Volume 3, Chapter 79 – The Fear of the Dying

The narrow blade of the mechanical switchblade reflected the dazzling sunlight, and the glare finally converged near Sandi’s throat.

A figure flickered.

Without even turning her head, Anran ran several steps forward.

Then, with a burst of speed, she went back up onto the wall.

A few drops of splattered blood suddenly flew past her cheek.

Like drifting raindrops.

Part of that vivid red came from the fresh wound on Anran’s cheek, and part of it came from Sandi’s neck.

At the instant the two figures crossed past each other,

Anran and Sandi had each made only two simple moves.

Slash, then dodge to the side.

Pfft.

Blood fell onto the dust on the ground.

Just like all the blood that had already spilled from Sandi.

Anran stared at Sandi, and Sandi stared back at Anran.

There was a small cut on Sandi’s neck.

A sudden burst, an exchange of injury for injury.

Dangerous though it had been,

I still came out on top.

A smile hung on Anran’s lips, but she only had five minutes. She could not waste them.

Sandi touched his throat, and his hand immediately came away sticky with blood.

His gaze flickered on and off like an emergency lamp. That strange reaction made the charging Anran worry that he might suddenly blow himself up.

Human bombs were not something only players could use.

Terrorists and fanatics could do the same.

In truth, Sandi’s condition was highly unstable, but he could hear tapping sounds coming through the radio.

The connection had gone through. That was enough.

Clang!

The fight was moving too fast. Although Aila, standing off to the side, could see everything clearly, she had no way to intervene.

According to her calculations, if the other party pulled back, she would not be able to catch him at all.

Under normal circumstances, with Sandi’s injuries, he should have been unable to maintain this kind of speed long ago. But this situation did not exist in Aila’s database.

How could she help Anran?

Aila began thinking about that question.

Trading injury for injury was disadvantageous to Anran.

“Right!”

Aila suddenly shouted.

The right!?

Anran instinctively darted left.

Whoosh.

A flash of cold light skimmed past her shadow.

A throwing knife?

Anran was startled.

A brand-new dagger had appeared in Sandi’s hand again.

This won’t do. Fighting him with a short blade is too disadvantageous.

Anran had never received systematic training in close combat. Everything she was doing now, she had figured out little by little on her own. If the fight dragged on, flaws were bound to appear everywhere.

“Aila, rip off a water pipe for me.” As Anran leaped backward again and again, she used Mechanical Interference and, at the same time, a throwing technique. The security camera at the corner of the wall exploded on the spot.

Hearing that, Aila immediately went to the roadside.

Sandi tried to get past Anran, but was quickly stopped.

Bang! Bang! Crack! Clang!

The exposed roadside pipe immediately suffered for it.

Under Aila’s combination assault of kicks and wrenching with her hands, it was instantly broken into three sections.

Aila picked up the one that was only a meter long, gripped it tightly with both hands, and strode ferociously toward the center of the battle.

“…”

Cold sweat instantly broke out on Sandi when he spared attention for that side. If that thing hit him once, he would probably be finished.

Sandi immediately pulled away into the distance. Yet Aila showed no intention of chasing him. Instead, she directly threw the water pipe.

Whip!

Throwing-knife technique.

The mechanical switchblade flew out.

Anran sprinted forward. At the same time, she swung out her right hand and caught the water pipe flying in from behind her at just the right moment.

Smack!

Reαd οn КαtRеαⅾіոɡСаfе

The sound of it cutting through the air rang out.

First the flying knife, then the long water pipe.

And on top of that, Aila was calling out from behind, “He’s going to run to the right!”

Sandi quickly crossed both daggers to block, but he was still smashed backward several steps. The backs of the blades were nearly pressed against his chest.

The instant Sandi’s body moved, Aila knew which way he was going.

After injecting the drug, although he had gone berserk, his body had also become stiffer.

Irritable.

Furious.

Burning with fire.

The longer he fought, the more stifled and aggrieved he felt.

That was what Sandi had experienced in this single short minute.

That blow to the shoulder had nearly broken his arm. If he had not temporarily lost his sense of pain, he would already have lost the ability to resist.

And all of this was that little girl’s fault.

His scarlet, beast-like gaze locked onto Aila.

Aila noticed nothing.

The next moment,

cold light flashed.

Sandi threw out one dagger, and at the same time pulled out a new one and drove it straight toward Anran’s abdomen.

Clang!

As expected, he was forced back, but Sandi shifted sideways and twisted his right foot.

He actually kicked up the dagger that had fallen to the ground.

That unexpected move made Anran swing the water pipe instinctively.

But that dagger was flying toward Aila.

“!”

Was he trying to use Aila as a breakthrough point?

It wasn’t like they had never fought before. Had Sandi gone brain-dead under the pressure?

Anran was startled.

Obviously, Sandi could not possibly have suddenly turned stupid. It wasn’t as if he had swallowed idiot pills.

