After a long while, Xu Xiaoyou’s heart finally calmed down a bit.
Looking at the character card in her hand, 【Night Hunt Young Fang】, her gaze was complex as she let out a soft sigh.
【Character Name: Anya.】
【Hetero-race · Female.】
【Level: Unregistered fixer.】
【Class: Spearman.】
【Strength: 15.】
【Agility: 25.】
【Constitution: 25.】
【Intelligence: 25.】
【Bond Level: Stranger.】
Seeing the long list of locked skills below, Xu Xiaoyou thought that regardless of anything, this person was stronger than her. At least she would have some support and wouldn't have to continue living this life of sleeping out in the open.
Xu Xiaoyou tried to summon the character card, and a prompt box floated before her eyes.
【The character Anya is currently trapped in Slaver Angor's slave shop.】
【Estimated cost to redeem her is 50 credits, or 5,000,000,000,000 face value Kegon.】
"This is a scam!"
Xu Xiaoyou slammed the character card onto the ground with a smack. It was one thing for the gacha pull to be off-banner, but she even had to redeem the person herself?
Because the Corrupt Hive City was within the sphere of influence of a giant company called Universal Heavy Industries, the credits issued by that company were still somewhat circulated here.
As for Kegon, that was the original currency of the Corrupt Hive City. Decades ago, during the city’s most prosperous peak, the ruler suddenly died. The subordinate forces rebelled one after another, launching the largest war since the city's founding at the Gate of Triumph in the capital. The entire Corrupt Hive City endured twenty years of war.
The flames of war burned everything to ash, causing widespread suffering and a technological regression.
After that, the former prosperity was gone. The city was split into countless parts by major factions, and most areas fell into a state of lawlessness and anarchy.
The economy suffered a heavy blow, and urban reconstruction projects on the scorched earth were delayed repeatedly. To stimulate the economy and the development of armed forces in their controlled zones, the major factions allowed heavily polluting factories to grow unchecked. The hive city once crowned as the Star of the Universe had now become a synonym for corruption.
The area near the junkyard where she lived had become a haven for violent crime, infested with toxic rats and insects, and shrouded in poisonous gas.
Kegon had also become a dead currency due to hyperinflation caused by excessive printing.
Xu Xiaoyou sat under the abandoned trash shed and counted her recent gains, her face full of worry.
From the condensation just now, she had obtained a pile of trash cards, as well as four skill cards, three beginner potion cards, and two experience cards that improved character experience gain efficiency.
【Back Alley Thrust】, 【Fireball Bombardment】 x2, and 【Bleeding Frenzy】.
Xu Xiaoyou’s face drooped as she stared blankly at the covers of the three skill cards.
She did know the location of Slaver Angor's slave shop.
However, it was located in a classic lawless zone, filled with madmen who killed and looted. Because of the living environment, those lunatics' minds were as twisted as could be. You didn't fear the screaming psychos; you feared the ones who spoke elegantly and politely, greeting you with a smile as they walked toward you.
Those guys would often be greeting you gently and refined one second, only to suddenly erupt the next, plunging a weapon into some poor soul's chest.
More importantly, where was she supposed to get 50 credits?
She was just a lowly scavenger.
Most of those who possessed credits were city folk. If possible, she never wanted to enter the city and deal with those lunatics again in her life.
The twilight deepened, and a misty darkness spread from the distant city limits all the way over, turning the rows of tall buildings into a mass of silent gray shadows.
Under the shed in the junkyard, the vagrants lined up to pay tribute to Xu Xiaoyou.
"Boss You, this is the trash we picked today. This is all of it," a fishman said cautiously.
"Mhm, just put it there," the girl said casually, not even bothering to look.
"Ugh... ugh..." a zombie man groaned.
"Not eating that. Pass."
"Boss You, I have half a bottle of index finger soda left over from the city folk." A pale vampire, looking somewhat wretched, swayed the soda in his cup before the girl.
A severed finger, its cross-section faintly visible, floated slowly upward amidst the carbonated bubbles.
"Drink it yourself."
"Boss You, want some cake?"
Looking at a piece of cake that had long since sprouted maggots and had an eyeball filling in the center, Xu Xiaoyou’s eyelid twitched. For no reason, she felt a surge of anger:
"Get lost, get lost, get lost! All of you, stay away! Is there something wrong with your brains? Can't you see I'm in a bad mood? Right now, don't bother me!"
The vagrants were all scolded into standing straight. They looked at each other and then scattered.
Depressed, irritable, and facing difficulties, Xu Xiaoyou decisively chose to rot away.
She had endured for three months; what was a little more time?
Yes, it was endurance, not escaping reality!
