Chapter 185
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 185
"—Luka, make protecting Anguis Regina your absolute priority. I'll explain the details later, but… I am the primary target of this attack. Anguis Regina is secondary. I'll contact you again once I’ve sorted things out here."
I listened to Japa's voice message, an explosion echoing just as the recording ended. He was under attack, too. It was an emergency on all fronts.
"—Japa Trading, the titan of Border City's food industry, is under attack! Who could have ordered this? As you all know… there are far too many suspects! It’s not even clear if Japa himself is still alive. The burning building you see behind me is the Japa Trading headquarters, and I am Won Bright, reporting live! If—"
Anguis Regina bit her lip as she watched the news feed on her terminal. I reached over and pulled the hood of her coat down farther over her face.
"Don't show your face to anyone. Keep your eyes on the ground and follow my steps."
"You seem used to this."
"Just another Tuesday."
I nudged a duffel bag leaning against the wall with my foot. A pool of blood had formed beneath it, still dripping steadily.
Inside was the assassin I'd taken down. After stripping off her combat suit and folding her up, she fit surprisingly well. The fact that she was missing her legs significantly reduced her bulk, making it almost easy.
For now, the plan was to take her to the safehouse and interrogate her.
I caught my breath in the alley, taking a moment to assess the situation. In the distance, a reddish haze glowed like a false sunset—the fury of the flames consuming the Japa Trading headquarters. The entire city's attention would be focused there.
Gabriel and Boyan weren't staying at the headquarters. The only one I was remotely concerned about was Lapis. Without her, there was no one to maintain my prosthetics.
I glanced at Anguis Regina, who was chewing on her thumb.
"Worried about Japa?"
She shot me a look before finally speaking.
"He has the Equesians and En with him. He should be fine."
"Hmm. You can say that after watching an Equesian get taken down so easily just now?"
"The Equesians assigned to me were low-ranking. With you around, they probably figured sending elite warriors for my security would have been a waste of resources. Normally, En would have been my bodyguard."
Anguis Regina placed a great deal of trust in the Equesian mercenaries, a faith likely born from experience. They must have handled situations like this well in the past.
Then again, thinking back on my own experience, the truly exceptional Equesians were unbelievably skilled. Just three or four of them could fend off any half-baked attack with ease.
"Anguisss! Reginaaaa!"
"Where are you? We'll guide you to safety!"
Fans were even out searching for her. They were trying to protect her, but right now, they were just a nuisance.
"Let's move."
We waited for the noisy crowd to pass before we set out, arriving at the safehouse just before sunrise.
I looked up at the building. From the outside, it was just another generic residential villa, the kind scattered all over Border City.
Inside, the hallway was filthy, littered with what looked like years' worth of uncollected trash. A foul stench wafted from every door we passed.
Anguis Regina and I stopped in front of the unit designated as the safehouse.
Clack.
The door was wrapped in a web of chains and padlocks. I could see marks where someone had tried to cut through them. But despite their rusty appearance, the chains and locks were made of a high-strength alloy. No civilian could break through them, no matter how hard they tried.
I released the locks in a specific sequence. The seemingly complex tangle of metal unraveled one by one.
Creeeeak.
The door swung slowly inward. The door itself was as thick as my index finger. At this thickness, not even heavy weaponry could penetrate it. And true to its double-door design, an even thicker metal door stood waiting inside.
A facility with top-tier defenses. It's basically a bunker.
The walls and floor were also incredibly thick. Because of the reinforcement, there was a step up to get through the inner doorway; we had to climb four stairs to enter the room.
The reinforced walls, ceiling, and floor meant the interior was small and windowless. The windows visible from the outside were fakes.
It's completely sealed off. Water is supplied by a tank on the ceiling, and a generator provides electricity. The shelves are packed with compressed rations and other necessities.
I narrowed my eyes, surveying the room. This wasn't just a safehouse. It was a self-sufficient shelter where one could survive for weeks, maybe even two months. Even if a bombardment leveled the entire villa, this room would survive.
Border City is a chaotic place, and Japa has many enemies. It’s not strange for him to be prepared. But this is excessive. This must have cost a fortune.
What’s more, Japa hadn't seemed flustered by the attack at all. He had calmly given orders, moving as if he'd been expecting this.
I tore open a pack of compressed rations and started crunching on them.
"You're supposed to add water to those before you eat," Anguis Regina said, slumping onto a chair.
"I have strong teeth. Good digestion, too."
"...I see."
She sighed, giving up. She clearly had too much on her mind to worry about my eating habits.
"More importantly, do you know who Japa's enemy is?"
"I don't kn—"
I cut her off with a short laugh.
"Don't lie. You're more worried than panicked, which means you knew this day was coming. You can keep it to yourself if you want, but if you want my help, you'll have to give me something. Believe it or not, I'm quite indebted to Japa. I'd even help him without being asked. You'd better take advantage of my goodwill while it lasts."
"You've suddenly become quite eloquent. It's persuasive."
"It probably means my rehabilitation is almost complete. I'm actually a very… logical and rational person."
I barely suppressed a smirk as the words left my mouth. Logical and rational. It sounded like a joke, but in some ways, it wasn't entirely wrong.
"Ha, logical and rational? Let me think back on everything that's happened so far. My knees are suddenly starting to ache."
