A 079 Katana Can't Pierce Armor, So Who Exactly Is It Meant to Cut Down?
You have triggered the Side Quest "《Teach the Cowards a Lesson》"
[Type]: Combat [Duration]: 1 calendar day [Difficulty]: D [Description]: "A bunch of cowards who abandoned me and almost got beaten to death. I'll give them a good beating."
Three friends have betrayed you out of fear of trouble, completely abandoning your former friendship. This is intolerable to you. Use your power to teach them a lesson, or simply kill them to establish your reputation.
[Settlement Conditions]: A. "Persuade with Reason" - Use physical means to beat Li Ren, Ci Lang, and Cheng Zhisuke until they submit to you.
Rewards: 200 experience points, Li Ren, Ci Lang, Cheng Zhisuke will become your underlings; B. "The Traitor's Demise" - Slaughter them.
Rewards: Random rewards (determined based on task evaluation; higher evaluation yields better rewards) ——————————
"There's a task right off the bat. Okay, let's do it this way."
Caramel Snail stumbled toward his quest objective, which would grant him 200 experience points, enough to level up his "Street Punk" class. Meanwhile, his surroundings felt both unfamiliar and fascinating.
Sky Ring is a very strange country. Despite the flashing neon lights and the free-flying vehicles, people still wear large robes and bow to everyone they meet, saying, "Hi, hello."
A blend of technology and retro style.
Standing in the radiance of the Artificial Sun, I crawled like an ant. The ventilation fans in the subway station were piled with triangular metal spikes to prevent homeless people from sleeping there. The cold sunlight cast a gray filter over the world, while the distant Hojo Conglomerate building romantically projected a holographic shower of cherry blossoms onto the street. If you reached out to catch the electronic cherry blossoms, you would only see fragmented and empty pieces in your prosthetic eyes.
The human eye's refresh rate can't keep up with the speed of the hovercar, while wallets are getting emptier and emptier. People on the street are confused, walking hurriedly, showing no hope for life.
Desolation best describes Nura City, the largest industrial city in the Sky Ring.
Like all purely industrial cities, Nura City suffered from extremely poor public security. The transient population brought an extremely unstable social environment. The mines, factories, and urbanized neighborhoods made it easy for workers to become addicted to the industrialized entertainment environment and lose sight of their wealth. Workers from all over the country formed gangs and organizations. At first, they only wanted to protect themselves, but the power of organizations is immense. Over time, Nura City became a dark city teeming with gangs and breeding evil.
Doesn't the Heavenly Ring Nation care about these things? According to Saga Akira's voice diary, he even said with lingering fear, "(The Sky Ring government) would better not interfere. Due to cost, these jobs are outsourced to large corporations of clans. The clan samurai will sift through the entire city like a sieve, leaving only obedient citizens. The companies will throw students into mines and stuff Wanderers into factories, then make them work day and night until they die. Even their organs will be removed and offered to the company's top management as 'corporate welfare' to encourage employees to work hard and overtime."
Everywhere you look on the street, you see heavy addicts staggering like zombies, their mouths drooping, their eyes unfocused, their limbs twitching strangely, filling you with unease.
Despite being on a civilized city street, Caramel Snail felt a chill run down its spine.
To escape the Terror atmosphere around him, he pulled up his hood, plugged in his earphones, and casually listened to the radio news. "Good morning, good morning, good morning, everyone in Nura City! Welcome to today's news from the Red Brigade. This is your old geezer, Kim Jae-seok."
"Did you sleep well last night? Of course you did! You absolutely must! You can't afford to be unhappy! You all have to kneel down and clap and cheer! In the magnificent and glorious Great Sky Ring Empire, His Majesty the Ring King will not allow anyone to be unhappy!"
The host, speaking with a distinctive Sky Ring accent, said with a hint of sarcasm:
"Last night, the Hojo Conglomerate released the new 'Koi' smart submachine gun, boasting a rate of fire of 300 rounds per minute and automatic targeting of armor gaps—but guess what this has to do with you? Its price tag of 3,000 baht makes it not even worthwhile to fire a bullet into you commoners. It's a talisman for playboys, but don't worry, in the field of smart weapons, Sky Ring has won!"
"The annual Nine Dragons Gathering is about to begin again. The Hojo Family, Inawashiro Family, Inoue Family, Ishite Family and other seventeen major clans will gather in the capital, Qiongan Capital, to worship the ancient dragon god and display the divine weapons crafted by thousands of artisans throughout the year. The Great Onmyoji will offer dragon blood to imbue the best among them with dragon energy—but samurai swords can't penetrate nano armor. Guess who these swords will cut?"
"The anti- Parades and Demonstrations organized by the Red Brigade a few days ago have been completely suppressed, and the ringleader of the riots, ' Gretwar Night Song,' has been arrested. How wonderful! So opposing the invasion of the Red Arrow is a crime. If one day the Red Arrow Empire invades Qiongan Capital in the name of 'avenging Marshal Cister von Braun, ' will the people demonstrating in the Imperial Capital of Red Arrow also be committing a crime?"
"Last Wednesday, the Red Brigade Team suffered a severe blow from the military government and clan groups of the Heavenly Ring Nation, with two hundred brave fighters brutally murdered. Prime Minister Park Jeong-sun- soon even reiterated: The Red Brigade is a terrifying anti-human organization. But what has the Red Brigade done? They actually robbed clans of their wealth and distributed it to the poor! My God, this is truly anti-human!"
