Vol-2: 079. If a katana can't break through armor, who exactly is it meant to cut?

079. If a katana can't break through armor, who exactly is it meant to cut?

[You triggered a side quest—"Teach the Cowards a Lesson"]

[Type]: Combat

[Duration]: 1 Natural Day

[Difficulty]: D

[Description]:

"A bunch of cowards left me to almost get beaten to death. Beat them up."

Three friends abandoned you out of fear, betraying your past friendship completely. This is something you cannot tolerate. Use your strength to teach them a lesson, or simply kill them and make a name for yourself.

[Completion Criteria]:

A. "Rule by Force"—Use physical means to beat Rito, Jiro, and Seinosuke until they submit to you.

Reward: 200 experience, Rito, Jiro, and Seinosuke will become your lackeys.

B. "The Traitor's End"—Kill them.

Reward: Random (Based on mission rating; the higher the rating, the better the final reward.)

——————————

"A quest already? Alright, let's do this."

Caramel Snail staggered toward his targets. This quest could give him 200 experience, enough to level up his [Street Kid] profession. Meanwhile, everything around him felt strange and new.

Tianhuan was a bizarre country. Neon lights flickered everywhere, and hover cars zipped by, but people still wore oversized robes, bowing their heads and constantly saying, "Hai hai, arigato."

Part futuristic, part retro.

Under the artificial sun's glow, they crawled like ants. Metal spikes piled up near the subway station's vents to prevent homeless people from sleeping there. The cold sunlight cast a gray filter over the world, yet in the distance, the Hojo Group building romantically projected a holographic sakura blossom rain onto the streets. But if you reached out to catch the electronic petals, all you would see in your cybernetic eye was shattered fragments of nothingness.

People's eyes couldn't keep up with the speed of hover cars, yet their wallets emptied faster than ever. The people on the streets walked in a daze, hurriedly moving along without a shred of hope for life.

Bleakness was the perfect description of Nuliang City, Tianhuan's largest industrial metropolis.

Like all pure industrial cities, Nuliang City had terrible law and order. The transient population created an unstable social environment, with mines, factories, and urbanized districts everywhere. Workers became addicted to the industrial entertainment, unable to hold onto their earnings. Workers from all over would form gangs and organizations, initially to protect themselves. But the power of these organizations grew, and over time, Nuliang City became a dark city rife with gangs and evil.

Did the Tianhuan government not care? According to Saga Ki's audio diary, he anxiously stated, "(The Tianhuan government) better not get involved. For the sake of cost, all these tasks are outsourced to the major clan companies. The Samurai of the clans will filter the entire city like a sieve, leaving only the obedient civilians. The corporations will throw students into the mines, shove wanderers into factories, and make them work day and night until they die. Even their organs will be harvested afterward and offered to the company's executives as 'corporate benefits' to encourage workers to work overtime."

Everywhere on the street, junkies stumbled like zombies, their mouths drooping, eyes hollow, limbs twitching strangely—making Caramel Snail deeply uneasy.

Even though he was in a civilized city, Caramel Snail felt a chill run through him.

To escape the terrifying atmosphere, he pulled up his hood, plugged in his headphones, and randomly tuned into the news broadcast:

"Good morning, good morning, good morning~ People of Nuliang City! Welcome to today's news from the Red Squad. I'm your stinky old bro, Kim Jaesik."

"Did you sleep well last night? Of course, you did! You had to! You weren't allowed not to! You had to kneel and clap while doing it! In the grand and glorious Tianhuan Empire, His Majesty the Ring King doesn't allow anyone to be unhappy!"

The host, with a unique Tianhuan accent, said sarcastically:

"Last night, the Hojo Group released a new 'Koi' series smart submachine gun. It fires 300 rounds per minute and automatically targets gaps in armor—but guess what? What does that have to do with you? Its 3,000-zhu price tag is so high that even shooting you peasants wouldn't be worth it. It's a rich man's toy, but don't worry—in the world of smart weapons, Tianhuan has won!"

"The annual Kowloon Gathering is coming up again. The Hojo family, the Inawashiro family, the Inoue family, the Ishite family, and 17 other major clans will gather in the capital, Jionankyo, to worship the ancient dragon god and showcase the divine weapons crafted by tens of thousands of craftsmen this year. The Grand Onmyoji will draw dragon blood, anointing the best weapons with dragon energy—but, then again, katanas can't break through nanotech armor, so who do you think these swords are meant to cut?"

"Recently, the anti-war protest organized by the Red Squad was fully suppressed, and the leader of the riot, 'Greatwo Night Song,' was arrested—how wonderful! So, opposing the invasion of the Huameida Archipelago is a crime? If, one day, the Red Arrow Empire invades Jionankyo under the guise of 'recovering lost territory,' are the anti-war students protesting in Red Arrow's capital also criminals?"

"Last Wednesday, the Red Squad suffered severe blows from Tianhuan's military government and clan groups, and 200 brave warriors were brutally killed. Prime Minister Park Jung-sun even declared that the Red Squad is a terrifying anti-human organization. But what did the Red Squad do? They robbed wealth from the clans and gave it to the poor! Oh, how terribly anti-human!"

