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“……”

Even though it wasn’t the time to be leisurely observing.

As if watching a grand theatrical stage or a piece of performance art, the passengers, and even the robbers, stood in silence with their mouths open.

A head spinning while spewing blood, a torso that still wriggled despite losing its central nervous system.

Perhaps the base of that silence wasn’t just bewilderment, but also the intuition that if they rashly stepped forward now, they might be the next to have their heads chopped off.

But that strange magic was broken before long.

Thud….

Bang!!

Big Boy’s head, which had been flung away in an arc, fell to the floor, and the body, which had been regurgitating stagnant, dark blood, also collapsed.

Only after the meat wall that had been stealing their attention crumbled could everyone identify the identity of the intruder who had entered so spectacularly.

The dark skin and the curly hair sticking out from between the rags helped them guess his race, but it didn’t provide any more information than that.

The noteworthy thing was, of course, that he was one-armed… If he were a man of means, he would have gotten regeneration surgery or a prosthetic arm to compensate for his weakness.

So, is he another scavenger who came to try and get a free ride? But he looks too neat to be one of them, doesn’t he?

He seems too accustomed to fighting to be an ordinary person, doesn’t he?

“Hmm…”

He shook his head, scattering the beads of sweat that had formed, and looked around.

Asif, who received the concentrated gazes, seemed very calm on the outside, but he was secretly sweating a little on the inside.

Originally, he hadn’t even intended to create such a dramatic confrontation.

It would have been much more advantageous to continue the chaotic battle so that those who still maintained numerical superiority wouldn’t regain their composure.

“Umm…”

…That is, if his overworked arm and overloaded Implant had listened to him.

He had been trying his best to move his hand and shoulder, which had been frozen while clutching the dagger since a while ago, and he reluctantly admitted that he needed to adjust the pace here, even if it made him look a little worse.

Asif’s eyes, which were searching the crowd as if choosing someone to talk to, briefly met the eyes of the passengers who were trying to figure out what the hell was going on, and he exchanged a greeting with them.

If you were to guess the message contained in it, it would be something like, ‘You’ve been through a lot,’ or ‘Just a little more effort…?’

Even if he hadn’t come to help them, it didn’t really matter to them.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and the act of taking out the bastards who were trying to shove grenades into the passenger compartment was enough reason to trust him.

“Then…!”

With that, Asif, having finished his awkward greeting, quickly darted back the way he had come.

“Kill that son of a bitch right now, you morons…!!”

The gang leader, who had taken a step forward to figure out the intruder’s intentions, roared and rolled his eyes back.

“Hey! That old man’s getting shot!”

“Covering fire? Supporting fire?? Anyway, just shoot him!!”

Bang!! Tat-tat! Bang—!

The passengers who had firearms, realizing that an unexpected helping hand had come to the standing-room-only section where even flight attendants weren’t assigned, began to eagerly shoot bullets into the backs of the robbers who had turned around.

…There were many stray bullets because the non-professionals were shooting in a hurry, but thanks to that, he succeeded in earning an opportunity to safely pull back, having taken a risk to meddle.

“Eek!”

At the same time as the chilling metallic sound and the high-pitched sound of air tearing grazed his ears.

Asif, who barely dodged the sparks flying at his feet as if he were chasing an escaped convict, hid behind a wall.

No one was left to question him about the reason for causing this mess, or to try to resolve it somehow.

The defending side gained strength from the fact that there was someone who wanted to screw over the shitty robbers with them. The attacking side was getting more and more worried about whether they should just be satisfied with the goods they had stolen from the front cargo hold, or if they should at least get their money’s worth and run away.

In the end, no one followed him to the end.

The crisis situation had somehow passed safely. Asif leaned his trembling arm against the cold wall and slowly rubbed it.

The situation wasn’t favorable, so he had to resort to an unusual act, but he was originally a skilled shooter射手. A talent who specialized in ultra-long-range combat.

Therefore, even though his condition was very uncomfortable and lacking, there was still room for him to try a little harder.

“Hoo… Hah!”

Clang! The shamshir, messed up with two people’s blood, clattered to the floor.

He raised his trembling hand and took out the handgun he had brought from his chest.

…Thinking about it, considering the trouble of reloading, he regretted that it might have been better to bring a rifle, and he stuck as close to the corner of the wall as possible.

What he had to recall was his old experience. What he had to calculate was the resulting trajectory.

…You made such a mess that all the adjacent cameras are broken! Now I can only create a visualization prediction model using sound pressure (Sound Pressure; air vibration)…. –

“It’s not like I’ve never imitated a bat before, so let’s just make do with that.”

He said that, but… he didn’t seem to have any intention of shooting haphazardly.

After re-adjusting the aiming point that kept going off.

Since his stiff arm wouldn’t listen to him, Asif moved his entire body as if he were controlling a tank to adjust the firing trajectory. Only the muzzle and barrel were peeking out into the hallway. Not even a finger that could be hit was exposed, let alone his head.

But the other side was also in the middle of a gunfight, so they were each hiding behind the terrain, so there was no target to hit with this passive method.

That’s why.

The variable of ricochet was added to the already terribly complicated ballistic calculation formula.

“…….”

The handgun, tilted diagonally, pointed towards the floor.

