Bad Born Blood
Chapter 172

Chapter 172

Right now, I was in a private clinic that Jafa had introduced me to. From what I heard, the doctor specialized in trauma treatment.

Whirr.

I repeatedly tossed my dagger into the air and caught it. It was a game I had enjoyed since my cadet days. It was good for killing time and, at the same time, stimulating my combat nervous system.

Faster, higher.

My hand moved quicker, almost as if I were performing a trick. The dagger’s tip dropped toward the center of my forehead.

Kiing.

I caught the blade between my fingers, stopping it.

’Foolish Gabriel.’

Sitting on a bench in the hallway, I stared at the hospital room door. Gabriel was inside.

Gabriel was suffering from severe trauma. In addition to drug addiction treatment, he also needed complex psychological therapy.

I could ignore his trauma and just ask about Giselle’s disappearance. But then Gabriel’s mind would shatter as well.

Click.

Spinning the dagger between my fingers, I continued my thoughts. The dagger danced over my hand.

’I know Gabriel. He must have done his best within his abilities. He just wasn’t capable enough.’

Even if you try your hardest, some things are simply impossible. A human can’t fly just by flailing their arms.

But just because I understood that... it didn’t mean my anger disappeared. If anything, my rage, left without a target, churned inside me even more.

Kiing, kiing.

The dagger, gaining speed, spun in all directions, drawing arcs in the air and displaying its sharp, piercing nature. A savage dance of the blade.

Kit!

The spinning dagger slipped from my fingers and flew away, grazing my cheek as it passed.

Drip.

I wiped the blood trickling down my cheek with my sleeve. Looking up, I saw the dagger embedded in the ceiling, trembling slightly.

’Anyone will do as long as I can fight.’

I wished someone would pick a fight with me.

At this point, if the mastermind behind Giselle’s abduction sent an assassin after me, I would have no complaints. I was more than willing to unleash every ounce of the violence I had mastered upon them.

Creak.

The hospital room door opened.

“The patient’s condition has stabilized.”

A man with a relaxed demeanor stepped out. He wore a loose, oversized white coat that draped over him like it was slipping off. His dark skin made the contrast with the white coat even more pronounced. His presence felt more like that of a religious figure than a doctor.

’A Coritan.’

Gabriel’s new physician was from the Holy Corite Alliance.

A fragment of my childhood flashed through my mind. I dug through my memories.

‘It was a Coritan forward base... no, more like a pioneer village. My fellow cadets and I raided the place.’

There had been a Force user there. He could have killed me, but in the end, he held back.

It wasn’t a pleasant memory. My insides were already a mess from anger, and revisiting the emotions of that time only made it worse. I felt like I was going to lose my mind.

My pupils trembled, making my vision blur. The bio-signals from my brain became unstable, causing my prosthetics to twitch. Misinterpreting the signals, my cybernetic implants repeatedly increased and decreased their output on their own.

‘Annoying.’

Ironically, my anger toward Gabriel subsided. Instead, I was furious at myself for failing to control my emotions. A self-destructive urge to punish myself surged within me.

“...It seems that the patient isn’t the only one in need of counseling.”

“If you stick your nose where it doesn’t belong, you’ll be the one needing a hospital bed.”

I shot the man a glare as I spoke. I had no patience for anyone acting like they understood me.

“I’m a professional.”

“So what? Do you have mind-reading powers that let you analyze someone’s inner thoughts the moment you see them?”

“I don’t offer free counseling. So unless you want to pay, I won’t say another word.”

“Now that’s the best thing I’ve heard all day, Doctor Gaya.”

I glanced at the name tag on his coat. His name was Gaya.

“I’ve lived twice as long as you. I’d appreciate some respect.”

“That’s why I called you ‘Doctor.’ That’s an honorific.”

Gaya shrugged and then held out a form for me to sign as Gabriel’s guardian.

“Mr. Gabriel requires long-term inpatient treatment. If we discharge him now, he’ll likely attempt something drastic.”

“No need to sugarcoat it.”

“He’ll try to harm himself. Pardon me, but what is your relationship with the patient?”

I hesitated for a moment, considering my answer.

“Former... superior.”

“So, an old friend.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth. Jafa’s company will cover the medical expenses.”

“Understood.”

