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Chapter 3

Author: Perfect Timing
On the giant screen, my memories were ripped open by force.

The jungle was drowning in torrential rain, and visibility was almost zero.

I lay hidden at the perfect sniper position, cold rainwater running down my camouflage paint and seeping beneath my collar. My rifle was trained on the target, the enemy leader known as the Doctor.

According to plan, Sean and Chelsea were supposed to launch a frontal feint, forcing the Doctor into my line of fire. We had rehearsed this tactic hundreds of times.

Then, without warning, Chelsea's panicked scream burst through the communications channel.

"We're surrounded! Janet! We need fire support! I repeat! We're surrounded by heavy weapons!"

My finger rested on the trigger as the Doctor's figure flashed into view.

This was a fleeting opportunity. If I missed it, the entire mission would fail. However, Chelsea was my best friend, and she was the woman Sean loved more than anyone in the world.

Kill the Doctor or save Chelsea? My loyalty to my teammate made me hesitate for a single instant.

That was all it took. The audience erupted.

"There! That's the moment! She hesitated!"

"Coward! If she'd provided fire support, Chelsea would never have been captured!"

Arthur, Chelsea's father, clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. His eyes were bloodshot with fury.

"Traitor! My daughter..."

He swayed, nearly collapsing under the weight of his grief.

I looked up at Sean on the raised platform. There was not a trace of concern in his eyes. Instead, they gleamed with the satisfaction of a man who believed he had finally found the truth he had been waiting for.

"Do you see it now?" Sean's voice was not loud, yet every word carried across the courtroom. "This is the so-called elite sniper you all admired. A coward who abandoned her own comrades at the most critical moment."

His smile was cruel. He looked as if he wanted to carve me apart piece by piece and make me suffer for every second of it.

However, on the screen, I had hesitated for only half a second. Then, I steadied my aim and tracked the Doctor's escape route.

On the battlefield, a sniper's highest duty was to complete the decapitation mission.

Yet just as I was about to pull the trigger, someone unexpected appeared beside the Doctor.

It was Chelsea.

The uproar in the courtroom died instantly.

On the screen, she was not surrounded at all. Her combat uniform was perfectly neat, without a single sign of a struggle. She stood calmly beside the Doctor, reached into her jacket, and pulled out a black USB drive.

Then, she handed it to him.

The Doctor accepted it and nodded with satisfaction.

The courtroom fell completely silent.

Everyone was frozen in shock, including Sean, whose triumphant smile had vanished from his face, and Arthur, who looked ready to collapse.

How could this be? How could it possibly be her?

Even my younger self in the memory was stunned. My mind went completely blank.

At that very moment, Sean's anxious voice continued over the communications channel.

"Janet! We've lost contact with Chelsea! What's your situation? Janet! Respond if you can hear me!"

His voice sounded like the cruelest joke in the world.

As if sensing that someone was watching her, Chelsea suddenly raised her head. She looked straight toward my concealed sniper position and gave me a smile full of contempt and defiance.

The next second, the memory shook violently.

The signal was cut. A harsh electrical crackle rang through the courtroom, and the giant screen went black.

My brain had triggered a deep defensive response, refusing to reveal anything that had happened next.

"What the hell is going on?" Sean's face turned deathly pale. He shot to his feet and roared at the technician beside him. "Why did it stop?"

"General Lawson... Her brain is resisting the extraction. This... This is a forced memory lock..."

"Useless!" Sean kicked over the equipment in front of him, his eyes blazing red. "Keep going! Increase the power!"

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