Chapter 172
Right now, I was in a private clinic that Jafa had introduced to. From what I heard, the doctor specialized in trauma treatnt.
Whirr.
I repeatedly tossed my dagger into the air and caught it. It was a ga I had enjoyed since my cadet days. It was good for killing ti and, at the sa ti, stimulating my combat nervous system.
Faster, higher.
My hand moved quicker, almost as if I were performing a trick. The dagger’s tip dropped toward the center of my forehead.
Kiing.
I caught the blade between my fingers, stopping it.
’Foolish Gabriel.’
Sitting on a bench in the hallway, I stared at the hospital room door. Gabriel was inside.
Gabriel was suffering from severe trauma. In addition to drug addiction treatnt, he also needed complex psychological therapy.
I could ignore his trauma and just ask about Giselle’s disappearance. But then Gabriel’s mind would shatter as well.
Click.
Spinning the dagger between my fingers, I continued my thoughts. The dagger danced over my hand.
’I know Gabriel. He must have done his best within his abilities. He just wasn’t capable enough.’
Even if you try your hardest, so things are simply impossible. A human can’t fly just by flailing their arms.
But just because I understood that... it didn’t an my anger disappeared. If anything, my rage, left without a target, churned inside even more.
Kiing, kiing.
The dagger, gaining speed, spun in all directions, drawing arcs in the air and displaying its sharp, piercing nature. A savage dance of the blade.
Kit!
The spinning dagger slipped from my fingers and flew away, grazing my cheek as it passed.
Drip.
I wiped the blood trickling down my cheek with my sleeve. Looking up, I saw the dagger embedded in the ceiling, trembling slightly.
’Anyone will do as long as I can fight.’
I wished soone would pick a fight with .
At this point, if the mastermind behind Giselle’s abduction sent an assassin after , I would have no complaints. I was more than willing to unleash every ounce of the violence I had mastered upon them.
Creak.
The hospital room door opened.
“The patient’s condition has stabilized.”
A man with a relaxed deanor stepped out. He wore a loose, oversized white coat that draped over him like it was slipping off. His dark skin made the contrast with the white coat even more pronounced. His presence felt more like that of a religious figure than a doctor.
’A Coritan.’
Gabriel’s new physician was from the Holy Corite Alliance.
A fragnt of my childhood flashed through my mind. I dug through my mories.
‘It was a Coritan forward base... no, more like a pioneer village. My fellow cadets and I raided the place.’
There had been a Force user there. He could have killed , but in the end, he held back.
It wasn’t a pleasant mory. My insides were already a ss from anger, and revisiting the emotions of that ti only made it worse. I felt like I was going to lose my mind.
My pupils trembled, making my vision blur. The bio-signals from my brain beca unstable, causing my prosthetics to twitch. Misinterpreting the signals, my cybernetic implants repeatedly increased and decreased their output on their own.
‘Annoying.’
Ironically, my anger toward Gabriel subsided. Instead, I was furious at myself for failing to control my emotions. A self-destructive urge to punish myself surged within .
“...It seems that the patient isn’t the only one in need of counseling.”
“If you stick your nose where it doesn’t belong, you’ll be the one needing a hospital bed.”
I shot the man a glare as I spoke. I had no patience for anyone acting like they understood .
“I’m a professional.”
“So what? Do you have mind-reading powers that let you analyze soone’s inner thoughts the mont you see them?”
“I don’t offer free counseling. So unless you want to pay, I won’t say another word.”
“Now that’s the best thing I’ve heard all day, Doctor Gaya.”
I glanced at the na tag on his coat. His na was Gaya.
“I’ve lived twice as long as you. I’d appreciate so respect.”
“That’s why I called you ‘Doctor.’ That’s an honorific.”
Gaya shrugged and then held out a form for to sign as Gabriel’s guardian.
“Mr. Gabriel requires long-term inpatient treatnt. If we discharge him now, he’ll likely attempt sothing drastic.”
“No need to sugarcoat it.”
“He’ll try to harm himself. Pardon , but what is your relationship with the patient?”
I hesitated for a mont, considering my answer.
“Forr... superior.”
“So, an old friend.”
“Don’t put words in my mouth. Jafa’s company will cover the dical expenses.”
“Understood.”
