Chapter 12: Hidden In Plain Sight
...
In games, the hardest part is often the simplest mechanics that the whole thing becomes ridiculous. It was gloriously called the grinding system. Or in other cases, the legendary paywalls in free games.
Level ups? Rare items? Game points?
All of that requires time and effort to be attained.
The same could be said to Lon as he stared at the black beetle on the ground.
'Tch, how are you still breathing?'
It took one whole hour before he could finally take it down. One whole hour of non-stop shooting of more than three thousand shots. Yet, it wasn't enough to kill this kind of cimexan.
How long is an hour?
It is more than enough to cook breakfast for yourself, eat it, take a bath, and wear an outfit to head out.
If not for it sustaining injuries before their final fight, Lon wouldn't be able to pull a stunt like that.
Cracked exoskeleton with blood squirting from it, restless red eyes that stared upwards, and the exposed flesh in its some weak points contributed to putting the cimexan on its final leg.
This bout isn't without any casualties. Lon sustained a lot of injuries. Mostly, it is bruises and aching muscles for over exhausting them. Thankfully, he didn't get grazed on his left side, or else the blood clots could have been torn. Another fortunate thing is that he avoided most of the heavy strikes of the beetle, successfully avoiding any chance to get internal injuries.
The most painful thing that happened is the damages the corpse puppet sustained.
It lost its entire left arm. There was no blood trickling down because it was more than nothing but a human corpse. But it significantly reduced its combat ability and usefulness. It was even a question for him if it could be still fixed up.
The other problem lies in the deep scratches on the remaining arm, some deep dents on its torso, and the dislocated joints of its musculoskeletal system.
In exchange, he has managed to somehow put the cimexan to a near-death state.
Bam! Bam!
The loud marching of multiple numbers of an unknown group suddenly reached his ears and aroused his vigilance. Another group of people is nearing this site. Either a human or a cimexan, Lon has no capacity left to even retaliate against one.
The outcome is certain defeat when it is clear as day that his energy is spent, wounded, and obviously outnumbered based on the clanking noise made by the boots.
Zing! Zing! Zing!
To make sure there would be no surviving witnesses that have a memory of his body frame or anything that could pinpoint back to him, Lon fired a continuous shot inside the bloody mouth.
Zing! Zing! Zing!
Their external defenses are certainly hard to breach, then what about their internal organs? After all, not all of them have perfect impervious bodies that they can proudly boast and use.
The cimexan couldn't even let out a grunt. Right after he pulled the strings, the last breath of life slowly but surely left.
Remorse? Sympathy? Guilt?
Who the fuck would still have those emotions when someone clearly wanted you to die?
Such luxury isn't that cheap nowadays. At the end of the day, survival instincts would still triumph because self-preservation is present in every sentient being. The need and want to overcome a peril is etched deeply in their genome.
But that thing can and will disappear in certain situations. Just like what happened to the cimexan in front of him.
He then quickly and quietly placed the weaponry on the floor. The corpse puppet carried the other corpse puppet while Lon carried the amputated arm. That arm is more valuable than the handgun as he still has five more with twenty-five extra energy clips back home.
His feet swiftly moved away despite the pain he is undergoing. As for the biological traces left behind? Lon has already thought about it.
There is no faction strong enough to have people that have full capabilities in the northern sector to analyze the fingerprints of a hand covered by four varying gloves layered and a disposable plastic glove as the base one. Another great factor that hampered his already low shooting accuracy.
Not only that, but he was also wearing a triple colored face mask, sunglasses, and another piece of a handkerchief with an equal amount of cotton balls on each side to completely conceal his facial shape. Each component is tightly secure that even if he performed an intense anaerobic exercise, they won't simply come and jump off from him.
A mess like this is possible as long as a person has the guts and patience to do it until the very end.
Though it brought extra weight, this also made sure this hindrance brought great cover for him. There is no sophisticated machinery, strong enough to accurately deduce his identity with 100% accuracy using only video clips and other weak clues like shoeprints and molecular radar, present in the 12,172nd-star system and other nearby star systems.
An individual wouldn't be able to flee unscathed if there are no preparations beforehand. There are still three other puppets out there and it will be a total disaster if it was found out.
Naturally, both of them went straight to the first route he utilized to get in. It will be beyond godly stupid if he went directly to where those noisy footsteps came from. Soon, he was so far that it became too soft to be heard clearly.
However, he stopped on his tracks when he arrived at the location of the 'Blood Harvester' diagram.
The direction of the sunlight has slightly changed. But there is still something that didn't shift at all.
It was the two shadows some distance away from him. There was something curious about them. Life imposed another route selections and the freedom to choose.
Come closer to check them up but it is accompanied by unknown risks.
Or, leave right away, sneakily return home, and get a rest.
'Hmmm, I don't freaking know'
More than a second later, Lon left the scene. They are curious objects but it wasn't enough for him to take a gamble.
He has now the possibly wrecked body of the second puppet. So, why would he need to do something else besides his objective?
