Bad Born Blood
Chapter 171

Chapter 171

I looked down at the city from the hovering aerial vehicle. The night view of Border City was so bright that the darkness of night seemed meaningless, with pillars of light shooting up brilliantly.

‘A city like an old junk box hastily thrown together.’

Border City had no sense of order. Standards and styles were all over the place. Even the roads varied wildly in width, often narrowing unpredictably and blocking passage for no apparent reason.

It was a city where common-sense expectations like ‘Of course, it would be like this.’ simply didn’t apply. Everywhere was filled with unfamiliar and alien elements, and variables lurked at every corner. Those who couldn’t adapt to the ever-changing environment were weeded out.

‘Adapt to the environment.’

I looked down before closing my eyes. I had to empty my mind of the common sense that bound me and accept the city as it was. If I got caught up in conceptual standards and failed to keep up with reality, I would be left behind.

Reality was always more complex and dynamic than our expectations. Inflexible thinking would shatter when faced with an unimaginably unpredictable world.

Reality was an absurd lottery box filled with irrational events. Some people could reach into it just once and pull out an overwhelming fortune beyond belief, while others could reach in ten times and only grasp suffering.

‘An absurd reality.’

The world we live in doesn’t always reward relentless effort with fairness. Results often betray expectations, and hard work frequently seems to vanish into nothing.

To live in this world means to endure that absurdity without despair... and to reach into the lottery box one more time.

The only way to find happiness is to keep reaching into the box, even when it’s overflowing with misfortune. Because that’s all we can do.

Draw, draw, and draw again.

Most of the time, it will be misfortune, but once in a while, we might pull out happiness.

-I got word that Gabriel has been found. West Border City.

En spun the aerial vehicle sharply as he spoke.

“You found him already?”

-Jafa’s business operations are spread all across Border City. They all run 24/7. If someone stands out, they’re easy to find.

And he did stand out. A man with mechanical limbs, a massive build... rough-looking and ugly.

The aerial vehicle flew low, weaving through the buildings.

Viiing!

With an elegant turn, the aerial vehicle hovered over a five-story building. There was no landing pad.

-Get down.

En pressed a control panel and opened the vehicle’s door. The night wind howled fiercely.

“So this is how we’re doing it,” I muttered, curious about how we were supposed to get down.

I grabbed the doorframe and looked down. En was also preparing to descend.

-Just checking, but you don’t need a rope or anything, do you?

“As if.”

I jumped down first.

I had excellent marks in Adaptive Three-Dimensional Maneuvering. It was a highly useful skill in environments with irregular obstacles, such as urban areas, forests, and situations like this—free-fall drops. Instantly, I assessed the tangled network of structures and equipment and found the optimal route.

Screech, thud!

I scraped my fingertips against a utility pole to slow my descent and landed smoothly.

Boom!

En landed far more heavily. As massive as he was, his impact was just as loud and weighty. Even his combat suit shook from the force.

Clatter.

We stepped into Jafa Pizza No. 12, located on the first floor of the building. Inside, it was a complete mess, with not a single chair or table in its proper place.

“Damn it, why are you so late! The bastard already ran off.”

A human man wearing a store manager’s cap stepped out and complained to En. It seemed that guarding business establishments was one of Jafa Corporation’s mercenary services.

-Where did he go?

“That snake bastard scarfed down three whole pizzas! And he downed five glasses of snake enzyme beer!”

-Hmph, the guy knows how to eat. So, let me ask again—where did he go?

“He looked like the type to eat and run, so I planted a tracker in his pizza.”

The store manager went inside, retrieved a chip, and tossed it to En. When En inserted it into his terminal, a tracking direction appeared.

-You’ll be getting promoted soon. Get ready to head to headquarters.

En said that as he walked out of the store.

We sprinted through the streets, following Gabriel’s trail. Since he had just woken up in the hospital, his movements were sluggish, and he hadn’t gotten far.

Before long, we spotted the back of Gabriel’s head.

Click.

As soon as En located the target, he pulled the firearm from his back and shouldered it. His seamless execution of a tactical shooting stance made it clear he had proper training.

-Relax, it’s a tranquilizer round.

En said that as he prepared to fire.

Thunk!

I kicked the barrel of his gun upward with the tip of my foot. En, to his credit, refrained from pulling the trigger and looked at me.

-What the hell are you doing?