Speed.

That was Sandi’s advantage.

When fighting Anran, all he had left was his extensive experience. But when fighting Aila, he still firmly held the advantage in speed.

Close combat?

Sandi had figured it out. He just had to avoid close combat.

He pulled out a pistol.

“!”

“Die!”

Sandi pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The bullet flew out.

The distance was short, and Sandi’s shot had come far too abruptly. Aila had no chance to dodge.

“Hahaha!”

Sandi laughed triumphantly and fired several more times in quick succession.

He completely sealed off Aila’s paths of movement.

As long as he dealt with this one, escaping would be easy.

“…”

Anran looked at the laughing Sandi with a strange expression.

Would he cry if he knew the truth?

Still, she did not let Sandi keep reveling in it and slammed the pipe at him.

Sandi dodged lightly and leapt onto the wall beside him.

He stared at Anran. “Watching your little sister die like that must be agonizing.”

Sandi lightly wiped a hand across his face, smearing it with bloody streaks, like an evil ghost crawling out of a pool of blood.

He laughed wildly and unrestrainedly.

Yes, just like this. Watching an enemy’s face twist in agony because a family member had died made the emptiness inside him seem to vanish all at once, and endless fury would finally drown their reason.

What a thrill!

What delight!

His heart felt full in an instant!

Fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead and mixed with the blood, but Sandi felt none of it.

Rеаd on ΚαtRеаⅾіոɡСafе

Once, he had been a normal person too.

“What are you talking about?” Anran blinked.

“Hm?”

Sandi looked at Anran in confusion.

The rage?

There was some, but it was not intense.

Pity?

What the hell was that?

Sandi’s face darkened instantly.

“Is there something wrong with your head? Aila, smack him!”

Anran swung the pipe at him.

At the same time, Aila moved as well.

Bang!

A large hole was kicked through the wall.

Sandi’s body swayed and he lost his balance. He stared in horror at Aila, whose clothes had several holes torn through them.

She had just plucked a bullet out of her hand.

There was no blood.

Metal.

A robot!?

She was actually a robot.

“It’s a ro-“

Before Sandi could finish speaking, Anran brought the pipe crashing into his waist.

Splurt.

Blood sprayed.

Pain.

The sensation of pain had returned.

Sweat poured down his forehead like a waterfall, mixing with blood and running into the corners of his eyes.

“This blow is for the dead.”

The pipe instantly smashed into Sandi’s wrist.

Crack. Sandi’s left hand broke.

Stimulated by the intense pain, Sandi struggled to his feet and tried to flee into the distance.

“At a time like this, and you still want to run?”

Anran wiped the blood from her cheek. Gripping the pipe, she struck again with savage force.

Crack.

This time, Sandi’s left arm was smashed into a bloody pulp from the shoulder down, the bone shattered.

“Ahhh!”

The intense agony surging through every limb made Sandi roll over.

Pain, pain, pain, agony that tore through his heart and lungs.

A robot. She was actually a robot.

How was that possible? How could No. 1886 have a robot this intelligent?

Even back then at Night Owl, he had never seen one.

How could that be?

Sandi’s lips trembled.

Only his right hand still gripped a dagger. Yet leaning against the wall, Sandi, though vicious as a devil, also looked weak, pitiful, and helpless.

On the contrary, Anran, covered in many fine cuts and holding a water pipe, looked more like the murderer.

“Robot, robot, robot…” Sandi muttered over and over.

He’d probably gone mad.

That was what Anran thought.

After all his calculations, he had never imagined that Aila was a robot. That trashy small-caliber pistol of his could not penetrate Aila’s armor at all.

It had only knocked off a few pitiful points of armor durability. Once she got back and had a meal, it would recover.

A robot capable of automatic restoration and automatic evolution.

That would probably sound even more terrifying if she said it out loud.

“Hah!”

This time, it was his left leg.

“So this is how you used to torture other people, wasn’t it?” Anran’s voice was icy.

Colin, burned to death.

And many, many others.

Rеαԁ οո KаtRеaⅾіոɡCаfe

Crack.

Sandi’s knee took a hit.

It bent outward at a grotesque angle.

He gritted his teeth and let out a muffled groan. At last, he stopped muttering to himself. There was no fear or hatred in the way he looked at Anran either.

Instead, there was a strange smile in his eyes.

That odd reaction made Anran frown.

Madmen were always hard to read.

In any case, cruel as it was, before he died, she was going to make him taste pain too.

The security camera had been destroyed anyway.

Crack.

This time, it was the right leg.

Sandi slumped against the wall, still chuckling under his breath.

Thump thump thump…

He had heard the response coming through the radio just now.

“Let me guess. Was it one of your family members who got killed?” Sandi said.

Bang!

Anran did not reply. She completely broke Sandi’s right leg.

