CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER 53: MIDNIGHT COLLISION

In the middle of the night, a trio of friends was in their car, driving at top speed in a residential area. Then suddenly, the skies decided to open fire on the people below.

"Will you slow down?" someone yelled from the backseat.

"Relax. No one cares about the slums either way. Not even the rain, haha."

Jack, the youngest one among the trio, looked out the window. The sky was tar-black, and the large clouds were crawling towards them. He could hear the tapping sound on the window before it became a pitter-patter.

People on the roads ran for cover and umbrellas were opened as the clouds spat out their beads of water. Puddles began forming as the rainfall became heavier.

He could hear the murmuring of the rain through the window. It sounded like the buzzing of angry hornets.

All three of them were pretty drunk. Drinking and driving was a serious crime in Ayran. If caught, they could get into serious trouble.

If someone was caught driving drunk, not only that person would have to pay a fine of about a third of their monthly income, but could also be jailed for 6 to 12 months.

Also, anyone else within the car would be punished similarly along with the vendor/bar/hotel owner that provided the alcohol to them. Oh, and you will almost certainly lose your job because none of the companies there had any tolerance when it came to legal matters.

To summarize things, if you get caught driving while being drunk, you’ll lose everything you have.

Jack was the only one who opposed the other two, but in the company of beautiful hostesses and escorts... even his firm resolve wavered, and soon he was sitting in the back seat, intoxicated out of his mind.

Still, he was the only one somewhat worried about the crime they were committing.

While Lizan was a well-developed city, there were countless places that looked like slums of an old era.

These were the places long forgotten by the government and the only time they ever visited the slums was during elections to give the slum-dwellers false hopes of progress and get their votes.

Only to be forgotten once again after the elections. This was also the reason why the living conditions of people in the slums deteriorated with every passing day.

The streets around the slums had little to no light to guide the drivers at night. There hadn’t been any maintenance of the street lights or the road that were filled with potholes.

These were dangerous conditions for anyone to drive through this area, but to be honest, no one in their right minds ever went through these roads.

Jack and his buddies in their drunk state decided to take a shortcut through the slums to reach the highway and avoid the police officers around the toll section of the highway.

Lost in ecstasy, none of them noticed the man walking right ahead of them.

Akira, the driver, hurriedly pressed the brakes, but it was too late. All three of them jumped out of the car and rushed to check on the victim.

Well, at least Jack got out with that intention, Akira and Rico got out to check the damage done to their vehicle.

"Did that fucker have to jump in front of our car to commit suicide? Fucking impoverished bastard!" Akira cursed out loud when he saw the huge dent in front of his car. "Rico, go and check if that bastard has anything of value on him. He’ll pay for the damages even if he’s dead."

"But Akira, we’d get into trouble if we don’t help that man, won’t we?" Jack mumbled as he and Rico walked towards the assumed dead, "Moreover, you’re telling Rico to touch a dead person! Why do you want to commit another sin? At least let’s call for an ambulance-"

"Like fuck do I care. People die in the slums every day. No one gives a shit about them." Akira kept cursing. "Thankfully, there are no bloodstains on the car. If someone asks what happened, we can say someone hit our car and be done with it."

"No bloodstains? How can that even be possible?" Rico asked Akira after kicking the man over to check his pockets, "Ugh! This man stinks like he’s been dead for weeks. Lol, just think if we killed a zombie and—"

Before Rico could even complete what he was saying, a hand reached out and grabbed his legs. Rico panicked and fell on the slippery ground. None of them could believe what was happening there.

The man they had crashed into... a man they thought to be dead, slowly got back to his feet. In the pitch darkness, only Rico could see what was happening. The rest could only see the shadowy outline of the person, nothing more.

Even if the man was alive, there was no way in hell he’d be able to stand on his own after such a collision. Yet there he was, standing right next to Rico.

His limbs were twisted at weird angles. Bones from various places were protruding through his rotten skin. Yet there wasn’t a single drop of blood anywhere. Not on the man’s body or the road. It was as if that man didn’t have a drop of blood in his body.

The three of them were stunned. Just the sight of the anomaly was enough to make them sober. Rico wanted to get up and run back to his friends, but no matter what he did, his legs didn’t budge.

The anomaly raised its claw over its maggot-infested head, preparing to strike Rico down. Rico was engulfed with fear. He tried to scream, but no voice came out of his mouth. He couldn’t believe he was going to die like that.

Just when the claw was about to slice his chest open, someone pushed him out of harm’s way. Rico turned around to thank Jack for saving his life as he had been the nearest to him, only to realize both Jack and Akira were standing at the far end of the road.

All three of them looked at each other with perplexed eyes. Not knowing what just happened there.

The trio snapped out of shock when they heard an explosive sound coming from the spot Rico was at, a moment ago. As the dust settled down, they saw a man dressed in black from head to toe, had grabbed the creature’s wrist, and in his other hand was a stick.

It was unlike anything they had ever seen before. The anomaly’s serrated claws were less than an inch away from the man’s face.

Rico was saved, but the bloodlust emanating from the anomaly had shaken him to his core. None of them knew what was going on there, and frankly, they didn’t even care. All they wanted was to run away from that place as soon as possible.

The anomaly once again lashed out at Zaen and he had to let go of the anomaly’s hand to dodge. The moment it was free from Zaen’s grasp, the anomaly lunged at Rico, completely ignoring Zaen.

Zaen didn’t stay idle either. He was faster than the anomaly. Before the anomaly could even reach Rico, Zaen grabbed Rico’s collar and with all of his strength, threw him towards his friends.

"Get out of here now!" Zaen yelled at the trio before blocking the incoming strike with his stick.

The trio didn’t linger around after that. They rushed to their car and drove off like professional Formula One racers. The anomaly was pissed off that its prey had gotten away.

It then turned its attention towards the only man within its vicinity, little did it know that the man wasn’t a runner like everyone the anomaly had met before.

The anomaly snarled at Zaen, but he wasn’t in the mood to talk anymore. After seeing the system’s notification about someone’s death, he decided to open the map and hunt all the anomalies when he saw something peculiar.

The anomalies had moved from where they had been previously. Then, a notification appeared in front of his eyes.

[After each kill, the remaining anomalies may change their position.]

Zaen vividly remembered yelling, "BS game logic!" back then. But it wasn’t like the system was going to listen to his complaints, so there he was, hunting the anomaly that was the furthest from his location.

But now, he was glad he chose to go and hunt the furthest anomaly down rather than going home, otherwise, who knew what would’ve happened to those people?

"Fuck, since when saving sorry butts become my hobby?" He yelled in annoyance before charging into the anomaly like a cannonball.