Lui opened his eyes to a city wrapped in cold and tangled in cables.
Kaji Caesar had vanished, leaving Lui alone with his missions and his thoughts.
Ahead, he saw radio banks stretching along the road. These banks stored communication data for each frequency. Some of the banks ran beneath houses—those were worth gold. The ones exposed above ground were frequently looted in markets or alleys. To prevent theft, radio engineers regularly patrolled the city.
Lui turned his head, scanning the surroundings. In front of him stood a colossal building, its walls covered in red concrete. The sign read, in Japanese characters: "Lightning Council."
As Lui read the sign, he remembered—they were his greatest enemies.
As soon as he imagined the interface in his mind, a mission panel appeared before his eyes.
He had to choose one of the available tasks.
First, he decided to learn about the history of the Lightning Council.
For that, he needed a prisoner. Wait a second... That meant he had to capture someone. He had already realized things wouldn't go as quickly or simply as he thought. Capturing someone meant knowing who was friend and who was foe. But why had Kaji Caesar abandoned him?
He examined every inch of the panel—top to bottom, left to right—until he spotted a call button.
"Huh. So I can contact someone," he thought, and imagined himself pressing it.
Suddenly, a phone began to ring.
Lui held his breath, waiting for the crackling sound of a voice on the other end.
"Hello!" The voice was familiar—just from a moment ago...
"Hello," said Lui. "Who are you?"
"I'm Kaji Caesar. I've been assigned to assist you with your missions. Is there something troubling you?"
Lui found the question foolish.
He had more than one problem on his mind.
"I—I need to find a prisoner to learn the history of the Lightning Council. That's one of my tasks. But... wait a second…" He noticed the time limit ticking down on the screen. Only two hours left. "How am I supposed to do that?"
In a calm voice, Kaji Caesar replied, "I left you in front of the Council building. Go inside and learn what you can."
"But," Lui asked, "In what role? As who?"
Looking down at himself, he saw he was still wearing his usual prince attire. His sense of helplessness grew.
"The Council building has two main gates," Kaji explained. "Each gate leads to a different universe. There's no passage between them. If you enter through one, you must exit through the same."
"What's the purpose of the gates?" Lui wondered aloud.
"Don't panic," said Kaji. "The system will inform you once you're inside. Any more questions?"
Lui replied, "No." Though in truth, he had many.
The call ended there.
Lui stepped closer to the building, its red bricks looming above him. There was a card scanner at the entrance—he needed to present a card to enter. "But I don't even have a card," he thought.
Just then, the panel flashed open again.
[Member 28, your card is being printed.]
[Printed.]
That fast?
[Would you like to receive your card now?]
"Yes," Lui said.
The moment he spoke, a card appeared in his hand. Its edges were trimmed with silver, and the number "28" was engraved in large, bold letters.
When he held the card to the scanner, the heavy metal wings of the door creaked open. A musty scent wafted from within.
Lui stepped inside.
Seven display panels materialized before him.
He was curious about Door 1 and imagined himself tapping it.
[Door 1:
Lightning Council – War Committee. Their motto is "War is the best defense."
If you enter here, you must be prepared for combat. The highest-ranking members reside inside.
Do you want to enter?]
But Lui wanted to see the other doors too.
He navigated to Door 2.
[Door 2:
Lightning Council – Defense Committee. Their motto is "Defense is the best offense."
If you enter here, your attacks will be met with strong defense. This area consists of mid and lower-mid-level members.
Do you want to enter?]
Lui evaluated his options carefully.
"Can I see more features?" he wondered.
[You haven't earned any points yet to unlock more features.
If you don't make a selection, you will be expelled from the building.
Remember: you must stay inside to complete your mission.]
"What happens if I fail my mission?"
[If a representative fails to complete their mission on time, their people will suffer various disasters:
Poverty, viruses, plagues, etc… Understood?]
As the beloved adopted son of the Radio Kingdom's king, Lui understood—failure would be betrayal.
"Alright then," he said, licking his lips.
He wanted to choose the door where he would strike first, not where he'd be attacked. It would be easier to capture someone from a lower tier. Although, he had no idea how low "lower tier" really meant—but he certainly couldn't handle the elites.
Suddenly, a question popped into his mind.
"What level am I?"
[Your level cannot be determined until you begin your tasks. Please choose a door!]
He chose Door 2.
The moment he did, a creaking sound echoed.
[If you do not enter within five seconds, the mission will be marked as failed.]
