Chapter 45 Finders Keepers

Milton fell silent for a moment before speaking quite bluntly: "Gabey is on relatively friendly terms with the faction opposing Keng's faction. Keng didn't dare let those higher up know about you, probably because he was afraid of Gabey getting involved."

"Gabey?"

Song Shi murmured the name: "The Emerald Pharmaceuticals' branch in Paloth, the newly appointed Head of Security?"

"Hmph, it's been two years. Is he still considered new?"

Milton sneered, though merely mentioning the name involuntarily filled his tone with a trace of awe: "That bastard... Hmph, but he certainly is formidable, and ruthless enough. I heard the leader of 'Blood-Mad' was once disciplined by him. Heh, two corporate dogs biting each other, heh."

"At least in Paloth, the Security Department he leads also holds certain supervisory functions. If Keng allowed such massive losses in the research facility and actually let that guy find out and launch an investigation, Keng would probably be kicked out directly, with not a single chance of a comeback."

This was the second time Song Shi had heard this name.

The first time was in [Thousand-Star City].

When Tom was recounting major events that had taken place in Paloth over the years, he used a fearful tone to tell him that a year ago, it was precisely under the direction of this "Gabey" that the local Awakened forces were severely crippled.

"That's all there is."

Milton spat out another mouthful of blood and said flatly: "These were things that old bastard Keng occasionally let slip to me. Hmph... He harbors a bone-deep hatred for that Gabey."

"I understand."

Song Shi committed this information to memory, casually discarded the damaged entrenching tool, and picked up the monomolecular blade.

"Any last words?"

Milton swallowed a mouthful of bloody saliva, staring intently at the other person: "What is your true identity?"

"I am Song Shi."

Hearing this, Song Shi shook his head, but then, he let out a sigh.

"Oh well, the dead deserve respect... Let's put it this way."

The young man squatted down, looking Milton in the eye: "To me, what just happened barely counts as a pretty good 'warm-up', but it's not a real 'battle' yet."

Milton's eyes widened. He clenched his teeth, remained silent for a moment, and spat out a few words: "You motherfucker..."

"Anything else to say?"

"...... Knowing this, I should have implanted a heart-rate-linked bomb beforehand."

Song Shi nodded, indicating he understood.

The next moment, he drove the blade straight into Milton's chest. The razor-sharp edge burst through his back, and with a twist and turn, it pulverized his heart.

Then, crimson-gold flames ignited from the blade, fiercely engulfing the man.

After an unknown passage of time, gazing at the corpse reduced to charred bones and confirming that no "memory core" or similar items could be extracted, Song Shi pulled out the blade and stood up.

The top-left corner of his field of vision now displayed the "Network Connected" symbol.

Due to a certain degree of internal damage, the "Full-Spectrum Jamming" of the [Atart Ring] could only last for five minutes—though that was more than enough. The fight between the two had lasted about three minutes; honestly, it took less time than burning the corpse.

Song Shi briefly sorted through his spoils.

The man hadn't carried much with him on this trip. The most valuable item was this monomolecular blade, followed by a "Gold-Digger" kinetic pistol. Its firepower fell short of the "Blackpowder H-2", but its advantages lay in its effective shooting range and magazine capacity, making it quite a handy weapon.

Finally, there was a stack of bearer data cards taken from the man's breast pocket.

Song Shi pulled out a few to inspect and found that none of these data cards were password-protected. They stored varying amounts of encrypted digital currency, commonly known as "dark coins".

Judging by the values of the few he checked, these dark coins totaled around ten thousand credit points, which could be considered a nice little windfall.

Song Shi put away the monomolecular blade, withdrew his gaze from Milton's corpse, glanced around the surroundings one last time, and walked out of the building.

"Hey... Wake up."

About ten minutes later, Song Shi appeared in another abandoned building far away from the battleground.

Looking at Paul, who had been dragged out from the ruins and was still unconscious, Song Shi pondered for a moment and pointed the blade at Paul's chest.

The next instant, the latter decisively opened his eyes, squeezing out an intensely strained smile:

"Um..."

He truly had been unconscious, but he jolted awake when the person dragged him out. However, upon realizing it was that young man, he chose to feign unconsciousness to avoid seeing things he shouldn't see.

But at this moment.

Looking at the long sword in the other person's hand and the bloodstains on his clothes, Paul swallowed hard, momentarily at a loss for words.

"You know what you should be doing, right?"

As if awaiting the verdict of fate, when Paul's forehead became covered in a fine layer of sweat, the other person finally spoke.

Hearing this, Paul was startled, followed instantly by an overwhelming wave of joy.

Without uttering nonsense like "You're not going to kill me?", he hurriedly raised his hands: "Understood, understood! I completely understand! I swear I didn't see a thing! These past two days... No! I'll delete this month's cybernetic eye recordings! My lips are absolutely sealed!"

"That's fine."

Song Shi nodded, casually pulling out a few data cards and handing them over.

"This is..."

Gazing at the data cards, Paul was initially somewhat puzzled, but right after, a wave of bad memories surged up. He recoiled like he'd been electrocuted, scrambling away in absolute panic: "Digital currency?!"

The commotion he made was so intense that even Song Shi was almost startled.

"I'm done trading crypto! I swear I'm never trading crypto again!" Paul wailed bitterly, reminiscent of players who poured their entire family fortunes into gacha games launched by the mega-corporation [Dustbound Era] and failed to pull what they wanted.

Song Shi had no choice but to pull out his blade once more to steady the man's nerves.

"Finders keepers, take these few. It's about two thousand-odd credit points, enough for you to change your wardrobe and rent a subsidized apartment on the side."

Paul froze. He instinctively looked at Song Shi with suspicion, but realizing this might displease the other person and get him stabbed to death, he immediately plastered his smile back on.

"I-I understand. Y-You really are a kind person, thank you! Truly! Thank you so much..."

"Heh, 'a kind person'?"

Song Shi shook his head: "In the Corporate Alliance, that's practically an insult, and I'm certainly no good guy."

In Paul's eyes, the young man holding the single-edged blade suddenly revealed a smile that could almost be described as arrogant.

"I'll take it though!"

Song Shi burst into laughter: "Here, 'a kind person who manages to stay alive' is the highest praise for someone's competence! Ha! As expected of me!"

He casually tore a piece of old fabric from the ground, wrapped up the monomolecular blade, held it in his hand, and turned to walk out of the building.

"Do whatever you want with this money—trade crypto, do stimulants, find a sex doll, wine and dine, log into the virtual-sensory network... do as you please."

"Wanting to survive nowadays is simple; a month's supply of expiring nutrient paste from a group-buying website only costs two or three hundred credit points. But wanting to live like a human being is terribly hard. Still, since we're alive in this world, I suppose we ought to set ourselves a difficult goal."

Giving the vagrant behind him one last parting glance, Song Shi stepped out.

The daylight outside was about to fade. Beyond the thick, piled-up smog, the outline of the Silver Moon was faintly visible.

Song Shi gazed at it for a fleeting moment and cast his gaze toward a distant direction.

At the edge of the far horizon, airships bearing holographic projection advertisements drifted lazily. Various neon lights on the ground gradually lit up, spreading like a tide. It was as if Paloth was only just waking up at this very moment.

"—Keng."