The Frostbite Protocol

In a city of neon veins and iron hearts, survival isn't a right—it’s a calculation. Kael is a scavenger who lives by the math, a quick-witted hacker and a singular purpose: keeping his younger brother, Ved, alive. But Ved is a walking anomaly, a human "ticking time-bomb" whose rising heart rate triggers the Pulse—a terrifying phenomenon. Their desperate flight leads them into the orbit of Maya, a high-tier operative armed with phantom technology and a blood-feud against the Ninth Hand, a shadow organization that treats human beings like interchangeable machine parts. At the centre of their collision is a mystery canister—a prize the government wants secured, Maya wants for vengeance, and the Ninth Hand views as a "holy relic" that could rewrite the laws of physics. The clock is ticking. The frost is spreading. In the Dead-Zone, the secrets are buried in iron, but the truth is written in ice.