Chapter 60: The Final Showdown

Location: Project Zeros Factory – Basement

The smoke was still filling the place, and visibility was almost non-existent, but Marco and his comrades were not the type to back down easily. They were all on high alert, their hands on the triggers, ready to face whatever surprises Ivan might throw their way.

Marco (pressing the radio): "Colombo, did you manage to disable the rest of the systems? We need to finish this quickly!"

Colombo (focused, fiddling with his laptop): "I'm working on it! The problem is that the system reboots itself every few minutes. This place is like an electronic maze!"

Franco (looking around cautiously): "What a great time to play real video games, Columbo!"

Salvo (coughing from the smoke): "Where's Luchini? I don't want him to end up dead before he can start his life as a doctor!"

Marco: "Lucchini is fine, he's with Luca Ferri and his men, trying to secure the warehouse. But we need to move now before Ivan unleashes the bioweapon."

Suddenly, a loud alarm rings out throughout the factory, followed by Ivan's voice over the loudspeakers.

Ivan (arrogantly): "I enjoyed watching your desperate attempts. But do you really think you can stop me? Project Zeros is bigger than all of you, and bigger than even Zacrota himself!"

Rocco (laughing sarcastically): "Huh! Says the guy who hides behind a microphone instead of fighting like a real man!"

Suddenly, the massive doors leading to the main room open, and out comes a small army of armed robots, their red eyes glowing in the dark, their weapons charged with energy.

Franco (whistling in admiration): "Well, I never expected this... We're officially in a sci-fi movie now!"

Marco (ready to shoot): "We don't have time for sarcasm! Get ready to fight!"

Bullets and lasers flew in every direction, the noise was like a war storm. Luca Ferri and his men tried to fend off the attack from behind, while Columbo frantically pressed buttons in an attempt to hack into the robots' systems and disable them.

Columbo (worried): "It almost worked! But I need one more minute!"

Rocco (jumping over one of the robots and starting to beat it with his bare fist): "We don't have one more minute, Columbo! These things know no mercy!"

Marco: "Hold on! We just need to get to the control room and blow everything up!"

In the midst of the chaos, Franco noticed a small side door opening, and from it emerged a mysterious figure, walking calmly through the fighting, as if nothing was going on. He was wearing a black suit, his mirrored glasses hiding his eyes.

Franco (whispering to Marco): "Look over there! Who is that?"

Marco (narrowing his eyes): "I don't know... but I have a feeling he's not our friend."

The unknown person approached the center of the battle, then stopped in front of one of the robots, raised his hand, and with a simple movement, the robot stopped moving completely.

Salvo (in surprise): "What?! Is this some kind of magic?!"

The mysterious person (in a calm but terrifying voice): "I'm here to put an end to this nonsense."

Then he slowly turned around and looked directly at Marco.

The mysterious person: "Marco, I didn't expect you to be the one to stand in my way."

Marco (tightening his weapon): "And who exactly are you?"

The man smiled coldly before answering:

The mysterious person: "I'm the one you should have met a long time ago... and I'm here to show you the true face of the game."

This was the moment when everyone understood that things weren't as they seemed. Behind all this chaos, there was another player, someone no one expected.

Franco (whispering to Marco): "Oh my god... are we in trouble now?"

Marco (smiling confidently despite the tension): "It seems like we're about to discover something very big."

The battle is not over yet... but what awaits them now?