Chapter 103: SHE TURNS

Back in the meeting room, tension filled the air. Not the kind of tension that came with rushed fights and broken bones. No, this was the quieter kind. The kind that sat between words, inside pauses, behind neutral faces.

This was about the division of land and the request Kasa had made to know how the demons who had been brought here from Earth were finally settling in.

“So they want a playground for the kids?”

Kasa asked again, trying to properly catch what the woman in front of him had just said.

He was still seated on the wide, comfy chair along with the other two scientists, his right hand resting on the armrest. The way he looked right now gave off the image of some high-level CEO hearing out a pitch an employee had brought to improve company performance.

Standing in front of them was a woman dressed in a well-kept suit, holding a wide phone-like device in her hand that helped her switch slides during the presentation. Different images of ASTRO were displayed on the flat-screen TV in front of them for everyone to properly see what she was referring to.

“Yes. Four playgrounds, to be exact.”

She corrected him.

On the image shown on the screen, four crosses had been marked to indicate where the playgrounds could be built.

The female scientist narrowed her eyes at the markings. Each one had been placed in a spot with enough room for construction and close to some form of infrastructure with heavy activity around it. Either a hospital or a mall. Anything that would help with the safety of the children using them.

“I never thought human culture would influence them this much… it sure is toxic.”

The male scientist turned to glare at her, already prepared to respond.

“Who could blame them? Most of those kids grew up seeing human children on playgrounds and wanting to go, only to be denied that right so they wouldn’t get exposed. Now that they finally have a planet they can call home, it’s something they’d obviously want to try.”

He wasn’t lying.

The demons had never been free like this before.

To suddenly have all that freedom placed into their hands at once was enough to fill their hearts with joy and their minds with ideas. Ideas they had once buried deep because discrimination had stolen so much from them without mercy.

Click!!

The door to the room finally opened, drawing everyone’s eyes toward it as Sandra slowly stepped inside.

Unlike the way she had left—full of energy and determination—this version of Sandra looked like the complete opposite. Her face was blank. Like she had just been told she had some chronic disease eating away at her insides for years and didn’t have much time left.

Even the woman giving the presentation noticed the disturbance on Sandra’s face immediately.

But despite all that, Kasa still chose to speak first.

“So? How’d it go with the Commander?”

He asked with a mocking tone, probably taking the opportunity to return the same kind of teasing Sandra had once thrown at him.

But Sandra didn’t answer.

She just stood there silently, her eyes lowered like Kasa hadn’t even spoken at all.

“Wooh… The Commander really did a number on you, iiish. I’ve never seen anyone this shaken before. Not since my scientist buddy over here had to talk to her.”

Wrinkles formed on the male scientist’s forehead immediately.

He stayed silent to hide the embarrassment, but it was all over his face. She wasn’t supposed to say that. They had agreed to keep that incident a secret. But of course, here she was opening her mouth and throwing it into the light.

Luckily for him, the others didn’t dwell on it too much.

There was something far more interesting happening in the room right now.

“Are you okay?”

Kasa pressed again, this time with a much more serious tone than before.

“Yes… I’m good. It’s just… it’s just that I need to get some air.”

She muttered so low it could’ve easily been mistaken for a whisper.

Her eyes moved around the room restlessly, like she still hadn’t fully returned to herself or even understood where she was.

“Could you give me a map of the base? I need somewhere perfect to cool off.”

The woman presenting immediately moved toward Sandra after hearing that. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small watch-like device.

“Use this. Don’t worry, it’s easy to navigate.”

She handed it over.

Its digital screen glowed brightly, a battery symbol visible in the corner showing the percentage left, while a map-like application sat in the center of the screen.

Sandra forced out a small smile.

“Thanks.”

“You sure you’ll be fine?”

The female scientist asked, her eyes carefully studying Sandra from top to bottom, trying to find some clue that could explain what had happened to her.

She searched well.

No bruises on her skin,no bloodstains either .

Which only made the truth more obvious.

Whatever had happened to Sandra hadn’t come from violence.

It had come from words.

Something the Commander had said.

Something powerful enough to leave her in this state.

“Yeah. Don’t worry about me. Carry on.”

And just like that, Sandra opened the door again and walked out, leaving everyone inside the room completely puzzled to their core.

