19. sense of justice
Bang- Bang- Taang- Bang-!
Gunshots flew in a cloud of dust, and the cans danced two and a half times.
Max spun his Rykov 9mm pistol into his waist holster, drew down his double-barreled shotgun, and pulled the trigger again and again.
bang! Kwakwang-!
My shoulders were pushed and my elbows lifted, but I managed to get into a stance. The head and waist of the cross-shaped stake were smashed one after another.
Reloading was also quick. I pressed the muzzle to break the barrel and shook the cartridge case, and immediately replaced the two feet.
Kwa-gwa-bang-!
The gun’s muzzle turned red and smoke billowed out. Max’s triumphant face was a bonus. Leonard chewed the lollipop down, swallowed it, and said nothing.
“Now I do the basics.”
Max’s lips pouted. It was a skill I practiced even while sleeping, but the evaluation was poor.
“Fitting a still target is what even a two-week-old recruit does.”
“Then should I shoot anything that moves?”
“Moving is moving, but…”
Leonard walked towards Max, who was standing there with an empty gun. However, his steps were faster than usual and his hand movements were complicated.
“uh? uh? Why are you coming so close… Hey!”
Leonard suddenly held out a knife whose blade alone was about 17 cm long. Max, frightened and embarrassed, put his arms around his head. There’s no way Leonard would really stab him, but his momentum was fierce, so he reflexively guarded. It was the expected response.
“You should be able to shoot under these circumstances.”
“Wow-! surprise! Why am I shooting Mr. Leonard!”
“Huh? Are you saying that you could have shot it if it wasn’t me?”
“Of course…isn’t it obvious?”
I still had a reluctance to shoot people. No, I wasn’t familiar with guns before feeling rejected. Leonard turned the knife around and put it inside his coat.
“I told you to shoot first and hit first, right? You’ve learned to shoot, so it’s time to learn to hit.”
“I’m still good at it… but I’m still…”
“People are not tin cans. actively threatening you. What should I do then?”
Max was an assistant who was quick to learn. answered carefully.
“Always calm, always ready?”
Leonard laughed.
“Let’s do the fifth fixer rule.”
Today’s training ended here. As Leonard packed his gun and casings, Max helped out.
“By the way, how many times do you have that solver rule?”
“yes? I do not know.”
“…What is it, are you making it up every now and then?”
“Then why not? If you mess with it, go somewhere else and become an assistant.”
Max’s lips pouted again. A solver like Leonard wasn’t common.
@
Max hated being quiet. He hated it so much that even when his body was tied with a seat belt, his tongue moved without rest. It was the result of a combination of a teenager’s unique curiosity and a strong desire to work.
“Do scavengers, other than poor ghetto people, actually scavengers stealing bodies come at you with a knife?”
Luckily for one thing, Leonard didn’t hate chatter either. Loud is better than bored, and hectic is better than melancholy.
“Yes, of course. There are more people with knives and clubs than people with guns.”
It was more reliable than a 30 credit pipe gun, even without considering the price of bullets. Max’s curiosity continued.
“Then are you afraid of poor scavengers?”
“Hmm… If you have a heavy implant body, you won’t die in one shot unless it’s your head. I run and stab myself with my body. The cheaper the body, the less painful it is, so it’s not easy to subdue it.”
In the early days of land reclamation, many heavy implants for construction and civil engineering were released, but they are still commonly used today because of their good power and excellent durability. The Psycho Cyborg who was caught rampaging at the 11-1st Street gambling hall not too long ago was also a user of a heavy implant body.
“If you still have the credits, you’ll use the gun, right?”
“Not necessarily. You know the Tigerclaw gang, right?”
“Ah, I heard. The 15th Street gang, right?”
“They have an extraordinary love of knives. Not a knife like this, but a really big knife.”
In addition, there were often people who used knives among public security agents. Of course, it was not a knife picked up in a market alley, but a weapon made for military use.
“I use a unique body to see if the quality of the knife is an identity, but if you are careless just because you have a knife, you will be in trouble.”
“What is your identity?”
Leonard straightened his back and let out a small sigh.
“Is it time to go to secondary education?”
“Ouch! Ouch!”
Max screamed. It was not the outbursts of a teenage boy who hated studying. It’s because two men who appear to be scavengers ran out of the alley.
When an obstacle appears, it is human nature to avoid it rather than run into it. Even Leonard, whose body is 70 percent implants, turned the steering wheel because he was human. A pick-up truck that had just been repaired rocked. I didn’t overturn because I held the center of gravity well, but I couldn’t help but crash into the center guardrail. thud-! The windows were cracked and the bumper was dented.
“Such a dog…”
Leonard looked at Max first. My head was shaking and I was shaking, but I wasn’t hurt. It was rewarding to be fastened with a seat belt. Leonard opened the window and blew the traditional bluff.
“Hey! I was freaking out because I wanted to die…!”
It was a dark era when tradition was ignored. It was also an era of dying without fanaticism. Another group burst out of the alley and brandished long sticks. One of the first thugs to jump out put out both hands and shouted something, but to no avail. Both arms fell clean.
“knife?”
It was pitch black from the blade to the handle, so I didn’t notice it right away. It was a Japanese blade with a length of 170 cm. Some maniacs call it Katana or Kanata in a lost foreign language, but whatever the real name, there was only one gang in A-044 City that used that.
