Why it never ends

Chapter 1258 Mask
A slight tremor came from deep within the building. Both Sire and Clara looked towards the main road, as the vibration felt like a heavily loaded truck had passed by the building.

But everything on the main road was quiet.

Immediately following was a muffled explosion.

Sire and Clara drew their guns almost simultaneously, and the two jumped quickly toward nearby cover in unison, rolling into the shadows of the building.

The explosion came from directly below them, followed by the sounds of close combat, with the clanging of metal creating a loud, intense noise.

Klar's expression turned solemn: "What happened..."

"This doesn't seem like the kind of commotion an ordinary person would cause." Si Lei quickly surveyed the surroundings. "Maybe it's Zoe and the others—who are they!"

Si Lei suddenly raised his gun towards the corner of the wall not far away.

"Come out!" she snapped. "Don't sneak around!"

Following Sire's gaze, Clara saw a blurry black shadow in the distance. The shadow stood on the shady side of the building, almost blending into the darkness.

The shadow stepped slowly into the moonlight, and the moment its face crossed the line between light and shadow, Si Lei noticed that the person was wearing a mask.

Under the moonlight, the texture on the mask was exceptionally clear. A five-petaled forget-me-not flower almost covered the entire mask. Each petal had a hard texture that did not belong to a flower. Upon closer inspection, the two outermost petals seemed to have evolved from split pincers.

At the stamen of the flower, a sharp black anchor pierces the heart from bottom to top. There are many crescent-shaped gaps between the petals, as if five or six eyes are scattered among them—and the masked person looks out through these gaps.

Although this was the first time Si Lei had seen the mask, the stacked elements made her immediately recognize the power of the person who had come.

"Deep anchor..."

"You two must be police officers from the future?" A strange female voice came from behind the mask. "Then I am the cleaner sent by the Time and Space Administration to eliminate the anomalies."

“Wait,” Si Lei gestured for a pause, “I have a question—”

"The dead don't need to know so many answers."

Almost as soon as Si Lei understood those words, she felt Death's robes descend like a net from the sky. She instinctively sensed the approaching danger, but she was powerless to stop it. Everything happened so fast that she didn't even have time to feel fear before she realized the other party was already close at hand.

But then, another shadow climbed over from the top of the castle wall.

Before Klara realized the danger before her, an adult fell toward her. She instinctively reached out to catch him, and only after rolling around with him did she realize that she had caught Simona.

Simona's face was covered in blood, and the smell of blood filled Clara's nostrils, making her instinctively search for Simona's wounds.

However, Simoya completely ignored everything around her. As soon as she found her balance and straightened up, she immediately turned to the other side.

"Zoe!"

The clanging of metal that had been echoing downstairs was now happening not far in front of her. Clara followed Simona's gaze, trying to discern who was fighting, but she could see nothing clearly, only blurry shadows that seemed to converge and separate in the air like shifting starlings. Two more masked figures landed on the corner tower atop the castle.

Instinctively, Si Lei fired at one of the masked men who was about to pounce, but the man seemed completely unaffected. She couldn't see how he dodged the bullet, because he didn't seem to dodge at all. Instead, Zoe, who was fighting with an enemy nearby, let out a desperate, furious roar—

Before the masked man could reach Sire, Zoe once again stepped forward. Her triangular spikes were good at shredding the chelate prefrontal cortex, but they proved inadequate against her opponent's double-edged sword and tactical spear. So much so that after blocking the man's attack on Sire, Zoe was powerless to defend herself and could only let another opponent, who suddenly appeared from behind, stab her in the upper arm.

Two streaks of blood splattered rapidly.

The masked woman, whose attack was blocked by Zoe, quickly adjusted her position. She jumped back twice in succession and stood on the same line as her other companion.

Simoya screamed and rushed forward to grab Zoe's back, but Zoe didn't give her a chance and immediately assumed a defensive stance.

Sire and Clara finally had a chance to see their enemies clearly. The castle's top floor, which had been calm just moments before, now housed four masked, cold-blooded assassins. They stood at different heights, all looking in the direction of their prey.

"...Are you all wearing masks because you're afraid we'll recognize who you are?!" Si Lei said sharply, trying to create a breathing space for Zoe through conversation. But to her surprise, the voices that responded to her did not come from any of the masked Deep Anchors in front of her.

“No, not at all,” Wilsin emerged from the shadows, her blonde hair taking on a dreamy silvery-white hue in the moonlight. “You’ve probably never seen these people before.”

“It’s you!” Zoe sneered. “I knew it was you.”

“Why are you so stubborn?” Wilsin raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think you have any chance against four opponents? Hand over Simoya, and we’ll let you go back tonight—Hersta will understand you, and she won’t want you to die for a casual order she gives… And who are you fighting so hard for?”

"Enough with the nonsense. If you want to kill them, or take any of them with you, you'll have to start with my dead body first—"

“Deep Anchor wants Simona?” Si Lei put a hand on Zoe’s shoulder, signaling her to hand over the negotiations to him.

"That's it."

“Okay,” Si Lei readily agreed.

Simoya and Zoe stared at her, their eyes wide: "Si Lei—"

“That’s the only way!” Simona interrupted Zoe. “I’ve never done anything to oppose Deep Anchor, they won’t do anything to me, but if tonight—”

"Don't give me that!" Zoe snapped, exasperated. "I promised Hester I would—"

"Quiet down." Si Lei turned around again, signaling to Zoe with his eyes that she didn't need to negotiate with the other party anymore.

“Either way, either way,” Wilsin said, his fingers interlaced behind his head, looking quite relaxed. “I’ll give you three minutes to go over the story, come up with a final result, and then we’ll proceed according to your choice.”

"This is part of the game, huh?" Si Lei said. "Killing us, or taking Ximoya, is that the role you're supposed to play?"

Wilsin looked over with a sharp gaze.