Lui hurried inside just before the door slammed shut behind him.
He was alone. Only his own breath echoed in the chamber.
A new panel appeared before him.
There were three more doors labeled A, B, and C.
"What are the differences between these?" he asked, curious.
[A: Contains humans with first-level frequency usage.]
[B: Contains half-humans with second-level frequency usage.]
[C: Contains quarter-humans with third-level frequency usage.]
Half-human? Quarter-human?
[Half-human: Possesses roughly half of human traits.]
[Quarter-human: Possesses minimal or nearly no human traits.]
Frequency usage?
[Those with high frequency usage have resonance abilities. They can stack abilities of the same frequency to create higher energy waves—capable of instantly knocking out enemies. They can move massive objects. They can even influence thoughts. Mental power: high.]
[Half-humans and quarter-humans have low frequency usage. Low resonance. Weak mental influence and control. Mental power: low to moderate.]
Definitely B or C-level.
But monsters that barely resembled humans might be inside... Lui hesitated.
Eventually, he chose C.
Three stairways emerged before him. On the far right, a red button labeled "Gate C" glowed softly.
He climbed the steps slowly and stood before the door.
Creakkk!
The door swung open, and Lui stepped inside.
Suddenly, he found himself in a vast desert lit by artificial white light. Sparse tents dotted the landscape, and a few tanks stood parked in silence. At least for now, it was eerily quiet. Not a single sound.
He moved cautiously, wires wrapping around his ankles, as he explored the area.
He glanced at the nearest tents.
[Asleep]
He turned his head.
[Asleep]
Spinning around a full circle…
[1 active enemy]
So someone in the tent to his right was awake.
He squinted at the translucent tent—he could just make out a shadow moving inside.
Farther away…
[5 active enemies]
He recalled this was the Defense Gate. If he wanted to capture someone, he'd have to launch an attack.
He looked at his hands.
No abilities.
Not even a weapon.
"I'm empty-handed. What now?"
Scanning the area with his sharp eyes, something caught his attention—a building made of steel in the distance.
[Depot]
[3 active enemies]
So there were three guards in the depot.
"Am I supposed to fight them with my fists?"
Carefully avoiding detection, he began walking across the golden-brown sands toward the depot.
He glanced at the panel—no new alerts yet.
The depot was about 1,000 meters away.
His feet ached with each step.
When he reached the building, he pressed his ear against its layered walls. He could hear voices inside, but they were too muffled to understand.
He pulled back, placing a hand on his hip and looking upward.
1 hour and 40 minutes left.
He had to capture a prisoner.
And again—he was completely unarmed.
He'd need to sneak in… trick a guard.
He circled the building, looking for a way in.
Nothing.
His thoughts were jammed.
Then, scanning the horizon once more, he spotted something.
A tent.
[Empty]
An empty tent?
Maybe it had some gear.
"Why did I even come here?" he muttered.
Just as he stood at the door, footsteps approached.
"Someone's coming!"
He held his breath and ducked behind a corner.
Seconds later, two uniformed officers stepped out.
"Oh—just like I thought! Not monsters. I was sure they'd be quarter-bodied freaks or something. But they're… normal humans!"
They wore Lightning Council emblems on their shoulders and chests. Well-equipped.
They began talking among themselves.
"How many soldiers did we send to the Radio Kingdom front?"
"A squad of thirty," one of the three replied.
The clunkier one muttered, "We need even more. The commander says our forces are thinning. We should stop helping our allies and focus on expanding our own territory."
Lui watched them pass, then tiptoed behind and slipped through the closing door.
Inside, he saw countless radio lines—cables connecting hundreds of boxes and radios hanging from the ceiling. The room was empty.
Moving slowly, carefully, he observed everything.
Then he spotted a sliding metal cabinet ahead.
[3 electric weapons]
"Nice!"
He looked at the door.
A new panel appeared.
[Hint: You need a Lightning Council card to unlock the cabinet.]
Hmm...
Under pressure, Lui began thinking.
"Where would I find one?"
Just as he was lost in thought, the door clicked.
Lui bolted, diving behind a stack of boxes, squeezing into the narrow space between the wall and the crates—barely visible.
The guards had returned.
[3 active enemies]
Please don't sneeze. Or cough.
A cramp twisted in his stomach.
The guards entered.
Their boots thudded against the floor.
Their steps drew closer.
Lui's breath caught. He thought he might faint.
