Bad Born Blood Chapter 228

228
Kinuan always appears and disappears suddenly.

I can’t get a handle on it. It moves leisurely, like it’s taking a stroll, outside my expectations and grasp.

We left the street stall, and Kinuan seemed to blend in with the crowd like a ghost, then disappeared altogether.

“Gyaaaaaaah!”

“What, your hair?”

“What on earth is going on… … .”

Later, the heads of the street vendor and the customer fell off. Those passing by were wide-eyed at the strange death.

‘How far does Kinuan’s information network extend?’

I stood among the crowd and looked up. The buildings of the crowded Border City towered without any standards.

‘The timing of Kinuan’s appearance was exquisite.’

I met with Elai today. It will take some time until our next contact, so I can’t share information with him right away.

And Kinuan is after Paolo Kwan’s legacy. He has made it a bargaining chip.

Paolo Kwan is the father of Anguis Regina and Jafar’s former lover. He is the chef who created Jafar’s Burger Sauce, but he is also an archaeologist who tracks down the Arcane civilization.

‘It was only the day before yesterday that Jafar spoke of Paolo Kwan’s legacy.’

Kinuan stabbed in exquisitely, as if he knew all the circumstances.

‘But there’s no way he really knows all the circumstances. Don’t think of Kinuan as an omnipotent being. He’s human like me.’

It reminded me of Archie’s Victima. It’s the ability to infer reality close to foresight with small clues and circumstances.

Kinuan is a master of Archie’s Victima. He intentionally creates conflicts and twists relationships to extract information.

‘So it looks like I’m omnipotent to others. It’s all staged. Don’t be fooled.’

I blinked.

‘I showed up in person to test myself. I showed up to confirm my guess.’

I will also be moved if it is organized. He must have looked into my inner self with a high degree of insight and observation.

Ugh.

I gritted my teeth. My mistakes were clearly visible.

‘I was so pressured by Kinuan that I confirmed all his speculations. I should have just pretended not to know and presented false information.’

There is definitely information that even Kinuan does not know. He is not a god. He is just a human crawling on the ground.

‘You’re really being dragged around, you little rascal Luca.’

My relationship with Kinuan is unfair.

‘I don’t know Kinuan’s purpose.’

Ascension and all that vague stuff probably aren’t his goals. It’s just a play on words.

‘Kinuan knows that my purpose is Giselle.’

If Kinuan had information about Giselle, or was pretending to, then I would lose the initiative.

Finding Giselle was my priority over capturing Kinuan. This was my weakness.

‘But is Paolo Kwan’s legacy so great? So great that Kinuan himself has to step forward to verify it?’

Things were going wrong on many levels. A sticky chaos was approaching that could not be overcome with ordinary thinking.

I felt the corners of my mouth twitch. I had felt this sensation before.

‘The Storm of the Empire.’

In a complex web of conflicting interests, conflicting goals, a picture that is only outlined and partially revealed, and destruction and death chasing after you, urging you to make a choice.

I’m already feeling dizzy.

‘Don’t repeat the mistakes of the past. Trusting others naturally carries the possibility of being betrayed.’

But if you are afraid of betrayal and cannot trust, you will only face an unbearable destruction.

This world is too violent for one person to handle alone.

I am not an invincible superhuman.

“… … I’m just a human.”

Kinuan will be like that too.

* * *

I stopped by Sonsoo Industry and ordered an exoskeleton prosthetic limb from Son Seok-jae.

“Oh, you mean a mechanical prosthesis? Not a cybernetic one?”

Son Seok-jae was wiping his hands while wearing oily maintenance uniform.

“If it was cybernetic, it wouldn’t have come here. Prepare it for combat.”

“I guess I’ll need to measure the dimensions?”

I explained it as I remembered it by eye.

If it’s at the level of Ragnata, it won’t have to be elaborate, so it’ll adapt somehow. After all, it was a temporary prosthetic limb.

“There should be a lot of general-purpose prosthetic parts in the warehouse here. Just give me whatever you want and modify it to high-power. Come pick it up tomorrow.”

“Well, it’s not like I’m preparing one, but… … I wonder who will use it.”

Son Seok-jae took a sip of his beer and wiped the foam off his beard.

“That’s none of your business.”

