How to Live as an Immortal Chapter 73

Chapter 73

The Ending Was Sloppy

***

[Once the cases were gathered, it beca clear. What X is targeting are all…….]

“People connected to Eden.”

[As expected, you are capable. Have you already figured that out?]

Though I was saying it only now, Owen Cummings’s request could have been fulfilled even if I had done nothing. Even without stepping in personally, X would slaughter all the related individuals anyway.

All Ga-on needed to do was observe that and infer the source.

But if I did that, I would never get the chance to pin the bla of Yang Hu on him.

And now that it had been revealed Jin Geon belonged to the Mars Defense Force, an organization that could not be investigated recklessly.

It was a once-in-a-lifeti opportunity. Conditions this perfect would probably never align again in the future.

There was nothing to hesitate about.

The sight of a coat fluttering at the top of Umbrella Tower far in the distance appeared only for a brief mont.

It was hundreds of ters away, but Ga-on’s eyes did not miss that trajectory.

‘As expected.’

X must have caught the scent as well.

I wanted to go to the scene, but unfortunately I only had one body. If I headed to the observatory to chase him, I would not be able to go down into the underground.

Reluctantly, I decided to yield that place to Jin Geon.

“The place producing Eden is Eden Park. If you focus on the attraction cave exploration area, you’ll probably find sothing.”

[No, how did you even…….]

“X might attack first, so don’t be late.”

After ending the call indifferently, Ga-on turned his back. Since I had thrown out the bait, he would hurry over without needing to be urged.

***

Amal Kam’s life had been filled with struggle.

He was born with a smaller physique than others and suffered from chronic illnesses since childhood.

In an era where genetic modification had beco commonplace, such a constitution was unusual. It could be shaken off with a single simple procedure.

But Amal Kam could not do that. The parents who should have taken care of him had abandoned him at an orphanage without even showing their faces.

If he had benefited from the basic inco system, even that might have beco just a mory, but the year he was born was around 2157.

In other words, it was before devices were implented.

For humanity, which had only just begun to stand on its own after the great catastrophe of the Ice Age, compassion was a fictional concept.

Thus, Amal Kam had no choice but to survive alone in the alleyways. Even if he was ignored and despised.

A body twisted like a skinny stick and rough skin.

On top of that, his unimpressive facial features had been a source of worry in his youth.

Even so, he never lost hope.

Even when the woman who had promised him a future left after eting another man, when he was fired from his company for unfair reasons, and when he was pushed to the brink and ended up sitting on the streets.

He firmly believed that soday the ti would co when he could display his talent.

Yes, Amal Kam wanted to beco soone special.

That was why he had joined an expedition team that searched for cultural relics and antiques outside the Do.

He lost three toes to frostbite, and part of his lungs was damaged, yet he did not stop.

Through blind ascetic hardship, he sought an answer at the end of it.

Fortunately, that effort was rewarded before long. Beneath a deep glacier, he discovered his destiny.

An ancient book written in hieroglyphs.

Within it existed a possibility humanity had once turned away from.

An ancient martial art whose original form could no longer even be verified in the present age.

Through it, Amal Kam encountered the world of martial arts and finally realized his true nature.

He possessed an innate talent for harming others.

Breaking free from the suppressed shackles happened in an instant.

Once Amal Kam learned what it felt like to grow stronger, what it ant to beco a better version of himself, he abandoned the past and devoted himself solely to training.

But no matter how high his level rose, his thirst was never quenched. In a way, it was only natural. The past of being born from a miserable background could never be erased.

The history of being abandoned by a lover, and the label of a failed office worker as well.

Thus Amal Kam beca obsessed with his true self. He sought to escape from tornt.

When Mars was first colonized, he moved there imdiately for that very reason. But unfortunately, only the stage had changed; the situation had not.

Even there, Amal Kam was still a stranger and an outsider.

All he gained from honing himself was the nickna “apostate monk.”

His cooperation with the Mars Defense Force was not about realizing justice or anything like that.

What Amal Kam desired was a return to the origin.

In other words, complete enlightennt.

Though he had been born from a lowly background, he wanted his final monts to shine brighter than anyone else’s.

Because of that, Amal Kam rembered each and every one of his actions. One never knew when or where enlightennt might be attained.

The sa applied to those he had faced after stepping back into the secular world.

That was why he could not help but be shocked when he saw the opponent who had stord into the observatory, Umbrella Tower.

It was clearly the young man he had dealt with several Sol earlier.

It was not as if he had shown half-hearted rcy; he had cut him apart thoroughly. To the point that he could not even imagine how much more he could have cut.

Yet—

“How are you alive?”

At Amal Kam’s—no, X’s—words, unable to hide his bewildernt, Ga-on spread both his arms wide as if to show off.

“The ending was sloppy. That’s why I ca back alive. From the very bottom of that hell.”

***

It was only natural that Whitney Cooper kept watch on Eden Park. It was not a place the Mafia would visit regularly. Moreover, the ti Nakamachi Hiro had taken interest in it and the period when Eden began circulating were suspiciously close.

The result was exactly what it looked like.

He arrived before Ga-on and shot one person dead.

‘Internal conflict.’

Judging from the conversation between the two that he overheard with his exceptionally sharp ears, there was no doubt their opinions had diverged. And to a point beyond control.

There was no reason not to pull the trigger.

If he handled it alone, Owen Cummings would look at him differently as well. Killing two birds with one stone.