As I stood up, I looked toward Gabriel’s hospital room. But I didn’t move in that direction.

“Tell Gabriel... that I don’t resent him. That should make his treatment easier.”

Gaya nodded and smiled. Then he walked to the end of the hallway and held the door open for me to leave.

* * *

Border City was an increasingly ridiculous place the more I looked at it.

In reality, there was hardly any official law enforcement in Border City. There were police, technically, but their numbers were laughably small compared to the city’s scale.

’The police in Border City are practically just personal security for the Federation’s bureaucrats and elites.’

In fact, nine out of ten residents in Border City weren’t even citizens of the Bellato Federation. Only a small fraction had permanent residency or legal stay permits, and the vast majority weren’t registered in any administrative system at all.

Because of that, public security in Border City was entirely run by private security firms. People signed contracts with these firms to protect themselves from crime and even to conduct investigations or enact retaliation. Naturally, the more money you had, the better protection you could afford.

’At least in Akbaran, the Empire steps in when something big happens.’

The Empire kept a close watch on the lower districts, if only to maintain surveillance.

But in Border City, it wasn’t just negligence—it was complete abandonment. Most of the resident population wasn’t registered with the Bellato Federation, meaning the Federation itself essentially treated Border City as a foreign territory.

There were no attempts to stabilize the economy, security, or administrative functions in any meaningful way.

’This isn’t just neglect... it’s deliberate enablement.’

They were allowing all sorts of abnormal incidents to happen unchecked. The unique nature and intended purpose of Border City were blatantly obvious.

“What a fucking joke...”

I muttered as I shut off all the holograms. I had been trying to dig up information on the case involving Gabriel’s girlfriend’s death, but I found nothing.

There were at least seven major private security firms in Border City. If I included the countless smaller companies, keeping track of them all would be exhausting.

To access the city’s crime records, I first had to figure out which security firm had handled the particular case.

And even then, there was no standardized way to access their databases. Some companies would show their records for the right price, while others demanded all sorts of credentials. Those were the cooperative ones—some firms outright banned any outside access.

Even if I somehow got the necessary permissions and combed through different companies’ databases, there was no guarantee I’d find the case I was looking for. Judging by how things worked here, it was probably even possible for criminals to pay to have their incriminating records erased.

This was the natural consequence of a place where the state’s administrative power didn’t function and where there was no unified system or standard. From my perspective, it was the pinnacle of inefficiency.

In Akbaran, a single word from the elite or those in power could flood you with information. But here, even the powerful struggled to find what they were looking for.

This city was shrouded in a veil of chaos. I closed my eyes, then opened them again, murmuring the names.

‘Shiren, Lunia.’

Gabriel’s girlfriend was Shiren, and her daughter was Lunia.

‘For someone like Gabriel, who grew up among gangs in the lower districts, to be this shaken... it must have been a horrifying incident.’

Investigating this case on my own would take a long time. I was an outsider with no real footing in Border City.

...Once again, I needed someone’s help.

I knew it. No one survived alone in this world. I had received help from many people during the Storm Era. Border City would be no different.

I went to the person I found most likable at Jafa’s company—Lapis Lazuli, the brilliant engineer who had built my prosthetics.

Lapis Lazuli was humming a snake song as she repaired some kind of unknown device. By now, I was familiar with the rhythm.

I got straight to the point.

“An unauthorized network connection? Oh, you mean the deep web? Why all of a sudden? If you’re planning to look at something weird...”

Before Lapis could narrow her eyes at me, I quickly answered.

“I need to search for something.”

“Oh, I go there sometimes too. But only with an old terminal.”

Lapis casually grabbed a terminal from a shelf and tossed it to me.

I powered up her outdated device. Thankfully, no Jafa Corporation ads popped up.

Instead, as soon as I connected to the unauthorized network, dozens of illegal ads flooded the screen, one after another. The terminal’s firewall kicked in, wiping them out.

Kiing!

The overheating terminal let out a sharp whine as it worked in real time to filter out the ads. Among them were hidden programs and viruses disguised as advertisements.

On the screen, I saw Lapis’s previous search history.

- Border City’s 13 Mysteries: The Ghost Prosthetic That Moves Without a Brain?!

