From Human to Skeleton: Revived with Infinite System Crystals Chapter 718: The Cart Without Wheels

The cart had no wheels. It sat on two black rails sunk into the floor and moved because the floor disliked arguing. That was Heissman's explanation after the fifth ti the cart slid forward without a push. JJ hated it.

"The floor has opinions?"

"Everything here has opinions," Heissman said. "The wise officer learns which opinions can bite."

The eyeless clerk waited beside the cart with his clipboard tucked under one arm. He wore a gray coat too long for his body, rubber boots polished to a shine, and a red tag pinned over the heart.

The tag read: TEMPORARY STAFF UNTIL NA RESTORATION. Ty stared at it. The clerk noticed.

"Do not ask."

"Was not going to."

"Everyone asks."

"I am busy."

"Good. Busy custors complain less."

Omina looked him up and down.

"You are lower-lane staff."

"I am whatever the office can afford this week."

"Then you know the face vessel."

The clerk flipped a page. The sketch of Ty's living face stared back from the top in ugly charcoal. Soone had drawn the smile too wide.

"Face vessel. Stolen custor. Red category. Bad with doors. Worse with signatures."

Ty stepped closer. The clerk lifted a stamp without looking up.

"Do not crowd the desk. Crowding is a premium service."

JJ laughed once before she could stop herself. Ty turned his skull toward her.

"Sorry," she said. "He said it like my estate treasurer."

"Your estate treasurer charges for crowding?"

"My estate treasurer charges for breathing if he can invoice grief."

Yun-Jin sat on the cart bench because Omina put her there with both hands and a glare.

"I can stand."

"You can bleed sitting."

"I hate you."

"That keeps your blood pressure active."

The clerk tapped the clipboard.

"Party of five. One skeleton with disputed ownership. One sponsor with damaged claim glass. One noble officer with unpaid embarrassnt. One injured light-user. One general spending borrowed authority."

Omina's face went flat.

"Careful."

"I am clerical. Careful costs extra."

He stamped the page five tis. Each stamp made the cart shiver. Ty looked past him. The lower lane spread out under the arena in crooked layers. Channels carried black water through stone gutters. Pipes crossed overhead in bundles. Doors lined both walls, so iron, so wood, so made from stitched leather. People moved between them with carts, buckets, hooked poles, and tired eyes.

Not guards. Workers. That made the place worse. An arena could hide monsters behind titles. A work lane needed wages, shifts, food, and sobody who cleaned blood from the drains after the cheering stopped.

A woman with a mop looked at Ty and crossed herself with a gesture unfamiliar to him. A boy pushing a bucket cart stared at JJ's torn sleeve until the clerk snapped his fingers.

"Eyes on rails, Pao. Last boy who gawked at custors got promoted to cautionary stain."

The boy hurried away. JJ leaned toward Omina.

"Does the King know they talk like this down here?"

"The King knows everything that flatters him," Omina said. "He ignores the rest until it leaks."

The clerk smiled with too many missing teeth.

"General says truthful things. Dangerous habit."

Omina let that stand. The cart bell rang. The rails lit beneath them, one pale strip at a ti.

"Destination?" the clerk asked.

"Zunoder," Ty said.

The clipboard snapped shut on the clerk's fingers. The clerk's face stayed blank. The people nearby did. A bucket dropped. A door closed. Sowhere down the lane, a woman whispered a prayer and then pretended she had coughed.

The clerk slowly opened the clipboard again.

"No destination by that na."

Ty pointed the sickle at the sketch.

"You drew him."

"I draw many regrettable things."

"He ca through here."

"Many regrettable things do."

JJ stepped beside Ty before his fire could rise.

"How much to stop being useless?"

The clerk's head tilted.

"Sponsor language."

"Estate language."

"Cleaner."

"aner."

"Fair."

He flipped another page. This one had rows of marks instead of words. Three were fresh and wet.

"The face bought transit under ergency crowd confidence."

Heissman blinked.

"That is not a category."

"It is now."

Omina's hand tightened on Yun-Jin's shoulder.

"He used recognition."

"Yes."

Ty's jaw clicked.

"Whose?"

The clerk looked up with empty eye sockets.

"Everyone's."

The cart moved. JJ grabbed the side rail and almost lost her balance. Ty caught her elbow. His fingers were bone, warm from red fire, gentle enough to make her angry again. The lower lane slid past.

Workers turned away as the cart passed. A few looked at Ty too long. One old man spat into the gutter, then bowed so low his forehead nearly touched his broom handle.

"Why are they bowing?" JJ asked.

The clerk rode standing, knees loose, clipboard open.

"So think bone custors bring audits."

"Do audits kill people?"

"Good audits do."

Heissman nodded despite himself.

"I have served under officers who would agree."

The cart turned without slowing. Water splashed up the side and stead against Ty's shin. The clerk flipped to a clean page.

"Face vessel purchased a crowd route six minutes ago. He exited at Applause Junction."

Yun-Jin lifted her head.

"Applause Junction is under the public galleries."

Omina looked at the clerk.

"He is going up."

"Or making people think he is."

Ty's sickles humd. JJ felt the cart rails answer under her boots. The clerk tapped the page.

"Before pursuit continues, all parties must acknowledge lower-lane rule three."

Heissman sighed.

"There are rules."

"There are always rules. Rule one: do not drink the black water. Rule two: do not trust a door that opens before you pay. Rule three: anything with your face can spend your na until you contest it in the office."

Ty went very still. The cart kept moving. JJ felt cold climb her back.

"Contest how?"

"Na Office."

"Where is it?"

"Closed."

Omina's aura flared. The clerk pointed at her without lifting his head.

"Threat surcharge."

Omina killed the flare.

"When does it open?"

"When the gate eats enough noise."

The answer helped nobody. JJ turned toward Ty.

"We go there."

Ty's answer stayed behind his teeth. His skull faced the tunnel ahead, where a station sign swung above three branching rails.

APPLAUSE JUNCTION

LOST PROPERTY

NA OFFICE

The arrow for Na Office pointed down into a flooded tunnel with no rails. The clerk stamped the page again.

"Face vessel left a ssage."

Ty's voice ca from the stamp. No bone scrape. No fire crackle. His old human voice.

"Tell Jade I am coming ho first."

The cart lights went red. JJ heard Yun-Jin's breath catch. Ty jumped before anyone could grab him. He hit the flooded tunnel feet first, sickles out, and the black water closed over his knees. The clerk wrote one word on the page.

Predictable.