Punklorde had no living legends.
Legends lived in stories, in tavern chatter, in memories that time had yellowed at the edges.
That was what people had always believed.
But then—
“I doubt that.”
A silver figure dropped out of the sky.
Wind screamed past her ears.
Silver Wolf’s coat snapped in the airstream as her body flipped, both feet landing dead-center on the housing of a drone, and she kicked off it to launch herself higher.
Data streams broke into points of light and rained down all around her, like some extravagant visual effect.
Farther out, countless drones blinked red, strung together in lines until they had nearly painted the whole sky crimson.
They came at Silver Wolf in wave after wave, and Silver Wolf had no intention of dodging a single one.
Whoosh—
An azure arc of light cut across the sky, a swallow skimming through the dark.
Wave after wave of drones slammed into the ground.
Silver Wolf came down on the roof of an abandoned high-rise, toes touching first, and settled without a wobble.
“You really made a scene.”
Hands in her pockets, coat cracking in the night wind, silver hair blown into a mess she couldn’t be bothered to fix, she spared a glance at Felutina landing beside her and delivered the verdict flat-faced.
“Isn’t that exactly what you wanted?” Felutina answered, unhurriedly sliding the azure, pixel-block-style sword back to her waist.
Silver Wolf didn’t argue.
It was true.
The bigger the scene, the better.
She wanted all of Punklorde to know — they were here.
“How’s the sword?”
“Not bad.
A little too light.
Classic medieval sci-fi loadout, honestly.
Swap the plate armor for a charge shield, swap the iron sword for a laser blade, that sort of thing.”
“Look at you, all knowledgeable.”
Silver Wolf’s mouth curled.
She turned, threw herself off the edge of the roof, spun weightlessly in midair, and touched down clean.
Behind her, a fallen drone chose that exact moment to detonate, firelight throwing her silhouette into relief like a shot someone had storyboarded in advance.
Presence: absolutely nailed.
“So what are we doing this time?” Felutina landed after her and quickened her steps to catch up.
“No idea.
Depends on my mood~” Silver Wolf’s voice had gone noticeably lighter.
More than half a year had passed since she started working with Felutina, and their duo had made a name for itself.
Any one of the jobs they’d pulled, taken on its own, was the kind of thing hackers told each other about with relish.
Breaking into the Hacker Guild’s database.
Rewriting the archive texts in the library.
Triggering a blackout across the whole of Pier Point…
Silver Wolf worked on mood alone.
If she felt like doing it, she did it.
If she didn’t, she didn’t.
Plans, consequences, profit — all of it was too boring to be worth her time.
Life was a garbage game.
So why not have fun playing it?
“All right.
Whatever you say.”
Felutina blinked, then glanced down at her system window.
[Popularity Event unlocked.]
[Before she climbed to the summit, Punklorde’s living legend was just a girl.
Stop letting her wear that dead-eyed face all the time.
Make her smile.]
[Quest Reward: Impromptu Tour PV]
The system really did love making things difficult.
“Right, I’ll leave the rest to you.” Silver Wolf nodded and moved on ahead, her body dissolving into empty air, leaving nothing but a flashy scatter of light particles.
“Got it.
What do you want for dinner?” Felutina answered, eyes crinkling.
“Anything.
You pick.”
She was already gone from sight, but Silver Wolf’s voice still came through Felutina’s Jade Abacus.
The white-haired girl nodded by way of a reply.
She laid a hand at her waist, drew the blade out slowly, and looked at the hackers who had surrounded her at some point without her noticing.
“That’s the S-rank wanted target, the Hakuhatsuki!
Silver Wolf dumped her here!
Everybody rush her at once, we split the bounty!”
Hakuhatsuki.
That was the title Felutina had earned on Punklorde, partly because her white hair stood out so sharply against the night, and partly because the way she fought had nothing in common with a hacker — she looked like she’d wandered in from the immortal-cultivation set next door.
“Why isn’t there a one-click sweep mode?” Felutina asked, mildly troubled.
She tilted her head, and eyes as bright as a starfield blinked once.
A few of them had already charged.
Felutina turned her body a fraction and let the edge of her sword drift down, guiding the movements of the men rushing her as if she were leading them by the hand.
There was a thud, and the whole group slammed into one another.
“Next?” Felutina looked at the remaining hackers and asked, beaming.
The remaining hackers exchanged glances.
“What are you all afraid of!
She’s one person!
There’s a whole crowd of us!” someone shouted, trying to rally morale.
“Hakuhatsuki, you’ll run out of strength before you can kill all of us!”
“…”
Felutina had nothing to say to that.
She had always found it hard to understand what went on inside these hackers’ heads.
Nothing to be done about it.
She wasn’t fond of killing people, but refusing to draw when the situation demanded it would be a sign of low intelligence.
Besides, she still had a decent persona to maintain for her debut in the main storyline.
Speaking of which, she wondered how Jingliu was doing on her end.
Felutina shook her head, then leveled the sword in front of her like a sword immortal out of a storybook, all affected profundity.
“I mourn for the departed…”
She was recalling Acheron’s lines.
Radiance gathered along the blade’s edge.
The hackers started exchanging glances again.
Loud as their slogans were, they had in fact come from different organizations, and nobody wanted to be the early bird that died for nothing.
Felutina didn’t care one way or the other.
She had already raised the sword high—
“Sword!
Come!”
The line was cobbled together out of nothing, but with the girl’s momentum behind it, it still landed with real authority.
Skill names were mostly about the vibe, weren’t they?
Who cared about the details.
Looking cool was the whole point.
Pale white sword energy swept out like unrolled silk, and the hackers scattered in terror.
Her creed might have been to treat life as a game, but the game was on extreme difficulty, and losing was no fun at all.
“Clocking out.” Felutina clapped her hands together and let out a cheerful little hum.
“What a coincidence.
I’m clocking out too.”
Silver Wolf’s figure surfaced out of the air beside Felutina, and she raised a hand without any expression at all.
“What did you get up to this time?” Felutina asked, curious.
“Went to find Punklorde’s first ‘legend.’ The greatest hacker of the network war era, the most terrifying player.
‘Zero.'” Silver Wolf’s tone was level.
“And how was it?” Felutina leaned in close to her, eyes curving, curiosity plain on her face.
“Boring.
Turns out legends aren’t much.” Silver Wolf shrugged, clearly not interested in lingering on the subject.
She paused, then spoke again out of nowhere.
“Hey.
Felutina.”
“Mm?” Felutina blinked, spun around, and walked backward with her hands behind her, watching Silver Wolf.
“I want barbecue.”
“…”
Felutina stared for a beat, then laughed.
“Okay.
Barbecue it is.”
The Sword Champion’s quest had taught Felutina that a quest didn’t have to be completed.
So why should she insist on changing Silver Wolf’s personality and habits?
At the very least, Silver Wolf was slowly becoming willing to open her heart to Felutina.
They had plenty of time.
The night on Punklorde was still long.