ch15

The blood in my head is boiling.

Even though I’ve never had an implant in my brain, the grenade flying through the air seems to move in slow motion within my accelerated thoughts. My body, the epitome of human design and genetic engineering, screams that it’s fucked.

If you have time for that, move a little, damn it…!!

Screech…!

Twisting my ankle, I throw myself with all my might towards the driver’s seat. I didn’t have time to admire the power of the grenade. I was about to experience it firsthand!

The mother and daughter’s eyes widened as they saw me diving through the air.

Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize…! There will be a strong jolt to the vehicle shortly….

KWA-GAAAAANG—!!

“Keuheok…?!”

“Sister……!!”

The impact sends my body flying. A storm of shrapnel, capable of tearing apart everything within its radius, pierces through the inside of the Hovercraft.

The Hovercraft’s chassis is caught in the explosion… no, it really is caught, and it’s shaking violently. I can’t seem to get my bearings.

I’m rolling around, bumping into everything… but I can’t even feel the pain. An incessant ringing, like the sound effects from a war movie, won’t leave my ears.

My vision is blurry, and I can see the panicked mother and daughter running towards me, mouthing something in a blurry afterimage. I wanted to tell them I was okay, but my chest felt tight, like I was choking, and only ragged breaths escaped my lips instead of proper words.

‘That crazy grenade! It’s so damn strong…!!’

“Cough… cough! Hiss… Keuheok….”

The power of that useless consumable item that can’t even properly blow up a combat police Droid in the game was truly beyond imagination. Even after seeing a barely modified Tracker crush a large-caliber turret with one hand like clay, I didn’t think deeply and committed this crazy act… I deserve to be hurt. It’s a miracle I’m even alive.

“Anastasia, please! Breathe in slowly…!!”

“……Hiss! Haah… Haah…!!”

I’m desperately trying to breathe in, but why am I so short of oxygen… it’s as if the explosion sucked all the air out of the surroundings. I tried to shake my head and hands to let them know there was no need to make a fuss….

Clunk…! Drrr…!!

“Keuk…?!”

Not only are my fingertips severed and my clothes torn to shreds, but chunks of flesh are gouged out as if I’d been mauled by a tiger. The black arm of the outlaw, with bones and the mechanical parts implanted in his body exposed, scrapes against the floor of the vehicle.

Crazy…. He’s like an evil spirit risen from hell. Even I, who was only caught in the shockwave, am in this state, and he’s still moving after taking that directly?

“Eee… Ik…!!”

“Sister! Don’t move! You’re bleeding…!!”

Desperately. Mary and her mother try to stop me as I reach for the door opening button in front of the driver’s seat. ……Blood? I feel something lukewarm near my forehead… but that’s not the problem right now, there’s a Terminator who just escaped from a furnace behind you two, you know?!

“You nyeon… nahate… diejeot… AAAAAAAARGH—!!”

“!!”

Even though his cheeks and tongue are gone, making his pronunciation slurred. The intense murderous intent and hatred contained within make the hairs on my body stand on end. Most of the skeleton that makes up the enemy’s face that’s been shoved inside has been replaced with metal. It’s amazing that he’s still moving even with grenade fragments still deeply embedded in him.

……Damn it, just die already.

Beep! Woodudeudeuk……!!

My barely extended hand slams the door shut.

The waist of the guy who was half-crawled in was precisely caught in the doorframe, and was brutally severed by the pressure.

Thump… and clang.

Saying goodbye to his beloved lower body. The sound created by the cyborg-level Modified Human’s upper body, left alone and lying on the floor, startles the two mothers and daughters, and they huddle closer to me.

“……Haaa.”

For now… I’m alive. Unless they have the firepower to penetrate the Hovercraft’s heavy armor or the reinforced glass on the front, all that’s left is to calmly pilot this mass weapon and drive out the remaining forces. …That’s what should have happened.

…Scratch.

The head of the guy who was lying there as if dead scrapes against the floor. The eye sockets, where the eyeballs used to be, are now nothing but red and black emptiness, and they stare directly at me.

“Lee… Sao Soo nimle… gamiii……!!”

The ends of the few remaining fingers clicked open. What was revealed there was… a kind of muzzle.

Seriously… he received a stupid modification that prevents him from even entering demilitarized zones…? What a tenacious bastard….

I forcibly whip my staggering body to block the two ladies. …It’s okay. A bullet with great killing power can’t be fired from such a messed up body modification result. I should be able to cover my vitals well enough with my arms.

…But. There was someone braver than me hiding here.

“Leave my mom and sister… alone!”

“!! No…!”

A crude gunshot rings out.

The little knight, who kicked away from the arms of her parents, which were more cozy than anywhere else in the world, took the lightning spewed out by the devil head-on. Her body, which flew weakly backwards, landed in my outstretched arms.

“Ah……?”

Her sparkling eyes are tightly closed. Her chattering little mouth no longer moves. People who aren’t Modified Humans fall and die more easily and futilely than you’d think when their vitals are pierced. It’s a scene I’ve seen countless times on the way here, but… it doesn’t feel real this time.

A sticky and viscous sense of despair crawls up my legs. A question with no answer swirls in my head.

Why…? Why…? Didn’t I change the shitty future? Does fate return no matter what kind of unreasonable demands it makes? Or maybe…… was it because I took off my jacket for no reason…? Because I said unnecessary things?

