BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Since obtaining the Hound T―4 signal tracker, Woojin had never once seen it make a sound.
And today it had finally made one.
Which meant the Tech Junkie that used Shaolin Palm Fist was nearby.
“Daphne! Scan the surroundings for me.”
<Understood.>
Woojin looked out the windows and checked the rear camera too.
But there was no sign of a Tech Junkie anywhere.
<The garbage truck's autonomous driving system detected nothing. Only a rat hiding among the garbage.>
“Nothing at all?”
Woojin got out of the truck and looked around.
Just as Daphne said, there was no one in the alley.
Only garbage and barred windows.
And yet the signal tracker was still going.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
“It has to be nearby. Inside a building?”
Woojin looked around and moved in the direction the signal tracker indicated.
The further forward he went, the faster the tone came.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.
“Ah.”
Woojin let out a short sound as if he had realized something.
He stopped and tapped the ground with his foot.
There was a round steel manhole there.
“The sewers, then…….”
<Officer Woojin. By regulation, a sanitation civil servant who goes more than 300m from the garbage truck receives a penalty of 1 performance rating point per minute.>
“I know. What's my rating now, 57?”
<57.9 points. Which means you could absorb a maximum deduction of 57 points, Officer Woojin, though dropping below 40 points is not recommended. Your salary is cut by 10 percent.>
“Right.”
A sanitation civil servant couldn't leave a 300m radius centered on his garbage truck.
And that 300m included up and down.
Meaning going underground, or riding a building elevator upward, carried no penalty up to 300m.
“A sewer won't be deeper than 300m.”
<Some places are deeper than 1,000m.>
“I have no intention of going into the deepest parts. The problem is Shaolin Prosthetic Science.”
Shaolin Prosthetic Science bothered Woojin.
The Tech Junkie that used Shaolin Palm Fist had been made by a researcher who fled Shaolin Prosthetic Science.
Not knowing that would have been one thing, but now that he did, he hesitated to lay hands on this matter.
Shaolin Palm Fist was a Tier 2 martial art.
Shaolin Prosthetic Science's basic martial art.
It combined well with [Diamond Qigong], but Tier 2 all the same.
It wasn't worth risking his life to go looking for.
[Steel Sweeper] was a high-difficulty game.
Walk into any old place because it looks like there's a reward and you'll likely get a game over.
Besides, there was no guarantee the transmitter was still attached to the Tech Junkie.
He couldn't rule out the possibility that the researcher who fled Shaolin Prosthetic Science had found the transmitter and was luring Woojin into a trap.
“Shame, but I'll have to hold back this time.”
<I think that's for the best as well!>
Woojin switched off the signal tracker and stowed it in his clothes.
Then he began clearing garbage while treading the footwork of [Snake Shadow Fist Art].
He picked up the garbage bags rolling around near the bin, dropped them inside, and swept with the broom.
―[Hauling] has risen to Level 8.
―[Sweeping] has risen to Level 7.
He practiced [Atmosphere Manipulation] too.
The wind [Atmosphere Manipulation] could generate wasn't very strong, so it couldn't move heavy or water-soaked garbage, but it could clear away light plastic trash.
While cleaning, Woojin said what had just occurred to him.
“It'd be nice to have a robot.”
<Robots are wonderful! And if you obtain the relevant certification it will help with promotion as well!>
With a robot, Woojin's range of activity would widen considerably.
Woojin couldn't go more than 300m from the truck, but a robot had no such restriction.
With a robot he could have sent it to scout a dangerous manhole.
“Buying a robot would cost a lot of money again.”
<A new unit is at least 100,000,000. Secondhand would be cheaper, of course.>
“At first I'd have to use a drone.”
<Drones are much cheaper.>
“I need to modify the garbage truck and buy a robot. Long way to go.”
Woojin ran through in his head what equipment had been needed to reach [Steel Sweeper]'s ending.
Prosthetics, martial arts, magic, weapons, the garbage truck, robots, drones.
The artifacts needed for running special builds.
