Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Pursuit and Betrayal
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Mikael Drummond.
The number two in Sweet Dream was extremely anxious right now.
Really really anxious.
His thighs were trembling, he was biting his nails, and he kept glancing out the window whenever he got the chance.
"Hey, hey. Floor it more. More."
He could only hound his subordinate, who was already speeding.
It was all because he was a traitor.
He'd planned to stab the boss in the back someday, but he never imagined it would be today.
"Hoo—"
Mikael let out a shaky breath as he stared at his own hand.
Veins bulged on the back of his hand, his grip clenched tight enough for anyone to see. And clutched in that fist was a small case.
It was an ordinary case.
Of course it was.
He'd just grabbed it in a hurry, after all.
But the item inside was a different story.
Mikael cautiously flipped open the lid, revealing a red ring that emitted an eerie glow.
It was something he'd found by chance.
As usual, he'd kidnapped a lone homeless man, dosed him with narcotic sedatives to put him in a sweet sleep, then...
Sliced open his gut and pulled out the organs nice and easy.
He'd seen everything worth seeing from the empty husk, so he was about to burn it, along with the stinking clothes, when...
This dropped out.
For an ordinary trinket, the twisted script carved into its surface and its strange sheen screamed anything but ordinary.
Mikael had instinctively known it would fetch a fortune.
So he'd secretly accessed the dark web without telling the boss.
(There had been a minor slip-up in the process.)
He uploaded the scan data of the ring to a buyer site.
Wait a sec. How many zeros is that?
Ten hundred thousand ten thousand hundred million billion?
500 million?
His eyes bulged at the price offered by a buyer who appeared in less than a minute.
When he came to, he was negotiating the meetup spot. Mikael thought to himself.
This pissant gang's number two spot? He'd planned to kick it to the curb without a second thought when the time came.
And today was that day.
His resolve had solidified ages ago. Now it was time to act.
He'd called together nine loyal subordinates, taken the item, and headed straight for the meetup.
The problem came after that.
Once he'd actually done the deed, fear came crashing down.
It was a pissant gang, sure, but the boss was the real deal.
What if that lunatic came chasing after him?
The memory of the boss eyeing the ring when he'd found it kept flashing in his mind.
His palms grew slick with sweat, and just as he was about to yell at the driver's seat again...
"Floor it—!"
Screeech! Boom!
A grating friction sound was followed by something shattering, drilling into his ears.
In that instant, Mikael's heart dropped to his soles as he whipped his pale face around.
"......!"
Time seemed to slow for a moment.
Beyond the window by the right rear seat where he sat, he saw one of his subordinates flying through the air.
Then, the sight of the guy's body hitting the pavement and turning into a mangled rag in seconds. Mikael let out a shriek.
"Fuck! Henri already?!"
As he spat the traitor's boss's name, the driver replied in a trembling voice.
"B-Bro! It's not the boss!"
"...What?"
"Not the boss!"
Mikael pressed his face to the window.
A khaki bike was just starting to tangle with his men, and its rider was visible on top.
His brow furrowed as he yelled.
"Who the fuck is that guy?!"
A sea of garish flashing neon signs.
Beasts on wheels raced down the eight-lane boulevard cutting through its heart.
Vroooom!
As the roaring engines whipped past their ears, pedestrians flinched or scowled and turned their heads.
But by then, the beasts were already too far to make out properly. Someone spat on the ground and muttered.
"Die, all of you."
With no idea it was coming true.
Clang!!
Sparks flew.
Jin parried a blade aimed at his neck with Gravis's muzzle, then kicked the opponent's bike as they lost balance.
It was a motion from below the knee, without full power behind it, but a superhuman's strength was more than enough to make the vehicle wobble.
The bike soon lost traction and smashed into a streetlamp, shattering to pieces.
Of course, the rider didn't get off easy either.
His neck snapped on impact—instant death.
Jin confirmed it in his rearview and was about to accelerate after the van ahead when...
Whish!
A blade sliced through the air toward him.
Two of them, in fact.
Jin reflexively twisted the handlebars.
He wrestled the wildly shaking bike under control and glanced toward the attack. There was a gang member swinging mechanical arms linked to wing-like protrusions.
One hand from his parents gripped the handlebars, while the aftermarket mechanical arms clutched dual blades.
A cyberpunk Frankenstein if there ever was one.
Look at this ungrateful bastard.
As Jin scowled, the pursuer closed in and started stabbing wildly.
"Die!!"
Indiscriminate strikes, hoping one would land.
But they were effective for it. Unfamiliar with one-handed defense, Jin's thigh took a deep gash.
Pain spread through his leg like spilled paint. He gritted his teeth.
Alternating right and left hands for driving, attacking, defending—his mind was in chaos. Meanwhile, this guy was having a field day.
Rage boiled up at the unfairness.
Jin holstered Gravis, tilted his head to dodge the incoming blade, and seized the mechanical arm with his bare hand in a flash.
"L-Let go?!"