“Anran…”

Aila suddenly called out.

“Who was it? Let me keep guessing.”

“What is it?” Ignoring Sandi’s one-man monologue, Anran asked Aila.

Aila said, “Isn’t this a little too cruel? Dad always told Aila that even in war, you still have to follow humanitarian principles.”

“My ass.”

With one swing, Anran knocked the dagger out of Sandi’s hand.

Then she planted the water pipe in front of him.

By this point, the mechanical footgear’s energy was already exhausted, but Sandi could no longer run anyway.

“Mm.” Anran answered softly, “Humanitarian principles are indeed a good thing, in some respects. But…”

Anran jabbed Sandi twice with the pipe.

“A thing like this can’t even be called human, so there’s no need to follow any humanitarian principles.”

“Oh.” Aila fell into thought.

“Was it that one year ago when I…” Sandi still wanted to talk.

“My ass.”

Anran jabbed him again with the pipe.

Pfft. Sandi spat out a mouthful of blood.

Anran had no intention of telling Aila right now that it was Sandi who had killed Colin, nor was she going to give Sandi any more chances to keep yapping.

In any case, she was not going to give Sandi even the slightest opportunity for pleasure.

What she would give him, and only him, was pain.

Bang!

Crack!

That one sounded like ribs breaking.

“Don’t worry.” Anran smiled at Sandi. “I won’t hit your face. Rest assured. I still need to go claim my reward from the higher-ups.”

“…”

“How pitiful. Right now, only the humanitarianism you people ignored can lessen your suffering.”

Anran swung the pipe down again.

The pipe was not especially sturdy. After all those hits, it had actually bent a little.

“…”

Sandi finally stopped smiling.

This girl, even in her fury, could maintain a terrifying calm.

And while venting her anger, she was as cold as an executioner.

The fear that had just receded now suddenly filled Sandi’s heart again.

He was not someone who took pleasure in despair.

If he could avoid dying, then of course he did not want to experience this kind of despair.

Especially not after he had unknowingly provoked someone this ruthless.

“Ah, you should be glad I study machinery instead of the human body. Otherwise, you’d be enjoying this a little longer.”

After saying that, Anran finally used her cruelest move.

An upward strike to the groin.

Crack.

Rеаԁ оո KаtRеаdiոɡСafе

“Ahhh!”

It shattered.

Shattered.

It was all shattered!

The shrill scream startled even Aila.

“Anran, what’s wrong with him? He wasn’t even screaming before.”

“That…” After thinking about it, Anran said, “Probably because I hit a weak point. It’s like when you’re playing a game. If you hit a weak point, you deal more damage.”

“Oh.”

Aila nodded as if she half understood.

So that spot was a weak point.

“Is that everyone’s weak point?”

“Not necessarily,” Anran quickly said. She absolutely could not let Aila develop a habit of hitting people’s “weak points.”

“Oh.” Aila nodded.

After that scream, Sandi had already fainted.

That was probably a kind of release.

Anran had no time to play the game of splashing water on him, waking him up, and continuing the torture.

That scream had been too loud. Someone would be coming soon.

Go atone below.

Anran picked up the dagger from the ground and stabbed down.

Pfft.

“You have killed Sandi, deputy captain of the Morningstar Resistance guard unit, and obtained 5,000 Free EXP.”

“Mission [Ring of Revenge] completed. Obtained base reward: 15,000 Free EXP.”

An income of twenty thousand EXP was a lot.

But what made Anran feel even better was that Sandi was finally dead.

The murderer who had directly caused Colin’s death!

At last, through the efforts of her and Aila, he had been killed.

Her thoughts flowed freely.

That was probably the best phrase Anran could think of to describe herself right now.

Scene after scene from Colin’s Repair Shop flashed rapidly through her mind.

In the end, they all converged on the twisted corpse before her eyes.

It could not bring Colin back to life, but at least it eased the guilt in her heart a little.

Anran’s body went slack. If she had not still been propping herself up with the water pipe, she probably would have collapsed to the ground already.

Exhaustion, and the tearing pain from the cuts across her body.

“Aila, actually…”

Anran was just about to tell Aila about Sandi.

“Interesting.”

Hm?

Anran was startled.

She quickly noticed that the voice had come from Sandi’s body.

A woman’s voice.

She crouched down and quickly found a one-to-one radio communication device on him.

“This really reminds me of when we were living in neighboring cells at the detention center.”

“…”

That woman.

Anran’s expression darkened.

“You’ve almost killed off my entire guard team,” Heloise continued.

“What’s your name?” Anran asked.

“Heloise.”

Heloise did not avoid the question in the slightest.

“When we meet next time, you absolutely have to finish telling me the story of Legend of the Galactic Heroes!”

What the hell?

Right after that, a shout suddenly came from the other end of the radio:

“You cliffhanger bastard!”

“…”

Huh?

The call ended.