Jace Varn leaned against the squat's grimy wall, the weight of fresh loot pads pressing into his side like guilty secrets. The underhive collapse still echoed in his ears—screams cut short by glitch storm booms, players fried in their own game. Level 5 buzzed through him, HP at 240 feeling like armor plating, but the bounty tag burned hotter: High Priority Anomaly - 10k Credits. New Cascadia's underbelly was whispering his name, rivals sniffing for the payout. Outside, the slums churned wild—relay glitches making holo-ads flicker crazy, drones dropping like drunk flies. Architects were scrambling, but that meant elites closing in fast.
"Bay Market's our shot," Jace said, spreading the decrypted maps on a rickety table. Lena hovered close, her breath sharp with leftover adrenaline, while M
