Just as the crowd was reveling in their triumph, Rebecca stared glumly at the celebrating throng. Ethan noticed her mood and approached her, asking, "What's wrong?"

  Rebecca frowned. "I can’t put my finger on it, but something feels off."

  Ethan tilted his head at her. "Do you think the victory came too easily? Or that Derek might still have some trick up his sleeve?"

  Rebecca’s gaze drifted toward the distant ruins, her voice low and serious. "The bionics were a major project of the tech department. I wasn’t fully involved, but from what I know, their capabilities should be formidable. There’s no way we could’ve taken it down this easily…"

  Before she could finish, a sharp, grating sound of metal friction erupted from the mining ruins, like steel plates being torn apart. The campsite, illuminated by firelight, fell into dead silence. The members of the Rebirth team turned in horror to see a towering figure slowly rising from the rubble and debris—the M-17 bionic, unscathed, standing before them. Its body emitted a dim blue energy glow, its eyes flashing red, cold and merciless, clearly switched to kill mode.

  Ethan’s eyes widened, his throat forcing out a strained, "How is that possible…" Before his words could fully land, M-17 charged toward the camp like a bolt of blue lightning. The wind pressure from its movement toppled a stack of battered wooden crates nearby, scattering tools and parts in a clattering mess. With a swing of its arm, the air let out a dull boom, tearing a tent to shreds in a single blow. Fabric and poles floated in the air like tattered flags caught in a storm. Miners screamed and scattered in panic—some stumbled and fell into the muddy ground, unable to crawl away, reduced to desperate whimpers. Shouts, footsteps, and the clang of metal collisions intertwined, shattering the tranquility of Ash Valley and turning it into a chaotic inferno.

  Tara was the first to react, her furious roar cutting through the pandemonium. "You damn tin bastard!" She yanked out her steel blade, its edge glinting coldly in the firelight, and charged at M-17 like an arrow loosed from a bow. Her steps were swift but reckless, her boots crunching sharply against the gravel. Yet M-17 didn’t even glance at her. With mechanical precision, it sidestepped her slash effortlessly. Then, raising an arm, it delivered a heavy punch straight to Tara’s chest. The blow was so fast it was nearly invisible—only a muffled thud rang out as Tara’s body flew backward like it had been struck by a giant hammer. She crashed into the ruins several meters away, kicking up a cloud of dust. Her steel blade slipped from her grip, spinning through the air before embedding itself into the soil nearby, its hilt quivering.

  Jake followed close behind, fumbling to raise a captured pulse gun and firing at M-17. Blue energy beams spat from the muzzle, but they only sparked uselessly against M-17’s alloy shell, not even leaving a scratch. "Damn it, what the hell is this thing made of!" he cursed, his finger clamped on the trigger, trying to buy time with sheer firepower. Beside him, Nick swiftly pulled an explosive grenade from his waist and lobbed it at M-17’s feet. The blast kicked up a plume of smoke, but as the dust settled, M-17 stood unmoved, its red eyes flickering as they coldly scanned them, as if assessing its next target.

  Amid the chaos, Rebecca stood at the rear, her eyes locked on the bionic’s chest. The alloy there reflected an odd sheen in the firelight, and though the cracks were faint, they carried a strange familiarity. Her brow furrowed, her heartbeat quickened, and fragments of memory raced through her mind. Suddenly, a vivid recollection pierced her thoughts—it was a late night in the Federal Company’s tech department, working overtime with Evan. In the dimly lit lab, Evan had pointed at a metal sample and said in a hushed voice, "This stuff is the material team’s new darling. They call it ‘indestructible,’ but it’s got a secret… at a specific frequency, it resonates and becomes brittle as hell." She’d laughed and teased, "So it’s just a fancy showpiece?" But Evan shook his head solemnly. "Don’t underestimate it. Used right, it’s a game-changer."

  "That alloy!" Rebecca blurted out, her voice cutting through the chaos with startling clarity. She whipped around to Lila and shouted, "Lila, electromagnetic pulse! Specific frequency! 9.7 hertz!"

