Frenzy crew

Changing back into his ragged shirt does two things. For one, he would attract less attention, and two, he could disguise himself better. He follows the path planned out by the A.I. to avoid the ruin tracker.

Getting chased by one right now is a death sentence since he didn't have any means to attack it. With only a kitchen knife, he could just scratch it. The thing is not long enough to cause a lot of damage.

Waiting by the building, Vero could spot a vehicle running through the wasteland. It's the same one he saw at his first-ever death. He smiles a little bit, since this time he won't be eaten by the ruin tracker. He waved at the van to hitch a ride back to O'ruma city. Seeing him, the van heads in his direction.

After reaching him, the van stopped and the door slid open. The person leaving the truck is a pink-haired girl wearing a pink-and-white augmented suit. She has a slim, oval face. She looks about 25 years of age, but in this world, hunters and inner-wall people usually get some type of life-prolonging treatment, so looks can be deceiving.

"Hello, little girl, how may I help you?"

"I'm...."

"Oh sorry! I can't tell haha... with your hair at shoulder length, I thought you were a girl. "

Vero's got a little embarrassment. This is the first time someone calls him a girl. Even in the slums, people usually don't value gender that much, aside from some degenerates who want to prey on young girls. When you're in a fight or flight situation, carnal pleasure comes last.

Vero was fortunate enough to not encounter any degenerates during his time in the slum.

"Well besides that, why are you here in the first place?"

The woman points her gun at him with a hint of killing intent. Vero, who's only experienced this for the first time, starts sweating and stuttering.

"Well I... got abandoned in this ruin..a.. and I hid in this building."

Seeing how Vero reacts, the pink-haired girl pulls out a knife.

"Wait!"

He tried to escape, but his weak body couldn't keep up with his intent. ,Damnit, my body didn't have the muscle memory! ' This is something that he learns from the A.I. when regressing the second time. His body couldn't respond to his thoughts simply because he wouldn't have the training and muscle memory.

Even worse, the girl was in an augmented suit, boosting her power and speed to an inhuman level. The girl incapacitated him with a quick motion

"Wait! Let me go!"

He doesn't have time to restart! He couldn't waste another life like this! He tried to shake himself off, but at this point, he was not in control anymore.

'Sh*t!!'

The knife penetrated his arm halfway through, and it stopped and the girl lost her grip on his body. He could vaguely hear a voice from the vehicle.

"Cherry! Why did you stop? Just kill him already! We don't get all day! "

"Well, he's not a Cyborg..."

"OH... This is a huge misunderstanding then. Elley, have you detected anything? "

"Nope."

"Ah, chucks, we've just given some kids PTSD."

The conversation makes no sense to Vero. Cherry, the pink-haired girl, carried his body and threw it in the van. The vehicle starts again and goes deeper into the ruin.

"What is going on..."

"Sorry," Cherry starts off with an apology, "We thought that you were an assassin sent by our rival guild to ambush us."

Vero made an expression that says, "Are you serious?" And Cherry picked this up, lending credence to his case.

"Well, you see, we have a really tight rivalry with the Adamantine gang, and they often send someone to hinder our progress or assassinate us. In the past, we fell victim to a lot of these types of ambushes, so we have to be sure. "

She said that with a warm smile while Vero was still doubting the explanation. Did he just fall into another sick torture again? Keeping him as a venting place and slicing him when they don't feel good.

Sensing that Vero didn't trust them, Cherry added.

"We're not going to hurt you, ok? You must be scared of what happened. " She hugs Vero, making him feel a little fuzzy. Surprised by the sudden action, he pushes himself off of her and gives her an intense stare.

"You don't like it?" She asks him. Giving Vero another smile. She did this because this move had worked before.

"Well... It's kind of random for you to do that." This is the most human contact he has had in years. Even with Fran, he would hug him out of nowhere. From Vero's perspective, this is a little indecent and a little warm.

"Hehe. It seems that it does the trick for now. " She would call this move a success, seeing that the tense atmosphere from Vero is gone.

"By the way, what's your name?"

"I'm Vero..."

"I'm Cherry, and this is my crew." She stretches her hand across the van, and Vero follows her movement. First he stops at a long-haired guy playing a game on his terminal.

"That guy is named Moro." He's a rather grumpy guy who loves useless things like gambling. Even now, he's properly playing a poker game. "

Vero has seen a few gambling addicts during his time in the slums, and Moro looks exactly like one. His grumpy look combined with his long black hair makes him vibe a lot like a homeless person.

"And you still play these useless games with me!"

"Shut up!... Even if he is a little rude, he's still an experienced hunter, so his skill in gun control is no joke! "

"Heh," Moro said, getting a little red from Cherry's compliment. She smiles back at the gambler's reaction and shifts her finger to another member using a terminal, but this time it has a lot of information on it. Scanning the landscape, the sound and motion sensors The girl using it has long silver hair and is wearing some sort of hood.

"This here is Elley, our newest addition to the team. She's our new tracker, replacing our recently retired hunter. I don't get along with her, but her tracking skills are the real deal. She also likes to wear a hood for some reason, even though it makes her skin white like a vampire with it on all the time."

"..." Elley doesn't seem to care about the little taunt from her captain.

"Lastly is my oldest friend and our sickest driver, Max!"

"That's me!"

She points to the driver's seat. The driver peeks back at them with a big smile. He's a well-built man, with a big beard decorating his face. He gave an air of more maturity and being a dad to the group.

"With that, our Frenzy top crew is complete!"

She said that with enough excitement to overwhelm the slum kid's Vero. This interaction is more than he could handle.

"Why bother explaining our crew to a random kid." Moro doesn't seem to like how Cherry is giving away free information.

"I guess it's compensation for causing PTSD in a child."

"Make sense." and with that, he continues to play on his terminal.