A piercing alarm blared.
Hearing this, Putato was somewhat surprised that Suicide Express Corporation actually had a normal response. He turned to see two security guards frantically stringing police tape across the office entrance before running off. An announcement blared over the speakers:
[All team leaders, lower the soundproof curtains. No one is allowed to leave their workstations. Mandatory overtime today. Do not attempt to submit leave requests to department heads.]
Immediately, the doors to the remaining offices were closed and locked. Black curtains dropped, blocking both sight and sound.
Damn it!
Putato decided to ignore those people. He suddenly charged forward, the Spiral Spear in his hand whistling as he swung it.
WHOOSH!
To Putato's shock, the heavy spear tip only grazed the brim of the pointed hat. The gust of wind made the hat tremble slightly.
He was a Grade 3 Fixer with combat experience, so he absolutely wouldn't make a mistake like misjudging attack range. He warily gripped his weapon and retreated.
"After meticulously studying those scriptures, my chaotic heart finally found a home. I wanted to join the Me Me Me cult."
"Actually, it was just a journey. But by then, I was no longer familiar with N Nest; I was in the peril-filled Backstreets. Only by hiding in dumpsters could I keep myself safe."
"Fortunately, I received the Prosthetic scrap you threw away. It provided me with a weapon for self-defense. And a pot of frozen meat soup, which allowed me to have a rare full meal before setting out."
"Pity. When I arrived at the cathedral mentioned in the propaganda, I found the Me Me Me cult had already collapsed. There was nothing there but a deserted ruin."
Grinch's words stunned Putato. He hadn't noticed any of this happening. And surely she hadn't actually taken those nonsensical scriptures to heart?
"That stuff is all a lie! See? That cult is gone now!"
As he spoke, Putato flung three throwing knives. To his confusion, he saw the projectiles stall in front of her.
No!
Watching the knives continue to "fly" but actually fall, Putato realized the distance between him and Grinch wasn't what it appeared to the naked eye.
"Because free people are always lonely. Those ignorant, cowardly, self-deceiving fools will instinctively alienate them. Unless you can bridge this gap in an instant, you should stop."
"And all this power comes from the hand bone I found in the ruins. Even buried in the mud, it was as smooth and clean as new. The Cone patterns on it were enough to show it was a holy relic of the church."
Putato frowned in thought. Only now did he recall that Pontiff Encore's right hand was also a specially made Hammer of Counter-Attack. At that time, his mind was a mess, and he'd been rescued by Mo's trio, completely forgetting about it.
Now he understood exactly what was going on.
"To show my devotion, I painfully carved my flesh to use that hand bone to strike my heart and complete the baptism. It has become one with my heart."
"The Grinch didn't just now appear in The City; they have always existed. It's just that they are manifesting through me now, much like that Void Fist did."
THUMP!
The massive heartbeat converging from all directions suddenly slammed into Putato's ears, alerting him to the imminent danger.
Suddenly, roars and screams erupted from the sealed offices. Green monsters tore through the soundproof curtains.
In the blink of an eye, the entire floor was filled with the sound of agitated drumming.
"Stop now, and I can give you a quick death!"
"What kind of freedom is it if everyone fucking dies?!"
Seeing blood splatter across the glass walls, he roared at Grinch, unable to comprehend her logic. His skin instantly bloated into a white exoskeleton.
He rattled the can on his belt and dumped out another grenade, throwing it with all his might.
BANG!
The fierce explosion churned through the room, but before the smoke could even clear, Putato could clearly see Grinch still standing exactly where she was.
"Man is a polluted river. To receive a polluted stream without becoming impure, one must be the ocean."
"I am The Grinch. Join me, and you will no longer be bound by any rules. For the rest of your days, you can live as you please."
"Otherwise, you can only be like those pathetic fools who cover their faces all day, afraid to even face themselves, living like empty shells whose names no one will remember."
"Putato, let me ask you: you've been to that budget prison, haven't you? Do you remember their names? Or is it only The Grinch you remember?"
The sense of alienation around Grinch vanished, replaced by a terrifying madness. Her question left Putato momentarily speechless, staring as she removed her hat to reveal an elf-like face and floor-length green hair.
A swarm of white snow-hounds suddenly burst from the hat on the ground. When they first emerged, they were only palm-sized, but after just a few steps, they grew to the size of adult elephants. The pack was a staggering sight, forcing even Putato to take a step back.
However, the terrified screams coming from every office made Putato's expression turn ice-cold. Although he had heard enough of that as Grey Haze, this, like cannibalism, was something he would never accept.
RIP!
Three fierce snow-hounds pouncing on Putato were brutally cut in half by a one-handed swing of his Crusher. In his fury, Putato pointed a finger at Grinch; he could now see every detail of her clearly.
"The City has enough idiot organizations. You can go join the Me Me Me cult in hell!"
"Joining you is how one truly loses themselves and their freedom. If they don't submissively follow you, you just cut them down, don't you?!"
