[System Alert]
[Zone Status: High Instability]
[Mana Toxicity: Rising]
[Warning: Reality integrity at 68%]
The world outside was breaking down. Trees grew sideways out of cliffs, clouds moved in reverse, and the sun hung in the sky with a jagged tear running through its center like a dead pixel on a screen. Thorne's failed upload had corrupted the local physics engine, turning Namibia into a glitchy mess.
"Checkpoint ahead," Tayo warned, looking at the laptop screen wired into the truck's dashboard. "Five miles out, looks like the NDF set up a hard perimeter."
"Military?" Rin asked.
"And Association," Tayo tapped the screen. "I'm picking up Hunter signal codes, heavy hitters, they're trying to contain the spillover from the north."
"Indra," Rin realized. "Leo destroyed that dungeon in Angola and pushed south, they're trying to catch him at the border."
"If they catch him, they kill him," Joy said. "Or Thorne grabs him."
"We're punching through," Rin said.