“Whenever I have a new partner, I always treat them to a drink at a nice place. Mr. Luca will be there soon too… … .”

“I don’t drink alcohol.”

I answered quickly.

“I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t play dress-up. I wonder what fun I get out of living.”

I answered, baring my teeth.

“… … Instead, I kill people. That’s the fun of my life. Did that answer your question?”

Son Seok-jae smiled and narrowed his eyes. He was habitually about to take out a cigarette, but when he realized I was in front of him, he put it back.

“It’s a brutal answer, but I understand. Oh, the first report on Mushir al-Kashra has been completed. Would you like to check it? I will explain it to you.”

“No, I’ll ask Lapis about that.”

Son Seok-jae smiled gently and nodded.

“Do as you wish. And there will be someone from the federal government coming to observe this test.”

It was faster than I thought. But this was better. I felt the waves of events coming.

“Send me the schedule.”

After finishing my conversation with Son Seok-jae, I went to find Lapis.

Lapis was staying in a room guarded by two Equsians. The Equsians were still sharply wary of me.

“Relax, friends. I’ve made peace with Jafar.”

I went into the room guarded by Equusian, grumbling.

Squeak.

When I went inside, I saw Lapis struggling to pack her clothes into her suitcase. It seemed like she was going to leave the handicraft business.

“Is the investigation over? I heard it was called the first report.”

I walked over to Lapis and closed the suitcase for her. The lock clicked into place, compressing the suitcase tightly.

“Anyway, we’ve already secured all the data and drawings. If we need any other research, we can just run a simulation. Do you need a report, Lucado?”

“I’m not a technician anyway, and that data isn’t important to me. Just summarize the key points.”

Lapis projected the blueprint of Mushir Al-Kashra’s body into the terminal’s hologram. With her gestures, the body disintegrated, and its internal parts fell apart in a dense mess.

“It’s basically the same as the Imperial armor… … .”

Lapis summarized the report.

‘Sharing the characteristics of the legion.’

That doesn’t mean Kashura has anything to do with Legion. It’s just an inevitability like convergent evolution.

High-performance, high-output bodies inevitably come with brain overload.

The Legion installed a variety of auxiliary computing devices and signal attenuation devices to minimize the overload.

‘… … Kashura’s armored body is different from the Legion.’

Kashura’s armored body had no signal attenuation or auxiliary processing devices.

“… … The damping device that adjusts the high-power control signal to the biological brain is probably in the missing metal box. The brain is in there too. And the auxiliary processing unit.”

Lapis made a rational deduction. But I think differently.

‘Kashura uses multiple brains. So there is no need for auxiliary calculations or damping devices.’

If my speculation is true, Kashura is the most horrific monster I have ever encountered.

“Will the data obtained by analyzing Kashura’s armored body be helpful in developing handcrafted weapons?”

“It’s obvious. This would be the same as capturing the Legion. The Federation is not unaware of the principles and core of the Legion and the armored body. The problem is the sophisticated data accumulated over a long period of time and actual combat. The data obtained from Kashura’s body will reduce trial and error and greatly shorten the development period.”

“But robots and prosthetics are different. They might not be that helpful, right?”

It was a question asked out of curiosity. And there was also a slight sense of resistance to the fact that the essence of the Imperial Battle Body would be easily caught up.

“In terms of combat weapons, the gap is gradually narrowing. If you think of the MAU differently, it’s like a huge exoskeleton. The responsiveness and flexibility that were unique advantages of the body have been caught up by exoskeleton combat suits to a great extent. When it comes to products with direct nervous system functions, the body is ahead only in durability and volume.”

My mouth was watering. From my perspective as someone who cut off limbs to become stronger, it is not pleasant to see the gap narrowing. I want to deny that statement.

But only a fool would refute an expert’s opinion.

“I’ll go first. If we stay here any longer, the Equusians will surely kill one or two humans. I’ll see you at the office later.”

“I’ll carry your bag. It looks like you have quite a bit of luggage.”

I followed Lapis, carrying her suitcase instead. Lapis left the room carrying only her toolbox.

In the empty lot of the handicraft factory site, there was an aerial vehicle belonging to Japa Company. It was the vehicle that Lapis and the Equsians had ridden in.

Son Seok-jae, dressed in neat clothes, came out to see me off. He was smoking a cigar from a distance, but put it out as he got closer to me.

