Chapter 271

Deep within the Free City Alliance.

Compared to ordinary cities, the Free City Alliance was quite heterogeneous, but there was a place that exuded an even stranger atmosphere.

The buildings were collapsed, leaving only skeletal pillars standing.

Those pillars had been patched together with scrap materials in a haphazard manner.

Drums filled with various corpses and waste materials, set alight.

And the area teemed with humans who had completely lost their humanoid form, resembling monster-like beings.

This was where the scavengers gathered.

Amidst the mingling smells of blood, burning plastic, and rusted metal, one particular spot reeked heavily of blood.

It was as if people were hung like meat in a slaughterhouse.

At this blood-soaked location, a man who had once been a mercenary for the Free City Alliance was cutting off a human arm at a scavenger den’s slaughterhouse.

“Damn damn damn.”

The man gritted his teeth against the urge to vomit as he slowly sawed away.

“I can’t help it. I can’t help it!”

In reality, the man had few options left.

Because he had developed madness—something most mercenaries embedded with Objects eventually succumbed to.

While many knew that most mercenaries overloaded with Objects would die from madness…

He believed he was special, immune to such a fate.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t.

Suddenly, his vision turned red, and a voice descended from the sky.

[Kill humans.] — A ridiculous voice.

A hallmark symptom of “Red Eye Madness.”

For mercenaries afflicted by Object-induced madness, there were few outcomes:

Either they went insane and slaughtered indiscriminately until killed themselves…

Or they committed suicide before fully succumbing to the red voice…

Or they resorted to cannibalism, becoming scavengers.

Only three paths remained.

Strangely, after eating human flesh, the madness seemed to vanish temporarily.

As if killing humans was all that mattered.

And so, the man chose survival.

He joined the scavengers to eat human flesh.

Lost in thought while slicing an arm, his senior shouted at him.

“Hey hey hey! Don’t kill it! We need prosthetics, so don’t ruin it!”

Looking over, the person being butchered foamed at the mouth and convulsed violently, on the verge of death.

But before anything could be done, the convulsions ceased, and the man’s body began to twist grotesquely.

Grrrrk. Grrrrk.

The sound of bones shattering as the embedded Object went haywire.

“Ah, damn!”

The senior dropped his saw onto the floor.

Thud!

With a tearing sound, the Object-prosthetic erupted from the man’s body, losing its original shape entirely.

The deformed prosthetic, now resembling a monstrous spider, scuttled away somewhere.

“Haa, it’s ruined.”

Sitting casually on a nearby table, the scavenger senior lit a cigarette.

Just as the man was about to sit down too, heavy footsteps echoed through the air.

Boom. Boom.

Footsteps that sounded like they weighed hundreds of kilos.

The silhouette looked more robotic or tank-like than human.

Fitting for someone nicknamed “Tank.”

The leader of this scavenger gang bellowed loudly.

“Listen up, everyone!”

His words were simple:

“Our comrades who went to raid mercenaries and steal cargo are dead.”

“So, whoever wants revenge, follow me!”

Though the speech was long-winded, the gist was straightforward.

But it was dangerous and unappealing.

Seeing the hesitation among the scavengers, the leader grinned slyly.

“But… I heard there’s a ‘pure human’ among those mercenaries.”

Upon hearing this, every scavenger, including the man, stood up immediately.

“A pure human!”

Pure humans were rare in the Free City Alliance.

Moreover, rumors claimed that eating their flesh not only suppressed madness but also increased Object capacity, allowing for more enhancements.

Cheers and mad excitement spread among the scavengers.

All of them grabbed weapons and prepared for vengeance.

***

Deep within the Mini Reaper Garden, at the Golden Reaper Conference Hall.

Perhaps influenced by Gray Reaper’s kind mother during her shift, the meeting today revolved around the theme: “My Mom is Nice!”

“My mom shared pudding with me!”

“My mom combed my hair!”

“My mom petted me for no reason!”

What started as a meeting turned into a bragging session about how kindly their mothers treated them.

Then, a special guest—the purple Reaper with a black eye patch—spoke with conviction.

“In times of crisis, my mom led everyone in the garden to save me!”

“Amazing!”

“Beloved younger brother!”

The Golden Reapers were astonished and began clapping enthusiastically.

Stories of moments when their moms saved them flowed endlessly.

“Mom is amazing!”

Even though the Mini Reapers couldn’t properly distinguish each other and seemed disinterested…

Strangely, Gray Reaper always appeared whenever a Mini Reaper was in danger.

“Mom is nice!”

The “Mom is Nice!” vote commenced.

Seated in a circle, the Golden Reapers stood one by one in clockwise order, smiling brightly.

“Nice!”

“Nice!”

“Nice!”

Raising their hands like children crossing a street, they radiated determination.

“Ho ho ho.”

Hidden in the meeting room, a White Hungry Ghost tried to oppose the vote using both legs but was dragged away by the Golden Reaper guards.

