Swinging a large metal attaché case rhythmically and whistling, a flamboyantly dressed man named Liars hooked his finger around the trigger of a spinning magnum and fired a bullet at a wild dog devouring a corpse’s entrails. The overlapping gunfire and the bullet piercing the dog’s body echoed. The creature, its grotesque human-like face with three eyes plastered to its head, let out a short yelp, spewing blood as it collapsed. Liars blew a breath at the purple smoke rising from the muzzle, deftly ejecting the spent cartridge from the cylinder.

  In the back alleys of the undercity, no wild dog bore a normal form. Genes corrupted by toxins, mutated cells, a harsh environment constantly threatening survival, and a population that would die out if it didn’t multiply—these conditions defined the undercity’s wildlife, and by extension, its humans. A single pregnancy yielding twenty offspring, reaching birth in just a month, was the abnormal reproductive rate of the undercity’s creatures. Faced with death and driven to maintain their numbers, these beings defied reason in their ferocity.

  In this black city, humans waged survival struggles against each other, and even wildlife fought to the death as a matter of course. Gazing up at the steel plates covering the sky with hollow eyes, Liars stepped on the face of a man bleeding from the mouth, continuing forward. Climbing the stairs of a residential district apartment, he knocked on the door of the designated room.

  “Danan-chan, Lils-chan, your VIP has arrived!”

  No response came from the other side. Tilting his head slightly, Liars creaked the joints of his mechanical arm, extending a lockpick from his fingertip while simultaneously deploying a hack cable and a connect cable.

  Silence was as good as consent. Connecting the cable to his mechanical eye and jabbing the hack cable into the electronic lock above the keyhole, he simultaneously picked the physical lock and forced the electronic key open.

  Such locks were no obstacle. In three seconds flat, Liars unlocked the door, only to sense a surge of killing intent. Throwing his body back, he narrowly dodged an attack from silver wings.

  Those wings… Eve’s silver wings? But hers had six. With no sign of her presence, this must be a defense system for repelling intruders.

  Fixing his gaze on the silver wings swooping to impale his head, Liars opened his attaché case, deploying an auto-aim turret and pulling out a metal rod.

  “Self-defense, darling. What fault could I possibly have?”

  The turret’s bullets were deflected, sparks flying as the silver wings closed in. With a single swing of the rod, they disintegrated mid-air. Tiny electronic components and silver feathers scattered, and in that fleeting moment, Liars reassembled the parts with precision, glancing at the now-scrap wings. Lighting a cigarette with his battered Zippo, he clamped it between his lipstick-smeared lips.

  His superhuman mechanical skills were unmatched. Perfectly gauging the distance between himself and the wings, he’d neutralized a ridiculously agile weapon with ease, wielding the optimal relic. Had anyone else—a lesser mechanic or hacker—been in his place, the first strike would’ve shattered their skull, splattering brain matter and bone.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  An information broker with no combat ability or a human without exceptional skills had no value. To survive, to avoid death, one needed to hide their claws while baring their fangs. Wear the skin of harmlessness, revealing ferocity only when necessary. That was the way of life his friend had spoken of in their youth, cigarette in one hand, liquor bottle in the other. Picturing that friend, Liars stepped into the room, spotting a girl aiming a gun at him.

  “Oh, Lils-chan, it’s me, ME! No need to be so on edge!”

  Exhaling a heavy breath and lowering her gun as if drained, Lils—feigning composure—squeezed out a trembling voice. “You’re here already? That was fast, Liars.” Her shaking fingers began tapping at a keyboard.

  “Of course! This scrapheap won’t stop Damocles’ visit, you know?”

  “I doubt he’ll show up anytime soon. Danan burned his notebook in the last fight, after all.”

  “Oh? Damocles got an upgrade, and Danan still won? I thought he’d died from a tantrum.”

  “…”

  Tossing the disabled silver wings onto a desk, Liars sat in a chair, crushing his shortened cigarette in an ashtray before tossing it into the trash.

  A tantrum. Danan’s daily ritual of killing ruffians had long lost its meaning as revenge, devolving into pointless outbursts like a child’s. Every day, the young man rose earlier than anyone, prowled the residential district, and killed a single member of the ruffian gang in an alley or street before returning home. Even if the person who killed his foster father was gone from this world, slaughtering unrelated people was no different from random murder.

  Liars and Lils weren’t entirely unsympathetic to Danan’s feelings. They understood the rage of losing someone dear, the desire to eradicate the organization tied to the culprit. But they couldn’t stop him. No matter who tried to intervene, reason with him, or persuade him, it was meaningless unless Danan himself accepted it.

  Lils, too, had an organization she wanted to destroy—an entity that killed her father, took her mother, and cast her into the depths of hell. Her hatred and fury toward them would never fade. But the target of her lifelong quest for retribution was far beyond reach, protected by an impenetrable wall as long as she remained in the undercity. So she suppressed her rage and killing intent, hiding them to survive.

  “So, Lils-chan.”

  “What?”

  “Made any progress with that boy?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Don’t play coy—I know. I’m asking if you’ve gotten any closer to Danan-chan! You’ve known each other a while, right? Maybe a little action or two—”

  “Shut up, you pervert!”

  “Oh, don’t be like that! Then why’re you asking me about ‘growth tips’ or Danan’s preferences through private channels he doesn’t know about?”

  “—!!”

  Lils’ cheeks flushed crimson, her ears burning red. Her fingers, which had been typing nonstop, froze as she glared at Liars, who laughed gleefully.

  “That’s none of your business! It’s got nothing to do with you—”

  “Just asking, that’s all. But, you know, he was with another girl before. If you don’t act fast, someone might steal him!”

  “Steal him?!” Lils shouted, jumping to her feet. At that moment, the floor creaked, and Danan entered, carrying Eve on his back.

  “You’re here, Liars. Lils, what’s wrong? It’s not like you to panic without an enemy attack.”

  “—It’s none of your business!!”

  “What’s going on…? Liars, I’ve got someone for you to check out. Hit by ICE.”

  “ICE?”

  Laying Eve on a bed, Danan lit a cigarette.

  “The Earth Hologram in the ruins… She tried hacking the projection device and got hit by a counter. Just check her out, to be safe.”

  “Ruins security, huh… I’ll take a look, but if her nervous system’s shredded, it might be kinder to put her down. She’d just be a burden.”

  “…”

  Normally, Danan would’ve agreed without hesitation, cutting Eve loose. But Liars cast a skeptical glance at the young man’s silence.

  “Danan-chan?”

  “…If Eve’s nervous system is fried, is there any way to fix it?”

  “That’s a strange thing to say. Even I can’t restore nerves. You just told Lils she wasn’t acting like herself, but you’re the one acting off, Danan-chan.”

  Exhaling purple smoke and crushing the cigarette ember with his mechanical arm, Danan met Liars’ gaze.

  “Even so. I have a reason I can’t abandon her.”

  Ignoring Lils’ wide-eyed surprise, he said it with conviction.