiar figures lay motionless on the concrete floor. Their clothes were torn, their faces bruised, and neither of them showed any sign of getting back up.
They were his men.
For a brief moment, Kailash simply stared at them.
Then he looked back at Arjun.
The grin on his face slowly disappeared.
In its place came pure anger.
"So that's what happened."
The cold wind continued to blow across the rooftop while distant thunder echoed through the sky above them.
Kailash slowly raised both hands.
Wrapped around his fists were a pair of electric knuckles. Faint sparks crackled across the metal surface as electricity flowed through them, producing a sharp buzzing sound that seemed unusually loud on the silent rooftop.
His eyes never left Arjun.
"I don't have time to play games anymore."
His voice became colder.
"Now I'm going to kill you."
The next second, Kailash charged straight toward him.
END OF THE CHAPTER