But now that the game had become reality, he had to accomplish more than simply clearing the game.
Studying for a robotics certification, for instance.
In the game you only had to kill enemies, but the Woojin of reality had to climb to a higher citizen grade, and that required all sorts of conditions.
Thinking about that, the [Shaolin Palm Fist] implant really was a shame to give up.
“Whew. That's all of it cleared.”
Woojin swept the last of the garbage into the dustpan and caught his breath.
Looking at the cleaned street, even his cluttered head felt as if it were getting clean.
<The alley is truly spotless, Officer Woojin! Thanks to you, the residents who live on this street must feel refreshed as well!>
“No, does that mean?!”
<It does! In recognition of your efforts for Lemming City, Officer Woojin, I award an addition of 0.1 performance rating points!>
“Kyah! Excellent!”
Cleaning thoroughly was rewarding, and getting an addition on top made it feel good.
Woojin suddenly found his own simple reaction funny.
He had been thinking complicated thoughts a moment ago, and now a mere 0.1-point addition had put him in a good mood.
It crossed his mind that he was being trained by Daphne, but dropped into a damn city and doing physical labor he had never once imagined before, he had to change his mood somehow.
All that remained was running the truck's robotic arms to move the garbage from the bin into the truck.
Woojin was heading for the driver's seat with a light step when, behind him, something suddenly burst.
WHUMP!
Woojin whipped his head around at once.
A round metal plate dropped onto the asphalt with a clatter.
Bouncing with a metallic ring and finally spinning in circles, it was a manhole cover.
“That's where earlier…….”
<It's the manhole the signal tracker was pointing at!>
In that instant countless human figures came pouring out of the manhole.
The sight was like a blocked sewer pipe bursting and spewing filth.
It was also like a swarm of sewer cockroaches taking to the air in a mass.
In fact their bodies must have been soaked in filthy sewage; they gave off a vile stench.
They hadn't washed their clothes or themselves, but looking closely, their clothing was finer than you would expect.
Most of them wore suits, and even those in casual clothes had clothes that, however dirtied, were clean in style.
But their expressions weren't those of living people.
Eyes rolled wide, or half-closed, lips twisted on the diagonal, heads bobbing strangely.
It was the behavior of people whose cyberbrains had been ruined by electronic narcotics, by tech-meth.
“Tech Junkies……!”
Tech Junkies were pouring wildly out of the manhole.
The alley was filling with Tech Junkies.
TAP-TAP!
The moment he grasped it, Woojin got his feet moving.
He had to take shelter in the truck's driver's seat, fast.
One Tech Junkie he could handle, but facing this many was absolutely impossible.
Inside a garbage truck with tank-level durability he could protect himself somehow.
“Gwoong!”
In that instant a man in a suit with both eyes rolled back lunged out.
The man suddenly spread his legs wide, rotated an arm once, and took the opening stance of some martial art.
“Don't tell me…….”
“Wooong. Shoong!”
The Tech Junkie thrust a fist at Woojin.
Woojin raised an arm to block the attack.
SMACK!
―You have acquired [Incomplete Shaolin Palm Fist (Level 0)].
Sure enough, the Tech Junkie was using Shaolin Palm Fist.
“Gwoong. Woooo. Shoong!”
FWIP-FWIP-FWIP-FWIP!
Unlike the bizarre noises coming out of its mouth, the fists were absurdly quick and hard.
If Diamond Qigong hadn't been protecting his body, the bones in Woojin's arm would have shattered to pieces.
“Gwoong. Woooo. Shoong. Thup!”
The Tech Junkie's frantic chain of attacks rained down on Woojin.
The attacks were doggedly fixed on Woojin, so Woojin couldn't budge from where he stood.
On top of that the alley was filling with more and more Tech Junkies, turning it into something like a congested downtown street.
When Woojin stepped sideways to dodge an attack, his shoulder bumped into a middle-aged woman Tech Junkie.
“Bubble bubble.”
Fortunately the middle-aged woman Tech Junkie only made a strange noise and stared blankly at Woojin.
