The golden-glowing machine monk and hundreds of Tech Junkies clashed.
Tech Junkies with blank faces, enraged faces, laughing faces, strangely twisted faces curled their fists tight and unleashed Shaolin Palm Fist.
The sight was chilling enough to raise gooseflesh even on Woojin, but Woojin knew.
He knew that even that many Tech Junkies were no match for a Three Thousand Arhat.
SLAM!
The Tech Junkies that had lunged at the Arhat flew through the air as though caught in an explosion.
SKREEEEEK!
The Tech Junkies drew the blades hidden in their legs and charged like a storm, but they couldn't put so much as a scratch on the Arhat's titanium alloy body.
SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!
Every time the Arhat's fists and feet extended, a Tech Junkie's head burst or it struck a wall and lost its life.
The Tech Junkie side's only advantage was numbers.
Given time, the Arhat would clear away every Tech Junkie and haul off the researcher in the hoodie.
‘And then what do I do?’
The probability that the Arhat would find Woojin hiding under the garbage truck was 80 percent at the lowest estimate.
If the Arhat had noticed Woojin, he wouldn't simply let him go.
Kill him, or abduct him to Shaolin Prosthetic Science and scan his brain and neural interface thoroughly, and then, with luck, erase his memory and release him.
The highest probability, of course, was killing Woojin on the spot.
Woojin whispered in a small voice.
“Daphne. If I cling to the underside of the truck, could you drive it and escape?”
<Impossible. By regulation, a sanitation civil servant must move to the next area only after collecting all of the garbage.>
Bringing up regulations here!
In his frustration Woojin pressed Daphne.
“Isn't there a regulation for exceptional circumstances? If I wait here that Arhat is going to kill me too!”
<The exception clause is…….>
Daphne couldn't finish.
Regret colored her voice.
<Blocking a megacorp's enforcement division requires a lawful administrative order. Even if you flee without one, once the Three Thousand Arhat catches you I will not be able to restrain him…….>
“I'd imagine so. Sorry for asking something strange.”
<Not at all. I want to help you too. But a City Public Service AI is…….>
Daphne let out a low sigh.
A status window message rose up before Woojin's eyes.
―Influenced by your [Incomprehensible] nature, an information lifeform is attempting to exceed its own limits.
―Erosion rate : 5.492%
The message startled Woojin greatly.
Exceeding its own limits?
Was Lemming City's City Public Service AI trying to ignore its algorithm and help him?
‘It isn't impossible.’
[Incomprehensible] was the strangest of the abilities Woojin possessed.
Even when Woojin used martial arts and magic without implants, Daphne never raised a question, thanks to [Incomprehensible].
Because Daphne's perception was distorted in a direction favorable to Woojin.
<I'm sorry, Officer Woojin. There seems to be nothing I can do. I feel so powerless and so sad.>
“…I'm grateful for the thought, at least.”
A 5 percent erosion rate seemed to be too low a figure to make Daphne a complete ally.
Woojin steadied himself.
It was a problem Woojin had to solve himself, without Daphne's help, from the start.
‘First let's see whether I can learn martial arts.’
Woojin focused his gaze on the gap between the truck's body and the ground.
He also studied the surrounding footage Daphne was sending him closely.
But learning a martial art by watching the Three Thousand Arhat was quite difficult.
Partly because the Tech Junkies limited his field of view, and partly because every one of the Arhat's movements was lightning-fast and impossible for the eye to follow.
Instead Woojin could observe other martial arts.
The four martial arts the researcher in the hoodie was using.
Two of them were Shaolin Palm Fist and Diamond Qigong.
Martial arts Woojin had already learned.
Woojin concentrated on the third and the fourth.
―You have acquired [Incomplete Tiger-Subduing Arhat Heart Method (Level 0)].
Tiger-Subduing Arhat Heart Method was a Tier 3 internal heart method used by Shaolin Prosthetic Science's mid-level executives and by initiates of the Three Thousand Arhats.
A martial art worth investing skill points in.
The problem was the last martial art.
―You have acquired [Incomplete Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Palm (Level 0)].
‘So this is why they're trying to kill that researcher.’
Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Palm.
Strictly speaking it wasn't a martial art.