As I stood up, I looked toward Gabriel’s hospital room. But I didn’t move in that direction.
“Tell Gabriel... that I don’t resent him. That should make his treatnt easier.”
Gaya nodded and smiled. Then he walked to the end of the hallway and held the door open for to leave.
* * *
Border City was an increasingly ridiculous place the more I looked at it.
In reality, there was hardly any official law enforcent in Border City. There were police, technically, but their numbers were laughably small compared to the city’s scale.
’The police in Border City are practically just personal security for the Federation’s bureaucrats and elites.’
In fact, nine out of ten residents in Border City weren’t even citizens of the Bellato Federation. Only a small fraction had permanent residency or legal stay permits, and the vast majority weren’t registered in any administrative system at all.
Because of that, public security in Border City was entirely run by private security firms. People signed contracts with these firms to protect themselves from cri and even to conduct investigations or enact retaliation. Naturally, the more money you had, the better protection you could afford.
’At least in Akbaran, the Empire steps in when sothing big happens.’
The Empire kept a close watch on the lower districts, if only to maintain surveillance.
But in Border City, it wasn’t just negligence—it was complete abandonnt. Most of the resident population wasn’t registered with the Bellato Federation, aning the Federation itself essentially treated Border City as a foreign territory.
There were no attempts to stabilize the economy, security, or administrative functions in any aningful way.
’This isn’t just neglect... it’s deliberate enablent.’
They were allowing all sorts of abnormal incidents to happen unchecked. The unique nature and intended purpose of Border City were blatantly obvious.
“What a fucking joke...”
I muttered as I shut off all the holograms. I had been trying to dig up information on the case involving Gabriel’s girlfriend’s death, but I found nothing.
There were at least seven major private security firms in Border City. If I included the countless smaller companies, keeping track of them all would be exhausting.
To access the city’s cri records, I first had to figure out which security firm had handled the particular case.
And even then, there was no standardized way to access their databases. So companies would show their records for the right price, while others demanded all sorts of credentials. Those were the cooperative ones—so firms outright banned any outside access.
Even if I sohow got the necessary permissions and combed through different companies’ databases, there was no guarantee I’d find the case I was looking for. Judging by how things worked here, it was probably even possible for criminals to pay to have their incriminating records erased.
This was the natural consequence of a place where the state’s administrative power didn’t function and where there was no unified system or standard. From my perspective, it was the pinnacle of inefficiency.
In Akbaran, a single word from the elite or those in power could flood you with information. But here, even the powerful struggled to find what they were looking for.
This city was shrouded in a veil of chaos. I closed my eyes, then opened them again, murmuring the nas.
‘Shiren, Lunia.’
Gabriel’s girlfriend was Shiren, and her daughter was Lunia.
‘For soone like Gabriel, who grew up among gangs in the lower districts, to be this shaken... it must have been a horrifying incident.’
Investigating this case on my own would take a long ti. I was an outsider with no real footing in Border City.
...Once again, I needed soone’s help.
I knew it. No one survived alone in this world. I had received help from many people during the Storm Era. Border City would be no different.
I went to the person I found most likable at Jafa’s company—Lapis Lazuli, the brilliant engineer who had built my prosthetics.
Lapis Lazuli was humming a snake song as she repaired so kind of unknown device. By now, I was familiar with the rhythm.
I got straight to the point.
“An unauthorized network connection? Oh, you an the deep web? Why all of a sudden? If you’re planning to look at sothing weird...”
Before Lapis could narrow her eyes at , I quickly answered.
“I need to search for sothing.”
“Oh, I go there sotis too. But only with an old terminal.”
Lapis casually grabbed a terminal from a shelf and tossed it to .
I powered up her outdated device. Thankfully, no Jafa Corporation ads popped up.
Instead, as soon as I connected to the unauthorized network, dozens of illegal ads flooded the screen, one after another. The terminal’s firewall kicked in, wiping them out.
Kiing!
The overheating terminal let out a sharp whine as it worked in real ti to filter out the ads. Among them were hidden programs and viruses disguised as advertisents.
On the screen, I saw Lapis’s previous search history.
- Border City’s 13 Mysteries: The Ghost Prosthetic That Moves Without a Brain?!