“Are you in the Tiger Claw gang?”
It was a gang worthy of its name.
@
Leonard had no interest in gangster affairs.
Although it is impossible to ignore the nature of the junk town, where the influence of gangs is stronger than that of corporate security, it did not intervene in territorial disputes, extortion of credits, and distribution of weapons and drugs. But don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t because I didn’t have the strength, because I was scared, or because my sense of justice was dead. This is because gangsters with credit are often more customers than poor scavengers. It was a morality that was always emphasized.
“This case is a little different.”
Leonard opened the car door and stepped out. It was late in the afternoon, so there were not many cars passing by. It was a new feeling to stand on the empty road with two feet.
“Who will pay for this repair?”
A tigerclaw gangster who was killing people saw Leonard belatedly. A black suit, Mohican hair, and a Japanese blade were very unbalanced. A gangster slung a bloody knife over his shoulder and gestured like a cat.
“Can’t you see the hyungs are busy? Don’t be shy and go on your way.”
“I don’t think anyone is a gangster, so the lines are really…”
Leonard looked back and forth at the pickup truck and got down to business.
“300 credits.”
“what?”
“Since the responsibility for the accident is on that side, it can disappear quietly with 300 credits.”
At such times, the traditional bully’s reaction is to chuckle, but the tradition has also disappeared. He was serious because he was a member of a well-known gang.
“Are you a public security agent?”
“It’s not a public security, it’s a street solver.”
Gang members looked at each other. In a sense, it was the solution that was more difficult than public security. Because they live with only their skills without any organizational halo. In fact, famous fixers like Ryan Bourne have taken down gangs all by themselves. Leonard was unlikely to lose 5-1 since he wasn’t Ryan, but it didn’t look like all 5 would be safe. The gangster pulled out a memory chip from under the dead scavenger’s ear.
“These guys are also responsible for that accident, so let’s move on to this.”
“One isn’t enough…”
“You two are too much.”
After a moment of thought, Leonard compromised. It was a result that both the fixer and the gangster would be satisfied with. However, Scavenger was not satisfied.
“Hey, wait! A solver, a solver? I’ll hire you! save me! please!”
“Shut up, you little bastard!”
A gangster kicked a scavenger who sprinkled ashes on a deal that was done. I should have cut it with a knife instead. Because if the client dies, there is no request. Leonard showed interest.
“You’re hiring me? Am I a little expensive?”
“Uh, I’ll pay as much as I can… please… please…”
“Shut up your mouth!”
Realizing his mistake, the gangster raised his Japanese blade. Scavenger closed his eyes tightly. If the head was split, even the Amman implant cyborg could not live. But even after a while, there was no pain. An unknown gangster is a legendary swordsman, so he hasn’t been able to cut it yet unless he cuts it painlessly. When I opened my eyes, the blade stopped 2 cm above the top of my head.
“Heehee-!”
Even when the scavenger crawled backwards in surprise, the tip of the sword did not shake. It wasn’t the gangster’s will. The gangster was hardened like a stone statue, only his eyeballs moved left and right. Leonard pulled back his coat and approached.
“The introduction may have been a bit late.”
Leonard may not be Ryan Bourne, but he was as famous a fixer as Ryan. The two eyes that had turned into hexagons caught the gangster before he knew it. The face of the cyborg who had been deprived of free will was fear itself.
“I am Leonard Walker, the best solver in A-044 City. Consultation on the commission fee is usually done through an intermediary, but since the situation is urgent, I can pick it up myself today. 500 credits for both. Do you agree?”
As I said before, the sense of justice was not dead. As a worker in the industry, he was just ahead of the business and morality.
@
The average gangster’s education level was low, but that didn’t mean they were deterred. When Leonard turned to the enemy, he acted immediately.
“The fixer is down!”
However, it was a mistake not to know who Leonard was. The former Hexagon had already uploaded a hacking program when getting out of the car. The gangster’s implant has long since been eroded by the Hexagon Virus. Before I could take three steps, I fell to my knees. As Leonard had advised his young assistant, he calmly pointed his gun. bang! bang! Quaang-!
one at a time. The revolver cylinder rotated once, and no gang was standing still. The scavenger left alone gasped.
“If it’s Leonard Walker… Hexagon Hacker…”
“Also.”
“Yeah, too?”
Leonard was proud when the scavenger recognized him. Also the best solver was right.
“Hey, you saved me. 2,500 credits.”
To be proud is to be proud, and he had to receive the commission payment. The scavenger’s expression changed as Leonard demanded credit.
“You want to pay 2,500 credits for this?”
Leonard’s expression changed as well.
“They say entering and exiting the bathroom are different, but I didn’t know it would be different in front of someone with a gun.”
“Ah, ah, no, that’s not it, just five shots and 2,500 credits is a bit…”
“Originally, I would never accept a murder request. But I had no choice but to do it to save him. If I was going to find a killer, I should have found Ryan or Noah Lucas.”
It was impossible to find another fixer in the current situation. The scavenger’s expression changed moment by moment.
“I don’t have credits right now… no, I will, I will! Ahh! Don’t shoot!”
Leonard did not shoot. He put the revolver into his shoulder holster with a full turn and raised the scavenger to his feet. Being chased by gangsters meant that I had done something, so I expected that.
“Get in the car. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll take your implant off and get it for you.”