It wasn't long before the girl fell sound asleep, sleeping so soundly she even started snoring, completely forgetting her previous grief and indignation.
Eerie lights appeared frequently in the black clouds, and the whistling wind blew trash everywhere. The overgrown weeds clung to the ground. The light rain that had stopped for a moment began to fall again.
Outside the shed, the sound of rain was sparse, and the entire junkyard was silent.
A few uninvited guests broke the peace of the night.
"It's all your fault for not watching closely. You caused this capture mission to fail. That damn greenskin slipped away really fast. Since the commission failed, the office's rank is going to drop again, isn't it?"
A tall, thin rabbit-faced man toyed with the dagger in his hand, complaining.
"We could barely get any commissions as it was. Damn it! How are we supposed to live now?"
"We're all at fault for this. Worst case, we just go back to Sector 13. With the reputation we used to have there, wouldn't it be easy to survive?" the stout pig-faced woman beside him spoke up.
"Tch, I really don't want to go back to the territory of the Fresh Meat Restaurant. We finally managed to get out of there."
"I really want to kill a few people to vent! These disgusting vagrants, why do they get to breathe the same air as us? A bunch of sewer bugs!" The fox-faced woman's voice was sharp. She scratched the skin of her arm in hatred until it bled.
The uninvited guests walked forward, passing through mountains of trash. The stout pig-faced woman's gloomy gaze roamed around before stopping on a vagrant who happened to be blocking her path. She grinned and kicked the vagrant's leg until it snapped.
Listening to the vagrant's painful wails, the pig-faced woman whistled happily, enjoying the pleasure of inflicting violence. She relentlessly stretched out her foot, viciously grinding it against the leg bone. The sound of crushing bone continuously stimulated the malice in her heart.
Finally, the rabbit-faced man behind her couldn't take it anymore and spoke up to remind her, "It's about time to stop. I've told you many times."
"It's fine. Even if these vagrants die in a place like Sector 1 where those sanctimonious hypocrites live, no one would care. So many vagrants disappear by accident every day. What does it matter if there are a few more 'accidents' with gruesome deaths?"
"You're wrong. I just can't stand you wasting time and energy on these vagrants. If bullets were free, I wouldn't mind cleaning up all these vagrants. That way, I wouldn't have to worry about the filthy air they breathe out anymore." The rabbit-faced man's hands were tucked into his suit pockets. "Don't forget, we're here for business."
The fox-faced woman fired a shot toward the sky.
All the vagrants in the junkyard were startled awake by the noise.
"You, you, you, and you too! I know some treasures are transported to this waste processing plant from the city every day for some reason. I heard last month that a scrapped piece of power armor ended up here by mistake. Hand over everything valuable!"
"There's nothing left, there really is nothing left." A vagrant knelt before the three of them, waving his hands and begging piteously.
The fox-faced woman didn't care to waste words with him. She kicked him to the ground and then ended the vagrant's life with a single shot.
"Just happens I'm not feeling happy."
Seeing someone die, fear began to spread.
Seeing this, Xu Xiaoyou silently took a step back, shielding the vagrants in front of her while her eyes began searching for an exit.
In this world, there were many top-tier factions whose every move could indirectly or directly affect hundreds of hive cities, or even determine the rise and fall of a hive city at will.
For example, the Fixer Association. At first, it was just an inconspicuous small association in a technologically advanced hive city, specializing in serving the rich. They handled daily commissions, such as finding lost rings or pets, or mediating neighborhood disputes.
But now, it had become a colossal entity, its influence covering almost all hive cities, including the remote badlands still in a primitive state. On the surface, it was an official organization that cleared hive city anomalies and maintained order. In reality, they did everything. Not only were they present in politics and commerce, but their business even included black industries like assassinations and trafficking contraband. They set the rules of the world, controlled the operation of the hive city world, and eliminated all voices of opposition.
Even so, the superficial glamour still led a steady stream of people to choose to join the association and become official fixers.
Internally, fixer ranks were strictly divided into grades one through five. They could accept and handle commissions of corresponding levels. Beyond grade five, they were categorized into prism grade and luminous prism grade fixers based on their abilities.
Every fixer above grade five was a top-tier combat force, possessing the ability to refract the light of the world.
A grade one fixer was technically not much different from an ordinary person, but their status dictated that they were existences ordinary hive city residents couldn't afford to provoke.
And right now, the three criminals who had broken into the junkyard were three grade one fixers.
"Where are the scrap parts of that military power armor?! I don't have much patience. I'll give you one minute to speak up!" the pig-faced woman said viciously.
The vagrants present didn't dare to disobey these high-and-mighty, cold-blooded lunatics.
"It's... it's all with her! we've given everything to her!" Someone quickly betrayed Xu Xiaoyou.
