BATTER 8

At that moment, Max leaned into Minari’s ear and whispered something. The sound was too faint to catch. Even trying to piece together the movements of his inherently unnatural lips didn’t yield a definitive answer. Minari gently pushed Max’s face away and looked Baron straight in the eye.

“She doesn’t need my medicine.”

“What?”

“Unless the one who needs it is you, that is.”

Minari gave a light shrug. Her credo was simple: as long as she sold it, she didn’t care if the buyer lived or died. What a load of bullshit. Baron thumped the window threateningly. He looked down at Minari, baring his teeth like a snarling hound.

“This is the way to help the Boss. Are you really going to sabotage Neon Leon’s business?”

“Whatever are you talking about? I’m always helping you guys.”

Minari acted coy. When Baron thumped the glass once more, Max stepped forward. A muzzle was aimed right at Baron’s forehead. It seemed he had scavenged and installed parts from a security robot, as a firearm was built into his wrist.

“Do not threaten my partner. If you repeat this, I will open fire.”

I thought one of his hands moved particularly stiffly for a reason. Baron suppressed the urge to snort. Partner, my ass. I don’t even know if that gun will actually fire.

“You mean your master, not your partner. Looks like we need to clear up the pecking order, Minari.”

As he said that, he felt Liz tugging at his waist. Baron backed away slowly. Max lowered the muzzle and reassembled his wrist in time with that speed.

Minari had chosen non-cooperation. If there was a price she wanted, she would have given a hint. Instead, she chose to kick them out. Perhaps she thought Paul was no longer valuable now that the Boss had been arrested. Baron kept speculating as he left the shop. Behind Baron’s back as he led Liz away, Minari shouted:

“Don’t worry too much and just say your prayers, you poor kitty!”

Prayers to whom? Your good and beautiful Father? The Enlightened One? The Self-Born? Seeing her spout such unfitting nonsense today, it seemed Minari didn’t have much longer to live either. Baron lengthened his stride. Once they had distanced themselves from the clamor of the Lower City, Liz spoke. Her lip color had faded, perhaps because she had sucked the lipstick off in the meantime.

“So, are we going back empty-handed?”

“Tut-tut. Not entirely empty-handed.”

Baron smiled, opening his hand to show her. “She didn’t say she couldn’t make it; she said it wasn’t needed. At least Minari did manufacture a memory-wiping drug. We don’t know why, how, or when, but the fact that it’s not zero was a small comfort.”

“Let’s talk details once we’re in the car. When we get back, the test results will also be…”

Just as they were about to turn the corner of the alley, a strong, blunt impact shoved Baron’s shoulder. Rolling his eyes downward, he saw a dark red hole pierced through his right arm. Adrenaline as hot as blood boiled up instantly. Baron raised his gaze forty degrees.

He saw it. A pistol equipped with a silencer. An assailant about 5.8 feet tall with a covered face. Baron quickly fumbled for the pistol inside his coat. Trying to reach for his left chest with his left hand took longer than usual. One second—more than enough time to die. Before Baron could pull the trigger, the opponent fired once more. The bullet grazed near the shoulder of Baron, who was hurriedly ducking.

Who was this attack for? Detective Baron Lin? Paul of Neon Leon? Both were the kind of guys it wouldn’t be strange to see murdered. As always, his firing mechanism moved faster than his thought process. Baron rolled across the ground to avoid the ensuing gunfire. Then, he immediately blasted a round toward the man’s leg. With the recoil, blood flowed down his forearm. Anyway, a direct hit.

“Ugh…!”

With a metallic ting, the guy who was hit near the thigh let out a low scream. However, he only faltered slightly; there was no sign of blood seeping out. A robot wouldn’t have screamed. Was it a cyborg or a prosthetic leg? The man’s hesitation was only for a split second, but that was enough.

Baron aimed for the assailant’s right arm and pulled the trigger. This time, he could see real blood splatter. The hand with the injured tendon lost its grip on the weapon as if it were being flicked away. The assailant, suddenly disarmed, seemed to stagger for a moment before finally turning and starting to flee quickly.

Soon, the sound of gunfire that wasn’t his followed from behind. It was the sound of a rain of bullets being poured out in succession without waiting or resting. He knew it was Liz without even looking back. He didn’t know if they hit, but the sound of running away into the pitch-black darkness grew distant.

“Bastard. I’m going after him.”

Liz lunged forward, reloading her pistol. Baron followed behind her, putting pressure on his wounded forearm to stop the bleeding. When he tapped the digital band on his wrist to request backup, the interface light illuminated his field of vision. Something the size of a fingernail was shining on the lit ground. It was a mangled bullet. It appeared to be the bullet that had ricocheted off the prosthetic leg. Baron sent an emergency signal as he passed by it.

“This is Baron Lin. Situation G07. Coordinates are…”

What cut off the call request were two gunshots. Suddenly, his back and side felt warm in turn. It was obvious what had been lodged where, and there was no need to hesitate. He tried to force himself to keep speaking, but the sound of popping bubbles came out instead of his voice.

Red bubbles, huh? Just like cherry-flavored bubblegum. The taste is incomparably lousy. One might call it the taste of rusted rebar. He saw Liz, who had been running ahead, looking back. No, you idiot. Don’t look back. You shouldn’t look back.

And then he heard gunshots again…

What happened after that? Anyway, right now Baron is writhing under an overpass in the Lower City. He struggled to push his body up, like a giant caterpillar trying to stand. Every time he endured the pain—which he couldn’t distinguish between muscle aches or gunshot wounds—a rattling sound escaped him.

Gauging the amount of lost blood, he crawled on his knees toward Liz, who was lying several meters away. He placed a finger under her nose, but his senses were growing numb, making it hard to tell. He thought he might have felt a faint moisture. So, is she alive? She’s alive…

Baron stared down at Liz with flickering eyes before collapsing onto the ground. Lying on his side with his cheek against the filthy earth, he wheezed. It’s damp. The overpass was one of the few places where the ground was made of actual soil. Well, if a layer formed of rotting and weathered trash can be considered soil, then it was.

Thanks to that, he was able to die smelling a horribly foul stench. Haha. A thick scent of iron wafted from his moist and labored breath. Amidst the hazy fog of everything, the thought occurred to him that a one-rank special promotion wasn’t far off. Still, Liz is alive now, and she will return safely. That means I’m the one getting promoted first. I won, score.

Baron thought about trying to laugh, but realized there was no one to see it and just coughed a few times. A slippery, sticky mixture flowed out between his parted lips. The wheezing breath, sounding like an old, sick animal, was very unfamiliar. He thought to himself: Honestly, if I were to die, I thought I’d die over some lover’s quarrel.

Baron felt his eyelids—his mind—loosening. He could barely hear the sound of his punctured organs struggling to function. Wheeze, wheeze, wheeze, wheeze, wheeze. Step.

Amidst the uncomfortable breathing, he heard unfamiliar footsteps. It was a light and careless gait. It approached quickly. Something poured softly over Baron’s cheek, which had almost lost all sensation. Something cool, smooth, and light as silk.

Baron pushed his eyelids up with great effort. The first thing he saw was the tip of long hair. Baron’s gaze slowly traveled up that hair. Pretty blonde hair fluttering with a pale glow. A high-priced golden luster that only dolls painstakingly brushed by children might possess. The brilliant light became a shimmering haze and spread out.