Anguis Regina managed a faint smile, taking my words as a joke.
"In any case, if Japa dies, I'm in trouble too," I said, studying her expression.
"Using humor to break the tension and coax out a secret. You'd be good at seducing women if you put your mind to it."
"I wouldn't limit myself to women."
Anguis Regina's shoulders trembled as she stifled a laugh, clearly remembering me saying I liked men.
"Since you'll find out eventually anyway… it's not some great secret. Japa is an exile. He was cast out of his family, left with no protection. Actually, it's worse than that. His family branded him a disgrace and tried to kill him, so he's always been on the run."
I'd heard a similar story before.
Boyan.
Japa must have felt a certain kinship with Boyan when they met. If I knew just a little more about the Tajirun, I might have noticed that hint of shared history in his eyes.
Even without my interference, Japa will continue to help Boyan.
I waited for Anguis Regina to continue.
"A long time ago, Japa went to his father, the family head, and struck a deal. He paid a price and signed a non-aggression pact. Today, that pact was either broken or it expired. That's why they're trying to kill him again."
"I don't know much about the Tajirun… but unlike Boyan, Japa is exceptionally capable, a true Tajirun. They wouldn't have branded him a disgrace and exiled him for some petty reason."
"You'll have to… ask Japa about that yourself. That's as far as you'll get by prying into my head, Mr. Detective," Anguis Regina said, pressing a finger to her lips. She seemed to be regaining her composure. The safehouse was living up to its name, providing a sense of psychological stability.
The best-case scenario is Japa successfully renegotiating with his family.
But I quickly dismissed that thought. I had to prepare for the worst. That was how I'd survived this long.
Tap, tap.
I tapped the duffel bag with the toe of my boot and untied the strap. The bag fell halfway open.
The assassin, clad only in a black undersuit, squirmed. She tried to move her hands, but they were bound tightly behind her back.
"Hey. You awake? Not dead, are you?"
The white-haired assassin's eyes fluttered open. The stench of burnt flesh still clung to the stump of her thigh. Anguis Regina glanced away, unable to look at the wound.
"You…"
The assassin frowned at me. My unmasked face shouldn't have been unfamiliar to her.
Her cognitive functions have severely deteriorated. I guess aging gets everyone in the end.
If she were in her prime, she would have recognized me instantly. Now, she hesitated, thrown off by a slight change in my build and appearance.
"Behave, and I won't kill you. Not that you have much time left, anyway. Playing assassin at your age… Did you completely fail to plan for retirement? What did you do with all the money?"
I spoke as if we were strangers. It took another ten seconds before the assassin's glare sharpened.
"You're that boy. The one I didn't kill."
"Something about 'I'm right, you're wrong,' or whatever," I muttered irritably.
The assassin let out a hollow laugh. "My past arrogance has come back to haunt me. Arrogance doesn't rot the present; it rots the future."
"Then you should have killed me when you had the chance. This is what you get for showing off," I sneered.
She didn't even get angry, just nodded in resignation. I ground my teeth, infuriated by her reaction.
"You're right. So just kill me. If you have any of that arrogant mercy I showed you left in your heart, I hope you'll grant my request."
"…First, tell me everything you know. Then I'll do as you ask."
"You of all people should know. A field operative like me gets jobs through a broker. There's no way to know who the client is. Maybe back in the day, but I'm not a big shot anymore."
To hear her admit it herself. The figure who had once pinned me down and looked down on me was gone. The woman who had declared her own strength without a shred of doubt…
…I wanted to curse.
Why did you get so weak?
I knew why. It was age. But I refused to accept it.
"Let's talk about something else. What side effect caused your aging?"
"It wasn't a side effect. It was the price. I forcibly suppressed my aging and enhanced my body. It was an unstable procedure to begin with, and later, I overused regenerative treatments. I was already quite old even back when I ran into you."
The assassin spoke calmly.
"Really? How old were you?"
"You shouldn't ask a woman her age so carelessly. And it's not just my age. You'd better not expect to hear anything useful from me."
She laughed, a dry, hoarse sound. She seemed completely detached from life and death.
"Are you really going to do this the hard way? You think I'll go easy on you just because you look like an old woman?" I snarled, curling my fingers into a fist. An ominous hum vibrated from my knuckles.
"Seeing me like this makes you angry, doesn't it? Do you know why? Whether we replace our flesh with terrifying machinery or use biotech to enhance ourselves down to the cellular level… in the end, we all grow old and weak. It's just a matter of when. My appearance is the future of someone who failed to die at the right time. Your future. Isn't that right, kid?"
I couldn't hold back. I grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head into the floor.
CRACK!
Her nose broke with a sickening crunch.
"I'll die before I ever end up like you. I have no intention of getting comfortable and dying in a bed," I snarled, yanking her up by her hair.
"Heh… heh. I used to be the same way," she said, spitting broken teeth onto the floor. "But since when does life ever go according to plan?"
I bit my lip, fighting the urge to smash her head against the floor until it burst. Instead, I let go.
"I'm not going to kill you. Death is what you want. So you're going to stay alive, gulping down whatever slop I spoon-feed you, just barely clinging to life."
A helpless existence is a cruel punishment. For someone who had lived so fiercely, it would be the most painful fate of all.