“Lapis, you’re good at it. If you ever hate Boss Jafar, come to me. Actually, this is a secret, but I pretend to be an xenophobe in order to get investment from extremists. I only watch po*n with aliens in it. I like aliens too much.”

Son Seok-jae shook hands with an insult and showed a fake smile.

Lapis showed a look of displeasure and refused to shake Son Seok-jae’s hand.

“… … I hope I never see you again. You’re rude and stupid. You’re the kind of person I hate.”

Son Seok-jae smiled and put his hand in awkwardly.

Wheeing.

The engine sound spread from the aerial vehicle carrying Lapis and the Equusians.

‘I feel sorry for Lapis in many ways.’

I owe Lapis a lot. Up until now, she has always listened to my requests without complaint. Especially when I first woke up in Border City, I was a huge loser. Things are a little better now.

Anyway, the conclusion is the same. Lapis had a great personality.

‘Lapis is trustworthy.’

I was prepared to tell Lapis a big secret.

‘Lapis works under Jafar, but… …she is not loyal to Jafar. Lapis’s actions are always guided by her own beliefs and conscience.’

Lapis is warm. Unlike me, who is cynical and even hostile to others.

The world we live in is often a terrible place, but it often doesn’t feel that bad… …because there are people like Lapis.

Yes, I love Lapis Lazuli. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not about men and women, it’s about people to people.

I watched the moving aerial vehicle. It was now a dot.

… … Then the dot exploded.

Ter- Huh!

The sound of the explosion reached the empty lot of the handicraft factory. I stared at the explosion of the air vehicle with my eyes wide open. The burning air vehicle was falling.

‘The aerial vehicle carrying Lapis Lazuli exploded.’

Objective facts were coldly injected into my brain. My cold thoughts rolled on.

Boss Jafar, Lapis Lazuli, Handicrafts, Hand Stone, Hatred of Aliens, Mushir Al Kashura, Armored Body, Weapon Development, Important Data… … .

It’s never too late. If you give someone who is good at lying a chance to close their emotions, it will be difficult to get the truth out.

Whoosh!

I looked back, my eyes wide open. Son Seok-jae was also looking at the explosion with his mouth open.

“ah…….”

I moved before Son Seok-jae could finish speaking. My body was already heated up enough, from the moment the dot exploded.

Kwajik!

I grabbed Son Seok-jae by the collar and stretched out my front paw. Son Seok-jae’s knees broke as soon as they touched my feet. He couldn’t even scream.

thud!

I grabbed Son Seok-jae’s face and threw him to the ground. There was no time for the subordinates or secretaries nearby to stop him.

Whirl!

I quickly pulled out my Graken Boots. The dagger with its pure white blade was ferociously thirsting for blood. Sometimes, weapons can express the thoughts of their masters.

Phew!

I stabbed Son Seok-jae in the side with the Graken Boot. I pushed the blade all the way down to Son Seok-jae’s heart.

Knock, knock.

Every time Son Seok-jae’s heart beat violently, it faintly touched the tip of the sword that was digging in.

“Don’t move. Even the slightest deviation will cause your heart to be stabbed. I clearly warned you that if you touch Lapis, the deal and everything will be over.”

I threatened him, assuming that Son Seok-jae did it. It doesn’t matter if it’s true or not.

‘Was the hatred towards aliens stronger than I expected? Or did they do something about the data before it reached Sergeant Jafar?’

If Son Seok-jae is the culprit, there are two reasons.

Less, less.

Son Seok-jae was shaking. Blood was gushing from the corner of his mouth. No matter how great he was, he was a civilian who had not received combat training. When faced with sudden violence and threats, fear caused him to react honestly. In this state, no one could easily lie.

“No, no, no.”

A smell of urine came from the lower abdomen of the middle-aged man who had been so leisurely.

Unless my Archies Victory is rusty or Son Seok-jae is a superhuman who has overcome his natural instincts… … .

‘… … Son Seok-jae is not lying. He is not the culprit who blew up the airborne vehicle.’

I bit my lower lip. The emotions I had been suppressing were rushing back to me.

‘please…….’

… … I hope the good Lapis doesn’t die.

I really felt like praying, if there was a transcendent being somewhere in this universe.