Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Four Colors
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A dreary layer of clouds hung low in the sky, as if it were about to pour.
Honk— Honk—
The grating sound of car horns echoed.
On the streets of LA, bodies pushed and shoved through the crowds, tired feet crossing paths in a chaotic dance.
A chilly wind whipped through the buildings of downtown Los Angeles.
Shin-ju was finishing a meal with Speeder at a cheap coffee shop on the main street, eating hot dogs.
After their meal, Shin-ju and Speeder set off to meet a titan-class Dragonkin named ‘Restprime,’ who had committed an act of terror under Bio Vanguard six years ago.
Their goal was to investigate him for information on the members of Bio Vanguard’s American branch.
Speeder, having worked in LA for nearly a decade, naturally knew where Restprime lived.
He had settled not far from here.
Shin-ju followed Speeder’s lead, conversing with her in sign language.
[Where are you from, Speeder?]
Speeder smiled brightly, her fingers moving with crisp precision.
Her white gloves, marked with arrow symbols, shifted here and there, forming various hand signs.
[I! Am from Kepler-2538b! The name of my species is ‘Nikua Dovemthus.’ Please just call us the Nikua!]
Upon hearing the planet’s name, Shin-ju let out a small “Ah!” of recognition.
[Ah, that’s the planet where the light is faint and the gravity is weak, so time flows about three times faster than ours, right?]
Seeing that Shin-ju knew her home planet so well, Speeder blew her whistle in delight.
Shin-ju finally understood why her eyes were covered with retinal shields that looked like reverse irises.
He continued to move his fingers.
[So how did you end up here on Earth?]
Speeder moved her fingers in response.
[Twelve years ago, I was conducting an experiment researching other dimensions and ended up on Earth through a gate!]
Speeder waved her hands for a moment as if to correct herself.
[Oh! Actually, I didn't arrive on Earth right away. I landed on Mars first!]
Shin-ju nodded as if he just remembered.
[I see. Ahh! So when the US Mars exploration team reported encountering an alien presence twelve years ago, that was you?]
Speeder replied with a sharp sign.
[Correct!]
The popular rumor that ‘aliens exist on Mars’ had been referring to the Nikua all along.
To think they were such a cute species.
Soon, Speeder extended her hand and pointed to a spot.
Shin-ju turned his head in the direction she was pointing.
Whoooosh—
Before him stood an ominous entrance made of iron bars.
At the very top of the bars, the name of the area, ‘Dogmas,’ was displayed.
It was a special management zone where Dragonkin from the planet DRG-3000 were gathered.
Shin-ju and Speeder passed through the entrance into Dogmas.
A desolate landscape unfolded before them.
It felt like entering a slum in America or the entrance to some dreary, unknown detention center.
Around the coarse iron-bar gate, which creaked eerily as it swayed in the wind, were damp piles of garbage mixed with the carcasses of alien beasts.
After a few steps, he felt the crunch of waste paper and finely crushed, dried leaves under his feet.
It was a starkly different atmosphere from the LA of a moment ago.
[Still a gloomy place.]
Bweep—
Speeder blew her whistle and shrugged, as if to say, “What’s new?”
As Shin-ju and Speeder ventured deeper inside, they came upon a deserted clearing.
“Kwahahaha!!”
“Kieeeek!!”
Shin-ju and Speeder paused at the sound of a strange creature’s scream.
In one corner of the clearing, three humanoid Dragonkin were tormenting a small, frail blue dragon.
The largest of them, a white dragon, had the blue dragon’s tail in its mouth and was shaking it back and forth.
The blue dragon, unable to resist the force, was dragged helplessly across the ground.
“Kuooonng—”
Reduced to a mere plaything, the blue dragon tried its best to roar, but it posed no threat at all.
The three young dragons cackled at its pathetic display.
They began to toss the blue dragon back and forth with their sharp mouths, as if playing with prey.
Soon, the blue dragon passed out.
Shin-ju assessed the situation, then looked at Speeder.
Speeder looked up at Shin-ju.
They both nodded.
Huuuuup—
Speeder took a deep breath.
Bweeeeeeeeeep—
Speeder scrunched her brow and blew her whistle with all her might.
Startled by the sound, the three dragons leaped into the air, flapped their wings a few times, and landed back on the ground.
“What the hell!”
Step. Step. Step.
Speeder, putting on her most intimidating face—which still looked rather cute—bravely stepped forward.
Shin-ju followed behind her, holding the Old Book.
Speeder stood confidently before the three dragons.
It looked like a group of large men surrounding a small girl.
Bweep— Bweep— Bweep— Bweep—
Point. Point. Point. Point.
Squeeze—
In a gesture anyone could understand, Speeder pointed her index finger at each of the three, then at the blue dragon, signaling them to stop tormenting it.
Then she clenched her fist, clearly conveying the message that if she ever saw such a sight again, they would be dead.
Meanwhile, the three dragons looked at each other without a word.
“Khehehehe!!”
The silent trio burst into laughter.
The white dragon, who appeared to be the leader of the group, began to laugh so hard his shoulders shook.
“Khehehe!! Hey, what should we do… should we pretend to be scared?!”
The yellow dragon next to him looked down at Speeder and sneered.
“What is this, a cop? Or just some kid playing dress-up?”
The dim-witted-looking black dragon licked his lips as he eyed her.
“Khuhuhu, she looks like a perfect mouthful.”
Undaunted by their mockery, Speeder placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow.
Behind Speeder, Shin-ju was quietly chanting a spell.
He deliberately stayed back.
He wanted to see Speeder’s abilities for himself.
In the distance, the blue dragon lay limp and motionless.