The girl, who had been shrinking in the corner and was preparing to slip away, couldn't take it anymore.
You're selling me out just like that? No loyalty at all!
Fine, fine, fine! Over these past three months, she had helped these vagrants fight off so many jackals and the like. They had called her Boss You so sweetly, but when actual danger arrived, every single one of them changed faces faster than turning a page!
Forced by three threatening gazes, Xu Xiaoyou had no choice but to grit her teeth and step forward.
"Now, tell me, where are the scrap parts of that power armor?" The pig-faced woman excitedly licked her sharp teeth.
Noticing the bright flail in the other's hand, which was still stained with dried blood, Xu Xiaoyou swallowed nervously.
"We don't have much time to waste with you. I'll give you three minutes," the rabbit-faced man said with a smile, holding up three fingers.
"Three." The rabbit-faced man counted as he lowered one finger. "Two..."
Didn't we agree on three minutes??
Xu Xiaoyou was swearing in her head.
But pressured by the fox-woman's gun pressed against her forehead, she didn't dare to move rashly.
These people were the most vicious criminals from the city, cold-blooded lunatics.
She had to find a way to do something, otherwise, she really would die!
She absolutely couldn't say that the scrap parts of that power armor had already been absorbed and converted into points by her, or she'd be finished the next second.
What should I do...
Wait, points?
Xu Xiaoyou remembered she still had four condensed skill cards in her hand.
There was no other choice; she had to treat a dead horse like a living one.
"It's in my room. I'll go drag it out for you three masters... just a moment."
Xu Xiaoyou spoke while lowering her posture, then slowly turned and walked toward the shed.
The girl's thin and weak body was extremely deceptive. At the very moment the three thugs relaxed their guard, the 【Fireball Bombardment】 card Xu Xiaoyou had been clutching in her hand slowly turned into light and merged into her body.
The next moment, a cluster of flames erupted from her hand, like a ferocious fire snake with fangs. It lunged at the fox-faced woman, covering her body and burning a large hole through her in the blink of an eye.
While marvelling at the power of the skill card, a strange emotion welled up in Xu Xiaoyou’s heart.
She had killed someone?
She had been cautiously surviving in the cracks of this world for over three months. She should have long been used to things like killing and looting. Perhaps a kind person who helped you yesterday would be found and brutally murdered by a lunatic today.
The girl quickly shook her head, and her heart calmed down.
In this world, if you wanted to survive, these were things you had to learn.
Without much hesitation, the girl threw out the second 【Fireball Bombardment】 before the rabbit-faced man and the pig-faced woman could react.
"Damn it! This brat is a combat class fixer just like us!"
The pig-faced woman snapped back to her senses, only to find her companion beside her being consumed by flames again.
"A long-range class?"
The sudden encounter threw her off, but her combat experience was fairly rich. She quickly judged the girl's combat strength.
Since she was a long-range class, she had to close the distance as quickly as possible and deliver a fatal blow!
Thinking of this, the pig-faced woman roared. Her body was covered in bright red as the muscles on her massive frame began to bulge!
Almost the next moment, the pig-faced woman swung her flail and pounced in front of Xu Xiaoyou.
Xu Xiaoyou knew almost nothing about fighting. The flail magnified infinitely in her eyes, and the whistling wind brought a thick scent of blood that rushed into her nose. Seeing that she couldn't dodge the pig-faced woman's attack, she decisively used another skill card.
【Back Alley Thrust】
The moment the skill card turned into light, the girl's figure vanished from the spot like a phantom. Leaving afterimages behind her, she appeared behind the pig-faced woman.
"What? Damn it!"
The pig-faced woman didn't even see how the girl had gotten behind her.
She couldn't understand why a long-range class would have such close-quarters capability.
It was too late to dodge as she turned around...
Xu Xiaoyou gripped her knife with both hands and plunged it into the pig-faced woman's chest with all her might.
"Gah... ugh!"
The intense pain and the girl's eerie movement caused the pig-faced woman to completely lose her will to fight. Breaking into a cold sweat and panting heavily, she ran toward the outside of the junkyard.
Xu Xiaoyou saw the other person running away quickly and felt a sense of dread.
The other's agility was much higher than hers.
If she let the woman escape...
Setting aside whether she would come back for revenge, the woman was an officially registered grade one fixer. If she was harmed during a commission, people from the association would come knocking. For a bottom-dweller like her, according to the Universal Act issued by Universal Heavy Industries, being sentenced to several hundred years in prison was quite normal!
She couldn't let her leave. She absolutely did not want to spend the rest of her life in prison.
She had to...
Pull them out by the roots!
The last skill card: 【Bleeding Frenzy】!
Rate on N.U.
