The crowd pressed close to the walls of the narrow square,

  faces pale beneath the drifting steam.

  Seven guards in dark blue uniforms formed a semicircle,

  their heavy, custom?built firearms aimed at a single man.

  His armor was a patchwork of metal plates—

  dented, scorched, and leaking bursts of white vapor

  from ruptured tubes at the joints.

  A mechanical gauntlet encased his right arm,

  its pistons trembling under strain.

  His left hand gripped a sharpened steel beam,

  repurposed into a blade.

  Sunri felt Pardy tense in his arms.

  Lin Che’s breath caught.

  “That armor… he’s severely overheated.

  If the pressure builds any further—”

  Ye Lingyun’s hand drifted toward his sword.

  “Is he the one from the newspaper?”

  Sunri didn’t answer.

  Because the man in the armor lifted his head.

  And his voice—raw, furious, desperate—

  echoed across the square.

  “I’ve maintained this city’s pipes for fifteen years!”

  His shout cracked like metal under stress.

  “Fifteen years!

  Who among you ever cared about the Lower District?

  Who cared about the workers killed by pipe explosions?

  Who cared about the families left behind?”

  The lead guard stepped forward,

  helmet gleaming beneath the gas lamps.

  “Kyle Roan!

  You are charged with attacking the central power core

  and attempting to cripple the city.

  Surrender!”

  Roan laughed—

  a sound full of exhaustion and disbelief.

  “I didn’t attack the core!

  I went to investigate an energy fluctuation!

  It was YOU—”

  He pointed his gauntlet at a tall figure among the guards.

  “Jackson!

  You were my closest friend!

  Why won’t you believe me?!”

  The man called Jackson removed his helmet.

  A stern, pained face emerged.

  “Roan… the evidence is clear.

  Surveillance shows you tampering with the core valve.

  And we found this in your workshop.”

  He activated a metal device.

  A projection flickered to life—

  a gray?armored figure operating a control console.

  “That’s forged!” Roan roared.

  “Someone impersonated me!

  Jackson, use your brain!

  If I wanted to destroy the city,

  why leave such obvious evidence in my own workshop?!”

  Jackson’s jaw tightened.

  “Because you wanted to control the city, not destroy it.”

  Roan’s voice broke.

  “Where are my wife and daughter?”

  The crowd murmured.

  Jackson hesitated.

  “They’re at home. We didn’t—”

  “Lies!” Roan’s scream tore through the square.

  “I went home!

  The door was forced open!

  There were signs of struggle!

  You took them—

  didn’t you?!

  To force me to confess to something I didn’t do!”

  Pardy flinched.

  Sunri held him tighter.

  Mo?Dou’s fur bristled,

  golden eyes narrowing.

  Lin Che whispered,

  “This is no rebellion.

  This is a cover?up.”

  The Siege Breaks

  Jackson raised his hand.

  “Take him.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The guards opened fire.

  What shot from their barrels were not bullets,

  but gelatinous rounds that burst on impact,

  spreading sticky material across Roan’s armor.

  Roan swung his mechanical gauntlet—

  steam erupted,

  and with a single punch

  he shattered a stone pillar beside him.

  Debris exploded outward,

  forcing two guards back.

  But the others were coordinated.

  Two flanked him,

  their rounds striking the joint of his leg armor.

  The metal groaned.

  The hydraulic system in his left leg failed.

  Jackson seized the moment.

  His weapon shifted with a mechanical click—

  firing a metal net

  that wrapped around Roan’s torso.

  Roan struggled,

  steam gauntlet overheating to a glowing red.

  With a tearing shriek,

  he ripped the net apart—

  but in doing so

  exposed a gap in his chest plate.

  Bang.

  Jackson fired directly into the opening.

  Roan staggered,

  blood splattering inside his helmet.

  He collapsed against a wall,

  mechanical gauntlet hanging limp.

  “It’s over, Kyle,” Jackson said quietly,

  aiming the gun at Roan’s head.

  The Explosion

  Roan lifted his right hand.

  The steam conduits on the gauntlet shrieked—

  overloaded beyond safety.

  A blazing jet of steam shot out—

  not at a person,

  but at the fuel tank of a steam transport truck

  parked at the edge of the square.

  “No!” Jackson shouted.

  Too late.

  BOOM.

  The explosion tore through the square,

  flipping the truck,

  sending flaming debris in every direction.

  The shockwave knocked guards off their feet.

  The crowd screamed and scattered.

  Sunri shielded Pardy with his body.

  Ye Lingyun grabbed Lin Che,

  pulling him behind a pillar.

  Smoke engulfed everything.

  Through the chaos,

  Roan dragged his injured leg,

  rushing toward the overturned truck.

  He leapt onto its roof—

  then jumped again,

  landing on a second?floor balcony.

  Small steam thrusters unfolded from his back,

  firing short bursts

  that propelled him upward.

  A few more leaps,

  and he vanished over the rooftops.

  Jackson coughed through the smoke.

  “After him!”

  But the guards were disoriented,

  their formation broken.

  The Necklace

  As the smoke thinned,

  a small shadow slipped through the debris.

  Mo?Dou.

  The black cat padded toward Sunri,

  a silver necklace dangling from its mouth.

  It dropped the necklace into Sunri’s palm.

  A simple gear?shaped pendant,

  a pale blue gem set in the center—

  pulsing faintly,

  like a heartbeat.

  The sun?mark on Sunri’s hand warmed,

  responding to the pendant’s aura.

  Lin Che leaned closer.

  “This… carries recorded information.

  Similar to the ancient books.”

  Mo?Dou turned toward a narrow alley,

  tail flicking.

  Follow me.

  Sunri stood.

  “Mo?Dou knows where he went.”

  Ye Lingyun’s eyes sharpened.

  “Then we follow.”

  Lin Che adjusted his glasses,

  still panting.

  “I can treat him… if he’s still alive.”

  Pardy clung to Sunri’s coat,

  but nodded.

  The four of them slipped into the alley,

  Mo?Dou leading the way—

  light, precise,

  moving with a rhythm that seemed almost calculated.

  Ye Lingyun watched the cat in awe.

  “Its footwork…

  even I must exert myself to keep up.”

  Mo?Dou flicked its tail,

  as if saying:

  Keep up, then.

  They followed the cat

  through a maze of back alleys,

  over a half?collapsed wall,

  and into a narrow maintenance tunnel

  that sloped downward.

  The air grew cooler.

  The scent of steam faded,

  replaced by something older—

  metal, oil, and silence.

  At the bottom of the spiraling passage

  stood a heavy iron door,

  slightly ajar.

  A sliver of gas?lamp light leaked through.

  Mo?Dou slipped inside.

  Sunri pushed the door open.

  And the world of Hero City

  opened its next secret.