"No one needs you to offer a ridiculous choice for their lives! The City doesn't need answers!"
The next moment, blazing, brilliant brands filled the surfaces of more than half the objects in the office.
Even the once-composed Grinch looked down in pain and confusion at the fiery brands covering her. Even the sense of alienation she cloaked herself in couldn't help her escape, because Putato was staring at her with an expressionless face.
Putato raised his saw-blade and cleaved through the heads of seven lunging snow-hounds in one breath. Glancing at the green monsters pouring out of the offices, he disdainfully gripped his Giant Workshop weapon with both hands.
This movement made Grinch realize that the brands followed Putato's gaze, blanketing the floor wherever he looked. Everywhere his eyes landed, orange flames erupted. Panicked, she crouched down and slammed her skeletal white right hand against the floor.
CREAK!
Countless floorboards and plastics coiled up as if possessed, attempting to block the line of sight between the two.
BOOM!
The extremely violent Giant Workshop pulverized all the debris. However, Grinch did not retreat; instead, she hid behind the flying fragments and suddenly threw a punch, giving Putato no time to pull his Crusher back for defense.
Though her left arm was pulverized by the Spiral Spear, Grinch remained resolutely locked onto Putato's gaze, her skeletal fist striking directly at Putato's chest.
BANG!
Putato felt his heart shudder violently, forcing him back a few steps. He gasped for breath, barely recovering, but this left Grinch so shocked she froze on the spot.
"Why?! Why are you completely unaffected?!"
"Don't you have even a shred of doubt within you?!"
Though Putato wasn't entirely sure why, the Hammer of Counter-Attack was already an old, outdated trick to him.
Putato did not miss this god-sent opportunity. He threw the Crusher with all his might, the heavy sawteeth shattering those long, green-skinned legs and sending Grinch crashing onto her back.
"If you want others to remember your name, you've got to carve it with fire!"
The scorching fire brand was branded directly onto Grinch's face, causing her to curl up in agony. The abnormal heat warped the air, and the snow-hounds lunging to protect their master were burned alive within three seconds.
Once the flames reached their peak, Putato decisively triggered the detonation.
BANG!
To Putato's surprise, the white light of the explosion only occurred in a small area around Grinch. With his anger spent, he cautiously approached, seeing only Grinch's charred head.
"Putato, your name will surely be remembered by many more people."
Picking up the Crusher from the floor, a weary Putato pulled out his communicator and contacted Team Three of Welfare Funerals, using the contact info he had kept after paying them earlier.
[Find the real name of The Grinch.]
"Shut up! I am Grade 3 Fixer Vanda. If you're afraid of trouble, I'll show you what real trouble looks like!"
"As a high-ranking Fixer, I only need to file one report to kill your entire family!"
"..."
After intimidating these dawdling N Nest lunatics, Putato finally crouched down and looked at Grinch's tenaciously living head.
"Suie, go to hell."
"We will meet again, for The City's Grinch always exists. And... that was the first blessing I've heard in all this time."
"..."
SCRITCH SCRITCH SCRITCH.
Putato reluctantly used a broom to sweep up Suie's charred remains, carefully pouring them into the customer service supervisor's briefcase, along with the ash-colored pointed hat and the Hammer of Counter-Attack skeletal hand.
"Sir, the damage invoice for Suicide Express will be sent to your account based on the contact information you provided. Would you like to use our installment repayment service? Or perhaps a collateral-based repayment service?"
"If you choose a partner affiliate of our company, we can offer a certain level of debt reduction."
"Get lost!"
Ignoring the fake-smiling supervisor at the door, Putato grabbed the briefcase and walked out, treading over the scattered ashes and severed limbs.
His communicator rang.
"Senior Vanda! I just spoke to Master about this commission. He said if it's too dangerous, we should wait until he and Senior Yuna arrive to handle it."
"I figured since this involves the Me Me Me cult, we should be more cautious when facing such a perilous commission."
"You mean Grinch? I just killed her at the Diamond Skyscraper. The matter is settled."
"What?! But Senior Vanda, it's only evening. It's barely been five hours since we got off the train. Isn't that a bit too fast? How did you find Grinch?!"
"Vanda, are you okay? I'm coming right now! Dawn Office has medical insurance!"
Philip was so frantic he stopped using honorifics, immediately hailing a car for the Diamond Skyscraper.
Hearing the concerned inquiries, Putato injected himself with a few pneumatic syringes. He went to the first-floor lobby restroom to wash the grime off his body, looking into the mirror on the wall, which brought the mirror-self back to mind.
That entity seemed to have some sort of restriction; it wasn't harassing him every second. To solve this, he'd likely have to find that memory-erasing individual from Green Journey, one of the three founders.
Maybe when he got back, he should dig out Obana's head and ask more about Green Journey.
[Shamisen: BOSS, based on your previous plan, I've decided to organize a concert. What should Urban Girl sing?]
