Young Veena standing proudly on a small boat floating over an endless stretch of dark water.

The younger version of her looked energetic, her hair tied back, one hand raised dramatically toward the floating camera sphere hovering beside her.

"Hello everyone, we are in Sector 2!" Young Veena announced brightly, waving at the camera with practiced charm.

The floating camera moved slightly closer, capturing both her face and the wide sea behind her.

"At this point, viewers are probably wondering why this brilliant reporter is showing nothing but water while claiming this is Sector 2." She placed both hands on her hips and leaned slightly forward with a grin. "Did Sector 2 drown completely? Did the sea swallow an entire sector?"

She paused for effect.

"Well... guess what?"

With theatrical timing, she took out a small metallic disk and pressed it beneath her chin.

A transparent bubble instantly formed around her head, sealing tightly from neck upward.

"It’s underwater."

The moment she finished speaking, the boat beneath her suddenly tilted.

Instead of remaining afloat, it began sinking directly downward.

The floating camera descended with her, maintaining perfect distance as both of them disappeared beneath the surface.

The sea darkened for several seconds as they sank deeper.

Then light appeared again.

Beneath the water, an entire sector emerged.

A vast dome-shaped barrier stretched across the seabed like an invisible shell, holding back the ocean itself. Inside that enormous transparent bubble stood buildings, roads, towers, transport lines.

The entire underwater sector glowed softly beneath the sea.

"It really looks like Atlantis from the books." Young Veena’s voice continued , "Beautiful, isn’t it? Like one of those ancient underwater civilizations described in pre-war history books."

Inside the barrier, people moved normally along streets built across the seabed.

Some wore thick old-style diving suits and left the protective bubble through side tunnels connected to external pressure chambers. Once outside, they moved through the surrounding water using attached cables while harvesting fish and collecting resources from underwater structures.

Others traveled deeper.

The camera followed them toward another massive dome located even farther below.

That second bubble was much larger.

And far more industrial.

Countless pipes stretched between the two domes like giant veins.

Tall metallic towers rose within it, constantly emitting pale electrical pulses that flickered through the water.

Young Veena lowered her voice slightly.

"That... is the Carbonyx Extraction Plant."

The floating camera zoomed further.

The plant looked nothing like Sector 11’s mines.

This was not crude ore labor.

This was controlled industry.

Huge transport belts moved dark ore inward while thick pipes carried something glowing through sealed channels.

"This is where Carbonyx is refined," Young Veena whispered dramatically. "And turned into electricity."

She tried approaching the entrance.

But armed personnel stopped her almost immediately.

The guards raising hands, blocking the path, then firmly escorting her away before she could cross the gate.

The scene shifted.

Now Young Veena stood inside a smaller building, secretly interviewing locals one by one.

Their faces were blurred.

Their voices altered.

Most refused to speak.

Some shook their heads nervously.

Others answered only vaguely.

One worker admitted they never saw the full process because only deeper-level engineers had access.

Another said raw ore entered the plant but what happened afterward took place far below.

A third whispered that the plant stretched downward into deeper underwater levels far beyond what ordinary workers were allowed to enter.

Then the recording ended.

The projection faded.

Old Lady Veena leaned back slowly. Old Lady Veena adjusted the projection cube again, and after a brief flicker of light, another old recording appeared above the cluttered table. It was just unedited version of sector 2.

In that version, Young Veena fell in the water for almost 5 times before filming the Intro perfectly.

"This is everything I know about Sector 2," she said. "Even the workers who spoke to me never understood the full refining process."

Tyler remained silent for a few seconds.

He had learned something important.

Sector 2 itself did not merely process ore on the surface. The true refining happened deeper.

Likely hidden.

Likely protected more heavily than the upper levels.

"Hmmm..." Tyler said quietly. "But one worker mentioned the plant continues deeper inside, right?"

Veena nodded.

"Very deep. Built downward under the seabed."

That confirmed his suspicion.

The visible industrial section was only the outer shell.

Whatever truly refined Carbonyx happened deeper where ordinary workers never went.

Tyler lowered his gaze and thought again about his task panel.

The two unfinished tasks still remained clear in his mind:

• Find a way to refine Carbonyx

• Win in the Capital Games with Tansy and enter the Capital

He had already secured half of the second task.

Tansy had been selected.

He also got selected into the chosen group.

That part was moving forward.

But the first task remained incomplete.

And now time had become tighter.

In three days they would leave Sector 11.

If he failed to understand Carbonyx before entering the Games, then he would need to solve it while moving deeper into Libria itself.