.…. …. ….

A few minutes later, everything about Sandra had changed.

From her attitude to the way she moved, she looked like a completely different person now. She wasn’t down anymore like all that sadness was just pretending. This time, she was moving with purpose. Fast. Her eyes stayed glued to the glowing watch the woman had given her.

She moved through the building’s wide corridors, passing demon soldiers and workers who were busy with their own errands.

On the watch, a red line showed her current location and the destination she was heading toward. Like some kind of driving app, except for people walking. And for what it was worth, it was extremely accurate. Whenever the watch told her to turn right, there really was an opening to the right. Whenever it showed a straight path, the corridor stretched exactly as expected. It even updated in real time, a clean reminder of just how advanced their technology had become.

After a few more turns, Sandra finally reached the end of the route.

And there, she found herself standing in front of a large reinforced security door with the words—

OPTIMUM JAIL CELLS

—written above it.

But the road didn’t truly end there.

Because two demon soldiers stood in front of the entrance.

Both of them wore gas masks that completely hid their faces, and judging from their physique alone, there was no way they were ordinary guards. They looked like some special-grade class of soldiers. The strange gun-like weapons strapped to their chests only made that more obvious.

Sandra stopped.

Outside, she made it look like she had simply paused to check something on the watch, just so she wouldn’t appear suspicious.

But inside, her thoughts were moving much faster.

And the soldiers, underneath their masks, had already begun silently admiring her looks.

They had never seen an elf this close before in their lives.

Because elves were usually creatures you only saw under two conditions. Either the elf was about to kill you… or you were about to kill the elf. And since demons had always been the less violent kind, it was usually the first one.

So for them, just being able to stand here and witness one this close was already a story worth telling.

Sandra slowly lowered the watch, then took one step forward.

The guards remained still.

One of them shifted slightly, probably about to ask what she wanted.

That was the moment Sandra moved.

Her body exploded forward like all the hesitation inside her had finally been replaced with one clean decision.

The first guard barely had time to turn his head before Sandra’s fist smashed straight into the side of his gas mask.

CRACK!!

The impact twisted his neck violently to the side and sent his whole body stumbling into the reinforced wall beside the door. He hadn’t even fully registered what was happening yet.

The second guard reacted faster.

His hand immediately rushed for the weapon strapped to his chest—

—but Sandra was already in his space.

Too close.

Way too close.

She grabbed his wrist before he could even unclip the gun, twisted it hard enough to make his arm jerk unnaturally, then drove her knee straight into his stomach.

THUD!!

The guard folded instantly.

A choked sound escaped him from behind the mask as all the air in his body seemed to disappear at once.

Sandra didn’t stop there.

She grabbed the back of his head and slammed it straight into the metal door.

BANG!!

The heavy sound echoed through the corridor.

The first guard had just managed to recover enough to lunge at her from the side.

Sandra sensed him coming.

She pivoted sharply, ducked under his swinging arm, then drove her elbow straight into his ribs with enough force to make a deep ugly sound burst from his body.

KRRK!!

The soldier staggered.

Sandra immediately followed up with a brutal kick to the back of his knee. His leg gave out on the spot, and before he could even hit the floor properly, Sandra’s palm struck his throat.

Not enough to kill him.

Just enough to make his whole body shut down for a second.

He collapsed.

Hard.

The second guard, somehow still conscious, tried to force himself up with one hand while the other desperately reached for his weapon again.

Sandra saw it.

Her face didn’t change.

She stepped forward and stomped hard on his wrist.

CRACK!!

A muffled cry escaped through the gas mask as his fingers spasmed and let go of the weapon immediately.

Then Sandra bent down, grabbed him by the armor on his chest, and drove a short, savage punch into his gut.

BAM!!

His body went limp right after.

Silence dropped into the corridor.

Sandra stood there breathing lightly, not even close to exhausted. The two guards lay flat on the ground in front of her like discarded training dummies, one groaning weakly, the other barely moving.

She looked down at them with guilt sitting in her eyes.

Then she muttered quietly,

“Sorry for doing that…”

Her gaze slowly lifted toward the prison door.

“But there’s a man who doesn’t deserve to be in your jail.”

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