On a long street spanned by three main floating roads supported by reverse thrust propulsion technology, enabling them to float and bear the weight of vehicles above,
And although the cars themselves floated above these roads, the real reason was the electromagnetic field between the road and the vehicle itself—similar to how some trains used this technology almost two hundred years ago.
On both sides of the road was a vast surrounding park with open plazas, and a massive amusement park was also nearby.
Earlier, when Zeus stopped at this place, he was driving along this highway that leads to the heart of the city,
Before briefly stopping—then spotting the little girl.
…..
[[ Present Time ]]
Zeus was slowly walking his bike among the visitors and stone-paved paths of the park, searching for the girl.
"I'm sure she went this way! ... Where did she disappear to?"
"Sir, did you see a little girl running this way?"
The man Zeus spoke to—who was walking with his wife and three small children—paused and looked at Zeus strangely before walking off and saying one line:
"If it weren't for that expensive bike and your fancy appearance, I'd have said you were a lunatic escaped from an asylum."
"Damn, that was a stupid question," Zeus muttered.
He realized this once he noticed that at least 20 children could currently be seen running and playing just in this section of the public park.
And as guilt began creeping in over possibly losing the girl, an idea sparked in his mind.
A small light screen appeared from his ring, flipping through icons until stopping at the name of his brother—an officer in the police force.
Elsewhere, Zac received the call while driving a police vehicle with his partner during one of their missions.
Zac ended the call—he wasn't free at the moment.
But when Zeus called again, Zac decided to answer.
"What do you want? I'm really busy."
"Can you ask someone at the office to provide me with surveillance footage from the past hour at Arka Public Park on the eastern outskirts of the city?"
"No."
Then Zac hung up, and his partner—who had short black hair and looked around thirty—asked him,
She wore a combat suit specifically designed for gene-fighters like Zac. These suits couldn't be worn by regular humans, as their bodies couldn't withstand the intense energy reactions inside. Their functions couldn't even be connected to a normal human body due to the energy pressure involved.
(Zac's partner): "Was that Zeus?"
"Yeah."
"Isn't he banned from leaving your family's estate? I heard from my father that the investigations about his case haven't turned up anything yet."
"Let's focus on our work. We're nearly at the site. Also, remember to stay alert—we got a report from the informant that a batch of kidnapped children is arriving here."
"I don't understand why the commander insists we raid the site before the kidnapped batch even arrives. If we do, the scumbags bringing them will flee, and we won't be able to rescue the kids."
Zac looked her directly in the eyes, then stepped out of the vehicle.
His partner—named Angiz, with her short black hair and medium stature—followed. Zac answered her question as he observed the massive port full of shipping containers and various cargo ships.
"If the intel we got is correct, there's going to be a fierce battle here. And if those kids arrive, chances are they won't survive it."
At that moment, Zac received a message—but he ignored it, focusing entirely on the mission.
His role was to infiltrate the site to gather data about other locations used by the organ trafficking group—data that the informant, who held only a low rank within the enemy organization, couldn't access.
Zac and Angiz leaped between trees toward the port area after activating stealth capabilities embedded in their suits.
Gene-fighters can be imagined like energy-storage runes, and their suits are like kinetic energy runes—or rather, execution runes that convert blue energy into other types of energy—
Whether kinetic to boost physical ability or optical to create stealth effects, there are countless applications of these technologies built on blue energy and genetic evolution.
Meanwhile, on the eastern side of the city, Zeus exited a shop where he had earlier negotiated with the owner to access the store's security cameras.
He successfully obtained a 12-minute clip showing the girl hiding behind him up to the moment he spoke with the girl's noble-looking mother and the two men.
Zeus sent the clip to his brother Zac and followed it with a message asking him to have someone from the police department track the girl's escape route once his mission was done.
And even though finding the missing child was important, Zeus knew full well that his brother—holding a high rank in the police—was involved in missions far more dangerous and crucial than a missing child case.
For that reason, Zeus couldn't push his brother to respond.
....
[One Hour Later]
Zeus was sitting in the amusement park amidst a crowd that was both typical and unusual—
Typical because amusement parks are usually packed like this. Unusual because Zeus didn't like crowds or gatherings.
While sitting on a bench beside one of the monitors in the park's admin building—where the staff were calling out to the obedient child named Sally—something unusual happened.
Dozens of remote-controlled helicopters and flying combat robots appeared, piloted by elite mechanized pilots.
What stood out most was the number written on all these machines: 293—the task force Zeus had been part of during the two lost years in his memory.
"This isn't normal… Why is the entire assault unit of the task force gathered here?"
Zeus moved closer to the glass wall to look toward the distant main road. As expected, there were familiar lights from troop transport vehicles and combat mech carriers.
Most combat mechs ranged from 3 to 7 meters tall. Many were shaped like monsters whose biological parts were used to create the vital core of the mech.
Every combat robot had three core components:
A digital-tech side for programming systems and combat protocols;
A physical-metallic side including suits attached to the pilot's body, acting as both armor and neural interface between pilot and machine (including joints and limbs);
And a biological side taken from monsters—such as tendons for arms, tails from certain creatures, or even blood vessels used to carry liquid blue energy inside the mech's body.
The ratio of organic to synthetic parts varied depending on the mech type, and so did the usage methods.
One of the most important parts of this industrial process is the brain of the deceased creature.
When the pilot links with the mech through his brain, he's also linking with the brain of the creature the machine was modeled after—reawakening the creature's combat instincts and reflexes.
For this reason, a mech pilot usually stays loyal to one specific partner machine.
Additionally, the pilot must be a gene-fighter to withstand both the energy pressure and the mental strain of connecting with a creature's brain used in the mech's creation.
In general, the strength and skill of the monster before it was hunted plays a major role in how powerful the pilot becomes when operating the mech.