BLACK DRAGON CONTRACT

Chapter 7: The Loot and the Price of the Soul

Vinnie "The Shark" was dead, his eyes bulging as he stared at the leaking warehouse ceiling, but his final smirk seemed to mock Marco.

"Hngh..."

Marco dropped to his knees. Fresh blood spurted from the hole in his left chest, staining the cold concrete floor. The effects of the Adrenaline Overdrive were completely gone. Now, the real pain came to collect. His lungs felt like they were filled with shards of glass every time he took a breath.

"Boss!" Julian leaped down from the stack of safes, his previously grinning face twisting into panic. He held Marco to keep him from collapsing, "Hey, Rhino Tank! Get your stupid butt over here quickly, bring a first aid kit or something! The Boss is leaking!"

Bruno arrived with heavy steps, dragging an emergency medical bag he'd found on the wall. But when he saw the wound—a gaping hole from a Magnum round—Bruno just slowly shook his head (he was a little dim-witted, after all).

"It went through the lung," Bruno said gloomily, "The closest hospital is 20 minutes from here. He won't make it,"

"Get back..." Marco pushed Julian's hand away with his remaining strength. His vision began to narrow, darkening at the edges.

The physical world dimmed, replaced by an aggressive, blinking neon blue light in his retina.

[WARNING: DAMAGE TO VITAL ORGAN (LEFT LUNG & ARTERY).]

[BLOOD LOSS: 40%.]

[ESTIMATED TIME OF DEATH: 120 SECONDS.]

"Damn it..." Marco hissed. His breathing was gurgling—blood was entering his airways.

[EMERGENCY RECOVERY OPTION AVAILABLE.]

[METHOD: INSTANTANEOUS TISSUE RECONSTRUCTION.]

[ENERGY COST: INSUFFICIENT (YOU DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH POINTS YET).]

Marco wanted to swear. Seriously, was he going to die here? After all of this, are you kidding me?

However, the System screen changed color. From blue to a mysterious dark purple.

[SPECIAL OFFER: BARTER.]

[THE SYSTEM WILL TAKE NON-PHYSICAL "ASSETS" IN EXCHANGE FOR POINTS.]

[PRICE: ONE (1) VALUABLE LONG-TERM MEMORY.]

[TARGET FOR DELETION: THE MEMORY OF THE FIRST KISS WITH MARIA ROSSI.]

Marco's heart stopped for a moment. Not because of the wound, but because of the horror of reading that text.

The first kiss... it happened on the roof of a cheap apartment building ten years ago. It was drizzling rain. Maria wore a yellow dress. Her lips tasted sweet like cherry candy, and Marco promised in his heart then that he would protect her forever. That memory was his anchor as a human being, the thing that kept him going when he was a dock laborer.

Not that... Take something else! Take my finger! Take the memories of school! Not Maria! Marco screamed internally.

[NEGOTIATION DENIED.]

[TIME REMAINING: 30 SECONDS.]

[ACCEPT (Y) OR DIE (N)?]

In the real world, Bruno had already started pressing a cloth onto Marco's wound, attempting to stop the impossible bleeding, "Hang in there, Marco! Remember your kid is waiting at home!"

My kid...

Marco closed his eyes. Tears trickled from the corner of his eyes, mixing with the blood on his cheek. He couldn't die. If he died now, Maria and Sofia would be chased by debts and enemies for the rest of their lives.

With a trembling hand, Marco moved his finger in the empty air, pressing the [Y] button.

ZIIING!

The sensation came not in his chest, but in his head.

It felt like cold ice cream was being forcibly scrambled with a spoon inside his frontal lobe. An unbearable headache, as if Marco's memory nerves were being burned and severed one by one.

"ARGHHHH!" Marco screamed, clutching his head.

"Boss?!" Julian recoiled in shock.

A purple light enveloped Marco’s chest. The Magnum bullet lodged near his spine was forcefully expelled—CLINK!—falling to the floor. The torn flesh knitted itself back together at a terrifying speed. New skin grew to cover the hole, leaving a small, dragon-shaped burn scar.

Marco's breathing eased. His lungs were intact. His heart beat strongly.

But in his head... there was a hole. Gaping...

Marco gasped, sitting upright. He looked at his hands. He was alive. He was healthy.

But he felt something was missing. A precious memory. Something vital. He tried to remember Maria. He remembered her face. He remembered their wedding. But when he tried to recall the taste of Maria's lips on that rooftop ten years ago... not found.

Static.

