Chapter 15
The Yang Hu you've been so desperately searching for is
* * *
"You just can’t accept reality, can you? How pathetic. This ti, I’ll make sure to finish it."
Using the shattered ground as a springboard, Lloyd charged forward.
A burst of acceleration from his boosters and the added firepower from his hand cannon—this combination gave him overwhelming dominance in close combat.
But that was only until just now.
To Shin, the entire sequence was perfectly visible.
The approaching fist.
The rotating cylinder.
The hand cannon about to erupt in fla.
Within his expanded cognitive field, Shin drifted through a world that flowed slowly. He moved toward Lloyd. He had already seen those movents too many tis. It wasn’t hard to map out the optimal path.
Shin didn’t think of himself as a genius. If he truly had heaven-sent talent, he would’ve countered without dying.
Still, he was confident in being just below that.
After all, it took only fifteen deaths to arrive at the answer to an impossible problem.
Thwack!
Dodging the bullet fired right in front of him, Shin swung his monomolecular blade.
But a weapon that had lost its light could hardly function at full capacity.
Lloyd batted the blade aside like swatting at a fly and threw his other fist again.
A strike that plunged deep into Shin’s abdon.
Lloyd was convinced this marked the end. He had no doubt. But his finishing blow, contrary to expectation, simply swept through empty air.
"What the—"
Just then, Shin arched his upper body so far back it looked like he might collapse—but instead, he launched upward.
As if he’d stepped on a springboard, he rocketed up, ending in a fierce thrust.
His aim was singular.
Lloyd crossed his arms into an X to block the sword strike that seed ready to skewer his head. Roaring like a beast, he charged at Shin.
Boom, boom!
The fists, aided by sequential bursts from his boosters, ca at irregular intervals. The strikes, accelerated beyond reason, could no longer be dismissed as re flailing.
And in front of that onslaught, Shin spun.
He didn’t stop spinning—whether he was moving, dodging, or even standing still.
Like an endlessly twirling top.
"Quit your tricks!"
Infuriated, Lloyd unleashed a barrage to suppress Shin.
Heat shimred from the overheated boosters, and the hand cannon glowed red-hot. Sparks flew as Shin’s spinning blade clashed with the cannon.
Absorbing every bit of the resulting recoil, Shin spun even harder.
As if he didn’t care in the slightest about the wear on his blade.
Screech, screech.
With each strike swinging high and low, thin lines began to form one by one across the surface of the Phalanx.
At the ominous sign of a fracture where none should exist, Lloyd closed the distance, desperate to stop Shin even a mont sooner.
And at that mont, sothing abnormal occurred.
Shin, who had been spinning violently just seconds ago, suddenly ca to a halt.
‘No.’
That was nothing but an illusion. The circular skid mark on the ground gave it away.
Overlapping afterimages had created the illusion that he was standing still.
The so-called strobe phenonon.
"You noticed?"
The voice was small, like a whisper, but to Lloyd, it sounded like thunder.
Because Shin, who had been far away, was now right under his chin.
He was spinning so fast that each movent appeared to break apart into still fras.
Lloyd threw a punch to repel the incoming threat—but that was a fatal mistake. In the blink of a flash, a chilling slicing sound rang out.
Lloyd stared at his severed forearm, rolling helplessly on the ground, and scread a silent scream.
Though the monomolecular blade had lost its energy, the cut was still as smooth as a mirror.
It wasn’t so technological convenience—it was a miracle brought forth purely by the man nad Shin.
A feat far beyond the realm of human possibility, and Lloyd shuddered involuntarily.
"Where are you looking?"
"Wha... t—"
Shin leaned his face right up to Lloyd’s, and without waiting for a reply, swung the monomolecular blade.
* * *
Having claid the suite to himself, Niel held a wine glass in one hand, the night view serving as his light. A few minutes ago, the entire hotel had been swallowed by darkness, but he wasn’t concerned.
Everything had gone as planned, and everything was continuing to go as he wished.
Sure enough, as soon as he placed his half-emptied wine glass back on the table, the explosions ceased.
The end of the dragging battle ant the mont he’d been waiting for had arrived.
That’s when the door burst open.
Sensing the presence behind him, Niel spoke up—
"Took you longer than usual. That’s not like you. So, where is he? You didn’t kill him, did you? He’s worth more alive, after all."
He froze the mont he saw the person’s face.
It wasn’t his loyal right-hand man, Lloyd.
A young man he’d never seen before.
The sudden cognitive dissonance caught in his throat like a lump.
But the young man wasn’t Shin. He’d climbed all the way up those stairs just to see that face.
"You’re Niel?"
"And if I am?"
"Then I’m in the right place."
Shin pulled out a folding knife, still wet with blood, but Niel didn’t so much as blink. He could tell at a glance that sothing beyond expectation had happened, but it wasn’t enough to surprise him.
First of all, he was young.
Which ant he wasn’t Yang Hu.
"Lloyd?"
"Here."
Shin tossed a hunk of at he had been holding. Among all the opponents he’d faced recently, Lloyd was easily one of the strongest—but at the end of the day, still just a hunting dog.
Niel t Lloyd’s lifeless gaze, then picked up the cane resting on the armrest and swung it.
Though different in type from Lloyd, Niel too had undergone genetic modification. With a bit of luck, he might’ve been able to inflict a fatal wound.
But that notion was snuffed out imdiately.
The cane’s length suddenly halved.
Sohow, it had already been cut—its other half rolling far off across the floor.
