The Ideals of Meteor City

After Gelman finished speaking, he waited a moment before hanging up the phone. He put his phone away and looked at Shanzhi, his gaze sharp.

"One left."

Shanzhi's bald head was covered in cold sweat. He now realized his predicament. His pupils involuntarily shrank, and his lips trembled.

"Do... do you know... who I am... do you know what will happen if you lay a hand on me?"

"I don't know, and I'm not interested."

Gelman walked towards Shanzhi, the shadow of his Hunter robe stretching long under the moonlight.

"I... I've already reported... reported you in Yorknew City..." Shanzhi backed away. "If something happens to me... you'll be..."

He couldn't finish. With a snap, the transformed Meat Saw swung down and slammed into his face, embedding itself into his skull.

Terror and despair became his final thoughts.

Squelch. Gelman pulled the Meat Saw out.

Shanzhi's bald head was like a split watermelon. His eyes were vacant as he slumped to the cold ground with a thud, his previous noisy vitality gone.

Gelman scanned the area and noticed that one of the six men, who had his arm severed, was still alive.

"Please... spare me..."

Gelman ignored his pleas and finished him off.

Afterward, he squatted down and searched the six corpses, finding cash bills which he pocketed. He also removed the ring from Shanzhi's finger and took it with him.

This was what he deserved.

Gelman's next destination should have been back to the Beiqi Ta Hotel.

However, he had arranged to meet Shizuku, so he took a taxi to the plaza where they had met during the day.

At eleven o'clock at night, the taxi stopped at the edge of the plaza.

Gelman paid the fare and walked slowly across the plaza.

There were few pedestrians left, and most of them hurried along.

The fountain was dry, and the statue in the center seemed to stand alone in the darkness.

Under the streetlights not far away, a patch of dim yellow light illuminated the area.

Shizuku sat on the bench, holding a palm-sized book in both hands, reading it intently.

Gelman walked towards her.

Shizuku quickly noticed the footsteps and aura, looked up, and seeing it was Gelman, she closed her book and stood up.

"Someone interrupted me just now," Gelman said directly. "I'll confirm again, you've decided to accept my request and cooperate with me long-term, right?"

Shizuku adjusted her glasses and nodded.

"Mm. Rather than taking jobs from strangers, it's better to cooperate with someone from Meteor City. That's what I thought."

She had her reasons for thinking this way.

Meteor City accepted all "garbage," even if that "garbage" was a living person.

Therefore, Meteor City was basically filled with people without social identification, and without identification, they had become the lowest stratum of society.

As a result, the residents of Meteor City, especially children, became prey for the wealthy and powerful, and gangsters.

After all, no local government was idle enough to care about the lives of these people.

This forced Meteor City to undergo a painful transformation.

The Elders of Meteor City cooperated with the gangs, sending some talented individuals from here to be trained by the gangs in exchange for superficial peace and stability.

Gelman himself had once used this channel to leave Meteor City and go out into the world.

However, few people were willing to be someone else's dog.

The Elders and residents of Meteor City gradually developed a concept of resistance—

"We accept everyone, so don't take anything away from us."

To protect Meteor City, they needed to spread a fearsome aura to the outside world.

This required the residents to be quite united, even to the point of launching suicide attacks against the outside world for wronged residents.

To the outside world, Meteor City was a base for a terrorist organization, but to the residents of Meteor City, it was a tightly-knit organization that looked out for each other.

The Phantom Troupe was also born in such an environment.

Shizuku didn't completely trust Gelman; it was just that this concept had accompanied her growth and was already deeply ingrained.

"Good," Gelman said without hesitation, extending his hand to Shizuku. "I hope we have a pleasant cooperation."

"Pleasant cooperation," Shizuku replied, also extending her hand.

The two shook hands and then let go.

"You can tell me now where we're going, right?" Shizuku asked. "Or do we have to sign the contract first?"

In reality, signing or not signing the contract held little meaning for the two born in Meteor City.

If they wanted to abide by it, they would see it through to the end. If they didn't want to, the contract would just be a stack of waste paper.

So, Gelman shook his head and stated directly: "It's the Dark Continent."

"The Dark Continent?" Shizuku tilted her head, blinking her large eyes in confusion. "Is it a place outside the world? We can't possibly get there, can we? We can't possibly get permission."

She had said "impossible" twice. Under normal circumstances, she would be correct.

The V5 great powers had not dispatched personnel to the Dark Continent for decades. Even if there was such an intention recently, it was unlikely they would grant permission to people from Meteor City.

Just as Gelman was about to explain, he heard the sound of car tires screeching on the ground, and vehicles swarmed in from all directions.

In a short while, the previously silent Plaza was suddenly filled with over a dozen black sedans, which stopped at every intersection, completely surrounding the area.

A group of men in black got out of the cars.

Some held mobile phones, some held guns, and some pushed the taxi driver who had brought Gelman over out of the car.

The taxi driver fell to the ground, got up, looked up and saw Gelman, and started shouting loudly.

"It... it's him! The person in the photo, it's him!"

"Do I need to tell you?!"

A man in black next to him kicked him, then narrowed his eyes, glanced at Gelman and Shizuku, and walked towards them.

The other men in black also surrounded them.

Seeing this, the taxi driver took off running, putting distance between himself and the trouble.

"Gelman!" the leading gang executive said with a hostile tone. "How dare you lay a hand on Shanzhi? You people from Meteor City are becoming more and more unruly! Don't think you can escape!"

"The 'Ten Dons' have already issued orders, offering a high bounty, and your life or death doesn't matter. The entire underworld of Yorknew City is mobilized now."

"We have people in every district! Will you and your companion surrender to us, or will you resist to the bitter end? You have five seconds..."

Before the man could finish speaking, his vision spun wildly.

He felt like he was on a roller coaster, then tumbled to the ground in a very strange posture, as if he had turned into a ball.

As the intense pain and the surrounding screams reached him, the gang executive's eyes widened as he understood what had happened to him.

"I was cut?"

In the blink of an eye, Gelman was standing in front of him, his Meat Saw dripping blood.

And this blood, it belonged to him.

"He chopped off Boss Ross's head!"

"When did he charge over?!"

"Stop spacing out, shoot, shoot, kill these two bastards!"

Shizuku, standing beside Gelman, was also mistaken for an accomplice, though strictly speaking, she was indeed an accomplice now.