Most of the results were urban legends and ghost stories. Apparently, one of Lapis’s hobbies.
- Jafa Burger’s at Secret: It’s Not Snake, It’s Actually...
That one caught my curiosity. I clicked on it, only to be t with a paywall.
“Hey, can I pay for this?”
Lapis scowled at .
“So you’re the kind of person who actually spends money on that nonsense.”
“I was joking.”
“Whatever you’re looking for, most of this is just gossip and trash information.”
“For sothing like that, you sure spent a lot of ti reading it.”
“It’s entertaining. Sotis, you even find rare bits of information. Like the legendary rcenary, Mushir al-Kashura, the One-Man Army. Everyone thought he was just a myth, but he turned out to be real.”
“Mushir al-Kashura?”
“You can look that up yourself later. It’s easy to find. What exactly are you trying to search for? If you keep hesitating, that terminal’s gonna fry.”
I agreed. From the way the terminal was overheating, it looked ready to start smoking.
Lapis hooked her tools onto her belt and stepped closer. She shifted the holographic interface toward herself, waiting for my instructions.
“Filter out cases where a mother and daughter were murdered together. The more brutal, the better. I’m sure there are people who collect only the most horrific cases.”
Lapis flinched, then shot a look full of disgust. I hurriedly clarified.
“It’s for an investigation, damn it! I’m just a perfectly normal, sexually healthy human male! I’m not into aliens, I’m not into guys! I only like human won of the sa species!”
“Alright, alright, don’t get so worked up. Anyway, I’ve connected to the most well-known snuff site. I’ll set up a filter.”
“The case happened seven years ago. Narrow the ti fra around that.”
“Oh, searching requires a paid subscription. And for the record, it’s ridiculously expensive.”
“I’ve got plenty of money.”
I handed her a credit chip.
Beep.
As soon as I swiped it through the terminal, the balance on the chip dropped significantly.
“Just so you know, most of the shocking photos and videos on these sites are fake. A lot of people waste money on this junk. Ah... uh... this is... Yeah, you take it from here.”
Lapis averted her gaze and shut her eyes tightly. I started going through the photos and videos uploaded seven years ago. Thanks to the paid access, at least there were no ads cluttering the screen.
It was tedious work. Countless grueso images and videos flooded in.
Then, one single photo caught my attention.
...A mother and daughter, dead.
The woman’s abdon had been cut open and spread wide, and inside, the child’s head was placed neatly, staring out. Their faces weren’t fully visible, but I knew instinctively. This was Shiren and Lunia.
- The Cycle of Birth and Death, Ouroboros.
The uploader had even given it a title, as if it were so kind of artwork.
‘Pathetic bullshit...’
I checked to see if the person who uploaded this was still active. Another paywall. Without hesitation, I swiped the credit chip again.
Beep.
Just then, my terminal buzzed with an incoming call from Jafa.
- Luka!
“This was a necessary expense. I’ll take care of a few errands later, so just let it slide.”
I spoke briefly and ended the call. I wasn’t completely devoid of conscience—I was starting to feel guilty about constantly making Jafa cover my costs.
Border City required far more money than I had anticipated.
‘This bastard is still posting regularly.’
The uploads ranged from every one to two weeks to as long as a year apart. It seed the uploader fancied themselves an artist, pretending that murder had so kind of aesthetic. On top of that, they always damaged or obscured the victims’ faces, making identification difficult.
I stared at the posts and photos the uploader had shared. I didn’t even blink—only my pupils moved, scanning each image with an inorganic focus.
It had been a while since I felt like this.
Analyzing an extrely limited set of clues and information to arrive at the answer. As twisted as it was to admit, I found this kind of challenge enjoyable.
Drip.
A warm trickle of blood ran down from my nose. My brain was overheating.
‘Judging by the patterns of the wounds, they’re left-handed. And based on the tistamps of the uploads, the frequency of the murders... and the angle of the photos...’
I wiped my nosebleed and blinked. Then, I reviewed the images in chronological order.
At a glance, the varying cara heights didn’t seem to an anything. But when I compared them across the years, I noticed a gradual upward shift in perspective.
‘They’ve physically grown over the past few years. They’ve gotten taller.’
That was one solid clue confird. From here, the rest of the deductions wouldn’t be difficult.
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