Chapter 112
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Title: Something about this seems strange
Player's Luck has increased <<< I feel like I've seen this notification several times already.
What if I immediately go drooling to the black-market casino and gamble? It doesn't seem like anything changes;;
Is this just a placebo?
─ This is another damn recurring post.
─ What good is increased luck? Do you really think gambling in Risk City is fair? LOL
└ (OP) Ah.
─ It's probably just a placebo, right? Still, I heard it does increase the odds of quest encounters and stuff.
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Title: Why the hell is this game so full of people picking fights?
Honestly, I didn't think much of the combat at first, even though it was fun, but I feel like I'm around the middle now, and this game has completely crossed the line, LOL.
I get ambushed while going to fill my hunger meter, ambushed while going to buy weapons, ambushed while going to trade for a cybernetic body, ambushed while using auto-movement to proceed with a quest….
This damn game is just made up of ambushes.
Especially the random encounters—they pop up every three steps, as if there's some kind of bug….
Is there a mod or setting that can fix this???
─ What's your current level, reputation, and karma?
└ (OP) I'm level 11, and my reputation says City Debauchee. But what's karma?
└ Open your character window. What color is the background?
└ (OP) Black.
└ LOL, that's just the karma you sowed. Endure it on your own, LOL.
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Title: Help a newbie out
These filthy beggar-gang bastards keep invading me, saying it's a special random encounter….
Is there any way to deal with this??
─ Usually, this happens when you accepted a stealth mission but cleared it by charging straight in, or when you didn't clean out the gang hideout properly.
└ (OP) So how do I fix it? ㅠㅠ
└ Either endure it until the raids stop, or search for the area where the organization's remnants are hiding and kill them all there.
└ (OP) But there are kind of a lot of them….
└ So what all did you aggro?
└ (OP) I don't really… know…? Maybe… it seems like more than twenty places….
????????
─ You crazy bastard.
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* * *
Seriously, isn't firing a multiple rocket launcher in the middle of downtown a bit much?
Lately, I'd been thinking that more and more.
‘…Why does it feel like I've gotten so unlucky?’
At this rate, the day a bunker buster falls right on top of my head can't be far off.
Should I at least level up in preparation?
Then again, if I'd been lucky in the first place, I wouldn't have fallen into a game world.
‘This damn world.’
My thoughts, bordering on escapism, lasted only a moment. Faced with a sudden crisis, my body began moving on its own to survive.
The habit I'd developed after getting involved in a full-scale chase with Ryan Eliance Company's mobile special forces agents proved fairly useful.
The moment I get into a vehicle, I always check the condition of the seatbelt first.
After trying a headfirst crash in reverse from the truck's driver's seat, I started buckling my seatbelt before I knew it whenever I sat in a vehicle.
Anyway.
The fact that I didn't lose consciousness this time, despite looking straight at the multiple rocket launcher, was entirely thanks to that habit.
In other words, I got to watch a crashing air vehicle from the front row of a movie theater in 4D.
[Critical damage to the AV detected.]
[Activating auxiliary engine…. Failure.]
[Warning. The vehicle is going to crash.]
[Passengers, please brace for impact.]
I know. You don't have to announce it so loudly.
Ignoring the warning alarms blaring inside the vehicle, I pulled Luciana and Nova into my arms.
“……!!”
It wasn't exactly to calm my own anxious heart.
They were far too large for me to use as the teddy bears handed out at the dentist's office.
(That has a double meaning.)
Unlike me, they weren't wearing their seatbelts, so I had reflexively shielded them both.
Seeing their clean skin, close enough that I couldn't see a single pore, I immediately used telekinesis to create a soft cushion inside the vehicle.
I hunched my shoulders in preparation for the impact.
Kkiiiirrrk!!
Soon, a powerful vibration slammed into the air vehicle.
“Udadadada….” A bizarre groan escaped my mouth on its own.
Of course, I nearly bit my tongue.
Fortunately, the air vehicle used by the mafia boss was quite sturdy.
It seemed to have taken multiple hits from projectiles fired by the multiple rocket launcher, but the explosions didn't spread to the battery or engine.
After the air-vehicle bobsled ride that had begun out of nowhere finally stopped, I calmly raised my head and checked the two of them first.
“Are you okay?”
The situation had been so urgent that I had instinctively spoken informally.
Luciana and Nova gave small nods.
Phew.
Of course, my reaction may have been a little over-sensitive.
Luciana's cybernetic body was obviously military-grade, so it was definitely more massive than I was.
And I'd heard that Nova's specifications were comparable to those of a giant walking robot.
Even if there had been a crash I couldn't respond to, there was a good chance the two of them would have been fine.
‘But what could I do? My body moved on its own.’
The situation had been so urgent that I really hadn't had time to think.
In any case, all that mattered was that they were safe.
I let out a small sigh of relief.
That didn't mean we could keep waiting inside the vehicle forever.
The air vehicle we had been riding in had clearly been shot down by someone's attack.
It was obvious who the target had been.
‘Probably Luciana.’
No matter how reckless a scavenger was, they wouldn't casually attack an air vehicle flying through the city.
And not with live ammunition or a bazooka, but a multiple rocket launcher.
Anyone would think this was a country in the middle of a war.
Ignoring the air vehicle's warning alarm, which continued to blare noisily, I kicked at the vehicle's dangling door.
Kwachik!!
When I stepped outside, the lofty cityscape spread out before me at a glance.
‘…Are we on a highway?’
At least we hadn't crashed into the street.
It seemed the impact had been somewhat reduced because we had fallen onto an elevated highway situated almost level with the rooftops of the surrounding buildings.
