2025-04-08 04:16:46"Chicken's good! Might have to pay this Golden Pot Diner a visit!" Scarface had said, licking his greasy fingers before hurling the empty takeout box at Leo's half-conscious body. The box had landed with a pathetic flop, a final insult atop the injuries.
The tattooed guy snorted, "now you know better than to run your mouth like a fucking peace of crap." Having said that, he kicked Leo one last time before following the rest of the crew.
Leo's phone had vibrated against his chest like an alarm clock from hell. Even through the haze of pain, he saw Chef Chu's name flash across the cracked screen. The irony that the phone still worked stung harder than the bruises.
He groaned and answered.
"YOU GOOD-FOR-NOTHING BASTARD!" Chef Chu's voice exploded through the speaker. The Cantonese curses were sharp and fast, slapping Leo's eardrums like open palms. "The customer had been calling me for the past 30 minutes that you hadn't turned up!"
"Rather than yelling at me, ask your fucking customer why he didn't inform me that he had fucking thugs in the damn building!" Leo winced. "If your fat, pot-bellied ass had come to this side of town, you would’ve gotten the same beat down. And trust me, you'd have lost 30 kilograms!"
Chef Chu felt his blood pressure rising, "I gave you a job! I gave you shelter! And this is how you repay me? You can’t even deliver a simple fucking breakfast?!"
Leo’s jaw clenched. Blood from his busted lip pooled in his mouth. He spat to the side, a mixture of rain and crimson. "I never gained anything from you, old man. Just bad attitude, bad temper and bad luck in bulk. "
Chef Chu’s breath came in angry huffs over the line. "You distribute misfortune like it's a damn flier! You’re cursed, Leo! CURSED! I should’ve never taken you in. Return my scooter and GET THE FUCK OUT of my house and out of my damn life! Tonight."
The line went dead. Just like that, his last tether to anything close to stability was cut.
Leo didn’t scream. He didn’t punch anything. He just sat there on the scooter, rain soaking through to his bones, and let the silence scream for him.
A minute passed. Then another.
Finally, he muttered, "Fuck me sideways."
With a sigh, he revved the engine. Or tried to.
The scooter groaned.
"Don’t die on me now, you stubborn piece of shit."
It responded with a shudder, then lurched forward. Leo steered it carefully through the winding, narrow mountain path. The rain intensified, drumming on his helmet like war drums.
—
Rain slashed from the sky like thrown knives, cold and unrelenting. The mountain road twisted ahead of Leo like a serpent, slick and treacherous under his tires. Thunder rolled above, low and guttural, as though the heavens themselves were growling at him. He could barely see ten feet ahead; the sheets of rain blurred his vision, mixing with the blood still clinging to his brow. His shirt stuck to his back, and each breath he took burned with cold and humiliation.
The scooter rattled beneath him like an old man with failing knees. Its once-reliable hum sputtered, faltered, then picked up again, like it too was fighting to stay alive.
Leo's hands were raw from gripping the handlebars. His knuckles, bloodied and bruised from the earlier brawl, throbbed in sync with the pulse pounding in his temple. The laughter of the thugs echoed in his head, a cruel loop that refused to die down.
Halfway down the slope, the brakes began to squeal. A horrible, high-pitched noise that drilled into Leo’s ears. He squeezed the brake lever tighter.
Nothing happened.
Panic flared.
He pressed it again. Harder.
Still nothing.
"No. No. No no no—"
The scooter picked up speed.
The wheels slipped.
"Oh God... shit... fuck!"
He leaned to the left, trying to steady it, but the road curved sharply to the right. Water splashed up, blinding him. The scooter jerked violently, tires skimming the edge of the cliffside road.
"I’m sorry! I’m sorry, okay?!" he yelled into the void. "I’m sorry for being a cunt, a bastard, a fucking hothead, just... I’m sorry!"
Lightning flashed.
Thunder cracked.
The scooter veered violently to the right—
—and the world tilted.
The tires lost all traction.
Time slowed.
Leo’s heart stopped.
Then, with a sickening skid, the scooter crashed through the roadside barrier, snapping the wooden post like a twig.
Leo was airborne. For one horrible, weightless moment, he floated above the void. Then gravity grabbed him by the throat and yanked him down.
The scooter tumbled beside him, metal and sparks and screams wrapped into one chaotic symphony.
He hit the ground once—hard. Then again. And again.
The rain blurred everything.
His body rolled, bounced, then slid. Rocks tore through his clothes. Branches lashed his skin. Pain exploded in every joint, every muscle.
When he finally stopped, he was lying face down in the mud at the bottom of the ravine.
The scooter was a mangled wreck of metal ten feet away, still steaming.
Leo didn’t move.
He didn’t even have the strength to curse.
The storm continued above him, unbothered by the broken boy below.
And then, just before the darkness swallowed him whole, Leo whispered, "This... this is bullshit."
Then everything went black.