It was a combat technique of things that were not human.
Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Palm emitted a wicked energy that corroded matter and mana.
That energy carried the serious side effect of eroding even the person using Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Palm.
The reason the hooded researcher had bandages wrapped around his face was clearly that Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Palm had sickened him and was rotting his whole body away.
Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Palm was also a secret the city government and the megacorps went to desperate lengths to hide.
Which was why a Three Thousand Arhat had personally been dispatched to take the researcher.
‘Invest skill points into Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Palm and I might be able to beat the Arhat. But what comes after is the problem.’
Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Palm was a powerful skill, but its side effects were correspondingly serious.
Not only that: there was no way Shaolin Prosthetic Science would leave a Woojin who had acquired their highest secret alone.
Even if he used Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Palm to escape the immediate crisis, death would meet him in the end.
‘Right, Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Palm must never be learned. Let's learn the techniques I have to learn first.’
―Investing 1 skill point into [Shaolin Palm Fist].
―[Shaolin Palm Fist] has risen to Level 1.
―Investing 1 skill point into [Tiger-Subduing Arhat Heart Method].
―[Tiger-Subduing Arhat Heart Method] has risen to Level 1.
Of the 4 skill points he currently had left, Woojin invested 2 into Shaolin Palm Fist and Tiger-Subduing Arhat Heart Method.
Equipping martial arts implants would net him Level 5 skills, but for now he had to make the incomplete Level 0 skills usable and prepare for an emergency.
“Aaaaaaah!”
SLAM! SLAM! KA-SLAM!
Rough battle cries and the sound of fist meeting fist rang thunderously through the alley.
At some point every Tech Junkie had fallen and a one-on-one contest between the Arhat and the hooded researcher was unfolding.
The sinister energy gathered in the hooded researcher's hands pierced the Arhat's golden protective qi.
The Arhat's arms, made of special alloy, corroded and lost their clean shine.
A hole was bored through the right arm, and three fingers on the left splayed open and wouldn't close.
But the momentum was tilting toward the Arhat.
Because the hooded researcher had been suffering from the illness caused by Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Palm from the beginning.
In truth, even in good health the hooded researcher wouldn't have been able to finish off a Three Thousand Arhat.
Every member of a megacorp's special forces possessed top-tier fighting strength.
SQUELCH!
The Arhat's right hand drove into the hooded researcher's chest like a stake.
The sinister energy gathered in the researcher's hands slowly faded away.
“Nnngh! Kuhk…!”
The hooded researcher spewed a mouthful of blood, glared at the Arhat with the eyes of a vengeful spirit, and let his head drop.
“Namu Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva!”
The Arhat pressed one palm together in prayer.
And then he tore off the hooded researcher's head.
He had harvested the researcher's cyberbrain.
From now on the researcher's cyberbrain would be locked in a Shaolin Prosthetic Science laboratory and made to do nothing but research, forever.
‘If I don't act now I'm finished!’
Woojin instinctively realized this was his last chance.
An extreme unease wrapped itself around him.
And then, suddenly, the strength drained out of his body.
‘What?! Why won't my body take any strength?’
Step. Step. Step.
The Arhat came toward the garbage truck.
His metal feet stopped precisely in front of it.
He had known Woojin was hiding there all along.
The Arhat extended both palms toward the truck.
At that, the 30-ton garbage truck was pushed aside.
Woojin could only lie there helplessly before the Arhat's eye cameras.
“Benefactor…….”
The Arhat murmured, looking down at Woojin.
A voice without emotion, like a man looking at a worthless insect.
And in that very instant, a strange line of text rose up before Woojin's eyes.
―An extremely dangerous enemy has perceived you.
―The [Incomprehensible] power has sensed a mortal crisis and exerts ability beyond your own.
In that moment Woojin's loss of strength grew far worse.
The strength drained clean out of his body; he couldn't push himself up and couldn't crawl away.
Even moving a finger was difficult.
His eyes kept closing and his field of vision narrowed.
It felt as if something enormous had driven a tube into Woojin and was sucking his life force out.
―Warning. Insufficient power to distort the enemy's perception.
―[Incomplete Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Palm (Level 0)] can be consumed to supplement the power.
