Chapter 210
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 210
Sometimes, pride and self-respect override the instinct for survival. It’s the compulsion that sends a moth into a flame, knowing full well it means death.
Defying the instinct to survive is foolish. No matter how brave a soldier or warrior, they don’t simply ignore it.
You only truly face death when your senses scream at you to run, and you decide to stand your ground anyway.
Of course, I’m hardly one to talk. I’ve thrown my own life on the line more than once over foolish pride and raw emotion.
I was just lucky.
I had a talent for violence. The circumstances surrounding me had aligned just right, allowing me to survive without ever having to beg for my life.
If the gears of fate had been off by a single tooth, I wouldn't be standing here today.
Step, step.
The kids in the plaza closed in, some of them brandishing knives or iron pipes.
Crack!
I grabbed the arm of a charging boy and snapped it clean. With a swift leg sweep, I sent him crashing to the ground.
A clean break.
The younger they are, the faster they heal. I had no intention of crippling them.
I just wanted to teach a lesson to these kids whose survival instincts had grown dull. A lesson that failing to size up your opponent will get you killed.
These kids… they’re not from the slums.
They looked like street thugs at first glance, but their clothes were clean and their skin was clear. They were well-nourished, their youthful faces flushed with healthy color. They had likely never fought for their lives. Lacking any wild edge, their survival instincts were naturally blunted.
Rich kids playing at being rebels.
Honestly, it was irritating. I loathed seeing pampered brats act out. My younger self would have snapped all their limbs.
Crack!
But today, I stopped at just a few broken bones.
…I suppose I’ve grown up a little.
Everyone has their own worries. Even those who have never known hunger must have their own struggles.
“Yanaka! Teach him a lesson!”
“Yanaka! Yanaka!”
The leader of the pack stepped forward. Cheers erupted, and even the kids groaning on the ground chanted her name through gritted teeth.
Bounce, bounce.
A human girl named Yanaka bounced on the balls of her feet, warming up. Well-defined muscles showed beneath her fluttering clothes, and her abs were taut under a loose shirt. Subcutaneous circuits glowed faintly beneath her skin, indicating she had several combat reflex implants installed.
Though she was a girl, she was nearly as tall as I was, her body defined by sharp, angular lines rather than soft curves. Her long, slender limbs gave her a striking, androgynous look. To kids her age, she must have seemed incredibly cool.
She’s had her hormones tuned to sculpt her body for combat.
Such delicate procedures cost serious money. Nervous system and hormonal treatments weren't a matter of a shot or two; they took years to fully stabilize.
Click.
Yanaka drew a knife from a thigh holster and fell into a stance. Her stable posture and sharp gaze suggested she had a decent amount of combat experience.
“Step aside. You know you’re no match for me,” I said casually.
Yanaka had likely already sized me up. She would have realized my limbs were high-performance prosthetics, too. There was a subtle tremor in her legs. No matter how blank she kept her face, her body betrayed her.
Fear.
Yanaka was terrified of me. Yet, knowing she couldn’t win, she still stood her ground.
“Mister, I have a reputation to uphold. If I want to keep leading this crew, I have to fight—even if it means getting my bones broken.”
“I’m just here for that Crawler kid. Believe it or not, I’m his guardian. I can’t just let him run wild with delinquents in the middle of the night.”
I glanced at Boyan. He flinched and quickly looked away.
“If you’re his guardian, then we definitely can’t back down. We don’t hand our friends over to adults.”
“Even though you go to school and eat meals paid for by those same adults? Looking at you, the maintenance on your body must cost a fortune. It’s hilarious hearing you talk about being enemies with adults.”
“I know it’s hypocritical. That’s why we don’t plan on ruining our lives. This is just a temporary phase. So just leave us be. When the time comes, we’ll go back and live exactly how the adults want us to.”
Yanaka spoke calmly. The way she articulated her own hypocrisy so logically was a clear sign of her high-class education.
“Look, kid. I— sigh…”
I let out a heavy sigh. Boyan was already bolting. The kid knew damn well that Yanaka couldn’t hold me back.