Luciana's expression, as she emerged behind me, turned cold as ice.
“How dare they….”
She was terrifying.
Still, I had to ask what I needed to ask.
“The subordinates who were following us─.”
And almost frighteningly soon after I spoke, another air vehicle crashed behind us.
Kwaaang!!
Flames blazed, and heat burst outward.
Luciana narrowed her eyes against the aftermath and scowled.
“…Just what kind of fearless bastards are they?”
Wouldn't it feel like this if you saw a tiger growling right in front of you?
Throwing away her pretense, Luciana clenched her fist, her face pure anger.
Then, as though she were checking the city's surveillance-camera data, a whitish glow rapidly swept across the pupils of Nova, who stood beside us.
“They're coming again.”
The enemies had clearly come extremely well prepared.
Several dozen people took aim at us from the rooftops of buildings overlooking the highway.
“Fire!!”
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!!
Stone fragments leaped noisily from the ground as a wide field of fire began intercepting us from every direction.
But before that happened, the ice of 【Extreme Cold】 that I had created defended the surroundings.
A considerable amount of firepower was concentrated on it, so I didn't think I could keep blocking it for long. Still, it was enough to have a brief conversation.
I looked at the two of them and spoke.
“What should we do? This isn't District 49, anyway. We could just wait for the police—or Ms. Luciana's subordinates—to arrive as reinforcements….”
At my words, both of them looked at me.
“There’s no need for that.”
“We cannot simply leave someone who threatened User alone like this.”
Normally, when two people spoke at the same time, one of them would shut up, but these two had suddenly developed a strange rapport.
Their opinions even completely aligned.
“…Nova, was it?”
“Yes, Ms. Luciana.”
Perhaps they had felt some kind of kinship in the process, because they suddenly shook hands.
A question mark appeared above my head, but unfortunately, there was no Michael or cat here to objectively sum up the situation for me.
“I’ll handle that side.”
“Then I’ll take the opposite.”
A moment ago, they'd spent more than ten minutes locked in an eye war, and now they were as casual as friends.
If this was how things were going to be, why had they made me read the room earlier?
Tat-tat-tat!!
At last, the bullets pierced the ice wall and streaked between them. Without either one taking the lead, the two of them shot forward in mirror-image symmetry.
For the record, I couldn't keep up with that flow and remained standing there blankly.
Should I just cheer them on from here?
Then I sensed someone stealthily drawing near me and grabbed the attacker's neck.
“…Tch, I’ve been spotted!! Ignore me and go for the target!!”
“The target?”
But the man didn't answer my question.
A black stealth outfit, huh.
‘That outfit looks familiar….’
Beyond the shattered ice, about ten attackers charged toward me.
“For the squad leader’s revenge!!”
Only after hearing that shout did I remember where I'd seen those outfits.
“Ah.”
They were the tactical operatives of the Haku-gumi, led by Bansho Takemaru—the beastman who had undergone neutering surgery in place of a cat.
The target of the attack wasn't Luciana. It was me.
But after leveling up several times since then, there was no way I'd have trouble dealing with them.
I could see all their movements clearly.
I could even tell who was where.
I didn't even need to turn my eyes.
Thump─.
When I focused my mind, I was overwhelmed by the sensation of the entire world moving in slow motion.
The gun barrels aimed at me, the swords being swung, even the furious voice of the man.
The situation was settled in an instant.
I roughly wiped the electrolyte fluid and blood from the back of my hand and looked down at them.
As enhanced humans who had replaced a considerable portion of their bodies with cybernetic parts, they all had vitality as strong as German cockroaches.
“…Now that we've come out of District 49, this is our only chance!!”
“…To avenge the squad leader.”
“Burn the candle of life…!”
Even with their arms and legs broken, they slowly crawled toward me.
At least, their loyalty looked genuine.
Given the circumstances, I somehow felt as though I had become the villain instead.
Considering the notoriety the Haku-gumi members had, they should have been several times more villainous than I was.
That annoyed me.
I was getting pissed off.
“Bansho Takemaru was a cowardly little bitch. Right before he died, he bawled and begged me to spare him.”
“……Don’t lie!!”
Of course, it was a lie.
“What are you going to do if it is a lie?”
“…Grrk!!”
They didn't even have any way to tell whether my words were true or false.
Ah, perhaps an android could do that.
“I suppose when a man's symbol falls off his body, female hormones are bound to be secreted….”
Hmm, even I thought that was a bit harsh after saying it.
As though they had personally witnessed Bansho Takemaru's end and the scene itself, the men bulged the veins in their necks and exploded in anger.
“Shu─!!”
I kicked the one with the especially loud voice.
Apparently, I put more force into it than I'd intended, because the body I'd kicked went flying far beyond the buildings with a whoosh─!!
The tactical operatives crawling across the ground all fell silent at the shocking sight.
“So I don't understand how you can be so brazen about taking revenge for Bansho Takemaru. What makes you think you have the right? You pieces of trash.”
You kidnap people, modify them, and brainwash them.
Even so, seeing them stand there so straight was incredibly unpleasant.
Anyone would think you were the ones who'd been wronged.
As I drew up the mana throughout my body, the area around the half-destroyed air vehicle gradually began to burn.
Fwoosh…!
After burning myself once recently, I'd learned that the heat of flames was quite effective at making people reflect.
I quietly watched them burn for a long time.
Until everything had burned away, leaving only ash.
Quietly….
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“Oh, right.”
The battle was still going on.
I shouldn't stand around like this. I needed to hurry and help Luciana and Nova.
I scrambled to my feet.