"Comrades, the Red Squad will keep fighting! As long as the evil military regime and clan rule continue, as long as the Samurai remain loyal to the decaying Ring King, the Red Squad's battle will never stop! All hail the great 'Black Knight' Greatwo Night Song!"

A pedestrian brushed past Caramel Snail, suddenly bumping into his chest. The man grabbed the earphone cord and tried to snatch his terminal, preparing to flee.

"You son of a—!"

Furious, Caramel Snail clutched the terminal in his pocket, causing the earphone cord to go taut. The robber stumbled, and Caramel Snail immediately pounced on him, trying to snatch back the earphone cord.

Realizing he was losing, the robber pretended to shield his head, but unexpectedly, he pulled out a switchblade and lunged for Caramel Snail's throat.

"Shit!"

Instinctively, Caramel Snail flinched but then remembered this was a game. He balled his fist and punched the guy in the nose.

Maybe it was the slight combat awareness [Street Kid] had given him, or maybe it was all the pent-up anger he'd been holding since entering the game, but Caramel Snail's punch was fast and hard, breaking the guy's nose with a solid hit.

Hiss—

Fortunately, the knife was blocked by his collar and didn't go straight through. It only left a small cut on his neck. Caramel Snail hadn't adjusted the pain settings yet, and this angered him further. He instinctively elbowed the guy's wrist, letting the knife stab into his body while grabbing the guy's throat and slamming his fist into his face and throat three times. He then grabbed his terminal and smashed it into the guy's temple.

The knife-wielding robber, who had been so aggressive moments ago, collapsed to the ground, lifeless, covered in blood, with one of his eyeballs caved in.

[You killed lv1. 'High School Dropout Han Zihao'—Overall damage contribution: 100%, earned experience: 25 points]

"Huh?"

Caramel Snail stopped punching, looking confused.

"Did he... die?"

Only then did he realize that the robber he had beaten to death still had a layer of soft peach fuzz on his face—he was young, barely out of childhood, and his frame was thin.

I... killed a kid?

A high school student, not even an adult yet. He attacked me, but I didn't have to kill him. He died because of me—I beat him to death...

Despite knowing this was just a game, Caramel Snail felt deeply uncomfortable. Seeing the bruised and bloodied face, the caved-in eyeball, and smelling the fresh blood lingering on his hands—Caramel Snail suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to vomit.

"Ugh—this is disgusting..."

Saying this, he quickly added the 25 experience points he had just gained to [Street Kid], then picked up the switchblade the other guy had dropped. After looting the body, finding 400 zhu in coins, he fled the scene as fast as he could.

—Realistic as it was, guilt was still guilt. But when he remembered that the other guy had almost killed him, the sense of guilt quickly diminished to almost nothing.

If he had been prepared to kill, he should have been prepared to be killed in return.

Tianhuan's police force was notoriously uncommitted. Or rather, in Tianhuan, deaths just weren't considered a big deal. On average, 70,000 people died each year from gun violence. Ordinary disputes and cases of excessive self-defense? The police couldn't care less. If you managed to escape without getting caught, good for you.

Caramel Snail ran for quite a while, noticing that no police cars had been dispatched. He marveled at Tianhuan's police force's bewildering dedication to their jobs, all while checking his wounds.

Not too bad. That high school kid probably hadn't eaten in a while; although he'd stabbed Caramel Snail several times, none of the wounds were fatal. The cuts barely reached the subcutaneous fat. Caramel Snail bought some high-proof alcohol from a street vending machine, poured it over his wounds to disinfect them, wrapped them in cloth strips, and stopped worrying about it.

[Street Kid] gave him a very basic starting skill—[Brawling]: Allows for crude strikes against enemies and increases the chances of instinctual dodging and blocking.

Other than that, the 19-year-old 'Saga Ki' had decent physical stats: [Strength] at 6, [Dexterity] and [Constitution] both at 6, and [Willpower] at 5, which was typical for a normal person. As for [Charisma], it was a little pitiful—thanks to [Street Kid]'s inherent scruffy aura, his [Charisma] was only at 3.

Luckily, he didn't need [Charisma] right now.

Just as Caramel Snail hurried along and was about to reach the run-down apartment building that was his target, he suddenly heard a faint sound in the alley.

Thud.

A very soft noise, like a piece of jelly hitting the ground, with only a bit of dust stirred up.

If he hadn't been so close, he probably wouldn't have noticed such a subtle sound.

What could that be? A corpse? Or something else—

For some reason, maybe because he had just killed someone, Caramel Snail was on edge. Instinctively, he sought cover by pressing against a wall, cautiously leaning over to peer into the alley.

The dark alley was empty, except for a calico cat standing on a trash can, its fur bristling, back arched, baring its teeth and hissing:

"Waaaah—meow!!!"

It was the sharpest sound Caramel Snail had ever heard in his life. The harsh resonance made his heart uncomfortable, his skin crawling with goosebumps—but the most unsettling part was that he noticed the cat wasn't hissing at him.

Its gaze kept shifting, as if it were watching an invisible figure slowly approach, circling around him. Suddenly, the cat's eyes froze, fixed on a point just behind his shoulder.

Caramel Snail's pupils contracted. He had a vague sense that something was there and froze in place, unable to move a muscle.

"Yo."