?

  We exited the so-called hunting grounds at a run and didn’t slow down once as we made our way through the tight and crowded streets of this strange walled-in community. I positioned myself ahead of Ji-Ho as we ran, and then, keeping the blade inactive, I used my spear like a stave or club to batter or force people out of our way.

  There was a little shouting or rude gestures sent my way by the people I knocked down, but none seemed willing to press the matter. It was an attitude I appreciated in the moment, but would never understand. If some arrogant young master had dared to knock me aside while I was just trying to go about my day, you had best believe I would have slaughtered him on the spot. If I was in a particularly bad mood, I might have even sought his family out and ended a few generations too.

  These people were different; their pride had long since been broken. I could see it now as I barged them aside. Slums were slums, I supposed, even in a city of the dead.

  I don’t quite know what to call the circular area that held Ji-Ho and Ha-Rin’s combination home and business. I guess you could think of it as a courtyard? I don’t know, there were still sheer walls of dark cement leading to strange pipes, wires, and eventually the metal and blinking lights of the roof above that acted as the sky for the people who lived down here.

  The amount of room the workshop had compared to most of the dwellings I had seen near here made me wonder if the siblings were perhaps wealthy by local standards. Most of the other homes or businesses shared crumbling walls with each other; in fact, most of them only had one to two rooms.

  None of that was the case for the siblings; they had a little more room to work with, the windows and walls were a little less decrepit, and their home-

  VROOOOOMM!!!

  SCREEEEEEE!!!

  My train of thought, along with our passage to the workshop, was suddenly cut off as a pair of young men about the age of my current body riding sleek two-wheeled vehicles rode past us and came to a screeching stop between the three of us and our destination.

  The men themselves were dressed in the same sort of bright, eclectic fashion I had seen everyone in this place wearing. There was nothing uniform about their dress except for a noticeable patch of cloth sewn into the right sleeve on each of them. It was a deep blue, and edged with yellow and red; An obvious signifier of shared loyalty if I ever saw one.

  Honestly, there is probably a lot I could say about the appearance of these two men, but the truth is, I was only paying the slightest bit of attention to them. I only had eyes for the vaguely horse-shaped two-wheeled machines the men were riding, and I don’t think anyone can blame me.

  Not only were these machines glorious, they represented something I had been quietly looking for ever since my arrival here and had yet to see, and now that I had, my heart soared.

  ‘Cavalry,’ I whispered the word to myself with a sort of reverence I didn’t know I possessed. I had spent most of my life as one kind of cavalry commander or another. First, leading small strike forces of Ding Yuan’s elite, next as the Center General and Lord of Dong Zhuo's heavy Cavalry, and finally, when I served none but my own whims as a rampaging warlord.

  Now presented with proof that my beloved vocation could still exist in this new world, I knew immediately I was going to need to procure one of these mechanical horses for myself, maybe one of these two right here…

  I was about to internally order Diaochan to tell me about these machines when she preempted the request and began flooding my HUD with information. While I perused the writing and demonstration windows my A.I. was bringing up I moved into step with Ji-Ho who was approaching the mounted pair.

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  The lighter-skinned of the two men was sitting atop a

  [WeiTech Dynamics Neon Revenant-Custom Build]. It had rippling blue lights along it that lit the stone beneath it in the way that water shines upon a cave wall.

  According to the little windows Diaochan was showing me it was a powerful machine with an impressive top speed and a great deal of customizability. Though apparently the engine…whatever that is simply stops working after an arbitrary amount of time, and requires replacement.

  There was all sorts of information about what the vehicles were called in different parts of the city, the sorts of changes one could make to a Neon Revenant, the prices of parts it could use, turning speed, top speed, and tyre composition? It was far too much for me to take in, but I understood these horses of metal and mechanism were known as ‘Bikes’, ‘Howlers’, or sometimes ‘Street Grinders’

  I also understood the little windows in my HUD showing the revenant surging down city streets at speeds that boggled the mind.

  The other man's mount was a smaller and less garish-looking [Ares X7 Hydra- Custom Build] which was painted black, and held none of the rippling lights that ran the length of the Neon Revenant.

  The same information and demonstrations of what the howler could do, popular modifications, and potential replacement parts scrolled across my vision, and I could feel myself start to salivate.

  Ji-Ho, on the other hand, was clearly less than pleased by the pair of sudden newcomers, not that I blamed him; the man’s sister was dying in his arms, he didn't have time for social niceties right now.

  “What is this?” The silver-haired man asked slowly, prompting some nasty grins from the pair of still mounted men. As we got closer to the pair, the little boxes Daiochan made to identify things for me began popping up, informing me that both of these men were armed and likely held additional weapons beneath their clothing.

  “We were checking through some old records, and it seems you haven’t been paying your bills, Ji-Ho.” The man sitting atop the Neon Revenant said in a manner that sounds friendly, but everyone knows is actually dripping with threat.

  “The fuck I haven’t!” Snapped my companion. “ I paid four months of protection ahead to Lyn and Paul literally last week. If they haven’t been passing it along to The Ulus, take it up with them.”

  The pale-skinned man on the Revenant looked to his companion and placed a hand to his cheek in mock concern.

  “Oh no, Enkh, he’s all paid up with Lyn and Paul.” The man named Enkh, who I could see was heavily scarred around the lips, sneered.

  “Paul and Lyn, wow,” Enkh said with just as much sarcasm as his friend.

  “You see these patches, idiot?!” Snapped the Revenant rider slipping out of his jovial tone like you might slip out of a robe. “We are Ulus, the clan of Temujin himself. If we say you owe us, then you better bust out the fucking Digi-Creds.”

  Ji-Ho looked between the pair and me helplessly for a moment. Catching the silver-haired man's eyes, I flicked my gaze towards my spear, silently indicating I was more than prepared to commit some violence. Almost imperceptibly, he shook his head in reply.

  I knew what I was looking at; anybody would. These two, which my HUD indicated were [Level 4]; the same level as Ji-Ho and Ha-Rin, were obviously lower-level lackeys of a powerful lord. Be he a military man, a politician, or even a criminal, this Temujin's name obviously carried enough weight that his minions could use it to bully people.

  My name used to carry that kind of power. I distinctly remember the more unscrupulous soldiers under my command would often seize goods and wealth while claiming I had ordered them to. Even though their victims would be all but certain it was a lie, they deemed it better to hand over their prizes than to risk the tiniest portion of my wrath.

  “Look, chiefs,” offered Ha-Rin in an apologetic tone. “As you can see, my sister is badly hurt, I have Doc Cenna waiting to save her in my workshop. Can we please talk about this later?”

  “Nope,” Said Enkh with a mournful shake of his head. “ If you want that little cut of meat to avoid the butcher’s shop, you'd better start transferring creds.”

  The man on the Revenant laughingly repeated what his friend had said under his breath.

  “Cut of meat, off to the butcher shop heheh.”

  I honestly think that had they let him pass, Ji-Ho would have paid them after making sure Ha-Rin was okay, I really do. Instead, he stiffened up, behind his [Shinsei Visionworks – OniGlass 77 Sunglasses], his eyes narrowed, and his lip curled in disgust. My silver-haired companion turned to me in a slow, deliberate manner.

  “Bu.” He said quietly. “I would consider it a personal favor if you could break things inside these two until they leave.”

  “Why Ha-Rin, my good Shenshi,” I replied with a cold smile. “It would be my great and enduring pleasure.”

  “just...No deaths, please.”