It was at that mont that the man called Jacob took action.

With a smile that looked as though a screw had co loose sowhere, he imdiately slashed his own forearm the mont he was surrounded by Croft Shen’s subordinates. At first, it seed like self-harm done because he could not accept reality.

Blood had burst out from the wound and splattered everywhere.

Faced with a reaction that far exceeded common sense, everyone had no choice but to hesitate.

Unfortunately, that hesitation was a misjudgnt.

The mont the blood that had scattered across various places began to bubble and boil, the tide of battle reversed.

“Arghhh!”

“What the hell is this!”

“Everyone scatter!”

Those who noticed the anomaly stepped back, but by then quite a number had already beco sacrifices.

In terms of quantity, it was only a few drops at most, but the effect was trendous. It endlessly lted objects as if hydrochloric or sulfuric acid had been poured over them.

Even the hands trying to wipe it away began to lt.

Watching the entire sequence unfold, Whitney Cooper finally understood.

The significance of the scars scattered across Jacob’s body.

Those were not scars he had received. They were scars he had inflicted.

Each cut he carved into himself must have been a mont he overca so obstacle.

The group—elite enough to deserve the title—collapsed in the blink of an eye. Even being equipped with protective gear certified by MUG made no difference.

The blood lted everything it touched.

Whitney’s gaze t Jacob’s as he stood alone, and he reflexively counterattacked.

As if responding, Jacob swung his arm like a whip, and the blood that spread out like a barrier lted the bullets.

“Why don’t you co down, brother? Or should I co to you?”

Should he respond, or should he run?

The deliberation did not last long. He had just witnessed that the opponent possessed an incredible trump card. A direct confrontation was impossible. Turning his back, Whitney ran without looking back.

Before long, the sound of pursuit echoed from behind.

In his younger days, Whitney’s nickna had been Rabbit.

Even the faintest noise sounded like thunder in his ears.

Amid the regular footsteps, a strange noise mixed in for a mont.

It’s coming.

The mont that instinct struck him and he lowered his body, a drop of blood brushed past above his head. It was not sothing he had clearly seen in the dark cave. But speculation alone was enough.

The result was too destructive to ignore.

Boom.

Part of the ceiling soaked with blood lted and collapsed. The mont the path was blocked by falling rocks, Whitney stepped on the wall and leaped, turning the muzzle of his gun toward the pursuing Jacob.

And as if he had suffered a seizure, he pulled the trigger violently.

Whitney was soone deeply skilled in shooting.

Two bullets lted in the blood, but one still struck its mark. However, he could not celebrate just yet.

The acidic blood was produced by Jacob’s own body in the first place, so there was no way a lead bullet would embed itself there.

As proof, there was only a scratched wound on Jacob’s shoulder.

“Is that the end of your resistance?”

“As if.”

Whitney aid once again and emptied an entire magazine. If the acidic blood lted bullets, then all he had to do was target a place where it could not.

For example, yes—the eye socket.

However, despite his cold calculation, the gunfire did not reach Jacob.

Even though there was only a long, narrow passage, leaving almost no room to dodge.

Seeing Jacob sway his upper body up and down as if he had expected it all along made Whitney frown.

After so ti passed, he felt like he finally understood the secret behind that magical evasion.

“Sunglasses?”

Looking closely, circuits embedded above the lenses faintly appeared and disappeared. Their identity was a Head Mounted Display, in other words, an HMD. A display device that showed various observational data to the user.

These days they were being replaced by slots, so he had overlooked the possibility.

Now that he thought about it, Jacob’s skill in striking targets with his own blood had been far from ordinary. His strangely high accuracy likely originated from those sunglasses as well.

“So you were peeking with that.”

“Ah, this thing? Did you think it was just for style?”

Jacob slightly lifted his sunglasses and lowered them again as he spoke while closing the distance.

“You know, even though I look like this, I hate getting hurt. But unfortunately, I can only use my ability if I get hurt.”

With a low chuckle, Jacob casually flicked away the drops of blood that had gathered on his forearm.

“Maybe that’s why I hate getting injured more than necessary. I absolutely hate it.”

Click.

Cold sweat ran down Whitney’s back as his collar was grabbed. The mont a drop of blood that fell from Jacob’s palm touched his thigh, an indescribable agony raced through his entire body.

Ssssss.

Who could have imagined that the one who manufactured and distributed Eden would possess such a bizarre ability?

This was a mistake.

He had looked at the world through the narrow lens of trivial experience.

Instead of wasting ti setting up a situation where he could monopolize the credit, he should have prepared for unforeseen circumstances. That would have been the right choice. But it was already too late for reflection.

The mont Whitney sensed his end and shut his eyes tightly—

“This is quite a peculiar combination. In a cave where not a single ray of light enters, two n are sweating while hugging each other.”

A third voice struck the cave.

Whitney and Jacob both wore dumbfounded expressions. Soone they had never imagined appeared from an unexpected place.

A suit without a single wrinkle, neatly swept-back bangs.

And narrow, half-closed eyes.

From head to toe, he looked far more suited to office work than field work.

“From the looks of it, you two aren’t on the sa side.”

Just as Ga-on had said, Jin Geon detected a strange heat source beneath the attraction cave exploration area that Eden Park prided itself on and imdiately descended underground.

And the first thing he witnessed was precisely this scene.

He could not grasp the cause and effect, but one thing was obvious.

Neither of them looked like ordinary people.