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I shaketo touch the file "I don’t trust you"

"And I don’t like you either But we don’t have tiht now, do we?"

We eye each other for another beat before I finally reach out and accept the file For a , like I’ve just downloaded a virus But nothing happens The file seeenuine, after all

I look back at Tre"

At that, his expression wavers I wonder if his change of heart had anything to do with that moment--if he, as another hunter, also understands what had really happened

Tres and turns away "Just tell Roshan I stopped by," heelse to hi numbly at the spot where his virtual form had just been

How is this possible? I think back to the opening ceremony party, when I’d confronted him and Max Martin, when he’d sneered at uised to be indistinguishable froe player’s--I hadn’t even seen any shields installed to protect his info He had probably set up an entire, elaborate systeet to hiht in front of me, and I’d missed him entirely You tricky bastard, I think

I squint at the file, trying to arbled, just like the piece that I have

My eyes dart back to the contents inhad been destroyed, but just because they were destroyed doesn’t mean some traces of them, however sh pieces, you can see what the original object was supposed to be

I bring up a hs A scrolling list appears I sift through it backward until I finally reach the day of our first Warcross tournament

Then I pause

proj_ice_HT10

I tap on it Sure enough, an error er exists But this tiardless The hospital rooled ghost code

It is all nonsense, partially corrupted--just like the file Tremaine had sent I pull up what he senttheh info for the file to open

It is a Me in someone else’s recorded Memory, inside a massive, dimly lit space A train station? Wherever it is, it’s a real, physical location Cobwebs adorn the air between archways, while thin shafts of light slice through the darkness to dot the floor below People are gathered here in a loose circle, but they remain silent, their faces hidden in shadows Others appear as virtual figures, as if they’d logged in from distant places to be here

"The track’s done," so froh It’s Ren’s voice This is one of Ren’s Mehtly that I barely notice it "Hooked up?" he says His words come out as a whisper, but fro, I can hear his words as clearly as if he stood right beside me

My point of view--Ren--nods "It’ll play the instant the championship final’s world loads"

"Show ure’s voice makes me freeze This is Zero, in real life, flesh and blood

Ren obliges A second later, h my earphones, the familiar beat of his track When it hits the chorus, he pauses it, then brings up a rea code for everyone to see "This will start the countdown on the rigged Artifacts," he says

I suck ed Artifacts? The teaed to do what?

"Good," Zero says He looks around the roo up a hovering copy of an assignress In s up a copy of it, too My eyes widen as I read it This is what I’ve been looking for