Whir!
I bent my knees and lunged. Yanaka moved to intercept me.
Swish!
I swept her legs out from under her and grabbed her shoulder to pull her down. Even as she lost her balance, Yanaka thrust her blade toward my throat.
Tink, snap!
I caught the blade between two fingers and snapped it. The shattered metal clattered to the ground.
“Sorry, but I’m not some patient, generous adult. I’m barely an adult myself. I don’t plan on going easy on you just because you’re a kid.”
I lightly balled my fist and drove it into her stomach. I pulled the punch, but it was still more than enough to keep her down for a while.
“Ugh… cough…”
Yanaka collapsed, retching. I left her behind and sprinted after Boyan.
Damn Crawler!
True to his heritage, Boyan was incredibly agile. Despite having no formal training, he scaled buildings with his bare hands and leaped across rooftops. Crawlers were practically born with Adaptive 3D Maneuvering hardwired into their genes. Guided by pure instinct, he navigated the complex structures, sprinting without a moment’s hesitation.
I’m not gaining on him as fast as I should be.
Even for a Crawler, this was abnormal. The moment the doubt crossed my mind, my brain automatically began piecing together the clues, drawing a few rapid conclusions.
Boyan is running for his life, even though his friends are getting thrashed.
He wasn’t a coward. He wasn’t the type to abandon his crew and bolt when they were in trouble.
…He did something he absolutely cannot let me find out about.
And even I was struggling to catch him.
“This little brat…”
I gritted my teeth as a surge of heat rushed to my head. My field of vision expanded instantly, mapping out the optimal path.
Crack!
I cranked up the output of my legs, gouging the concrete of the rooftop as I launched myself forward. I flew through the air, closing the distance in an instant.
Boyan’s head and back loomed closer. I reached out to tackle him.
Whoosh!
Like a trained combatant, Boyan sensed my approach and rolled to the side.
Thud!
I landed heavily on the empty roof, scowling. Having dodged me, Boyan scrambled to his feet, trying to bolt again.
Snatch!
I lunged and hooked my fingers into the collar of his shirt, dragging him back. The fabric groaned, stretching to its limit.
Thud!
I swept the back of his knees. He lost his footing and went sprawling face-first onto the concrete.
“Boyan… open your eyes right now, before I gouge them out.”
I hauled him up by his collar, glaring at him with a murderous expression. Boyan tried to look away but finally met my gaze, trembling violently.
“L-Luka… I…”
“Are you on stimulants?”
I bit my lower lip.
Even in the dark, Boyan’s pupils were completely dilated. His mouth was bone-dry, and his breath carried a parched, chemical odor. He had bolted the instant he saw me, and his evasive maneuvers had been far too sharp, even for a Crawler.
Stimulants.
Boyan was using. I clenched and unclenched my fists, trying to rein in my temper.
What do I do?
My first instinct was to beat him half to death. But that wouldn't solve anything. If Boyan were the type to yield to violence, he would have submitted to his father a long time ago.
“Why did you run? It’s not like you could avoid me forever.”
I let go of his collar.
Boyan’s already dilated eyes widened even further. He was going to have a monstrous headache once the high wore off.
“…I thought you’d kill me if you found out. You have a pretty short fuse, Luka. I was planning on explaining it later.”
“Hmm.”
I couldn’t really argue with that. I guess that was how he saw me. He wasn’t wrong.
“And… you’ve been avoiding me lately.”
“I wasn’t avoiding you. I was busy. Dammit… look, just sit down. Let’s talk.”
I scratched my head and sat on the edge of the rooftop railing. The building’s owner came up to investigate the noise, but he quickly shut his mouth and retreated when I tossed him a credit chip.
Boyan’s breathing was ragged. I waited in silence for him to calm down.
“The longer I stayed in school, the more I realized something was wrong with me,” he began. “During class, my skin would crawl, and I couldn’t sit still. My head would spin, and there were so many times I just wanted to kick my chair over and bolt out of the room. But when I looked around, I was the only one. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t focus.”