The white dragon poked Speeder’s head with his finger, provoking her.
“So what? You gonna arrest us or something?”
The yellow dragon, having noticed Shin-ju, nudged the white dragon in the side.
“Hey, wait, there’s a human here too.”
“Huh? And who are you?”
Shin-ju, holding the Old Book, replied simply.
“I’m a cop too.”
The white dragon laughed.
“Kheheh— Oh, are you now?”
The yellow dragon grinned at the white dragon.
“Hey, hey, we were just getting bored. Perfect timing.”
The black dragon was still smacking his lips.
“How should we play with these little jelly blobs to have the most fun?”
The white dragon extended his sharp claws toward Speeder and moved to grab her.
“Kheheh, come here, little one!”
In that instant, Speeder’s eyes flashed.
Flick!
She quickly spread both her hands.
Thwaaaack—!!
Suddenly, two unidentified projectiles shot out from her hands at incredible speed.
“Kuaargh…!!”
The white dragon’s eyes rolled back in his head as he collapsed to the ground.
“Wh-what was that!!”
“Gasp…!!”
The faces of the yellow and black dragons turned pale at the sudden, unseen attack.
Shwoooooo—
White smoke slowly dissipated from Speeder’s hands.
She held both her hands up in a knife-hand position.
The arrows on her white gloves were now pointing in the direction of the fallen white dragon.
And beneath them, the wide openings of her sleeves were visible.
“Ooh!”
Shin-ju exclaimed in admiration at the sight of Speeder.
Gwooooo—
Within each of her sleeves, a tiny gate was open.
It was the ‘micro-gate,’ one of the most difficult alien technologies to implement.
Shin-ju, impressed, scanned the area where the white dragon had fallen.
Jagged stone fragments were scattered everywhere.
They were pieces of asteroids that had been floating in space.
Speeder had summoned one of the smallest asteroid fragments floating somewhere in the universe through her micro-gate and fired it with its kinetic energy intact in the direction of the arrow.
Meanwhile, the yellow and black dragons stared down at the white dragon, dumbfounded and in an awkward stance.
It was understandable, given that the strongest of the three had been taken down in a single blow.
Shin-ju stepped in front of the two frozen dragons.
“Hey you two, I won’t arrest you, so how about we make a deal?”
“What? A deal?”
The moment the yellow dragon flinched at the word ‘deal.’
“What’s a mere human like you talking about!!”
The agitated black dragon threw a punch at Shin-ju without warning.
A massive fist flew toward Shin-ju.
But Shin-ju had already finished the spell from the Old Book.
A crimson shadow shot out from the book.
The shadow arched through the air and began to wrap around the black dragon’s arm at immense speed.
The once-translucent shadow grew denser, taking the form of a whip.
The shadow coiled around the black dragon’s body at incredible speed.
Pak—!!
And in an instant, it bound his entire body.
Thud—
“Mmph!! Mmph!!”
Just like that, the black dragon was easily subdued by Shin-ju.
Shin-ju turned his head and looked up at the yellow dragon.
“You seem a little more willing to negotiate, don’t you? Right?”
“Y-Yes!!”
The yellow dragon, who was at least quick to grasp the situation, immediately realized what he was up against.
Shin-ju jutted his chin toward a corner of the clearing.
“You, go over there and kneel. If you even think about running… I’ll rip those wings right off.”
“Yes, sir!!”
The yellow dragon flew over to the clearing and knelt.
Shin-ju stood before the kneeling yellow dragon.
Beside him, Speeder had already summoned a first-aid kit from a gate and was treating the unconscious blue dragon.
“I’m going to ask you a few questions, and all you have to do is answer honestly. Got it?”
“Yes, yes, I understand.”
“You know Bio Vanguard, right?”
“Uh… well…”
“Answer.”
“Yes! I know them.”
“Who from there has come here recently?”
“Ah, I’m really sorry… but I don’t know the names of the people from Bio Vanguard…”
“Okay, fine. Restprime lives here, right?”
“Yes, he does.”
“So, has Bio Vanguard come to see Restprime recently?”
The yellow dragon began to hesitate.
“Hey, have they or haven’t they!”
“I… I think so!”
When Shin-ju snapped irritably, the yellow dragon, startled, answered immediately.
“What do you mean, you think so. Did they or did they not.”
The yellow dragon’s face crumpled.
“Well, I didn’t see them meet in person…”
“Really? Then what do you mean, you think so.”
“The member who met Restprime six years ago did come here once recently.”
“Oho~ did they? So you’re saying you don’t know the names of the aliens who came here?”
“No… ah, but Restprime doesn’t commit crimes anymore. Not after he got in big trouble for that terror incident back then…”
“Hey, you never know about that.”
Shin-ju looked at the yellow dragon and scoffed.
Crime was a useful means to easily solve things that would otherwise be difficult.
It was like a drug; the first time is hard, but once you start, racking up a criminal record becomes easy.
“Anyway, they came here, right?”
“Um… excuse me…”
Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice came from behind.
When Shin-ju turned around, he saw the human form of the awakened blue dragon.
Bweep-bweep-bweep—
Speeder checked on the blue dragon, as if asking if he was okay.
“Ah… thank you for treating me.”
The blue dragon expressed his gratitude to Speeder.
After giving Speeder a shy smile, the blue dragon turned to Shin-ju with an anxious expression.
“Um… but do you have some business with my father…?”
Shin-ju froze for a moment at the unexpected word ‘father.’
“Ah! Are you by any chance Restprime’s son?”
The blue dragon cowered as if he had committed a crime, avoiding Shin-ju’s gaze.
“Yes… that’s right…”