It had already been a month since I entered my second run.
And two weeks had passed since we started working as fixers again.
We adapted to the city’s ways quickly.
I was already used to it, but Silver Wolf needed time to adjust, especially to the bastards of Neon City.
The difference between an 8th-rank fixer and a 9th-rank fixer.
That gap was fundamental.
The weak-willed losers who couldn’t handle the job were filtered out at 9th rank; the ones who were willing to backstab their peers or split an unguarded human in half with an axe from behind were the ones promoted to 8th rank.
Silver Wolf looked like she’d finished adjusting too, mostly because she didn’t seem to care about anything anymore.
She just stood behind me, chewing pink gum and watching my every move.
“How’s the Ether Editing going?”
“...Look.”
What had once been a lumpy mass was now a perfect sphere.
It was the ideal size and weight for a throwing iron ball.
Acquiring even something as simple as this in Neon City was a hassle.
For Silver Wolf, who could create iron balls endlessly with Ether Editing, the sling was a massive advantage.
“You’re shooting pretty well now.”
“Heh, I’m even hitting heads, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, I guess so. Your skill is improving so fast I’ve got nothing to do.”
Even a sling could cripple someone if it hit an arm or leg.
What would happen if it hit the head?
The skull would crack open, and they’d die on the spot.
We wouldn’t even need to lift a finger. We’d just take a picture of the corpse and send a message: “Quest completed.”
That was all it took.
There had been some idiots picking fights with us lately because we’d been making a name for ourselves, but the moment we prepared our hatchets and stones, they bolted.
They even ran while screaming that they’d bring their big brothers back with them.
Maybe I should’ve smashed their heads then.
I wondered if leaving loose ends was a mistake.
But Silver Wolf hated that sort of thing and preferred they just run, so there was nothing I could do.
“Mr. Toad, got any other quests?”
“...You cheeky little brat. Why do you keep calling me Mr. Toad?”
“Because you look like one.”
“Adrian, can I just smack you once?”
“Go ahead. Silver Wolf’s stronger than me now.”
Leaving the pawnshop owner trembling behind us, Silver Wolf sat in a chair and played by poking at a round game device.
“Haa... this is annoying. There wasn’t anything like this on the Xianzhou.”
“Where’s the Xianzhou, anyway?”
“Tsk. A Neon City country bumpkin doesn’t need to know.”
“Mr. Toad, stop with the ‘back in my day’ routine and live in the present.”
“...You two little punks are unbelievable.”
He said that, but if I had to name the person we were closest to, it was this guy.
Maybe you could call it our version of a warm greeting.
“Fine. Fine. Talking to idiots just hurts my mouth.”
“Then hurry up and give us a quest. We need to make money.”
“Don’t go out today.”
“...?”
What was this?
This was the same man who always worked us to the bone and tried to suck us dry right down to the marrow.
When I asked why, he said the two punks who’d run away last time had come back shouting that they’d bring their big brother, and they’d brought a 7th-rank fixer with them.
“Seventh rank? Isn’t that trash?”
“...He is seventh rank, but he works under a Corporation.”
Was he telling us not to go out because he was actually worried?
Hah. At this point, I felt like I could turn a seventh-rank nobody into pulp the same way I’d been killed before.
One slingshot from Silver Wolf and he’d be rolling on the ground.
I was overflowing with baseless confidence.
“Just go home today.”
“If you say so, I'll go. It’s not like I’m short on money.”
Money?
Honestly, we were making more than I ever did when I was out there alone, so I didn’t need to be obsessed with it.
Every now and then I got the urge to visit a gambling den and my head would start buzzing with withdrawal, but I held back by telling myself I could always scratch that itch with gacha if it got too bad.
“Silver Wolf! Let’s go home!”
“...Let’s go home and make ramen.”
“Isn’t that all my point money?”
“Yeah, but it’s delicious.”
Ever since I cooked her Shin Ramyun with an egg in it, she’d been fixated on it nonstop.
It was only natural for a gamer girl to live on ramen anyway.
On the way home, I was happily bouncing along, thinking about resting as soon as we got back.
“...Wait, shouldn’t we be safe from them if we go home early without taking a quest?”
And then, right in the alley, we ran into the two people waiting for us.
Normally, this kind of thing happens after you ignore the warning and go out on a quest.
“Hehe, boss! That’s him. He’s the one who threatened us last time...!”
I could hear them babbling, but...
This was self-defense.
Those crazy bastards were trying to lay hands on Silver Wolf.
Did they think I wouldn’t lose it?
I’d been about to turn them into minced octopus, but they ran so fast I didn’t bother chasing them further.
If Silver Wolf hadn’t stopped me, I would’ve chased them all the way to hell and split their heads in half.
“Silver Wolf, get the sling ready.”
“Got it.”
We weren’t strangers to ambushes.
Like a pro, Silver Wolf created iron balls and prepared to throw.
“Hey, seventh-rank old man.”
“...Are you talking to me right now?”
“Yeah. The trash over there caused the trouble, so why should a seventh-rank guy have to wipe the ass of 8th-rank shit?”
Fights were all about momentum.
As I spoke with a swagger, the muscle-bound pig narrowed his eyes.