  Lila, crouched beside a pile of scrap, clutched her homemade terminal. She froze mid-motion, fingers hovering in the air, and looked up with a flicker of confusion. "What the hell? How could a high-strength alloy like that—"

  "Trust me!" Rebecca barreled toward Lila’s workstation, stumbling but resolute. She grabbed Lila’s shoulders, her voice urgent. "It’s the special alloy Evan researched—it resonates at a specific frequency! We’ve got to use this to take it down!" Her tone trembled slightly, her eyes rimmed with red, but she quickly steeled herself, her gaze sharp as a blade.

  Lila gritted her teeth, her fingers dancing across the terminal. Numbers and waveforms flashed rapidly on the screen as she muttered under her breath, "9.7 hertz… Alright, Rebecca, you’d better be right, or we’re all screwed." Her movements were swift and precise, exuding confidence in her craft. The terminal hummed faintly, and a steady waveform curve emerged on the screen—the 9.7 hertz electromagnetic pulse signal was taking shape.

  Meanwhile, the machine’s slaughter continued unabated. It crushed a mining rig underfoot, the massive metal wreckage tumbling across the ground with a piercing crash. Tara struggled to her feet, clutching her chest and coughing up blood, her eyes still defiant. Jake and Nick tried to flank it from the sides, but their attacks were like ants against a tree—utterly futile.

  Lila glanced up, her brow furrowing as she eyed the device. She muttered, "The power’s too low—this thing only works within ten meters." She paused, a trace of resignation in her voice. "Someone’s got to get close and stick it on that bastard, or it’s useless." Her gaze flicked toward M-17, which had just stomped another mining rig into fragments, sending metal shards raining down. The air reeked of burnt oil, and the miners’ screams stabbed at everyone’s ears like daggers.

  The camp fell into a brief, oppressive silence. Everyone had heard Lila, but no one dared move. Get close to M-17? That was practically a death sentence. The wind whipped up dust, and the dying embers of the fire swayed pitifully, letting out a low whine. Tara knelt on the ground, clutching her chest and gasping, her steel blade still trembling in the dirt nearby. Nick and Ethan exchanged a glance, both gripping their weapons tighter, though they knew conventional attacks were pointless.

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  In that stifling moment, Jake stood up. He brushed his oil-stained hands together, leaving black streaks on his work pants. A determined smile spread across his face, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly, the fine lines around his eyes deepening in the firelight. He said quietly, "Leave it to me." His tone was calm, as if he were discussing something mundane. He took the tuned electromagnetic device from Lila, weighing it in his hand, his fingertips brushing the cold metal shell as if measuring the worth of his own life.

  Rebecca and Lila both looked up, crying out in unison, "Jake, no! You’ll die!" Rebecca stumbled forward, reaching to grab his arm, her eyes brimming with fear and worry. "Let’s think of something else… there has to be another way!" Her voice shook with a pleading edge. Lila, too, clenched her jaw, her usual sharpness giving way to rare agitation. "Are you insane? This isn’t the time to play hero! That damn thing isn’t worth your life!" Her grip on the terminal tightened, her knuckles whitening.

  But Jake turned away, flashing them a grin. That smile held a trace of warmth and release, like he was soothing two frightened kids. He glanced down at the device in his hand, his voice low but resolute. "I told you before—I’m the real expert here." He paused, his eyes sweeping over the familiar faces in the camp—Ethan clutching a grenade, Tara’s stubborn glare, Nick’s silent silhouette, and the anxious expressions of Lila and Rebecca. His tone softened. "You’ve all got work left to do. These old bones of mine? If they can be useful like this, it’s worth it."

  Before they could protest further, he gripped the device tightly and charged toward M-17. His steps were heavy but unwavering, his boots crunching against the gravel with sharp "cracks."

  Jake moved like a shadow, darting nimbly within M-17’s attack range. His figure flickered in and out of the firelight and dust, the electromagnetic device in his hand glowing faintly green, a tiny star of hope. He panted heavily, sweat trickling down his forehead, mingling with the grime on his face and streaking black in the fire’s glow. M-17 sensed the threat and swung its massive frame toward him, its red eyes locking on. It threw a heavy punch, the wind from its fist whistling low as it aimed straight for Jake’s face.

  With the agility honed from years of fixing machinery, Jake barely dodged with a sidestep. His foot slipped, nearly sending him tumbling, but he steadied himself and growled, "Come on, you bastard!" His voice was hoarse with fury and defiance. M-17’s arm swung again, faster and harder this time, but Jake seized the brief gap between its attacks. With a desperate lunge, he slammed the electromagnetic device onto M-17’s chest, right at the alloy’s cracked core. The device’s metal shell clinked sharply against M-17’s armor, and the green light flared to life.

