The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician
Chapter 439 - 249: The Person Dancing Alone on the Rooftop

Chapter 439: Chapter 249: The Person Dancing Alone on the Rooftop

The night had darkened, like a curtain of mist.

From a high altitude, one could see that zone E3 had plummeted into absolute darkness, without even the artificial moon projected in the sky.

Inside the E3 zone, the city’s broadcast repeatedly played the same message over and over:

"E3 zone has suffered a terrorist attack. T2-level ’Black Boots Hunter’ program malfunctioned and is now releasing poison gas indiscriminately, killing civilians. All residents, please stay indoors, do not go out, turn off all lights, keep silent, and wait for rescue."

"E3 zone has suffered..."

The synthetic, mechanical sound echoed unceasingly above E3 zone and after a prolonged repetition, this sound became like some sort of meaningless spell, intensifying the panic and repression among the residents of E3.

The zone was left with only the broadcast and the occasional sounds of gunfire, explosions, and screams.

Young Finley was perched at the window, he looked outside where the familiar streets were now indecipherable due to the dense darkness, and distance was impossible to gauge.

"Bang, bang—"

"Ah!"

After two gunshots, a scream tore through the air reaching Finley’s ears.

Though feeble by the time it reached him, Finley couldn’t help but shudder.

He was somewhat unclear about what exactly had happened today.

This block was a red-light district, almost never engulfed in night; every evening was filled with colorful lights and loud sounds.

But tonight, it had suddenly disappeared.

He remembered that a long time ago, his dad had once told him that if it weren’t for those damned dance halls and neon lights, they would be able to see the bright stars in the sky.

So he continued to stare out the window at the night sky but could not see those seemingly existent stars.

"Finley, don’t stand there." At that moment, his sister slowly walked up to him, whispered into his ear, then forcibly dragged him away from the window.

According to the information on the internet, those ’Black Boots Hunters’ would shine lights like searchlights into each window, and if they detected any sign of human presence, they would forcibly enter and spray deadly gas.

This type of seemingly motiveless organized crime filled them with sincere terror.

It was as if they were executing some sort of human extinction plan.

"Sister." Finley held his sister’s hand, looking up in the direction of her head.

He could see only darkness, as if his sister’s head was some sort of shapeless object.

But he wasn’t afraid because his sister’s hand was warm.

After their dad had died in the military, they no longer had a stable source of income; Mom swapped their previous residence for this apartment with her pension money. Although not well-located, it was better than constantly moving.

Later, Mom mortgaged this apartment to replace her own limbs with mechanical prosthetics. With them, she could do more physical work, rest less, and make more money to support him and his sister.

Since then, he rarely held Mom’s hand because it was cold and hard, fitted with grappling hooks for handling goods.

Mom seemed to like her prosthetics a lot though, she always said, "It’s good to have the prosthetics; at least my limbs won’t get sick, if they break, I just need to swap them."

Now, neither he nor his sister knew where Mom was working; it was just the two of them hiding at home.

"Finley? Finley!" His sister’s voice rose slightly, she pinched her brother’s hand a bit discontentedly, "What are you thinking about? What were you just about to say?"

"I just saw Uncle Billy Wang’s family turn on their lights." Finley responded, recalling the light and shadows he had seen and nodded with certainty, "It looks like someone went in."

"What?" His sister was suddenly startled, she covered her mouth with her hand, then quickly pulled her brother’s hand and moved toward the bedroom before the two of them hid under the bed.

Uncle Billy Wang’s family lived just around the corner, not far from here. If those killers had already reached there...

They wouldn’t be far from here either.

"Bang—" Suddenly, the living room door burst open, and the glaring light from the corridor reached the bedroom while his sister made a hushing gesture to him, then she slowly peeked out towards the living room.

The bed frame was not very high, so she had to press her head against the floor to catch a glimpse of what was happening.

A figure appeared on the living room floor, moving around the room, quickly completing the inspection.

"Tap, tap, tap." The pair of feet wearing black boots walked towards the bedroom with a crisp sound.

His sister couldn’t help but cover her mouth with her hand, then she slowly moved towards the deeper part of under the bed.

She could feel her heart pounding wildly, terror spread across her mind, and she felt utterly helpless, constantly praying for divine assistance.

"Bang—Ping—" Suddenly, as if a deity had indeed heard her inner call, a figure drifted in from the window.

Like a leaf, it gently landed on the floor and then immediately exploded with force, striking the ’Black Boots Hunter.’

"Bang—" The body of the ’Black Boots Hunter’ uncontrollably flew into the bedroom, and the person who had broken in quickly followed into the bedroom, seizing the moment while the hunter was still dazed, then stooped down, pulled the siblings from under the bed, and positioned them behind him.