“There’s no need for rough methods. We just need to go and talk.”

-The same guy who shot out Anguis Regina’s knee is saying that?

“She’s not someone I know.”

-Hmm, fair point. But Gabriel isn’t my friend or employer either. Whether he gets hurt or not isn’t my concern.

“If you’re thinking of fighting me, go ahead and try. I’ll crush that arm before you even pull the trigger.”

En’s combat helmet’s visor narrowed.

-The target is escaping while you’re busy talking. He spotted us.

Just as En said—or more precisely, just as Gabriel recognized me—he took off in a hurry.

Gabriel slipped out of the narrow alley and rushed onto the main street. He pushed his way through the crowd. Though he was large, his size was still within human limits. Among alien species, plenty of individuals were Gabriel’s size, so he blended into the crowd.

-I’ll go up top. If it looks like you’re losing him, I’ll shoot. So do a good job.

En scanned his surroundings before heading toward the tallest building nearby.

Despite it being close to dawn, the streets were packed. Thinking about it, it wasn’t surprising—there were plenty of nocturnal species.

‘Damn it, Gabriel.’

Suppressing my irritation, I shoved through the crowd. Gabriel, with that massive frame of his, was already ahead, breaking free from the crowd and sprinting away.

‘Should I just shoot him?’

My fingers were already itching.

‘Alright, I see a path.’

As soon as I recognized my surroundings, a route formed in my mind. Thanks to Adaptive Three-Dimensional Maneuvering, I instinctively visualized the best way to close the gap in one swift move.

I withdrew my hand from my coat and bent my knees slightly.

Viiing.

The power in my legs surged smoothly. Every time I used them, I marveled at how light and responsive my prosthetics felt—so natural that I barely remembered I was wearing metal.

Tap!

I leaped up and grabbed onto a protruding signboard. Using only my grip, I pulled myself up, springing forward like a double jump.

The crowd was now beneath me in an instant. But there was no solid ground to land on. If I didn’t find another foothold fast, I’d be sending multiple people to the hospital.

Crunch!

I planted my foot on the nearest balcony railing. The metal railing bent under my weight. Crouching slightly, I launched off it, practically shattering it in the process.

Crash!

Yeah, that one was definitely broken. I might’ve even cracked the balcony itself.

Gaining momentum, I kept moving along the wall without looking back. To onlookers, it probably looked like I was running along the vertical surface.

I didn’t have any magic to defy gravity. I was just grabbing onto the terrain and using it as a stepping stone.

Snap!

Wherever I passed, things broke—whether slightly or significantly.

“What the hell is that guy?”

“Forget it, must be some crazy bastard.”

Despite how much attention I should’ve been drawing, people only glanced and muttered before moving on. Guess this city saw its fair share of chaos on a daily basis.

Moving along the building’s exterior, I quickly closed the distance to Gabriel. His waddling run was in plain sight—I could probably count every strand of hair on his head.

Thunk!

Kicking off the wall, I lunged at Gabriel.

Boom!

As I dropped, I drove my shoulder into his back. We tumbled to the ground in a heap. Of course, I was the only one still in control—Gabriel was the one left dazed.

Crunch!

Even as we rolled, I grabbed one of Gabriel’s legs and twisted it. A large mechanical component broke off and bounced across the ground.

“Gahk—! Cough! Lu... Luka?! Damn it, so it really was you. It wasn’t a dream. Fuck!”

Gabriel recognized me and went pale.

“Calm down, Gabriel.”

“S-Sorry... It’s all my fault. It’s my fault!”

“Get a grip and speak properly!”

I grabbed Gabriel by the collar and yanked him up. The enhanced output of my prosthetic arm lifted his massive frame with ease.

“Just... kill me. I want to forget everything. I—I’m worthless trash that doesn’t deserve to live.”

Gabriel’s teeth chattered like a street beggar left out in the cold.

I furrowed my brows. The gap in time had been cruel. The man in front of me was not the Gabriel I knew.

The Gabriel in my memory was proud. He wasn’t the kind of man who would crumble so completely, rejecting his own existence and life.

A heavy sigh pressed against my throat. I wasn’t angry. If anything...

...I just felt hollow.

“Listen carefully, Gabriel. If you really want to die, I won’t stop you. But I have missing time. Twelve years that everyone else remembers, but I don’t. So if you don’t talk, I’ll torture the answers out of you. Since you’re planning to die anyway, you won’t mind whatever methods I use, right?”

