Loosening his wrists, Rojin stepped toward 6264.
In the end, it was just a moving statue.
Flattened by the earlier shockwave, 6264 flapped its polyester-and-metal wings and got up.
The music still played calmly.
The man and the statue stood like cowboys in a western duel, the sorrowful music echoing around them.
Leaves swayed in the wind; when they touched the ground, the duel would begin.
At that moment, only one would remain standing—
Not really.
Rojin stomped off, turning into a streak of crimson lightning.
Normal eyes could barely catch the red blur, let alone react.
"Gaaah—!"
6264 beat its wings rapidly, trying to take off to evade.
Its body wasn't particularly sturdy.
In fact, it was fairly fragile.
"Get down here!"
Just as 6264 lifted a little over a meter off the ground, a pair of black claws grabbed its wing bases.
Rojin pressed down hard.
Boom!
6264 was slammed into the ground.
It struggled wildly, trying to break free.
Its claws and beak flailed in random directions, glinting in the sunlight, trying to injure Rojin.
But due to the positional advantage, most attacks missed.
Even when a few attacks occasionally landed on Rojin's body, they only sparked harmlessly, not leaving so much as a scratch.
"Tsk, what a pain."
Looking at the endlessly struggling 6264, Rojin had the impulse to just smash the thing apart directly.
Because 6264 wasn't unique to begin with.
From what Rojin knew, at least two branches were storing versions labeled 7 and 14 of AO-6264.
But that was only a thought.
The institute's policy toward anomalies was always containment first.
Unless there were special circumstances, they would not destroy one outright.
Kars was an exception.
The institute had not expected Joseph's Ripple to affect Kars that way.
A massive surge of Ripple energy flooded into Kars's body and burned him completely into ash.
Since Kars was gone, bringing Joseph into the institute suddenly seemed like a decent idea.
That was what they'd been thinking back then.
While Rojin was troubled with these thoughts, a neat set of footsteps reached his ears.
"Investigator Rojin."
A squad of institute combat personnel in combat uniforms quickly poured into the open area.
The squad leader jogged up to Rojin and reported:
"Anomaly AO-6264. Containment prep is complete. Should we initiate containment?"
"Start containment."
Nodding, Rojin signaled them to proceed.
With permission granted, the squad leader immediately directed the members to begin work.
Two of them began wiping the memories of the factory employees. The workers who had been sent to the hospital already had someone assigned to them, so there was no need to worry.
"You all brought the memory-erasing spray prepared earlier, right? Use this one. No need for the old method."
"If someone refuses to cooperate, then use A-class memory erasure. Physical."
"Understood."
Orders were issued smoothly, one after another.
Meanwhile, a huge container was carried to Rojin's side.
"Investigator Rojin, please place 6264 inside."
According to the institute's research, 6264 would remain inert if buried more than 0.5 meters underground.
In other words, to contain it, they only needed to dig a hole and bury it.
Rojin had already reviewed the containment and handling procedures for 6264 on the way here, so he immediately understood.
He nodded, exerted force with his arms, lifted 6264, and quickly stuffed it into the container.
The institute members beside him swiftly added soil inside.
Soon, 6264 lost all activity and its consciousness faded.
"Done."
Dusting off his hands, Rojin released his transformation.
Compared to those truly dangerous things, containing 6264 was nothing.
Aside from a few injured workers, the incident had barely caused any real impact.
"We'll be sending 6264 back to the base now. Investigator Rojin, are you coming with us?"
Once the lid was secured, the squad leader turned to Rojin.
"Yeah. Thanks."
Rojin accepted the invitation readily.
They all belonged to the institute. No need to be distant.
The squad leader smiled and went back to wrapping up the aftermath with the team.
Rojin simply watched from the side.
Just as he'd thought—they were professionals.
Once cleanup was complete, the squad members stood beside the container holding 6264 and lightly pressed several buttons on their combat suits.
The suits clung tightly to their bodies, then suddenly rippled and shifted as if alive.
In a few seconds, the sci-fi combat suits transformed into ordinary delivery uniforms.
Each uniform even displayed an ID badge and photo at the chest.
It was something straight out of a science-fiction movie, yet the institute members acted as if it were normal.
"By the way, when will the next-generation combat suits be officially deployed?"
"Who knows. I heard they already passed testing."
"Then probably soon, right?"
"Not sure. If the equipment department hates some tiny data point, they'll remake the whole thing."
"That'd be something to look forward to."
From their conversation, their anticipation for the next-generation suits was obvious.
The equipment department's mad scientists would never allow their new creation to be just a minor upgrade.
If it was the next generation, it had to surpass the previous one by far.
A new color or a slight weight reduction didn't count.
As they carried the container outside the factory, their topic shifted from institute equipment to small everyday things.
Breakfast from this morning, yesterday's pay, a drink at a nearby bar.
They looked no different from ordinary delivery workers.
Occasional passersby only spared them a brief glance before losing interest entirely.
After placing the container onto the vehicle, Rojin boarded with the team.
At some point, they began chatting about Joseph.
"Really? That fast?"
Rojin asked, a bit surprised.
But thinking it over, it wasn't strange. Joseph's abilities spoke for themselves.