One of the guards wandered toward the cabinet.
"I've got night duty. You two can sleep. I'll call if anything happens."
The others agreed and climbed the stairs.
Lui let out a quiet sigh of relief.
The guard pulled a card from his pocket and scanned it.
"There it is! The card!"
Lui still wasn't sure what to do.
Should he… hit him with a radio stick?
His eyes darted, searching for the iconic weapon of the Radio Kingdom: the electric baton.
The guard opened the cabinet. Then, to Lui's surprise, placed the card on the table.
Now's the time.
He crawled across the floor toward the radio stand.
The guard's phone rang.
Lui held his breath, focused completely—then snatched the card off the table and darted back into hiding.
He looked at the card. It was real. It would work.
The guard, now holding a weapon, walked out the door.
Yes!
I got the card!
Lui rose silently to his feet.
He approached the cabinet. Scanned the card.
Click! The door opened.
He exhaled deeply.
[2 electric weapons]
The third had already been taken.
He took the weapons in his hands.
They weren't too heavy.
He glanced around, then slipped the card into his pocket instead of putting it back. It might come in handy in other depots.
The panel updated: 1 hour and 20 minutes remaining.
He had to hurry.
He could use the same card to leave the building...
But what if he ran into that guard again?
His eyes scanned the walls for a window.
Maybe he could escape through one.
Nope. No windows.
No other exits.
He'd have to use the door—and if the guard was there, he'd shoot if necessary. Otherwise, he'd sneak past.
"Damn those loud doors…"
He had a feeling he'd be noticed.
He walked toward the exit. Hands trembling, he pulled out the card and scanned it.
The door parted with a moderately loud sound, and once again, the white light hit his eyes.
The guard was still on the phone—raising and lowering his hand like he was arguing with someone. He didn't even hear the door.
Or if he did, maybe he thought someone else had gone out.
Either way, he didn't care.
Lui believed just getting the weapons was a mission in itself.
And it was.
But the system hadn't rewarded him yet.
Why?
Because the task wasn't complete—not yet.
Lui accessed the system and checked the electric weapons in his inventory.
1 hour and 25 minutes left. He had to capture a prisoner.
He turned his gaze toward the tents.
[1 active enemy]
Then he checked another.
[3 active enemies]
He sighed internally.
[2 passive enemies]
No—too risky. Two was a crowd.
[1 passive enemy]
Perfect.
The tent was a kilometer and a half away.
He moved quickly, dashing across the glowing patches of artificial light on the desert floor.
He took cover behind rocks and boulders, finally reaching the tent.
Half an hour had passed.
His legs ached; the blood in his veins felt clogged with exhaustion.
[55 minutes remaining. If the mission is not completed, one-third of the population will contract the Flower Virus. A cure still does not exist.
Mission Status: 0/3]
Lui's stomach churned.
He still had two more missions to complete.
Hope was starting to fade.
His exhaustion made every step harder.
He arrived at the tent—the enemy was still passive.
He peered inside.
[1 enemy]
"But where do I take them after I capture them?" he thought.
Everything was tangled—like a ball of yarn in a storm.
Lui took a deep breath and gathered his focus.
He aimed his electric weapon at the tent, preparing to tear a hole through it.
His finger trembled as it hovered over the trigger.
He closed his eyes.
Breathed.
Focused.
Pullll!
Crackkk!
AHH!
He screamed, dropping the weapon.
A surge of energy had exploded from the gun.
Lui felt the electricity in his body surge—fusing into a new power.
[Resonance Warrior unlocked.]
[Resonance capability: High]
[Resonance Slayer unlocked.]
As the energy kept rising, currents of lightning danced over the tent roofs.
Radio lines began to hum.
Tsssshh...
The moment Lui imagined a tent door flying open—
It happened.
The tent tore open with a FWASHHH!
Was this real?
The person inside had no idea what had hit them.
Tent flaps burst open all across the desert.
"We're under attack!" voices shouted.
A droplet of sweat slid down Lui's temple as he dove into the tent, pointing his electric weapon at the quarter-human inside.
Its eyes were like a frog's—bulging and wet.
It looked more fragile than a regular human.
"Quiet," Lui whispered.
He imagined the tent rising.
He imagined a second electric weapon flying into his hands.
And it did.
The tent lifted—floating like a dazed bird—and a weapon flew through the air and into Lui's grasp.
Perfect.
[Frequency Interaction unlocked.]