He didn't have any composition mastery; even if he wanted to fake it, he didn't have an artistic bone in his body!
Since arriving in The City, the thing he'd learned fastest was how to kill.
After considering it for a bit, Putato picked out a few random songs from his past life and sent them over. Anyway, Urban Girl's fans weren't exactly there for the singing; it was just to go through the motions.
[Shamisen: Boss, are you serious? You want people to listen to this trash? I feel like only the Ring would actually enjoy this.]
[Putato: Just find some warm fairy tales for Urban Girl to read. Mix in some listener submissions in between. Our stream is all about companionship.]
[Brandon:
- Angelica [100,000 Ahn]: The fan club members are surprisingly friendly.
- Yixin [13,500,000 Ahn]: Mama is so pretty!
- Roland [100,000 Ahn]: I always get the feeling this is going to turn into a cult or something. By the way, what's Urban Girl's real name?
- Liwei [100,000 Ahn]: Why is this stream making money faster than I can spend it on bullets? I don't even want to be a Fixer anymore.
- Siegfried [1,000,000 Ahn]: Hahaha! Is this livestream for real? I've gotta make Vergilius jump out of his skin with this!]
Siegfried was a fairly famous Grade 1 Fixer in K Nest, while Vergilius was a Grade 1 Fixer who had been granted a Color by the Hana Association.
Putato felt like the "Colors" concentration in his donation comment section was getting a bit too high. He quickly reminded Shamisen not to skimp on any expenses regarding security and secrecy.
And as for you, Roland, could you stop trying to ruin the Urban Girl world-building? He was dead set on doxxing her.
[Putato:
To Roland: In the name of The City, you already know it.]
"Senior Vanda!"
Philip, having rushed out of the car, looked at Putato and his dirty, tattered clothes with a bit of confusion. He didn't think the Grinch's strength had been overestimated; after all, two previous Offices had been legitimately wiped out.
Putato gave Philip a brief and concise summary of the battle that had just occurred.
"So that's it, she could distance herself from her surroundings? No wonder those Offices couldn't handle her; they didn't use firearms like the Full-Stop Office. Senior Vanda, your Workshop gear is way too impressive."
"I've never seen a weapon at Dawn Office that could set someone on fire just by staring at them."
Although he was the greenest member of the Office, Philip wasn't the type of rookie to pester others about the secrets of their Workshop weapons. After all, The City had plenty of secrets that were better left unknown.
He contacted Salvador with a sense of unreality and put him on speakerphone.
"Finished?! Vanda, your reliability continues to exceed my imagination. Yuna thought you'd take at least three or four days."
"I've already spoken with the Southern Liu Association. I was planning to wait until you returned, but I figured you wouldn't be able to wait that long."
"Take Philip to the Liu Association tomorrow. We've completed a designated commission for Section 1, and the Director is extremely interested in you. She even wants to recruit you into the Association."
Once the call ended, Philip looked at Putato with eyes full of admiration.
The Liu Association was a combat-focused Association; being noticed by a Section 1 Director was a high honor.
At this moment, Philip couldn't fathom that just a month ago, Putato was an obscure, struggling Grade 5 Fixer. This was even more surreal than an Urban Girl livestream.
...
Room 101.
After giving himself a thorough scrubbing, Putato took a deep breath, relaxing after the day's exhausting travel. He turned his head to look at the preservation box sitting next to a large crater on the side. Inside, Obana's head was recounting her story under duress.
"Before Green Journey, the Chief was actually a former L Corporation employee. He founded a utopian literary club."
"Uh, The Backstreets people like to form gangs, but inside the Nests, people like to form different unions based on their hobbies. After all, people always want to huddle together for warmth."
"The literary club was a shared community. Everyone loved writing stories about the beautiful futures they imagined, even if their thoughts were completely different, they could all be placed within the same world."
"Many of them were employees of other Wings of the World. After all, you can't expect people who worry about food and shelter all day to write heartwarming little stories."
"Once he secured the first major investment from me, he started recruiting within the literary club, which is how the complete research institute was built so quickly. Otherwise, you couldn't challenge a Wing of the World just through acquisitions."
"This guy even went around collecting the corpses of researchers who had committed suicide, then performed personality chip modifications on them to the best of his ability."
"Truth be told, it was only after I discovered he had a way to shield against the Wings and even The Head that I chose to cast my lot with him."
Placing Encore's skeletal hand into the ash-filled briefcase, Putato realized what was happening. He picked up a shovel, preparing to bury Obana again. After that, he'd have to figure out how to deal with the Hammer of Counter-Attack; that thing wasn't something to be used lightly, as it would be a disaster if he accidentally hammered out another monster.
"Wait, wait, wait! I remembered something!"
Putato looked with amusement at Obana's frantic state. This girl wasn't just good at acting; she was incredibly resilient. No wonder she'd survived this long.
"If you're looking for the last survivors of Green Journey, maybe you should look into L Corporation!"