It could be a great fortuitous encounter but that doesn't correlate to him needing to grab that opportunity. With just his own Jirhen, it is a matter of trial and error and proper utilization in order for him to be rich and powerful in the darkest ways. Even if these people are a goddess, a princess, or a king of a nation.
In his screwed principles, if there is no instant benefit to be gained or it was not a part of an experiment, then there is no need to do anything at all.
...
A group of men carrying long rifles entered the scene. Each one of them is carrying energy rifles, fully loaded, and ready to shoot at sight.
Their arrangement consists of two rings. The outer ring that spots any danger in their line of sight. There are also flashlights attached to their rifles to have clear visibility. The other one, the inner ring is composed of veteran riflemen that know when, where, and what to shoot. They also have experiences to avoid friendly-fire among their colleagues.
At the center of this formation is Ajoika Akizuki. The owner of that plant factory. After he received the sudden report, he mobilized one of his elite troops and hastily drove to the plantation site. There was one way to take the cimexan down with no casualties in this group of reinforcements. That is to take out one of his 'real' prized possessions.
Usually, they wouldn't be taking out the more-loaded, sleek designed, and high firing rate Imaback-18 pulse rifles. These things could easily penetrate, with concentrated fire, a ten-inch thick chromotitan steel alloy. A basic component used for heavy infantry armor suits.
Whether above them or behind them, each orientation is covered by someone as they carefully walked, following the drops of blue blood.
When they arrived, Ajoika was amused. It was true that the cimexan has followed someone else for it is silently resting on the ground. There were no responses at all even when three members of the outer ring are just a meter away from it.
Pak! Pak! Pak!
It is evident that it is already dead because the forefront man kicked it multiple times, shook it with the rifle barrel, and finally slapped its sticky bloodied blue face. It wasn't the end of it as the man even checked if it is breathing faintly or if there is still a weak pulse. The result is that it is totally dead.
Around the dead body of the cimexan is a spectacle of destruction.
Deeper pits that are results of impacts of heavy smashing, smaller debris that is made from the shattering of walls and ground, the metal bars that are bent and turned to tinier chunks, and the blue basins of blood that accumulated.
This kind of damage is strictly different from the natural decaying of the surroundings. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out a battle that occurred here.
Energy clips and energy handguns also littered the battleground. A testament that someone has really killed the man before they arrived.
If not for a minor skirmish against rogues and rival factions at the plant factory, they would surely be in time to witness the climax of the fight. Those opportunistic people tried to raid his plantation in the midst of the chaos. This was an everyday affair in the northern sector, so Ajoika wasn't that surprised either.
A thought struck Ajoika as he scanned the scene and noticed something else. A short distance from the fight scene, there were pieces of broken wood planks.
Three more men were sent out from the formation to retrieve those things under a gloomier area. But when they returned, everyone that watched it has some apprehensions. There are some that connected some plausible connections but didn't dare to further deepen those conjectures.
They have heard the rumors that circulated inside Kuroi Te. An evil ceremony and an empty strange coffin were found near a safe warehouse under the organization's territory. And the twenty guards that are stationed there was used as the sacrifice for the ritual. It was said that thing has cursed all members of the organization to miserably die at the right time.
Most people that heard it has neutral stances and little to no heedfulness to that story. Rumors are often exaggerated and twisted by people to be catchy enough for the listeners. Especially in the northern part of the city where every day there would be new supernatural tales to be told.
Some completely didn't believe it at all and there a few dozen that were so afraid that they consulted the local priests and brought talismans from them.
This time, it was pieces of a destroyed wooden coffin case that was brought in front of them. It was still perfectly fine when they saw it. But when one of them touched the surface, it creaked and fell apart on its own. There are numerous smaller chips and there are only four long planks that managed to survive.
Its condition is surprisingly bad. It was covered in mold and dirt. Signs of extreme wood decay are also present everywhere. This caused for the fungi to thrive on it.
There's not even an ounce of any magic diagrams Lon had drawn on both sides of the wood two weeks ago. As if the material used were so old that there is a chance it will crumble into dust anytime due to the passage of time.
The really frightening part for them is the deep trenches found only on one side of the wood. It was so deep that some almost produced a small hole and distinguishable from other features. If it was just like that, there is nothing to worry about.
Then what if each side was placed side by side?
A bone-chilling truth would reveal itself. Out of the four planks, three have those scratches. Each line, each mark is identical to one another and those sides are the ones facing the owner of the coffin casket.
In their perspective, there could be only one possibility for this. Even for them, that idea is scary and merciless death.
A person was put inside, consigned to the grave, and it desperately tried to escape from being buried alive.
It could be the starvation or the lack of breathable air would kill the person. The anxiety of darkness and not seeing anything for days. The excruciating restriction of not being able to move. In the end, anyone placed inside will be filled with despair knowing their inescapable demise would come anytime.
And there is no chance that there could be a second possibility, right?
....