His thoughts returned briefly to everything he had already discovered:

Heat only melted the ore.

There were no Electricity at all.

The hidden lab creature had carried different-colored ore inside its body.

And the extracted liquid taken through the portal clearly mattered.

"This means Carbonyx refinement isn’t simple industrial heating," Tyler said quietly.

Old Lady Veena watched him.

He continued:

"There’s still a missing component."

He looked again at the faded projection cube.

As for the first task, he now understood one thing clearly—

If Sector 2 hid the answer beneath the sea...

Beneath the sea?

---

After leaving Old Lady Veena’s house, Tyler returned quietly to the abandoned garage that had become his temporary workshop.

The evening light had already turned dull, slipping through the broken ceiling in long pale strips. Inside, the smell of burnt wires and melted mineral still lingered heavily in the air. Rows of copied batteries remained lined against one wall, while trays filled with failed Carbonyx residue sat scattered near the machine he had built from scraps.

But he was not alone.

Rose was already there.

She stood near the worktable as if she had entered without hesitation, one hand resting on the edge while her eyes wandered curiously over the mess of wires, metal rods, broken trays, and strange improvised devices Tyler had assembled.

Tyler noticed immediately that she looked calmer than earlier.

The tears from the square had dried, leaving only faint traces near her eyes.

"Came here to steal pumpkin seeds again?" Tyler asked.

Rose laughed softly.

The sound came out lighter than expected, though her face still carried fatigue.

"Yeah," she admitted while walking toward the packets stacked in the corner. "I don’t know when I’ll be able to eat them again."

Tyler leaned against the workbench.

"I heard chosen participants get even better food once they leave."

Rose picked up a packet and held it against her chest.

"That’s true," she said, though her tone suggested she was trying to believe it more than stating certainty.

Tyler watched her for a moment before asking,

"Didn’t you want to spend more time with your family?"

Rose nodded immediately.

"Mom went to borrow spices from neighbors," she said. "She wants to cook properly tonight."

Then she added,

"Dad and Sister went to hunt deer."

Tyler nodded.

For a brief silence, only the distant sounds of the sector drifted through the broken walls.

Then Tyler asked another question.

"Do you remember the previous Capital Games?"

Though he had already watched fragments of old recordings through Veena’s archive, he wanted to hear how ordinary people remembered them.

Rose shook her head.

"Nope. Last time that happened, I was still a baby."

She opened the pumpkin seed packet and began eating immediately.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Then she spoke again between bites.

"I just hope these Capital Games are easier than everyone thinks."

She said it casually.

Almost like a wish spoken without weight.

Then she turned and began leaving the garage.

Tyler watched her go.

But her words stayed.

The moment her footsteps faded, he repeated them quietly.

"Easier than everyone thinks..."

Then again, slower.

"Easier than it seems..."

Something shifted in his mind.

His eyes sharpened instantly.

He looked down at the metallic wrist device locked around his arm.

Tyler immediately took out a thin screwdriver-like tool from his workbench and crouched near a metal pipe fixed against the wall.

Carefully, he opened a narrow section beneath the bracelet’s outer shell.

Tiny circuits.

Simple enough.

He studied them for less than a minute before making two precise adjustments.

Then he slid the bracelet onto the metal pipe.

A faint blinking light remained stable.

To outside detection, the signal would still appear stationary here.

He flexed his wrist.

Free.

A small smile appeared. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"This should buy me enough time."

Without wasting another second, he pulled on the protective gloves and the dark fabric suit woven by Tansy and Rose earlier.

Then he picked up a fresh piece of Carbonyx ore.

And left the sector.

He moved quickly through side paths until the buildings of Sector 11 faded behind him.

Soon he reached the river.

The same river that eventually curved around the outer forest.

Without hesitation, Tyler stepped into the cold current.

Water climbed to his knees. Then waist. Then chest.

He held the ore in one hand and studied it carefully.

Nothing happened.

He frowned.

"Not deep enough."

The current here remained weak.

The flow too gentle.

So he continued moving upstream.

It took time, but eventually he reached a place farther away where the river narrowed sharply before plunging downward.

A waterfall.

Not large, but powerful enough.

Water crashed heavily over dark rock with constant force, sending mist into the surrounding air.

Tyler stepped beneath it.

The pressure hit immediately, pounding across his shoulders and back.

Cold water rushed violently around him.

Then he lifted the Carbonyx ore directly beneath the falling stream.

At first—

Nothing.

Then—

A faint spark appeared.