[You can now manipulate the positions of objects.]
Amazing.
Just then, gunfire erupted from below.
But everyone was using electric weapons—amplifying the tent's resonance and causing it to rise even more.
The tent couldn't hold the weight—it tore apart.
Lui and the quarter-human began to fall.
He grabbed the prisoner, covering their mouth.
BAM! They slammed into a rock.
"Catch them!"
"There's a traitor among us!"
"Where are the guards?!"
"How did they let him escape?!"
Lui crashed into the rocky ground, bruised and bleeding, using one hand to push himself up.
He looked at the man before him.
Something about him…
Familiar.
Those facial features.
His mind flashed back to a snowy day, years ago.
To a man with a sack of cables slung over his shoulder.
That man…
Was Tian Yan.
"Uncle," Lui whispered silently, with hatred in his eyes.
It was him.
The man who had visited his father… and the moment he did, soldiers had come and torn Lui away to the palace.
As Lui looked at him, his eyes welled up.
Tian Yan, blinking slowly in the chaos, stared at Lui. "Who are you?"
Lui gave a painful smile. "You don't remember me…"
Don't people remember those they've hurt?
The world really does work in strange ways.
Lui aimed his electric weapon at Tian Yan's chest.
"Tell me the purpose of the Lightning Council."
Tian Yan blinked again, frog-like. "No."
"This gun will rip through your chest. You'll feel every spark of electricity in your body ignite," Lui threatened.
People were running toward them.
Lui had seconds to act.
He focused.
He used his mind.
He imagined them lifting into the air.
He didn't expect his imagination to become reality so fast.
Together, they rose upward.
Lui fired shots into the air, increasing his resonance.
LOOOOO!
"Tell me!" he demanded, rising through the atmosphere.
Tian Yan looked down at the crowd, then at the hand gripping his throat.
"If you don't, I'll let you fall," Lui said.
"Why did you betray our kingdom?!"
"H-how do you know?" Tian Yan gasped.
"I'm Lui," he replied. "The boy who watched you talk to his father that day… The boy you separated from him. After fate already took his mother…"
His voice vanished into the wind.
He kept firing downwards. His energy scattered enemies like leaves.
Electrons danced across the defense perimeter.
Tian Yan said, "In my pocket…" He reached inside. "There's a flash drive with data."
Lui snatched it—but he didn't trust him yet.
"If you're lying…"
"I swear. I swear it's the truth," said Tian Yan, breathless.
Lui opened the panel.
"I want to access the flash drive."
[Flash connected.]
[Activating…]
[Please wait.]
[Activated.]
Dozens of folders appeared—attack maps, marked targets, a pile of JPGs, audio logs.
Lui imagined lowering Tian Yan.
Dropped him onto a cliff.
Then rose higher.
[Mission complete (1/1)]
[Would you like to view the documents now?]
"No," Lui said. "Later."
[30 minutes remaining. If the mission is not completed, one-fourth of your population will be hit by an aerial assault. Survival: Random.]
Lui kept floating in the air.
He was drowning in guilt—his father, his people.
"Show me the remaining two missions."
[Capture an enemy and bring them to the Shadow Council.
The Shadow Council is the resistance against the Lightning Council. (0/1)]
[Choose at least one specialty.
(Frequency Craft / Radio Bank Heist / Radio Repair) (1/3)]
"No…" Lui murmured, devastated. "I wasn't supposed to let him go. I was supposed to bring him to the Shadow Council. What an idiot I am…"
How could he forget that mission?
He took a deep breath and looked down.
He prepared to descend—to the heart of the tent zone.
He would pay for his mistake.
Not his people.
For now, one more mission complete.
Specialty chosen: Frequency Craft.
He didn't even know what that meant.
[Mission complete. Frequency Craft successfully recorded.]
Now he had to capture another prisoner—and deliver them to the Shadow Council.
He scanned the area.
Where was the Shadow Council?
[Once a prisoner is captured, the Shadow Council map will unlock.]
Lui dove downward like lightning.
He landed where the crowd was thickest.
He grabbed someone by the shoulder—and launched into the air with every bit of his mental strength.
"What—?!"
"How?!"
Someone clung to the prisoner's legs.
Lui didn't care.
He pushed higher, higher.
The prisoner screamed.
"AAAAAAH!"
[Shadow Council map unlocked. Would you like to open it?]
Lui took a deep breath, exhausted.
"Yes," he said.
One mission remains…