In the sudden artillery fire, the car overturned. The cries of children and the curses of a man sounded almost alternately.
But after a few gunshots, the man fell into the snow. His blood stained the pure white canvas of the world a shocking crimson. Only the cries of the children grew louder.
"Boss, what about these kids? Their crying is damn annoying!" a stout man said, picking up a child from the car, his accent thick and foreign.
Compared to the emaciated civilians and rebels of this country, these people clearly weren't from around here.
The chaos in this land had attracted too many hungry jackals. They had pounced on the corpse of the weary giant, greedily carving up its flesh.
"Kill them all," the man called "boss" said, deciding their fate without even a glance.
"Kill... all of them?!" The man holding the child was clearly taken aback. "But... these kids are probably worth a lot of money! They're healthy. Even if we sell them for parts..."
"These people aren't ordinary," the leader said impatiently, rising from beside the man's body. He tossed a small emblem to the stout man. "We've probably kicked an iron plate... Tsk, I didn't expect Future City to be in this area..."
The stout man fumbled to catch the tossed emblem, then trembled as if he had caught a piece of red-hot iron.
His sturdy body shook like a patient with a severe illness, his face as pale as a zombie's.
"Future City?! How could they be in a place like this?!" the man shrieked. It was a testament to his courage that he hadn't wet himself on the spot.
"Destroy all evidence of ownership. We're heading back..." The leader's forehead was also beaded with cold sweat. He quickly gave orders to his panicked subordinates, then turned to leave.
After a few rapid gunshots, the children's voices disappeared. But just as they were about to leave, the man saw an infant lying quietly in swaddling clothes.
It looked to be only a few days old, currently lying in a small incubator. The man was silent for a moment, then reached out and broke the incubator, scooping up the child.
"A baby from Future City..." he said, examining the infant in his hands, unable to suppress a greedy smile. "Must be worth a lot of money..."
"That's..." Seele stood to the side. No one here seemed to be able to see her, so she could witness everything.
The four or five children in the car were from the Tower of Babylon, about to be sent out of the country to warm, pre-arranged families in other nations, but they had been intercepted by this pack of jackals.
There were always such unobservant people who acted before they clearly saw who their opponent was.
Apart from the infant, no one in the car survived.
And as for the remaining infant, even though her features were not yet fully formed, Seele could tell at a glance that she was Bronya-oneechan.
The jackal squad returned to their impregnable base. In this military base with thousands of people, they quickly contacted a buyer, established a channel, confirmed the price, and then, in the third hour after their return, were overrun by a joint attack from the five major local warlords.
The reason for dividing the spoils was that they had attacked personnel from Future City, and were unscrupulous individuals attempting to drag Future City into this chaos.
In the chaos, a faction took away all the infants and young children from the base. Their child soldiers were in dire need of new recruits.
This kind of "tool," which could be obtained with just a little time and food and had no fear of death, was very popular. The plundering of children had always been happening, but no one dared to make a big scene.
Because Future City might also be here. If this behemoth entered the fray, their fate would probably not be much better than the army that had been crushed by the rebels, or the rebels they had torn apart.
Seele watched as the infant Bronya changed hands three times in a single day, finally ending up in a small, dark room.
The scene before her began to fast-forward. The light from the small window disappeared almost every second. Bronya began to grow rapidly before Seele's eyes.
She began to receive training. She learned how to shoot a gun before she learned how to eat independently, and learned how to hold a knife before she learned how to dress herself.
Seele watched Bronya advance through the snow, swinging the dagger in her hand.
Whenever a person fell, Bronya would grow a little older, and the number of people around her would decrease.
By the time the last enemy fell, Bronya was not much different from when Seele had first met her.
"Do you know what the people outside call you? The Ural Silver Wolf! Hahaha!! Truly worthy of being the assassin I trained!" Her teacher laughed heartily, then, as usual, locked her back in the dark dungeon.
Of that long speech, Bronya only understood two words.
"You" and "kill."
It didn't say who the target was, so it wasn't a mission.
Seele watched as Bronya skillfully returned to her corner and entered a silent, standby-like state. She couldn't help but feel a pang of pain in her heart.
She tentatively walked forward, came to stand before Bronya, and reached out, wanting to gently hug this unfortunate girl.
Unexpectedly... Seele felt a physical presence, and the warmth of Bronya's body. It was as if the moment she touched Bronya, this place had become real.
Bronya looked up blankly at the sea-blue-eyed girl who was gently hugging her.
What does this mean?
Bronya waited for a command, such as a target, or food, or to enter a state of alert.
But she received none of those. Instead, she heard a gentle whisper in her ear—
"Don't be afraid, Bronya-oneechan. Seele is here..."
[Memory anchor triggered. Conversion initiated.]
The world blurred for a moment. When Seele opened her eyes again, the world had changed.
She was running down a street. Something seemed to be chasing her from behind. Seele wanted to turn and look, but the moment her body turned, she felt a huge force, followed by a numb coldness.
[Anchor replacement failed—restarting]
The world rewound. Seele was back to the moment before she had turned her head.
This is...
Seele was still in a daze. Even though her reason had already analyzed the general situation, she was still stunned for a moment.
A huge kinetic force sent her small body flying forward. Seele saw a gush of crimson blood erupt from her chest.
A gun...?
[Anchor replacement failed—restarting]
It was still that street... dim, desolate, and filled with killing intent.