Meteor City's Ideals

"So that's settled. See you in a bit."

After saying that, Gelman waited a moment before hanging up and putting away his phone. Then he looked at Shanzhi, his eyes gleaming.

"One left."

Cold sweat covered Shanzhi's bald head. He finally realized the danger he was in. His pupils shrank involuntarily, and his lips began to tremble.

"Y-You... do you know who I am? Do you know what will happen if you come after me?"

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

Gelman walked toward Shanzhi, the shadow of his Hunter's cloak stretching long in the moonlight.

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

He never got to finish. With a crack, the transformed Meat Saw slammed into his face, sinking into his skull.

Fear and despair were his final thoughts.

With a wet squelch, Gelman pulled the Meat Saw free.

Shanzhi's bald head split open like a watermelon. His eyes went blank, and he crumpled onto the cold ground with a thud, the noisy vitality he'd had before gone.

Gelman looked around and realized that one of the six men was still alive—the one whose arm had been severed.

"Please... spare me..."

Gelman ignored his pleas and finished him off.

Then he crouched and searched the six bodies, finding cash bills and stuffing them into his pocket. He also pulled the ring from Shanzhi's finger and took it with him.

He'd earned these.

Gelman's next stop should have been a return to the Beiqi Ta Hotel.

But he'd agreed to meet Shizuku, so he took a taxi to the square where they'd met that afternoon.

At eleven that night, the taxi stopped at the edge of the square.

Gelman paid and strolled across the square at an unhurried pace.

There were hardly any pedestrians left, and most of them were hurrying along.

The fountain had been turned off. Its statue looked like a person standing in the darkness.

A streetlight nearby cast a patch of dim yellow light.

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

Gelman walked over to her.

Shizuku soon noticed his footsteps and presence. She looked up, saw it was Gelman, closed her book, and stood.

"Someone interrupted me just now," Gelman said without preamble. "Let me confirm once more: you've decided to accept my offer and work with me long-term, right?"

Shizuku adjusted her glasses and nodded.

"Mm. I thought it was better to work with someone from Meteor City than take jobs from strangers."

She had her reasons for thinking that way.

Meteor City accepted any "garbage" that came its way, even if that "garbage" was a living person.

As a result, most of Meteor City's residents had no official identification, and without it, they were condemned to the lowest rung of society.

So Meteor City's residents, especially its children, became targets for the wealthy and powerful, as well as gangsters and thugs.

After all, no local government would bother to care whether these people lived or died.

This forced Meteor City to undergo a painful transformation.

Meteor City's Elders worked with the gangs, sending some of the city's talented people to be trained by them in exchange for a semblance of peace and stability.

Gelman himself had once used that channel to leave Meteor City and venture into the outside world.

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

In time, Meteor City's Elders and residents developed an idea of resistance—

"We accept anyone, so don't take a thing from us."

To protect Meteor City, they needed to spread a fearsome reputation beyond its borders.

That required the residents to stand together, to the point of launching suicide attacks against the outside world in retaliation for residents who had been wronged.

To the outside world, Meteor City was a terrorist stronghold. To its residents, however, it was a tightly knit community that looked out for its own.

The Phantom Troupe had been born in this environment, too.

Shizuku didn't completely trust Gelman. This ideal had simply been with her since childhood, taking root deep within her.

"All right." Gelman didn't hesitate either. He held out his hand to Shizuku. "I hope we work well together."

"I hope we work well together." Shizuku held out her hand, too.

They shook hands, then let go.

"Can you tell me where we're going now?" Shizuku asked. "Or do I have to wait until we sign a contract?"

In truth, whether or not they signed a contract meant little to two people from Meteor City.

If they intended to keep their word, they would see it through. If they didn't, a contract was just a stack of useless paper.

So Gelman shook his head and answered plainly. "The Dark Continent."

"The Dark Continent?" Shizuku tilted her head and blinked her big eyes in confusion. "You mean the place beyond the world? We can't get there, can we? We could never get permission."

She said "can't" twice. Under normal circumstances, she was right.

The V5 powers hadn't sent anyone to the Dark Continent in decades. Even if they were considering it again now, it was unlikely they'd grant permission to someone from Meteor City.

Gelman was just about to explain when the sound of tires scraping against the road came from all directions.

Before long, more than a dozen black cars swept into the square, silent until then, and stopped at every entrance, sealing the place off.

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

Some were holding phones, others had guns. A few shoved the taxi driver who had brought Gelman there out of his car.

The driver fell to the ground. He scrambled to his feet, looked up, saw Gelman, and shouted.

"It's... it's him! He's the man in the photo!"

"Like we couldn't see that?!"

One of the men in black kicked him, then narrowed his eyes at Gelman and Shizuku and walked toward them.

The other men in black closed in, too.

Seeing them approach, the taxi driver took off running, eager to get away from the trouble.

"Gelman!" The gang officer in charge spoke in a hostile tone. "You actually dared to go after Shanzhi. You people from Meteor City are getting more and more out of line! Don't think you can get away!"

"The Ten Dons have issued an order and put a huge bounty on you, dead or alive. The gangs all over Yorknew City are on the move now."

"We have people in every district! You and your companion—are you going to surrender or fight to the bitter end? You have five seconds to—"

The man hadn't finished speaking when his vision began to spin.

It was as if he were on a roller coaster. Then he rolled to the ground in a bizarre position, like a ball.

When the pain hit and the people around him started screaming, the gang officer's eyes widened as he understood what had happened to him.

"I've been cut?"

Gelman had appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye, the Meat Saw in his hand dripping with blood.

And that blood was his.

"He cut Boss Ross's head off!"

"When did he rush in?!"

"Quit staring and shoot! Shoot! Kill those two bastards!"

Shizuku, standing beside Gelman, was taken for his accomplice. Strictly speaking, she was one now.