The panicked gang member's shout.
And the response.
"Ride with me a bit."
Manticore roared.
Vroooom!!
The bike rocketed forward like it had been launched from the ground.
The sudden acceleration caught the gang member off guard.
"...Wha? Uwaaaah!"
Caught in superhuman grip, his body lifted into the air before plummeting back down.
Ignoring the screams from behind, Jin kept riding.
And when the screams finally faded...
All that dangled from Jin's hand was the mechanical arm ripped from the shoulder.
Sizzle! Crackle!
The thick bundle of sparking wires looked disturbingly like human veins.
Of course, Jin didn't give it a thought.
He'd just gained a handy bludgeon. He swung it with full force at the gang members now surrounding him.
And watching the whole scene was Mikael.
"Fuck! Who the hell is that guy! Why's he chasing us?!"
Fixated on the rear window, he shook the driver's headrest like a maniac.
"Floor it! Fucking floor it!"
His subordinate was already weaving perilously between lanes in a heart-stopping drive, a command that would normally bring curses to the brim.
But as a subordinate, he had to hold his tongue.
He had eyes too, and seeing his comrades drop one by one made his legs shake on their own.
So amid the chaos, he piped up.
"B-Bro! This right? Keep heading to the meetup?"
"What?"
"We're fucked already. Can't we shake this guy now and hide somewhere?"
Mikael blinked, momentarily confused, then barked.
"You idiot! You start this shit and now wanna bail?!"
Impossible.
500 million.
Enough for a fresh start.
Not going straight, of course—just building his own gang in some other Area 40s zone.
Without that lunatic Henri.
"Few minutes left. Little farther and we're there. Finish the deal clean, hop on the highway, and bolt. Area 46, 45, whatever the fuck. Got it?!"
"...Yes. Got it."
"Do it right. For once."
Mikael lightly slapped the nodding subordinate's cheek from behind, then glanced back.
Thankfully, no pursuer in sight.
The missing subordinates were a problem, sure.
"...Solo, huh. Damn it. How'd word spread?"
That dark web slip-up?
But he'd shut down the tool in under ten seconds...
Things weren't going his way—must've been nabbed by a pro hacker in that window.
Mikael chewed his lower lip as he stared out the window into the tunnel they'd entered.
Fine. Escape this, and it's the meetup.
Just get there. Somehow.
As Mikael muttered to psych himself up...
Ding!
A holographic something popped up before his eyes.
A video call from someone.
[Henri]
Mikael swallowed hard without thinking.
But only for a moment.
He answered in a casual voice.
"Yeah, boss."
[Boss? Never thought you'd call me that.]
"What're you talking about?"
[Pulling the innocent act. You're dead. Actually, you're dying anyway. Be a little bold.]
"Huh?"
[Fuck. I know everything. You stabbing me in the back. One of those guys who left with you snitched. What? Fresh start? Give you lieutenant? You moron. Thought that'd fly?]
"......"
[Knew you'd fuck up eventually.]
"...Turn."
Mikael said to the driver's seat.
"Huh? Bro? What?"
"Turn the fuck around! We're screwed!"
"Tunnel here? Get out first..."
The van exited the tunnel right then.
[Anyway. Bye, traitor.]
A massive fireball slammed into the van like it had been waiting.
Damn. Lost 'em.
Jin furrowed his brow.
The last four had come at him desperately, sticking like glue.
They'd even grabbed Manticore in the end, forcing him to shake them off down the wrong path.
He'd almost had the van, only to watch it slip away.
They chase fine in movies, but not me.
Pretty embarrassing. Jin scratched the back of his head.
Still, all good.
We have the tracker.
Right, Kalifa?
He muttered to himself, knowing she couldn't hear, then tossed the blood-soaked mechanical arm and gunned it again.
No more obstacles now.
Following the navigator's route, weaving lanes for a bit. After passing a long tunnel, he completed his approach to the target, sweeping into a wide turn to slow down.
Then he narrowed his eyes at the scene before him.
What the hell is this?
The van lay flipped on its side, gutted and engulfed in flames, burning fiercely.
The flickering blaze lit the surroundings crimson.
Passing the charred corpse gripping the wheel, Jin's gaze fell on a man sprawled on the ground.
"Huff! Huff!"
He clutched something tightly to his chest—the artifact Kalifa mentioned, obvious without checking.
Still, Jin hesitated to act.
Strange men were facing off over the downed guy.
One with a deep scar by his eye spoke up.
"Not selling. It was mine from the start. So get lost while I'm being nice."
The masked man opposite replied.
"Troublesome. I'm here as the buyer. You gonna waste my time?"
The bizarre standoff made Jin quietly remove his helmet and hook it on the handle.
All three men's gazes turned his way.
"Who the hell are you?"
"And you?"
"...That fu...cker."
Caught off guard, Jin blurted the first thing.
"Me... a thief?"
And so.
The betrayer, the betrayer's hunter, the buyer.
And the clueless guy.
All eyed each other.