Black Shield Police Department, Enforcer

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Blood burst from both men as the shots rang out, and they crashed to the ground.

Yu Yuan ignored them. He dropped his backpack and charged at the archer like a cheetah.

The archer had turned to flee the moment the gunfire started.

But to ambush Yu Yuan, he had been lying flat among the shrubs, hidden from sight.

Now there was no cover around him, and no more than ten meters separated them.

Bang! The last round in the M1911A1 went wide, but still struck his leg.

The archer fell. Terror filled his face as Yu Yuan bore down on him, looking ready to kill.

"Don't... I was wrong..."

Yu Yuan gave him no chance to say more. The Kukri was already swinging.

His voice cut off.

A quick search turned up nothing of value. Only the recurve bow was worth taking. Three arrows remained in the quiver, so Yu Yuan took them all.

He pulled off the archer's finger guard, then returned to the dumpster.

One of the two men had fallen where he stood. The other was coughing up blood as he struggled to crawl away, leaving a trail across the ground.

The man begged for mercy. Yu Yuan's eye twitched, but he raised the Kukri high and brought it down on his neck. The second man lay still.

Yu Yuan reached the third man and, without checking whether he was dead, cut his neck as well.

There was no time to search the three bodies. An engine was roaring nearby and closing fast.

"What a waste!"

He dared not linger. He tossed his backpack and the bow into the sewer, did what he could to clear the scene, then climbed down the ladder. After locking the manhole cover, he ran toward District 13.

Before long, two vehicles with a distinctly Wasteland look pulled up outside the East District Water Affairs Center.

Their outlines still suggested police cars, but patchwork metal armor, ramming spikes, mounted machine guns, bullet holes of every size, and rust gave them a brutal, intimidating look.

A few large words had been sprayed across their sides in black paint.

Black Shield Police Department.

An Enforcer in uniform stepped out of one vehicle, dropped the half-smoked cigarette from his mouth, and ground it under his boot.

He spat a thick gob of phlegm onto the ground.

"Someone go see what happened."

A thug wearing a tactical rig and body armor hopped out of the vehicle and jogged into the street.

He was soon back.

"Boss, three Refugees are dead in there. All have gunshot wounds and a cut to the neck. Whoever did it struck fast and clean. Doesn't look like the work of a Refugee."

The Enforcer raised an eyebrow, gave him a sidelong look, and put a fresh cigarette between his lips.

"How do you figure?"

The thug grinned sheepishly and pulled out a match to light it for him.

"Refugees are a pack of hyenas. They won't leave a scrap of supplies behind, even if they can't use it themselves. They'd never let anyone else have it."

"But there were two weapons left at the scene, and their supplies hadn't been taken either. Add in how clean and decisive the fight was, and it just doesn't fit a Refugee."

"Oh? Could it have been someone from Marauder Prison, or another Faction?"

"Well..." The thug hesitated, then pursed his lips and shook his head slightly.

"Doesn't look like it to me... but the wounds do look like they were made by a Kukri Knife from Marauder Prison..."

The Enforcer chuckled and handed the thug his cigarette after taking only two drags. As the thug's eyes lit up, he walked into the street.

The thug eagerly took a deep drag and grinned smugly at the others' envious looks.

Then he turned and hurried after the Enforcer. "Boss, I'll show you the way..."

The Enforcer glanced at the three bodies and paid them no further attention.

Instead, he surveyed the area and fixed his gaze on the shrubs where the archer had lain.

He crouched to study the flattened leaves, then looked toward the rear door of the East City Water Affairs Center.

"Go get two more men."

When the two thugs arrived, the Enforcer headed into the Water Services Center. The three thugs immediately formed a triangle around him, chambered their weapons, and took up fighting stances.

"Left!"

The thugs turned left at once. Every so often the Enforcer gave another direction, and they followed it without delay.

The four of them finally stopped in the records room on the second floor.

The thugs stood guard. The Enforcer looked at a footprint on the floor, and the corner of his mouth curled.

Then he noticed signs that someone had just searched the records room, and surprise flickered across his face.

"The records room? What could be worth looking for in the Water Services Center's records?"

Following the footprints, the Enforcer retraced Yu Yuan's route. When he reached the Water Services Center director's office and saw its locked metal door, a hint of interest finally appeared on his face.

"Open it."

Bang! A gunshot shattered the lock.

The Enforcer entered, looked around, and settled his gaze on the safe.

"Boss, we'd have to take this safe back and cut it open. Want us to bring it?" the thug asked eagerly.

"Of course. Bring the safe and everything else in this room. Leave nothing behind."

"Haha, got it! Come give me a hand."

Soon the thugs carried the safe out of the Water Services Center, heading toward the vehicles in high spirits.

The Enforcer followed. As he passed the sewer manhole, though, he paused and crouched to inspect the cover. When he spotted half of a faint bloody fingerprint, amusement flashed in his eyes.

"Heh. Clever little rat."

By the time Yu Yuan returned to his Hideout, an hour had passed.

Even carrying his supplies, he had made much better time on the way back with the Virtual Map guiding him.

He dropped everything and cleaned the blood and grime from his body as best he could.

He took the Water Services Center director's executive chair out of Taotao Cave and collapsed into it. After drinking half a bottle of water in one go, he began reviewing the day's events.

Exploring during the day really is too dangerous. The chance of being spotted is too high.

And anyone who drove around so openly in broad daylight had to belong to the Thug Faction.

Whichever Faction it was, he could not stand against them now. Luckily, he had run in time.

But when he thought back to the three attackers, Yu Yuan frowned.

Those three... should have met the Lust Card's conditions, right?

The thought had barely surfaced before he shook his head and forced it away.

That's horrifying. I'm not Grandpa Chuan... No, absolutely not. I can't think like that... There has to be another way.

Yu Yuan knew very well that the three of them had wounds already infected and festering, and they reeked. Who knew what diseases they carried?

But that did not change the fact that removing the Lust Card required someone to indulge with.

Where was he supposed to find a woman in this Wasteland World?

He raked a worried hand through his hair.

Less than two days remained. If it came down to it, he would have to grab a Refugee at random.

A disease might not kill him, but failing a Fate Card task definitely would.

At that moment, Yu Yuan felt the malice of Fate and the cruelty of its game.

On one side was the threat of death. On the other were the moral and psychological boundaries he refused to cross.

Fate was waiting to see what choice Yu Yuan would make under the threat of death.

Would he abandon those boundaries and become part of the Wasteland?

Or would he hold to them and be erased?

That was the price he had to pay for a Fate Gift.