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 33: Mansion
Leo sat lazily on a stone bench outside what had once been his ramshackle hut, a cold can of soda hissing faintly in his hand. The carbonation tickled his throat as he took a long gulp, eyes fixed on the translucent screen hovering before him.Through the system’s projection, he could see the chaos unfolding inside the rift — Gareth and his squad locked in a desperate struggle with the mutated hybrid. To Leo, it looked less like a battle and more like a particularly bloody play staged for his entertainment.Inside the gargoyle ring, Mira’s sigh carried into his mind. “You’re cruel, Master. Sitting here drinking soda while they bleed out in there?”Leo smirked, tilting the can back. “Cruel? No. Call it… entertainment. Besides, I don’t see why that Kale guy has had it out for me for so long. He’s practically obsessed.”Mira’s weary voice dripped with exasperation. “Obsession or not, you don’t have to keep controlling the corpse of that demon. You already proved your point when you dropp
Chapter 32: Guests 2
Sammy—” Gareth turned toward the assassin. Her eyes gleamed sharp beneath the hood. “You’re my shadow. Flank, eliminate, and report back. Nothing escapes your sight.”Sammy bowed her head slightly. “Understood.”Then Gareth’s eyes landed on Kale, who had been smirking the whole time. His jaw tightened. “And you…”Kale raised a brow. “What about me, Commander?”“You’re here to supervise. So do just that. Stay. Out. Of. Trouble.” Gareth’s voice cut like steel.Kale’s smirk twitched. He wanted to spit back an insult, but the coldness in Gareth’s eyes silenced him. His teeth ground together, but he said nothing.Sammy, watching from the side, gave Kale a single, dismissive glance before vanishing into the shadows.Just then, Yuto’s voice buzzed through Gareth’s comm.“Commander! The readings inside the rift just changed! Mana surge has dropped. Movement inside has… ceased entirely.”Gareth frowned deeply. “Seized? As in—whatever was fighting in there… stopped?”“Yes,” Yuto replied, voice
Chapter 31: Guests
The cavern reeked of blood and burning ichor. Leo’s breath came in sharp rasps, sweat dripping into the open gash along his ribs. Each movement sent lances of fire through his side, but he gritted his teeth and pressed on.A towering brute—the ogre-bat hybrid—swung its massive claw.[Skill Activated: Quick Step]Leo blinked sideways, but pain slowed him just enough—the edge of the strike clipped his shoulder, sending him sprawling. His dagger skittered across the stone floor.“Leo!” Mira snarled, swooping low. Her wings lashed like whips, striking back two wolf-spine hybrids. She slammed into the brute, her claws digging into its throat. But the monster’s hand clamped around her wing, wrenching it at an unnatural angle.Crack.Mira screamed—a sound that tore through the cavern. Her stone hide held, but the joint bent grotesquely. The wing twitched, half-crippled, forcing her to the ground.Leo pushed up, coughing blood. His dagger answered his call, flashing back into his palm.[Skill
Chapter 30: The battle had just begun.
“Meat! Meat! Meat!”Leo’s jaw clenched. He leaned toward Mira just enough for her to hear him. “We’re not food,” he whispered, eyes narrowing. “They just don’t know it yet.”The hybrids surged closer, claws clacking, teeth gnashing—preparing for the feast.The system’s warning blared again in his head:[Warning: Time remaining to clear Rift—10 hours, 57 minutes]Leo groaned. “I get it, System. You’re training me, but seriously, throwing me into this hellhole with monsters that look like they crawled out of a dumpster fire? A bit extreme, don’t you think?”Still, the thought of wealth and power pulled a smirk from him.Mira, pale and clutching her stomach, caught sight of that smile. Her lips trembled. “Master… I hate when you smile like that! It means you’re about to do something reckless! Let’s just get out of here!”Leo chuckled. “Of course.”But “out of here” wasn’t going to be so easy.The hybrid creatures—half rotting humans fused with reptilian scales and insect-like mandibles—c
Chapter 29: Dispatched.
Meanwhile, in the Central Government Guild Headquarters, the atmosphere was unusually heavy. The marble floors gleamed beneath the golden chandeliers, and guards stood rigid at every doorway. The president’s office, however, was quieter, though tension rippled in the air like a bowstring drawn too tight.A man in a white lab suit, his glasses slightly fogged from his hurried pace, burst into the room. His breathing was uneven, but his voice carried urgency.“Mr. Chu!” he exclaimed, “We detected a strange energy from an area off the eastern coast!”Mr. Haruki Chu who was in a virtual meeting with few subordinates regarding expanding the hunters library and providing free access paused. His pen stilled above the documents he was reviewing, and he lifted his head slowly, frowning.“Jasper,” he said evenly, “give me the coordinates.”The man, Jasper, fumbled through his datapad and handed it over. “Until this morning, the energy was stable, neutral even. It seemed dormant, like it had bee
Chapter 28: Dangling Skulls
The system directed Leo and Mira towards a red pulsing rift that loomed in the distance; beating like a living heart within the depths of the forest. The closer Leo and Mira walked toward it, the thicker the air became. The atmosphere was heavy, charged with something unnatural, as if the woods themselves were trying to push them back.Leo’s body stiffened. His chest tightened until each breath burned his lungs. The pressure weighed him down, making his veins bulge beneath his skin. His vision blurred at the edges, and his lips parted desperately, gasping for air that refused to come.“D–Damn it!” Leo cursed under his breath, clutching at his throat. “The system’s trying to kill me!”Mira, alarmed, reached for him. But to her shock, she was breathing normally, unaffected. She blinked in confusion, her foxlike ears twitching as if sensing the abnormality in the air. “Master? Master! What’s wrong? I’m fine!”Before panic could fully take over, the familiar blue interface of the system ma
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