"That counts as an attack, doesn’t it?"
As Shin stepped forward, Niel cracked a smile and played it off.
"Easy there. I think we might be having a bit of a misunderstanding here."
"A misunderstanding?"
"You were probably hired by Yang Hu, right?"
So that’s why he seed so confident—he had clearly twisted the situation to fit his own hopeful narrative.
Shin let out a hollow laugh, but his mouth gradually stiffened. Niel failed to notice.
"I don’t know how much he promised you, but I’ll pay ten tis that—ten tis. You don’t want to be accused as an accomplice, do you? Right?"
"You really don’t even know who you were chasing, do you?"
The fact that soone like this had led to Thomas’s death filled Shin with nothing but emptiness. That feeling of hopelessness quickly transford into rage.
Shin’s face twisted in a flash, taking on a murderous edge.
Only then did Niel realize sothing was wrong and began scrutinizing Shin’s face carefully.
"No way…"
"I’m the Yang Hu you’ve been so desperately searching for."
"Wait, hold on…"
No matter what, it didn’t make sense for him to be this young. By the usual count, Yang Hu should’ve been a sixty-year-old man this year. Sure, advances in dical science had extended lifespans—but that didn’t an wrinkles vanished entirely.
"If you stirred stagnant water into a muddy swamp, you have to take responsibility for that."
Shin kicked Niel back into the chair, then drove the folding knife into the back of his hand.
"Aaaargh!"
Niel scread as his hand was pinned to the armrest, but Shin calmly pulled out another folding knife and fixed the other hand the sa way.
"Enjoy this mont while you can, friend. You won’t live to see the sunrise."
"Heh heh heh… In your thirst for revenge, you’ve made a grave mistake."
"What’s that supposed to an?"
"If you kill here, they’ll chase you all the way to New Delbuyer. If two gacorps team up, well… I wonder if there’s anywhere left in this world you could run to."
"And?"
"Why not leave it at that? I’ll forgive you for laying hands on . Think carefully. It’s not every day I show rcy like this."
Shin thought of the usual lines—Things won’t go the way you want, or I can overco anything—but chose not to say them. He’d said them far too many tis already to bother repeating them now.
He simply let his actions speak.
“You’re kind enough to worry about , so I almost feel bad… but here’s the thing. I’m going to humiliate you.”
Shin stepped behind the rocking chair and whispered into Niel’s ear.
“In ways you couldn’t even imagine. In thods so abnormal, so unethical, so inefficient—even livestock wouldn’t be treated this way.”
No matter how well soone hid their true feelings, trembling shoulders were hard to hide.
“You might think that as long as you don’t die, you can still recover. But no—you’ll lose your mind before your body.”
That much, Shin was certain of.
Everyone who had passed through his hands had chosen suicide.
“Well then, should we start with that cane on the floor?”
* * *
Felix Hoover, the chairman from New Delbuyer headquarters, stepped into the limousine.
“Where to, sir?”
He would normally return ho—but tonight was different. In fact, it had been different for a while now.
“To the usual hotel.”
It all started when he t a woman at a charity event.
Her na was rilda Gabi, a popular singer from Do No.3. At first, it was simple attraction, but before long, it felt like fate.
However, it wasn’t a respectable relationship. rilda had a family of her own.
In the end, they had no choice but to et in secret at locations no one knew.
The hotel he was headed to now was one such place.
Though Felix was approaching seventy, his body remained vigorous—thanks to genetic modifications that kept him active and energetic.
With firm steps, he entered the suite and frowned. It was shrouded in darkness—gloomy and oppressive.
Even the mood lights weren’t on. It seed rilda had dozed off the mont she arrived.
Not surprising.
“Sorry I’m late. The eting dragged on.”
“No need to apologize. I just got here too.”
Startled by the unfamiliar male voice, Felix reached for his device to call the driver—but for so reason, it wasn’t working.
“…rilda?”
“I’m not rilda, you see.”
As his eyes adjusted to the dark, Felix spotted a young man sitting in a corner of the room.
“Whoever you are, it seems you’ve entered the wrong room. I won’t call security—just leave quietly.”
Felix spoke sternly, but—
“Been quite the night. I just dealt with a real son of a bitch. And then it hit —who the hell raised soone like that? Who taught him to act like such a wild dog?”
All he got in return was a monologue.
“Does this have sothing to do with ?”
“Of course it does. He was your son.”
“You’re joking.”
Felix picked up the intercom to call hotel staff, but stopped at Shin’s next words.
“You sure? If people co up here and find rilda’s corpse, what then?”
“…What?”
The young man—Shin—took Felix down in an instant and smiled maliciously.
“Kidding. I sent her ho. Told her you were the one who called for her—she believed it without question.”
“What do you want from ?”
“Cleanup.”
“Cleanup?”
“Even if I offered to end the cycle of revenge here, once you found the scene, you’d lose control and co after . Honestly, the guilty throwing tantrums is both pathetic and a hassle.”
“You’ve been talking in riddles. Just tell —what do you want?”
“Your life.”
Shin answered plainly, then, without hesitation, snapped Felix’s neck. Explaining the details wasn’t his job. That would be for the two father and son to sort out in hell.
Creak.
Whether it was cybernetic surgery or sothing else, tal fras had been fused into Felix’s skeleton—but they were useless.
For Shin, still under the lingering effects of a drug cocktail, it didn’t even qualify as a warm-up.
“Well then. Goodbye.”
Crunch.
With a dull snap, Felix’s neck twisted in a direction it should never have moved.
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