I’m afraid to turn my head. I’d rather be resented. If they hit me, I’ll just take it quietly.

I’m sorry…. I’m sorry…. If a more wonderful and thorough hero-protagonist- had come to save you instead of a fake heroine like me, this result wouldn’t have happened…!!

Clatter….

The bullet that took the small life fell to the floor. The mind that was dizzy from the noble figure that wasn’t stained with a single drop of blood, as if it had cleanly penetrated, fell into a deeper darkness….

“…Eh? Why doesn’t it hurt…?”

“?!”

“Mary…!!”

The mischievous girl, who slightly opened her tightly closed eyes, muttered something so absurd that I could jump up and down in frustration, and was urgently arrested along with her mother. I hurriedly took off her jacket and checked every inch of her, but Cyberware clearly diagnosed that there was nothing wrong with her except for the bruises on her face.

The bulletproof vest I gave her was too big, and Mary’s body was light. The bullet that hit the hem of her clothes created this scene…? I wish you’d refrain from making such ridiculous, borderline jokes.

When will the doctor-sensing Cyberware be developed…?

Slap!! Slap…!

“Aaaaaaaargh!! I’m sorry, Mom!!”

“Apologize to Anastasia right now too…! Look how surprised she is, she can’t even get up…!!”

“I’m… I’m okay…. Yes….”

It’s true that my legs have given out…. But seeing Mary being punished on her calves in such a mess, I’ve lost the energy to get angry. Maybe the blood that rushed to my head just flowed down too much and I’m just anemic.

Knock knock knock…!

“Ah. Grandpa… you’re safe.”

While the commotion was going on inside, the residents who had already taken care of all the outlaws were knocking on the door of the floating vehicle.

Mr. Schneider, who looks a million times younger and more gentle than in the game.

The mechanic grandpa, still holding the packaged dinner even in this situation.

Even though their impressions and armaments are completely different, the members of the vigilante group look happy with the victory they’ve achieved, as captured by the side camera.

Beep….

I was going to open the door and rest for a bit. But a soft female arm came under my shoulder and supported me.

Haa…. This is… I guess I’m not destined to show off anywhere.

I turned off the engine, got out with support.

I gently pushed the hesitant mother and daughter to Mr. Schneider’s side. Now all that’s left is… the silent grandpa and me.

His troubled gaze keeps scanning my body. His cautiously extended hand arbitrarily lifts my hair and checks the wound on my forehead.

“……I rushed over. But really… you’re perfectly fine.”

“……And you, miss. You must have fallen too hard… while rushing over.”

It was a conversation that suited us well, even though we didn’t even know each other’s names.

Too far to express concern and worry. But we lived too close to ignore it. Seeing the grandpa’s bitter expression, it seems like I’ll become a critical patient if I refuse the medical bill support.

…I guess I’ll just have to be indebted to him this time.

Just as I was about to shake it off and get up, an angry uninvited guest approached.

“Hey!! Hacker girl! Where in the world does this happen?! Treating someone else’s merchandise like this! Dented armor and… Heeik!! The interior is a real mess too! You have connections or Credits to fix this, right? Huh??”

“…….”

The junk shop owner, who could only be described as resembling a rat, was pecking at me like crazy.

I didn’t particularly expect a thank you since he came to help the mechanic grandpa. I expected at least one complaint since I stole… borrowed the item he had sold. But the first thing he said was a claim for damages…? This bastard, really.

“This shi…. Haa, okay. All~~ okay. But then at least. Would you explain why the Hovercraft, which was supposed to be scrapped without a trace for only 20,000 Credits, was in the warehouse in such perfect condition? Mr. President?”

“Uh… anyway! You wanted me to dispose of it neatly, didn’t you?! I was just looking for a route as sure as scrapping it! Don’t be unreasonable!!”

“…Unreasonable? Unreasonableee?! Your skill in making excuses is truly artistic?”

“The one who’s trying to gloss over theft is more unreasonable! Now, Credits! Are you going to pay? No, do you even have the ability to pay??”

Wow… this rat bastard. I should just avoid him because I’m disgusted. I’d rather roll around here for a few more weeks, I feel like I’m catching his filthy desires the more I talk to him.

I was about to pay the inflated ransom and get it over with, but… the expressions of the residents and grandpa around me are strange.

Faces that were beyond red and swollen… like volcanoes on the verge of eruption.

……The countryside is said to have strong localism, so maybe I started a pointless argument and earned their antipathy… but.

Click!!

A still steaming sniper rifle was placed on the back of the rat-headed junk shop owner’s head.

The culprit is… Mr. Schneider, the former mercenary who is much more demonicly angry than the guy named Sao Soo or whatever from before.

“Sch… Schneider, are you crazy?! What are you doing?!”

“……I think I owe that girl over there a very big debt. And… isn’t making a thousand times the profit fraud, not business…? Elder Wei Long…? Pay a fair price. I think everyone agrees with this, beyond the village rules.”

“……A thousand times?”

The rat, feeling the sincerity in the sensation of the pressed metal and the murderous gazes of the residents, presented a new offer of full support for damage recovery and… a reasonable Hovercraft purchase price, as if he had never demanded compensation.

……The money to buy citizenship, I accidentally earned it.