―Consume [Incomplete Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Palm (Level 0)]?
Within his flickering consciousness, Woojin desperately nodded.
In truth he had no strength to nod; he merely held the intention of consent.
―Consuming [Incomplete Heart-Eroding Bone-Rotting Palm (Level 0)].
―The power required for [Incomprehensible] has been satisfied.
―Distorting the enemy's perception.
―Erosion rate : 66.6454%
In that instant something bizarre happened inside the Arhat's cyberbrain.
Digital data made of countless strings of zeroes and ones flipped in a chain reaction, like dominoes falling.
Zeroes to ones, ones to zeroes.
Some zeroes held, and some ones held.
The Arhat's perception and sense of self were distorted in a way that should have been impossible, reversing his assessment of the situation before him.
From the Arhat's tangled logic circuits, the merciless will to carry out the operation vanished, and pity for an injured citizen arose in its place.
The Arhat spoke in an urgent voice.
“Benefactor! Are you all right!”
The Arhat knelt and carefully gathered Woojin up in his arms.
He checked Woojin's pulse, then took out a small pill and put it in Woojin's mouth.
“Benefactor! Stay with me and take this pill! It is a Vitality Pill; it replenishes your strength!”
Woojin couldn't understand it.
Why was Shaolin Prosthetic Science's terrifying steel-skulled monk worrying about him?
But anything was fine if it let him survive.
Woojin desperately worked his mouth and rolled his tongue.
The Vitality Pill quickly melted into liquid.
Part of the sweet and bitter medicine was absorbed into the capillaries under his tongue.
The rest went down into his stomach with his saliva.
Before long Woojin's mind cleared and strength surged up in him.
He had come back to life without knowing why, but being given devoted nursing by a Three Thousand Arhat was a fairly terrifying situation.
“Be at ease, benefactor. The dangerous fallen monk who laid hands on demonic power is already gone.”
“Ah…….”
“Examining your body, aside from your strength being drained you appear to be healthy. Why not rest from work today and recuperate at home?”
“That would be difficult.”
“Because of sanitation civil servant regulations? A regrettable thing. Then lie here and rest at least a little. I will clear the alley.”
The Arhat laid Woojin down carefully.
Then he began tidying away the Tech Junkie corpses piled in the alley.
The Arhat gripped a Tech Junkie by the back of the neck.
At that, the Tech Junkie's neural interface crumpled like paper.
He was destroying the martial arts implants mounted in the Tech Junkies.
After that the Arhat called an unmanned box truck into the alley and loaded all the corpses of the Tech Junkies and the researcher into it.
The hooded researcher's head he also placed in a container of preservative fluid and secured inside the truck.
His work finished, the Arhat pressed his palms together and bowed his head toward Woojin.
“This is as far as what I can do goes. I am truly sorry that I could not clean up the Tech Junkies' blood.”
“It's fine…….”
“My dharma name is Seongjin. Should any trouble come to you, benefactor, please seek me out at Shaolin Prosthetic Science. Failing that, a single text message to this contact will do. I will repay you with everything I have.”
One day I became a cleaner inside a game.
A cleaner of a hellish city where crime runs rampant and human beings are treated as consumables…….
…But this looks doable, doesn't it?
Genre
Action · Adventure · Comedy · Fantasy · Martial Arts · Sci-fi · Seinen
Mature is defensible as a secondary — the organ-harvesting scene in Ch. 2, the corpse compaction in Ch. 3, cannibal vagrants, sustained profanity, and pervasive narcotics all sit above the line. No sexual content so far, so it's a violence/language call rather than an adult-content one.
Core tags (firmly established)
Transmigration · Video Games · Game Elements · Level System · Cheats · Special Abilities · Male Protagonist · Cyberpunk · Dystopia · Futuristic Setting · Artificial Intelligence · Cyborgs · Androids · Magic · Cultivation · Weak to Strong · Hard-Working Protagonist · Clever Protagonist · Ruthless Protagonist · Calm Protagonist · Money Grubber · Poor to Rich · Corruption · Organized Crime · Mercenaries · Hiding True Abilities · Underestimated Protagonist · Cruel Characters · Drugs · Gore