4 – Awakening the Blade (1)
The outermost sector, the scrap metal processing plant.
Scrap metal that filled the horizon, ruins that stretched endlessly without end.
For the “noble ones” inside the walls, it was a space that they didn’t even want to look at, but for someone, no, for quite a few people, it wasn’t like that.
This space, no different from ruins, was a foundation of life and a workplace for someone.
“Hoo…!”
Diona. Like any other brat, she was rummaging through the scrap metal processing plant.
But her gaze was unusually serious. Like someone going into a battlefield.
Of course, the scrap metal processing plant could be considered a battlefield in a way. Occasionally, valuable items would appear and be sold at high prices, and the area was filled with brats who were always ready for a fight.
Two months ago, when the half-destroyed android remains appeared, Diona clearly remembered how many brats had gathered. And how many had died on the spot.
“The smell of blood…”
Diona furrowed her brow at the scattered bloodstains all around.
Rumors of a Blood Hound showing up at the scrapyard had already spread. A beast who could tear apart an adult male with ease, no matter how low-ranking a monster it was. It wouldn’t hurt to be careful.
“Don’t let your guard down, Diona.”
Instinctively, Diona tightened her grip on the blade hanging at her waist.
The Blood Hound appeared just last night. Despite the fear, its appearance made this the perfect opportunity.
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Any sensible person wouldn’t approach the scrapyard today.
Since she’d taken on this danger, surely there would be a sweet harvest awaiting.
That was her thought, at that moment.
Thud-thud!
A faint vibration echoed from somewhere. An unpleasant noise, like something being hit.
One thing was certain, it wasn’t a sound that would be made by someone with a clear conscience.
Diona quickly crouched down and surveyed her surroundings, with her ears pricked up, the noise sounded again.
Thud-thud!
“…What’s that?”
The sound was too rhythmical for a monster’s. After watching the direction of the sound for a while, Diona cautiously got up.
No matter what it was, either way, nothing good would come of it. She recalled what the junk dealer had said – there are monsters outside the barrier that lure people with odd sounds.
It may have been noise from android parts, but she had no intention of risking her life for that possibility……
Yet, on the other hand.
‘It could be a golden opportunity.’
How could she resist this?
Diona’s face was washed with conflicting emotions, and her actions became complicated; she paced back and forth biting her lower lip.
‘Let’s… Just go see for a moment.’
With the decision made, Diona moved towards the direction of the sound.
Gulp.
As the sound got closer, the smell of blood thickened. But still, Diona did not stop, even as she shivered.
‘How many have died?’
She almost screamed when an unpleasant feeling touched her foot. Her muscles tightened and the back of her neck grew cold.
Seeing bodies scattered around, Diona held her breath. She imagined herself facing a similar fate.
Diona’s gaze shifted and landed at the end where a Blood Hound lay dead with its jaws spread open.
“……!”
Like a fish hanging limply on a rod.
“Is it…is it dead?”
Diona held her breath as she looked at the corpses. Whether they had been dead for a while, their eyes were heavily sunken.
Diona’s gaze stopped at the largest corpse.
“What…what size….”
She had never seen a bear in person, but it didn’t seem to be bigger than that.
“Hey.”
Diona, lost in the sight, was startled by the voice from behind.
“Can I borrow a bandage?”
A boy with a deep wound on his right shoulder. He was glittering his eyes while holding a blood-stained iron pipe in his hands.
“Um…what?”
“Do you have something like a bandage?”
Lian thought as he pointed to the injured area. A girl he doesn’t remember. It meant she wasn’t part of the gang at least.
“You mean, like this?”
“What, this?”
Lian kicked the corpse of the bloodhound with his foot. Then that’s it, wasn’t it? Diona swallowed her dry saliva and nodded.
“It’s that, and the sound of hitting the scrap metal.”
“I’ll tell you once you give me the bandage.”