"Fellow countrymen, we, the Red Brigade, will continue to fight! As long as the evil military regime and clan rule remain, as long as the samurai remain blindly loyal to the corrupt Ring King, the Red Brigade's battle will never cease! Salute to the great ' Black Knight ' Gretwar Night Song!"
A pedestrian walking with his head down brushed past Caramel Snail and suddenly bumped into his chest, grabbed his earphone cord, and tried to snatch his terminal to run away.
"You fucking!"
Enraged, Caramel Snail pressed down on the terminal in its pocket, instantly tauting the earphone cord. The robber stumbled and lost his balance, and Caramel Snail pounced on him, trying to snatch the earphone cord back from his hand.
Seeing that things were going badly, the robber pretended to cover his head and take the beating, but then he pulled out a switchblade and stabbed Caramel Snail in the neck.
"Hold!"
Caramel Snail was instinctively startled and tried to dodge, but then realized it was a game and immediately punched the other snail in the nose.
Perhaps it was the "Street Punk" profession that gave him a faint fighting spirit, or perhaps it was the pent-up resentment that Caramel Snail had been holding in since entering the game. This punch was fast and hard, solidly breaking the opponent's nose.
laugh--
Fortunately, the knife was blocked by his collar and didn't pierce through in one go, only leaving a bloody gash on his neck. Before Caramel Snail could lower his Pain System, this only enraged him. He instinctively used his elbow to knock away the other man's wrist holding the knife, letting him thrust the blade into his body. He grabbed the other man's throat and slammed it into his eye socket and throat three times. Then, he grabbed his own terminal and slammed it into the other man's temple.
The once menacing knife-wielding robber suddenly fell silent, slumped on the ground, his face covered in blood, and his left eyeball was dented from the impact.
[You defeated level 1 ' Han Zihao, a high school dropout' - 100% total damage output, gained 25 experience points]
"Huh?"
The Caramel Snail stopped its attack, looking completely bewildered.
"He... he's dead?"
He then noticed that the robber he had killed still had a layer of downy hair on his face, looked very young, and was quite thin.
I... killed a child?
A high school student who wasn't even an adult yet attacked me, but I could have spared him. I beat him to death, literally beat him to death...
For some reason, even though it was in a game, Caramel Snail still felt quite uncomfortable after killing someone. Upon seeing the other person's bruised face and sunken eyes, and with the smell of blood still lingering on its hands, Caramel Snail immediately felt an extremely strong urge to vomit.
"Ugh—that's disgusting..."
As he spoke, he quickly added the 25 experience points he had just acquired to [Street Punk], then picked up the switchblade that the other person had dropped, ransacked the other person, and fled the scene at lightning speed with 400 baht in coins.
—It's true, and I feel guilty, but the thought that the other person almost killed me immediately reduced my guilt to almost nothing.
Since he's going to kill me anyway, I should be prepared to be killed in return.
The police in Sky Ring are quite unprofessional, or rather, people dying in Sky Ring is not a big deal. On average, 70,000 people die from shootings every year. The police are too lazy to deal with ordinary disputes and excessive self-defense. If you can escape without being discovered, you are considered to have a skill.
Caramel Snail ran around for a while, but seeing that no police cars had come out, she was both amazed by the bewildering dedication of the Sky Ring police and checked her injuries.
It wasn't a big problem. The high school student seemed to have not eaten for a long time. He had been stabbed several times, but none of the wounds were fatal. The wounds were all just in the subcutaneous fat area. He bought some strong liquor from a vending machine on the street, poured it on the wounds to disinfect them, wrapped them with a strip of cloth, and then left it alone.
[Street Punk] provides him with a very simple initial skill - [Brawl]: It allows him to roughly beat up enemies and increases the chance of subconscious dodging and blocking.
Besides, 19-year-old Saga Akira is quite physically capable, with 6 points in Strength, 6 points in Dexterity and Constitution, and 5 points in Willpower (which is normal for a normal person). However, his Charisma is rather pitiful, as he only has 3 points due to his slovenly demeanor as a Street Punk.
Fortunately, he doesn't need [charm] now.
Just as Caramel Snail was hurrying along and was about to arrive at his destination, the cheap rental apartment, he suddenly heard a soft thud coming from the alley.
Plop
It was very slight, like a jelly being dropped on the ground, only causing dust to splatter.
If he hadn't been so close, he probably wouldn't have noticed such a subtle sound at all.
What could it be? A corpse? Or something else—
For some reason, perhaps because he had just killed someone, Caramel Snail was unusually tense. He instinctively looked for a wall to use as cover, pressed himself against the wall, and carefully turned his head to look into the alley.
The dark alley was deserted, save for a calico cat with its fur standing on end, perched atop a trash can, baring its teeth and emitting a sharp cry.
"Wow—Meow!!!"
That was the sharpest sound Caramel Snail had ever heard in his life. The harsh resonance made his heart ache and sent shivers down his spine. Most importantly, he keenly noticed that the calico cat wasn't screaming at him.
Its gaze kept shifting, as if it saw an invisible figure slowly walking towards it, passing by its side. Suddenly, the cat's eyes froze on the back of its shoulder.
The Caramel Snail's pupils contracted, as if it vaguely sensed something, and it froze on the spot, not daring to move.
"Oh."