Most of the results were urban legends and ghost stories. Apparently, one of Lapis’s hobbies.

- Jafa Burger’s Meat Secret: It’s Not Snake, It’s Actually...

That one caught my curiosity. I clicked on it, only to be met with a paywall.

“Hey, can I pay for this?”

Lapis scowled at me.

“So you’re the kind of person who actually spends money on that nonsense.”

“I was joking.”

“Whatever you’re looking for, most of this is just gossip and trash information.”

“For something like that, you sure spent a lot of time reading it.”

“It’s entertaining. Sometimes, you even find rare bits of information. Like the legendary mercenary, Mushir al-Kashura, the One-Man Army. Everyone thought he was just a myth, but he turned out to be real.”

“Mushir al-Kashura?”

“You can look that up yourself later. It’s easy to find. What exactly are you trying to search for? If you keep hesitating, that terminal’s gonna fry.”

I agreed. From the way the terminal was overheating, it looked ready to start smoking.

Lapis hooked her tools onto her belt and stepped closer. She shifted the holographic interface toward herself, waiting for my instructions.

“Filter out cases where a mother and daughter were murdered together. The more brutal, the better. I’m sure there are people who collect only the most horrific cases.”

Lapis flinched, then shot me a look full of disgust. I hurriedly clarified.

“It’s for an investigation, damn it! I’m just a perfectly normal, sexually healthy human male! I’m not into aliens, I’m not into guys! I only like human women of the same species!”

“Alright, alright, don’t get so worked up. Anyway, I’ve connected to the most well-known snuff site. I’ll set up a filter.”

“The case happened seven years ago. Narrow the time frame around that.”

“Oh, searching requires a paid subscription. And for the record, it’s ridiculously expensive.”

“I’ve got plenty of money.”

I handed her a credit chip.

Beep.

As soon as I swiped it through the terminal, the balance on the chip dropped significantly.

“Just so you know, most of the shocking photos and videos on these sites are fake. A lot of people waste money on this junk. Ah... uh... this is... Yeah, you take it from here.”

Lapis averted her gaze and shut her eyes tightly. I started going through the photos and videos uploaded seven years ago. Thanks to the paid access, at least there were no ads cluttering the screen.

It was tedious work. Countless gruesome images and videos flooded in.

Then, one single photo caught my attention.

...A mother and daughter, dead.

The woman’s abdomen had been cut open and spread wide, and inside, the child’s head was placed neatly, staring out. Their faces weren’t fully visible, but I knew instinctively. This was Shiren and Lunia.

- The Cycle of Birth and Death, Ouroboros.

The uploader had even given it a title, as if it were some kind of artwork.

‘Pathetic bullshit...’

I checked to see if the person who uploaded this was still active. Another paywall. Without hesitation, I swiped the credit chip again.

Beep.

Just then, my terminal buzzed with an incoming call from Jafa.

- Luka!

“This was a necessary expense. I’ll take care of a few errands later, so just let it slide.”

I spoke briefly and ended the call. I wasn’t completely devoid of conscience—I was starting to feel guilty about constantly making Jafa cover my costs.

Border City required far more money than I had anticipated.

‘This bastard is still posting regularly.’

The uploads ranged from every one to two weeks to as long as a year apart. It seemed the uploader fancied themselves an artist, pretending that murder had some kind of aesthetic. On top of that, they always damaged or obscured the victims’ faces, making identification difficult.

I stared at the posts and photos the uploader had shared. I didn’t even blink—only my pupils moved, scanning each image with an inorganic focus.

It had been a while since I felt like this.

Analyzing an extremely limited set of clues and information to arrive at the answer. As twisted as it was to admit, I found this kind of challenge enjoyable.

Drip.

A warm trickle of blood ran down from my nose. My brain was overheating.

‘Judging by the patterns of the wounds, they’re left-handed. And based on the timestamps of the uploads, the frequency of the murders... and the angle of the photos...’

I wiped my nosebleed and blinked. Then, I reviewed the images in chronological order.

At a glance, the varying camera heights didn’t seem to mean anything. But when I compared them across the years, I noticed a gradual upward shift in perspective.

‘They’ve physically grown over the past few years. They’ve gotten taller.’

That was one solid clue confirmed. From here, the rest of the deductions wouldn’t be difficult.

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