# Chapter 121
The operation finally began. Melia was the first to move. As soon as Fenil gave the order, she swiftly entered the headquarters.
Although she didn’t sneak in secretly, security didn’t stop her. This was because she was wearing a bracelet that could use Zenon’s barrier.
Stealthily infiltrating while deceiving people’s eyes, Melia headed to the 10th underground floor. She opened the entrance door with a card prepared by Ben. Simultaneously, Fenil’s voice was heard.
—When you turn right, there should be Research Lab 3. You need to find the researcher named ‘Rahi’ that I explained before.
Entering the research lab was easy with the master key. But there was no need to use the key as someone was detected entering the research lab. Looking at the nametag clearly marked ‘Rahi’ and his appearance matching the data received from Fenil, he was undoubtedly the person they were looking for.
Melia was able to enter the room without being detected. Things were going smoothly, which felt like a good omen. She waited for an opportunity when Rahi let his guard down.
He sat in his chair and began to focus on his work. As he kept his eyes fixed on the monitor, Melia carefully moved her body.
Tap-tap—tap-tap—
She moved her feet in sync with the typing sounds echoing in the silence. After a few steps, Rahi’s nape was clearly exposed.
In a situation with no hindrances, Melia didn’t hesitate. She took out a card marked Diamond 2 from her bosom and pulled out a dagger that she had kept inside the card with her other hand. Nothing was better than a knife for resolving things quietly.
Melia briefly stared at the neck area, which could be killed as quickly and cleanly as possible, and raised the dagger. The fluorescent light reflected off the blade and shone into Rahi’s eyes. He was about to turn his head to assess the situation.
“Kuh-hack…!”
Melia swiftly cut the researcher’s nape. Blood spurted from the cleanly split wound. Rahi’s eyes widened as his face slammed onto the desk. The fine convulsions stopped, and his body swayed lifelessly.
After confirming he was completely dead, Melia roughly wiped the blood that had splattered on her cheek. It was indeed unpleasant to be covered in lukewarm blood.
Her expression still showed no emotion. With an indifferent gaze, Melia thought about her next task and searched through the dead researcher’s lab coat with her black gloved hand.
The detonator would change hands every few days, and since it needed to be accessible at any time, it wouldn’t be kept in a difficult place.
“Found it.”
Just as expected. Melia discovered a jet-black detonator that looked like a Zippo lighter in the pocket and immediately spoke.
—Keep it safe until the operation ends.
“Got it.”
Melia took out a Spade 3 card and was about to put the device in it. Her hand suddenly stopped.
Looking at the object again, emotions began to frost over her eyes. It was a fragment of conflict.
“…”
Click. Melia opened the detonator cover. But inside, there was only a fingerprint scanner instead of a button. It seemed to be designed to show the button after confirming the fingerprint.
She lifted Rahi’s hand, which was still warm, and pressed his fingerprint against the device. With a cheerful alert sound, a bright red button was revealed.
Pressing this button would kill Zenon.
Melia stared at the button for a moment.
—Is there a problem?
“No.”
The conflict that had been present until just now disappeared without a trace. Melia, who seemed like she might press it, put the detonator into the card without hesitation.
Currently, Zenon was a necessary existence for ‘Alice.’ Unfortunately, she couldn’t kill him now.
* * *
Zenon’s phone rang as he was staring at the door with an anxious expression. After quickly checking the message, he was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.
He received a contact from Fenil to join up with Melia. But if he went out recklessly and was caught by someone, it would be over.
“Does the situation look okay?”
Since Zenon was well aware of this fact, he sought help from Alice. Alice, with a pale complexion, slowly opened her eyes.
Her eyes, glowing blue, stared into space. His breathing started to quicken.
“Yeah, they’re gathered upstairs.”
After using her ability for quite some time, Alice finally spoke. Zenon bit his lip hard as she closed her eyes and exhaled weakly, appearing exhausted.
He knew what condition Alice was in, but he had no choice but to make the unavoidable request.
“Just wait a little bit. Someone will come to rescue you.”
Instead of apologizing, Zenon said something else—words that might help Alice hold on a bit longer. Hearing his trembling voice, Alice gave a faint smile.
“Take care.”
It meant she wouldn’t have any unnecessary expectations. Zenon tried to object, but soon had to close his mouth. If there wasn’t a 100% success rate, saying anything more would kill Alice if failure approached.
“See you outside.”
His calm words seeped into the empty space. Alice’s tightly closed eyes only opened after Zenon had left. Sadness began to fill her blue eyes. She could see her future, expecting only to fall.