  The instant the device activated, a low-frequency hum sliced through the night, like an invisible giant hand seizing M-17’s core. Its body shuddered violently, the blue energy glow flickering erratically, like a flame being torn apart. Its movements slowed, its mechanical arm freezing mid-air with a grating "screech," as if its internals were writhing in agony. Jake stumbled back, his legs buckling from exhaustion. He hit the ground hard, chest heaving, and looked up at M-17 with a triumphant smirk. "How’s that… this old man’s still got it, huh…"

  Ethan, watching from a short distance, saw the critical moment unfold. His eyes darted between Jake and M-17 before he spun around, snatching a scratched-up grenade scavenged from the colonial forces. The cold metal shell warmed slightly in his palm. He clenched his jaw and shouted, "Everyone, get down!" With a fierce throw, he launched the grenade toward the stack of fuel tanks by the mine. It arced through the air and landed dead center among the cans. A deafening explosion followed, flames roaring skyward as the tanks detonated in sequence. The searing shockwave swept the camp, engulfing M-17 in a fiery maelstrom. Its massive frame shattered in the blast, alloy fragments scattering like meteors and thudding into the ground.

  But the explosion’s fury spared no one in its path. Jake, too close to the tanks, had no time to retreat. The team watched in horror as his figure wavered in the firelight, like a leaf caught in a gale, before the blazing shockwave swallowed him. Orange flames licked at his body, his work clothes charring instantly, his face blurring in the inferno. Tara dragged herself up, screaming, "Jake!" Her voice was raw and desperate, but her injured legs wouldn’t carry her. She propped herself on her steel blade, forced to watch that familiar figure vanish in the fire. The explosion’s aftermath drowned her cries, leaving only the wind to sweep ash through the air.

  The flames gradually died down, and the camp fell into an eerie silence. M-17’s wreckage lay strewn across the ruins, its blue glow extinguished.

  "Is it… dead?" Nick approached cautiously.

  Rebecca hurried forward, carefully extracting a small chip from the bionic’s neck. "This is its core memory and communication module." Her fingers trembled involuntarily as her gaze fixed on the chip’s casing, the unique metal gleaming under the light. "This material…" Her voice caught, her expression shifting to a mix of pain and complexity. "This is the special alloy Evan helped develop."

  Her voice dropped, laced with faint bitterness and anger. "He worked sleepless nights on this project, said this new material would revolutionize resource use across the galaxy… and the Federal Company turned it into a killing machine." Her grip tightened on the chip, knuckles whitening. "They twisted his research, his ideals, into this…"

  Lila stood and walked to Rebecca’s side, softening her tone for once. "Hey, don’t get stuck in a rut over it. Evan sure as hell didn’t expect those bastards to pull this." She quickly reverted to her sharp edge. "But since we’ve got the chip, we can study it—maybe figure out how to hack their systems. Could turn the next bionic into our spy."

  Rebecca looked up at her, a spark of hope in her eyes. "You think that’s possible? If we could reverse-engineer this communication module…"

  "Theoretically, yeah," Lila shrugged. "But don’t get your hopes up too high. The Federal Company’s idiots aren’t that stupid—their HQ firewalls aren’t a joke. Hacking in would take better gear. Still, I could try rigging a reverse-listening system—might at least let us eavesdrop on their low-level comms."

  In this ordeal, many innocent miners were injured or lost their lives. Rebecca helped tend to the wounded in the medical area, her heart heavy with guilt. These people had fled the Federal Company’s oppression only to face greater danger here.

  "I’m sorry, Jake," she whispered. "I’m sorry, Evan. I never imagined your creation would end up like this." Her gaze hardened with resolve. "But I swear, I’ll turn their tech against them. I’ll expose the truth and make them pay—for you both."

  The Rebirth team had faced its first brutal test, and the cost was steep. But as Jake often said in life, "Fix it, make it stronger." Rebirth would press on—for those who’d fallen, and for those still fighting.

  Meanwhile, deep in the abandoned ventilation shafts beneath Ash Valley, a forgotten chip—a spare memory unit that had fallen from the bionic—flickered with a faint red glow. It lay in wait, ready to awaken at the most unexpected moment…