I listened quietly. It was exactly what Japa and I had feared. Boyan couldn’t adapt to the standard educational system. No matter how much time he poured into it, he was falling behind.
“But you’ve been reading and studying on your own just fine until now.”
“That’s because I only studied things I was interested in. At school, you have to study things you hate. Do you know what Crawlers are worst at? Doing things they don’t want to do. That’s why other species think we’re lazy. Our brains just work differently. In the end, I’m still a Crawler. I couldn’t escape my own nature.”
Honestly, it was hard for me to fully empathize. A part of me couldn't help but see it as a convenient excuse.
When necessary, I had always absorbed knowledge like a sponge. Even with skills like marksmanship—while I might not be elite compared to the Imperial Guard—I was still easily at a professional level.
If it’s necessary, you grit your teeth and learn, no matter how much you hate it.
But that basic concept seemed to be an insurmountable wall for him.
Even members of the same species struggled to understand one another; it was infinitely harder with a different species, with its vast biological differences. If this was a trait shared by almost all Crawlers, then it was a barrier that couldn’t be overcome by sheer willpower alone.
“So you turned to drugs to overcome your genetic limitations?”
“I know it’s stupid. But I figured… if I just use it occasionally until I graduate, I’ll be fine.”
Soldiers and warriors frequently relied on drugs, but they did so in extreme environments where a split-second lapse in performance meant death, making any long-term side effects irrelevant.
“You’re still young. You have time—”
“Time? I don’t have time! A Crawler’s lifespan is barely half of a human’s. I’m already starting behind everyone else, and my clock is ticking twice as fast. What do you think someone like me can achieve under those conditions?” Boyan shot back, his voice trembling with emotion.
“Stop whining. You chose this path knowing full well how difficult it would be.”
I had no intention of coddling him. Choosing a hard road wasn't admirable; walking it with quiet resolve was.
“I’m not whining! That’s why I found my own solution. Those kids are all from wealthy families, so the stuff they get is high-grade and clean. I only use it when I absolutely have to, and I’ll stop when I’m done. When I take it, the noise in my head clears up and I can actually focus. Just like everyone else.”
I felt an instinctive wave of revulsion. Using drugs to study? Claiming he’d only use it when necessary and quit later? It was dangerously naive. I could already see his future as a hollowed-out addict.
But does he have another choice?
I couldn't just forbid it when I had no alternative to offer. Should I respect his agency, or should I intervene, knowing this path would end in ruin? It was a difficult question, even for me.
“But you were high just now, hanging out in the plaza. You weren’t studying. You took them to get a buzz, didn’t you?”
Boyan looked away, unable to meet my eyes.
“…I won’t do it again. I promise I’ll only use them when I absolutely need to study.”
I closed my eyes. I knew how this story ended. Boyan’s life would be hollowed out by addiction.
Should he surrender to reality and live a typical Crawler’s life, or should he walk this narrowing tightrope over an abyss?
There were domains where sheer effort could never bridge the gap between species. No matter how hard an unaugmented human trained, they could never overpower a Crawler or an Equesian in raw strength. That was why humans turned to cybernetics and biotechnology, accepting the risks to augment themselves. As a walking testament to that very practice, I was hardly in a position to lecture him.
In this era, it wasn't just humans. Every species had to rely on artificial means to transcend their biological limitations if they wanted to achieve anything significant.
“Boyan, listen. The moment I see you losing control, I will personally—”
I cut myself off, standing as I sensed someone behind us.
“Haa… haa…”
Someone had followed us all the way up here. It was the gang’s leader, Yanaka. Panting heavily, she drew a pistol.
“…Let Boyan go!”
She aimed straight for my torso and pulled the trigger without a shred of hesitation.
Bang!
I brought my hand down, catching the bullet right in front of my stomach. The flattened slug spun harmlessly in my palm before dropping to the concrete.
“Y-You caught it?” Yanaka’s eyes went wide with disbelief.
“That’s a basic survival skill where I’m from, kid,” I grinned.
