"Boss, leave the stuff here. We'll be right back for it."
As Carl said this, she walked over to the door. She wasn't entirely sure what was happening outside, but Oliver's car was parked not far from the entrance. She had to check whether anything had happened to it. If the car was wrecked, they would have to carry everything back on foot.
Looking out through the shattered door, Carl saw that the street had already descended into chaos. In the middle of the road, a burly blond man in sunglasses with a pompadour was holding a Militech MK. Type 31 Heavy Machine Gun and continuously spraying a truck that had been stopped in the street.
On the side of the road closer to Carl, two familiar bodies lay by the curb. They wore hoods, Eurodollars were scattered around them, and their bodies were riddled with bullet holes. Judging from those wounds, the robbers who had just hit the braindance shop had suffered some completely undeserved disaster.
"What's going on?"
Jack leaned over by the shop entrance and looked outside as well. The moment he saw the scene, he ducked back. "A heavy machine gun? What the hell is this?"
"My car!"
Oliver spotted a distinct bullet dent in his car door outside. It looked like a round fired from the truck had struck it. At the sight of the damage, his eyes immediately reddened.
"That was a birthday gift from my sister!"
"What do we do?"
Carl had already gripped her weapon, while her left hand moved to the grenade at her waist that she had picked up from Maelstrom. "Want to take out both sides?"
With grenades, even if they ran into Subdermal Armor like those Maelstrom members from before, she was confident she could deal with it. Besides, Jack still had a Crusher slung over his back.
"You're way too aggressive."
Oliver wasn't about to demand someone's life just because his car had been accidentally dented. The guy carrying the heavy machine gun and the people on the truck who could trade fire with him were not people to mess with. He could let something like this slide.
After all, they had heavy weapons to reason with, and Oliver just happened to be a reasonable man.
"Too aggressive?"
Carl felt she was being perfectly reasonable. Compared to her compatriots who loved to wipe out entire families and eliminate future troubles at the slightest provocation, she was already extremely restrained.
Wasn't there a saying? Who said we liked killing entire families? I just wanted to kill his entire family.
The gunfight outside ended faster than expected. As the people in the truck escaped from the driver's side and traded fire with the blond brute, a group that appeared to be his allies had already slipped around to the rear of the truck.
The first to fire among them was a black-mohawked man using a mechanical hand to hold a Copperhead and spray bullets. Beside him, firing right after him, was a pale, petite girl with green twin-tails, wielding a pink M-76E Omaha pistol. With their help, the truck personnel trapped in the middle lasted less than three seconds before collapsing onto the ground, never to rise again.
"Maine!"
After taking out the people by the truck, the green-haired twin-tailed girl waved at the big man. "They're all taken care of!"
"Rebecca."
The blond giant called Maine nodded to the green-haired girl from afar, then called to the mohawked man beside her. "Pillar, find the goods. We're leaving."
"Got it."
Watching the three move briskly toward the back of the truck, Jack spoke up. "Looks like they're mercs too, just like us."
"Then there's nothing else to watch."
Carl turned around to retrieve her braindance and Braindance Headset. "Want to get your car fixed first, Oliver?"
"It's fine. I can fix a dent like that myself. Let's check out the apartments first."
As the two talked, the braindance shop owner finished packing up his braindances and ran out the door, picking up Eurodollars beside the bodies. They had been taken from his shop, so of course he had to get them back.
After Carl and Jack squeezed back into the passenger seat and Oliver started driving, the mercenary crew seemingly led by Maine also found what they wanted in the truck. As they withdrew, Oliver's vehicle drove past the truck.
Maine merely glanced at the passing vehicle without paying it much attention. Carl, however, took an extra look at him from the passenger seat.
That guy's Subdermal Armor was something else too. He could stand in the middle of the road and trade fire for that long.
The thought flashed through her mind and vanished just as quickly. This little incident was not worth dwelling on for long.
Oliver drove all the way to the Megabuilding without any further incidents. They quickly got in touch with the apartment manager and began discussing the rental terms.
The Megabuilding had been built by a corporation, and the apartment manager was merely an employee of that company. Yet when it came to commissions, he was every bit as harsh as a landlord. After listing a whole pile of terms and warnings, Oliver and Carl rented apartments on the fourth and fifth floors for 1,000 Eurodollars per month. Oliver had wanted to be Carl's neighbor, but there was only one vacant unit left on the fourth floor, so he had no choice but to take the apartment above hers.
The apartments came fully furnished, and Carl and Oliver could move in with nothing but their bags. Still, if a corporate-managed apartment was kind enough to furnish everything for you, there was definitely a catch to every item.
"Private phone: 10 Eurodollars activation fee, then 0.75 Eurodollars per minute. TV: 50 Eurodollars deposit, then 1 Eurodollar per hour of use. Hmm, there's even a vending machine in the room. Damn, they've brought business right into the apartment."
Carl walked up to the vending machine and spent fifteen Eurodollars on three bottles of Little Coco Cola, tossing one each to Jack and Oliver. She didn't particularly like Little Coco Cola, but perhaps because the seller was suppressing competitors, the vending machine did not carry any other cola. She could only resign herself to drinking this teeth-achingly tart soda.
"What do you think, Carl?"
Jack lay sprawled across the sofa in the room. It was his first time visiting an apartment like this.
"Overall, it's livable."
"Just livable?"
Oliver had not yet gone to inspect his own room, but the two apartments had the same layout. Looking at Carl's place was more or less the same as looking at his, so he was a little surprised by her casual assessment.
"Ever since I became independent at eighteen, I haven't lived anywhere better than this."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-four. Didn't you ask me that the first time we met?"
"Forgot."
You couldn't even afford a place that cost a thousand Eurodollars a month for six years after becoming independent. You've really had it rough.
Carl, who had moved into a place like this on her second day after transmigrating, felt no sense of pride whatsoever.
But regardless.
Looking at Oliver and Jack sprawled limply on the sofa like salted fish, Carl opened her can and took a sip.
Her story in 2075 had finally begun.
"Glug."
"So sweet."
Before you continue