I let go of his collar and grabbed his throat instead. My fingers locked into place, pushing up the skin of his neck. His throat turned red, as if the skin would tear.

“Ghhhk—! Kkgh! Ghak!”

Gabriel wheezed, struggling for breath. Finally, he lifted a fist to punch me. I swung my free hand and deflected his strike.

Clang!

The impact rang out sharply in the air.

“Good. You’ve still got some fight in you. That means you still have the will to live.”

I threw Gabriel toward the wall, slamming him against it. His back hit with a heavy thud, and he dropped his head before slowly lifting it again.

“Kuhhk—! Cough! Damn it, that hurt, you bastard. With that shitty temper of yours... Guess it really is you.”

Gabriel rubbed his reddened neck and spoke.

“It’s really me. How many times are you gonna ask?”

“They all said you had no chance of recovery. Even those arrogant imperial doctors said the same. The ones who act like they know everything.”

Finally, the conversation was starting to flow. I could see traces of the Gabriel I used to know.

“When Giselle went missing, I heard you were her chief bodyguard. What happened?”

“Before I answer, promise me one thing, Luka.”

“What promise?”

“That you won’t kill me after you hear what I have to say.”

“Don’t tell me you were the one who kidnapped Giselle.”

“Of course not. Do I look like the kind of bastard who’d kidnap a friend’s little sister?”

That was true. Gabriel might be an idiot, but he wasn’t an evil man.

“Then what happened?”

“The day Giselle disappeared... I was with a woman. So I don’t remember anything.”

“Were you off duty?”

Gabriel awkwardly scratched his cheek.

“If I were, I’d have said so. I was just skipping work.”

I lifted my head and looked at the sky before covering my face with both hands. I didn’t want anyone to see my expression.

My emotions burned black. If I followed my instincts, I would have shattered every bone in Gabriel’s body into dust.

But I knew better. Gabriel was deliberately provoking my aggression.

“Don’t act like a clueless idiot. You can’t forgive yourself because of guilt, right? But don’t try to resolve that feeling through me. It pisses me off.”

Giselle had kept Gabriel as her chief bodyguard. That meant he wasn’t the type to be so recklessly irresponsible.

If Gabriel had been out despite not being off duty, that meant he had fallen into a trap.

“...Gabriel, listen carefully. Do you remember the woman you were with that day?”

“As soon as Giselle went missing, I knew something was wrong, so I went looking for her. I realized I’d fallen into a trap, too.”

Just as I had sensed earlier, Gabriel had grown. He was recognizing the situation with deeper, more analytical thinking.

“How did you meet her? Start from there.”

“Giselle often took business trips to Border City, and since I always accompanied her, I ended up meeting a woman here. Eventually, she confessed that she was raising a kid alone. You know I’m not the kind of guy who cares about that, right? I told her it was fine. Over time, I started interacting with the kid too... like a foster father of sorts.”

I narrowed my eyes. As new information came in, my thoughts accelerated, and the pieces of the story began to align.

‘Gabriel is too sentimental.’

His inability to separate work from personal feelings was both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness.

“Luka, I... I...”

Gabriel, who had been speaking coherently until now, suddenly started trembling again. He crossed his arms and clawed at his own neck so violently that his skin was on the verge of peeling off.

‘Trauma.’

Post-traumatic stress was eating him alive. The reason he had buried himself in drug dens wasn’t just guilt.

“Enough. We’ll talk later.”

If I forced him to recall more of those memories, his mind might break completely. His reliance on drugs might have been his way of surviving.

“No, listen... I... It was for... the kid’s birthday party. Just... 30 minutes. That’s all. She was so excited—I couldn’t say no. I just... I just wanted to give her a present and leave. I wasn’t... planning to drink. I—ugh... ah... aaaahk... hic... I... I... ah...”

Gabriel trembled violently and clutched my arm. His tearful eyes met mine.

“...They’re all dead. My subordinates, my woman... Shiren, and... the kid... ah... Lunia, the girl... she’s dead too. She was still so young... Aah...”

...This was as far as he could go. His guilt toward me was nothing compared to the real trauma buried inside him.

I raised my hand and pressed against his chin, then delivered a short, sharp strike. His brain would jolt, cutting his consciousness.

Thud.

Gabriel slumped forward, still gripping my arm.

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