Like a broken TV channel. There was only a crackling sound, no image, just gray dots.

He knew the fact that they had kissed. But he didn't feel the emotion. What was the smell of the rain and the pounding of his heart back then? Blank...

Gone. Wiped clean.

Huekk...

Marco threw up again. This time not blood, but because of the sudden emptiness that assaulted his soul.

"Marco?" Bruno looked at him worriedly, and fearfully, "Your wound... How? How did it close up by itself?"

Marco wiped his mouth with a rough gesture. His eyes were red; tears fell without him noticing.

This had happened, and the system couldn't be reloaded. His fate had to move forward. From this moment on, that was the price for the extension of his life.

"Open the safe," Marco commanded, his voice hoarse and hollow, "Take the money. And let's get out of here quickly!"

*

THE FOLLOWING MORNING.

The rising sun illuminated Marco's still messy apartment. But on the tilted dining table, a mountain of cash was piled high.

The total loot from Vinnie's safe: $450,000. Filthy money, blood money, gambling money.

Marco sat in a chair, staring at the money without interest. Julian and Bruno had left with their respective shares; Bruno immediately sped off to the hospital to take care of his mother, Julian went somewhere else to look for new trouble.

The bedroom door opened. Maria emerged, her eyes still swollen and fixed on the towering pile of green cash.

"Arcy...?" Maria covered her mouth with her hand, "T-this... is all ours, Arcy... this much money?!"

"Pay off Vinnie's debt. Pay the other loan sharks. Pay the apartment rent for a year. Buy new clothes for Sofia," Marco said flatly. Marco, however, did not look at Maria; he stared silently at the wall.

Maria ran closer, touching the money with trembling hands. She cried, but this time tears of relief. As if a thousand tons of weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"We're free... Arcy," Maria sobbed. She turned Marco's chair around and hugged his neck from behind, "Thank you, darling. Thank you... you saved us!"

Maria cupped her husband's face. She leaned down and kissed Marco's lips.

The kiss was warm. Soft. Full of gratitude.

But Marco remained motionless. His eyes were open, staring blankly ahead.

He felt Maria’s lips touch his. Physically, Marco sensed it... the warmth, the gentle pressure of their lips meeting. Maria hugged Marco tightly, radiating a palpable desire.

But his brain tried to compare this kiss with the "First Kiss," which had been the standard and reference point in his life's memoir. He searched for the reference file to feel the same happiness.

File Not Found.

Error.

There was no tremor in his chest. No butterflies flying. No exploding passion left. It felt... clinical. Like pressing flesh against flesh.

The System had taken the essence of that feeling.

Marco panicked. He returned the kiss roughly, trying to force the old feeling to return. He kissed Maria deeper, biting her lip, searching for the spark that used to be there. But...

Maria pulled away, slightly breathless and confused by Marco's sudden, yet hollow aggression. Bland.

"Arcy? Are you alright, darling?" Maria asked, stroking her husband's cheek, "You look... different,"

Marco stared at Maria's lips. The same lips he had worshipped for a decade.

Now, those lips felt alien.

"I'm tired," Marco lied, turning his face away. He stood up, moving away from Maria, leaving the pile of money behind, "I need a shower!"

Maria smiled understandingly, assuming her husband was just exhausted from working hard (or whatever Marco did to get that money). She then went back to counting the money with sparkling eyes.

"We can buy a new house, Arcy! We can move out of this rat hole!" Maria exclaimed happily.

Marco went into the bathroom, locked the door, and turned on the shower so Maria wouldn't hear.

Under the pouring water, Marco Rossi (Vinnie The Shark's killer, host of the contract) cried silently. He beat his own head, trying to call the memory back.

Remember, you idiot! Remember what it felt like?!

But there was only darkness. A black hole ready to swallow him whole. Marco felt increasingly disgusted with himself, mourning the destiny he had chosen. The price of a life, the endpoint of which he could not predict.

Suddenly, in the corner of his vision, the System notification appeared again, as if mocking his suffering. Dragging him deeper. Endlessly.

[TRANSACTION COMPLETE.]

[PHYSICAL CONDITION: 100%.]

[MENTAL CONDITION: STABLE (EXCESSIVE EMOTIONS DELETED).]

[WELCOME TO YOUR NEW LIFE.]

Marco stared at the mirror. Behind his dark eyes, he knew this was a beginning. One where he didn't know where fate would take him.

This black contract was like a double-edged sword, because the system didn't just consume the enemy. It also consumed its host, piece by piece, memory by memory. A perforated memory.

***