“I…I want to give it to you, but I don’t have one,”
“Then rip some spare clothes and give it to me.”
“I don’t have any spare clothes. And…you’re wearing clothes right now.”
“It would be dirtier than not doing it with this.”
Diona’s eyes shook at the relentless retort. She had been proud of meeting all sorts of human riff-raff that had grown up rough in back alleys, but this breed was definitely a first.
Neither boasting like boys nor swearing in every sentence. Just, his eyes were fierce and his momentum was extraordinary.
It should only be that, but what on earth is this sense of pressure?
‘There’s no way he could have caught it.’
For the common folk, it was a disaster, and even competent mercenaries struggled against such a beast. There was no way a child of her size could have hunted it.
Probably she had been lucky to survive. The clanging of metal on a pipe would have been to signal for help to any passerby.
And yet.
Surely that was all it was, but for some reason, it was unacceptable.
Deona pointed somewhere and spoke.
“……Give that to me.”
“What?”
“The part attached to the Bloodhound’s jaw.”
“Part?”
“I mean machine parts.”
“Take it.”
Rian responded curtly. But Deona wasn’t quite satisfied.
Not even going to haggle? Deona raised her brow. How out of touch with the world must you be to just hand over a part like that? Such a part could easily fetch 50,000 cells, at least.
‘Whatever. It’s still good.’
“Don’t regret it later.”
Deona rummaged in her pouch and pulled out a bandage. Though she’d just said she had none. Rian clicked his tongue at Deona’s craftiness.
‘Kids these days.’,
It was a known fact that children, no matter how harshly they might have grown up, were not always entirely innocent. In some ways, children were more cunning than adults.
Deona lightly tapped the biological part attached to the Bloodhound’s jaw with her finger,
“So, who put this in?”
“I did.”
“……Lies.”
Rian smirked, winding a bandage around his shoulder. To tell the truth, he thought he was going to die from excessive bleeding last night. The wound was too deep, and there was a lot of blood lost.
‘Really a crazy body.’
But the regenerative power of his body was more than imagined. Not only had it stopped oozing, but more than half of the wound had healed overnight. It seemed okay to just leave it like this, but wrapping a bandage wouldn’t do harm.
‘Why did I live with such a body?’
Of course, he knew the reason. Probably due to a weak mental strength. But from the moment he became aware of his previous life, Rian’s personality had transformed into that of a veteran soldier who had experienced all the ups and downs.
“Hey, why is this so tough!”
Even though more than ten minutes must have passed, Diona was still struggling with the carcass of the bloodhound.
“Do you want help?”
“I’m fine.”
Even if he was big, Rian’s figure was not much different from hers. His eyes were far from casual, but that was undoubtedly all.
‘At least say that if you’re holding a knife.’
Diona tensed her arm with a furrowed brow. As she pulled, a sound like tearing leather echoed and the blackened, coagulated blood flowed onto the floor. After several more minutes of struggling, she was barely able to peel off a piece.
Realizing that it would take a considerable amount of time to fully disassemble the parts, Diona’s face contorted. Even if she stayed up all night, she might not get a single piece.
Biting her lips tightly, Diona turned her head.
“……Help me for while I rest.”
“Okay.”
Rian received the knife with a smirk on his face. The knife was short and crude. It would be understandable if it was for butchering, but it was embarrassingly substandard for stabbing someone. Diona probably handed over the blade willingly because of this.
Of course, this didn’t apply to Rian.
Swoosh!
The blade smoothly cut through the muscle. Ca
“……roughly fifty thousand cells.”
“How much would fifty thousand cells be?”
Lian, who had been captured by gangs from a very young age, had virtually no concept of economics. He could make an approximate guess based on Diona’s reaction, but that wasn’t enough.
“I know too little.”
Even with limited information, it was terribly insufficient. What kind of life had he been living, not to even know the name of my city? A sigh naturally escaped at the thought of the ten years he’d been abandoned.
He needed information.
A lot of it.