The other Tech Junkies likewise only performed their characteristic grotesque behaviors and didn't attack Woojin.
But there was no telling when they might turn and attack him.
If every Tech Junkie that had suddenly appeared could use Shaolin Palm Fist, Woojin had no chance of winning.
‘There were this many Tech Junkies using Shaolin Palm Fist?’
It was a number Woojin couldn't possibly handle.
Feeling his nerves sharpen, Woojin looked for a way out.
Should he force his way forward, taking hits, and get into the truck?
But too many Tech Junkies were standing in front of the driver's seat.
In that instant, a clear voice that didn't suit the filthy alley rang out.
“Namu Amitabha. I wondered what was being done hidden in a place like this, and here you are turning pitiable benefactors into Tech Junkies.”
A full cyborg in a monk's robe of mixed gray and orange stood at the end of the alley.
The cyborg monk's shadow stretched long into the dim alley.
The yellow titanium plating of his head caught the light and shone, and nine dots were burned into his forehead in a square pattern.
‘A Three Thousand Arhat of Shaolin Prosthetic Science!’
The moment he saw him, Woojin bent low and hid under the garbage truck.
Shaolin Prosthetic Science operated a special forces unit made up entirely of full cyborgs, the Three Thousand Arhats.
The Three Thousand Arhats were equipped with Shaolin Prosthetic Science's most powerful prosthetics and implants.
They appeared wherever Shaolin Prosthetic Science's interests were at stake, swept the enemy away, and vanished without a trace.
Their conduct was as merciless as that of any other megacorp.
Even while going about under the Buddha's name.
Before a Three Thousand Arhat, even a garbage truck with tank-level durability was no better than a toy.
Fleeing by using [Willow Leaf Body Art] was a problem too.
If he ran he would naturally catch the Arhat's eye, and Shaolin Prosthetic Science's eye would never let Woojin go.
The best he could do was hide under the truck and pray the Arhat didn't find him.
‘Will a sanitation civil servant's standing actually protect me? Should I cling to the underside of the truck and escape?’
Woojin felt drained by the sudden turn of events but kept watching the situation.
However desperate things got, he had no intention of giving up.
“Daphne. Send me the environmental data around me. Like when I fought before.”
<Understood.>
Fluorescent lines rose up before Woojin's eyes, drawing the alley's scenery.
The long alley was swarming with Tech Junkies, and at its end the Three Thousand Arhat stood firm.
Just then a man in a hoodie came up out of the manhole.
He seemed to be injured; bandages wrapped his entire face, and even his voice was rough, as if he had a severe cold.
“Damn it! Shaolin's hunting dogs! You finally found me!”
Unlike the enraged man in the hoodie, the Arhat's voice carried no emotion at all.
“Surrender. The Great Abbot has said that if you surrender now, he will show mercy and spare your life alone.”
“Mercy? You call it mercy to tear out my spine and leave only my cyberbrain to live for all eternity as a research machine for Shaolin?”
“It is all cause and effect. It is karma you brought on yourself; nothing can be done.”
At those words the man in the hoodie spat out his fury.
“It's you shaven-headed bastards who should be paying off karma! Erasing an innocent woman from the world merely because she learned of a byproduct of the project!”
“One who has touched the secrets of the Sutra Repository database must be deleted, by the precepts.”
“Every time you open your mouth, the words of a demon come out! Are you truly a monk who follows the Buddha's teaching?”
“Namu Amitabha. Since words do not reach you, I have no choice but to enforce the law.”
Golden qi rose from the Arhat's whole body.
The pure mechanical tone produced by a top-grade full cyborg prosthetic body rang through the alley.
Meanwhile the man in the hoodie glared at his enemy with bloodshot eyes.
A voice like a hungry ghost's burst from his mouth.
“Kill him!”
At that, every Tech Junkie that had been performing its own bizarre behavior turned its head and looked at the Arhat.
And then they hurled themselves at Shaolin's full cyborg like a demon horde crawling up out of hell.