The snack session featured Red Reaper Grilled Guest.

The unanimous vote by the Golden Reapers and special guest Purple Reaper concluded.

“Ho ho ho ho.”

After the vote ended, only the sorrowful cries of the Hungry Ghost remained in the quiet room.

“!”

As the meeting concluded, Orange Reapers arrived carrying a giant Hungry Ghost.

Startled, the Golden Reapers tilted their heads at the prankster sibling’s arrival, but the news delivered by the Orange Reaper shocked them.

The Ice Palace was under attack by Mom!

Stunned, the Golden Reapers followed the Orange Reaper’s guidance and began entering the belly of the White Hungry Ghost.

“Heeheeheehee.”

The overstuffed White Hungry Ghost laughed joyfully.

***

In the vast snowy field within the Mini Reaper Garden.

I was still captured by the Golden Reapers and hadn’t returned to the isolation room.

Hooing softly.

I was being forced to assist the Golden Reapers in rebuilding the Ice Palace as punishment.

“Mom!”

When called by a Golden Reaper, I carried ice bricks toward them, trudging step by step.

Receiving the brick, the Golden Reaper smiled happily, saying, “Thank you, Mom!”

Even though the palace had been completely destroyed and was being rebuilt, the Golden Reapers seemed genuinely delighted.

Oddly, they enjoyed it even more than the first time.

Building something again usually feels tedious and annoying, right?

Golden Reapers are just hard to understand.

“Mom!”

“Mom!”

“Mom!”

Calls came from all directions.

“Place the bricks, carve decorations, compact the snow.”

Despite their superior craftsmanship, the Golden Reapers insisted on using my hands.

Were they trying to torment me this much?

“One at a time, I’ll get to you all, just wait.”

Working alongside a Golden Reaper to carve a pillar, they smiled happily, like beaming sunshine.

Staring at me while grinning, I absentmindedly patted the Golden Reaper’s head, secretly plotting my revenge.

Once the Ice Palace construction finishes…

I’ll tie up all the Orange Reapers and roast them like firecrackers.

And I’ll make the Hungry Ghost into an eternal torch on a skewer and sell it.

I snarled, showing my teeth.

***

In a narrow, enclosed concrete room.

“Huhk!”

Cheong woke up suddenly, startled, frantically feeling her face as she sat up.

To her, a calm male voice spoke.

“You’re awake. Thanks for rolling the dice earlier, Cheong.”

Seeing the man who had almost died but regained consciousness, Cheong gave a small smile of relief.

“But what’s that fur ball? It looks harmless, so I left it alone. Do you know anything about it?”

Pointing with his chin at the fluffy fur ball clinging to Cheong’s stomach, the man asked.

Fur ball?

Looking down in confusion, Cheong saw an orange-faced fur ball staring up at her.

Their eyes met, and Cheong felt as if lightning struck her mind.

She instinctively lifted the fur ball slowly.

Though she didn’t know why, the Object felt strangely familiar.

Like a fated partner she could never part from.

Plus, it was warm and soft to the touch.

Without a word, Cheong cradled the Orange Reaper in her arms like a cherished doll.

At that moment, a woman standing by the window, gazing outside, quietly said,

“We should move soon. There are tons of scavengers around here. Looks like our only option is to run toward the security wall.”

She added, “What is this cargo that has the scavengers chasing us like this?”

“Alright. Let’s hurry. The longer we wait, the harder it gets, right?”

But just as Cheong finished speaking and stood up, heavy footsteps echoed throughout the room.

Boom. Boom.

Then, through the window cracks, Cloud Fishes swarmed in, filling the room.

“?!”

Rare in the Free City Alliance, these Cloud Fishes made the situation even more puzzling.

Heavy footsteps and unexpected Cloud Fishes.

The tense man scanned the surroundings, his expression hardening.

“Something’s off.”

Suddenly, the Cloud Fishes lunged toward Cheong and her companions.

“!”

Blocking with a shield, the man was thrown backward along with everyone else.

The impact from these lightweight cloud creatures was shockingly heavy.

Standing back up, the man readied his shotgun to retaliate when—

A red beam erased the spot where the group had originally been.

Blinding light flashed before their eyes.

Followed by a searing heat wave that felt like burning skin.

The pillar glowed red, melting like lava.

Concrete dissolved, leaving a gaping hole.

“!!!”

Had the Cloud Fishes not pushed them out of the way, they might have melted like that concrete.

Even the sturdy shield, capable of blocking sniper bullets, wouldn’t have lasted against such a beam.

Panting heavily, Cheong turned her head toward the source of the beam.

Through the hole in the wall, a hideous scavenger stared back at them.

Human features were almost gone, replaced by a twisted amalgamation of metal and embedded Objects.

Seeing this, the man muttered gloomily.

“The infamous ‘Tank’ himself.”

Overwhelmed by despair, Cheong squeezed the fur ball tightly in her arms.