* * *
Zenon hurriedly walked towards the emergency exit that was currently not in use. Recently, the research team had been holed up in the conference room discussing the disposal of experiments, so no one was paying attention to Zenon.
When he opened the creaking door, a familiar face appeared behind the darkness. Zenon slowly uttered her name.
“Melia.”
“…”
Melia clearly held hostility. Her sharp gaze was fierce, as if she would kill him at any moment. Zenon remembered what he had done, so he quietly waited for her reaction.
Since he had immediately put an invisibility barrier around himself and removed the sound-blocking effect from her as soon as they met, he could hear Melia’s words right away.
“It’s safe now.”
“I see.”
Zenon gave an awkward smile at her voice filled with suppressed killing intent. He was glad to finally be liberated, but he was too conscious of Melia’s mood to be outright happy.
She took out an in-ear device from her bosom and handed it to Zenon. Then she turned around and started walking up the stairs.
“Fenil, we’ve joined up.”
Zenon quickly put on the in-ear device and hastily followed behind Melia.
—How long do you think it will take?
“About 5 minutes.”
Tap-tap-tap, Zenon walked ahead and guided Melia to where the barrier system was. Watching him go up first, Melia followed without saying anything.
—Melia, did you remove the location tracker?
“Yes, I’ve turned off the device for now.”
The reason Zenon was caught by Peace researchers during the last operation was because a GPS had been inserted into him. Since it only worked inside Peace’s headquarters, Zenon’s infiltration was discovered.
But since the GPS tracking device was also in the detonator, they could now move with peace of mind.
“It’s here. The security is quite tricky.”
Zenon stopped in front of a tightly closed door after coming outside. Unlike other rooms, this room with a thick iron door and complex security devices seemed impossible to enter.
Since they needed to enter quietly, avoiding others’ eyes, Zenon looked at Melia. It was because he thought she might know something since he hadn’t heard anything.
“Move aside.”
Melia gently pushed Zenon, who was blocking the entrance, and stamped the card in her hand on the machine. The door opened easily as she was already wearing contact lenses in preparation for the iris recognition.
Ignoring Zenon, who was standing still, she entered without hesitation. Naturally, there was a barrier user inside. The barrier user, who was pouring his ability into a sphere about the size of a fist, suddenly turned his head when the door unexpectedly opened.
“Who—”
Melia took out a card towards the sphere emitting white light, ignoring him. That was a magic amplifier. Since it could only be made with diamonds, it was incredibly difficult to break.
That’s why Melia drew out a spear surrounded by flames stored in the Clover Jack card. The barrier user, startled by the suddenly appearing fire, tried to approach, but she broke the sphere first.
BANG—
Since it was a special spear different from ordinary ones, as soon as Melia thrust it down, the flames engulfed the diamond sphere. The spear naturally dissipated only after it had consumed the sphere without leaving any trace.
“What is this, an intruder!”
Belatedly understanding the situation, the barrier user hurriedly struck the red button on the wall. Originally, an alarm should have sounded and other heroes should have come in.
“Why…”
But in a situation where there was neither people nor any sound, he couldn’t help but be confused. Taking advantage of this gap, Zenon signaled Melia with his eyes.
Understanding his meaning, she moved her body, and Zenon naturally spoke to the barrier user.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“You… do you want to die?”
The barrier user flinched and shrank back at Zenon’s sudden appearance. But he immediately stiffened his body, pretending to be unaffected.
At the implied meaning of whether Zenon thought he could live after messing with Peace, Zenon couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
“This is for survival.”
That was the moment. When Zenon nodded to Melia. She, holding a gun with a silencer, pulled the trigger. The bullet flew accurately towards the barrier user’s head.
Bang—
But there was no way a gun would work on someone who had created a barrier. The bullet was immediately blocked by the barrier and rolled on the floor.
“You bastards!”
Realizing there were two intruders, the barrier user turned his head roughly in anger. But that was exactly what they were aiming for.
Taking advantage of the moment when the barrier weakened due to shock, Zenon created his own barrier. Although barrier users might seem invincible in defense at first glance, there was one weakness.
When barrier users used their abilities against each other, if the opponent’s ability was superior to their own, the barrier would break.
Although they were both S-class, Zenon’s momentary power exceeded the opponent’s temporarily weakened barrier.
Eventually, the opponent’s barrier returned to nothing in an instant. He tried to restore his barrier hastily, but it was already too late.
Because the gun Zenon fired had penetrated his head. He collapsed without even realizing what had happened to him.
Thud—
After confirming that the barrier user had completely stopped breathing a moment later, Zenon opened his mouth.
“It’s over.”
—From now on, the main operation begins.
The time had finally come to end all of this.