The part to aim for with a pistol bullet that would lose most of its power after one collision was a critical weak point that was also weak in strength….

Thwack—!

“Cough?!”

A man who had been crouching behind the passenger compartment door to reload suddenly clutched his side and slammed his head down at the sudden hot pain.

Blood gushed out from between the torn clothes and fingers.

The gunshot was naturally buried in countless other gunshots, and there were only fellow gang members in the position he looked back at. Only the question of what kind of bullshit this was, so bad that even ghosts would cry, floated in his head.

But Asif, who was ruthless to the underling whose future had become uncertain due to internal bleeding and organ damage, didn’t pay any more attention.

He was busy changing his posture and recalculating because the angle of reflection was difficult to predict if he fired again at the distorted position he had used once.

“Cough!!”

“Damn…! Which idiot….”

The bullet that followed the most faithful trajectory pierced the flesh of the target and tore through the internal organs via the J trajectory.

A chaotic atmosphere lingered among the people who had been hit by the unknown attack.

Distrust, bewilderment, panic. Various emotions flickered, and the weak but sweet thought of whether they should slowly run away tickled their throats.

The field manual to be followed in actual combat exists as many as the number of organizations in the world, and even more if you add the knowledge of the old era.

Among them, Asif was of the faction that followed the logic that victory could be achieved not only by killing all the enemies, but also by breaking their will to fight.

“Hoo….”

In that sense, he was almost at his destination now.

Besides, when he had glanced inside earlier, he had seen that there were many dead and seriously injured people inside the door, but he was a realist to the end. He had achieved quite a meaningful result and helped the citizens he could help, so he was satisfied enough.

It would have been perfect if it had ended there….

Eh…? ……Eubeub?! –

Ting!!

His composure was broken by the high-pitched moan that suddenly rang in his brainstem.

The wavering of concentration that occurred inadvertently immediately had a negative impact on his body, causing the bullet he had fired to bounce off in the wrong direction.

“……Rosalyn?”

He manipulated the Cyberware to check the communication quality, but it showed that there was no problem with the connection. He called out quietly, but there was no answer.

Instead, what he heard was… rough breathing and dull thuds. And her sobs, which were cut off in the middle.

“…….”

Without a word, his teeth ground together! His teammate and exclusive operator, who was like a daughter to him, was being humiliated live, and he felt like his blood vessels were bursting, just like Big Boy, whom he had just killed.

Sometimes there are. There are trash who, when the situation worsens, fail to face reality and turn their eyes in the wrong direction.

Some might argue that trusting and waiting for a colleague is also a method… but if you were to spout such a carefree sound in front of Asif right now, you might end up losing your head.

Creak…!

He staggered to his feet, still lacking oxygen and feeling languid.

The quality of the visual information being transmitted was greatly distorted because the commander had been caught up in an accident, but he clearly saw the enemies approaching, having reconfirmed his existence as he was lingering in the rear due to the missed attack at the end.

“…If you have so much attachment to this world, I’ll end it quickly.”

Quickly. He resolved to quickly clean up and return to the passenger compartment, no matter how many bullets he took.

It was a precarious decision made on the calculation that he also had a hormone control Implant, so he didn’t have to worry about falling into a state of combat disability due to blood loss or shock.

Ironically, it was put on hold by the actions of a meddler whom they had agreed to ignore for the time being.

…It’s really hard for me to forgive you? –

If you disappear quietly now…. –

…Drag them out and take care of them. –

“…Heh, this is something.”

Rather than being bound by personal grudges from the past, he volunteers to be an ally of the weak and moves as he pleases.

His steps are light, but his actions are not.

Furthermore, the cheerful and laughable proposal to be close friends, even though they could be enemies, gave a rather bright change of pace to Rosalyn, who had been humiliated, and to Asif, who was an indirect victim.

…The dubious mission was connected to a good connection, along with the joy.

Ugh?! Why is the communication still… Leader! Are you okay over there? –

“…My heart hurts a little.”

He roughly ignored Rosalyn’s communication that reinforcements would arrive soon, so even if he was injured, he should hold on a little longer, and waited with his gun pointed at the expected location where the enemies would stick their bodies out.

The identity of the reinforcements? There was no need to even ask.

Even excluding the thumping footsteps, the fact that Anastasia Valentine, an eccentric, had joined implied that the unusual mechanical soldier would naturally follow.

“Huh…? Who’s running so hard….”

“Huh? Oh, oh, oh…???”

Crack… rustle. Crunch!

Before the guys could even discuss their response plan, the steel beast that had rushed in instantly overwhelmed the separate unit that had been sent to deal with Asif.

A one-sided storm of violence that was too embarrassing to even call a battle ground them down as they were, and Zero and Asif’s eyes met, as if they needed audiovisual data to send to the two women waiting for the on-site report in the passenger compartment.

Blankly. Even the sarcastic tone of voice as he looked askance at the self-defense handgun pointed at the aisle – himself.

The budding inner intimacy already helped me accept things in a positive light.

…Are you perhaps picking a fight with me? –

“Ha. As if I would.”

Asif burst into a hearty laugh. Along with a regrettable shrug, as if he couldn’t even make a gesture of surrender because someone living somewhere had taken his favorite arm without permission.