“An 8th-rank punk talking back like that?”
“So your only achievement in life is ranking up to seventh? Aren’t you embarrassed?”
The muscle pig’s face turned red, then purple.
From the looks of it, he wasn’t the one using Ether Editing. He was a guy who’d received augmentation surgery from someone who could.
By contrast, I was just a normal person with slightly sturdier bones and no augmentation at all.
I didn’t know the exact power level of a seventh rank.
When Silver Wolf wasn’t around, I didn’t go around acting cocky.
“...I’ll tear your limbs off.”
“Oh, how scary.”
Without any further warning,
the guy’s arm turned red.
Was that the augmentation?
Kind of cool, actually.
The moment I thought that,
the distance between us closed in an instant.
“Fuck!”
He was faster than I expected!?
If I took a bad hit, I’d be saying goodbye to this world right here...!
His whip-like arm shot out, and my hastily raised hatchet barely met it. The instant his red-hot fist collided with the blade, it sounded like a bomb going off.
Boom!!!
“My wrist almost got fucked up!!”
“Hah. You were really acting up because you thought you had some girl who could only use Ether Editing backing you up?”
If I hadn’t blocked it with the hatchet, my stomach would have been smashed in.
The gap was way bigger than I’d expected.
The unknown seventh-rank guy cracked his neck with a series of dry pops.
No... wasn’t he supposed to be a side character? Why was this extra stronger than a regressor?
As I broke out in a cold sweat and considered grabbing Silver Wolf and running, a streak of iron shot out like lightning.
I couldn’t even see it.
But he reacted; he raised his red arm and barely blocked it.
“...Ha, shit.”
It didn’t make a huge sound like the clash of my hatchet and his fist.
But his reddened arm caved in, and a dark bruise bloomed instantly.
“Adrian, focus!!”
“I am focused!!!”
I feel like I’m doing acrobatics in front of a lion with my life on the line!!!
If I mess up, I die and we start a third run!!!
The guy moved fast and lunged at us. It was obvious he was ignoring me and aiming for Silver Wolf first.
Then what could I do?
I brought the blade of my hatchet up to meet him where he was charging.
He stopped instantly as if he’d hit the brakes, and his hand shot out to grab and crush me.
But behind me was a ranged dealer.
“You little trash bastard—!”
Maybe she was aiming for a headshot.
Silver Wolf’s perfectly thrown iron ball grazed his head.
The seventh-rank guy twisted his head away with beastlike reflexes and dodged it.
“...Is this bastard really seventh rank!?”
Was this all a seventh-rank punk could do?
The gap between 8th rank and 7th rank was supposed to be heaven and earth.
Even when Silver Wolf threw iron balls, his reflexes were barely keeping up.
He dodged the iron balls with footwork so fast it looked like teleportation.
If this turned into a war of attrition, I wouldn’t last.
My wrist was already dangling after blocking just once. If I blocked a second time, it would snap for sure.
But at this moment, with death closing in,
if Silver Wolf’s sling landed even once, it would be a fatal blow.
My brain started spinning fast.
How could I win?
Just thinking about it slowed my judgment for a moment. I raised the hatchet to block the hand he’d launched at me, assuming he’d only use his hands.
“Guhk!”
He kicked me, and my waist folded in half.
I couldn’t breathe. Just taking a moment to think of a way out had made me completely lose track of his movements.
“Sh-shit... damn, that hurts.”
So this was seventh rank?
Then what the hell were all the 8th-rank guys I’d beaten so far?
The guy stepped past me as I collapsed onto the ground and moved toward Silver Wolf.
Looks like he was planning to finish her off first.
Think.
Adrian Servet.
Silver Wolf kept spinning the sling, waiting for a single opening.
The guy knew that too, which was why he was approaching carefully.
I had to create an opening and make sure the sling hit him.
I didn’t need to worry about the two 8th-rank punks backing away in the distance, afraid they might get caught in the crossfire.
I wanted to get up, but my body wouldn’t cooperate, making a wheezing sound like it was leaking air.
What an idiot.
I should’ve thought this through properly.
I brought up the blue window in front of my eyes and looked through my inventory.
My eyes quickly scanned the blue window, checking the items, and ridiculous as it was, I could think of only one thing.
“Ha... haa. Even I think this is fucking absurd...”
Mind control.
That guy was my coworker now.
A coworker I had to eat lunch with and decide the menu with.
His face was overlaid onto the memories I’d been imagining.
Fuck it. What else was there to do besides die?
A remote with a red button fell into my hand.
I reached out and pointed at the guy.
“Hey, coworker.”
I spoke to the man who ignored me and walked on.
“Tonight’s dinner is pork stir-fry, you bastard.”
I pressed the button hard.
At that moment, the guy froze and looked confused.
What flashed through his mind was a memory that should not have existed.
Pork Stir-Fry
In that guy’s head, those words and the image of some unknown food were probably floating over his thoughts right now.
“You... what the hell did you just do...!”
“You weren’t watching where you were going, idiot.”
Before he could even finish speaking,
Silver Wolf’s slingshot slammed into his head.
The guy, who had turned around to look at me and never saw it coming, had his skull burst open with a sound like a watermelon exploding.
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