Chapter 4: Ominous Message

  [A Bad Event have occurred.]

  Right before the teleportation, the message flashed in front of me, but I didn’t even get the chance to prepare myself as the whole world turned blue.

  “...Shit.”

  [Teleportation locations have been destroyed.]

  [The user will be sent to a random location.]

  The blue world shattered.

  For a brief, nauseating second, I felt weightless, like I was suspended in an endless ocean of light.

  Just a moment ago, I had been standing in a suffocating dark room lit by nothing more than a few dying embers. Now that space was gone, replaced by a blinding golden radiance—as if the sun itself had descended into this place.

  But I couldn’t be more careless about that.

  My stomach dropped.

  I wasn’t standing.

  I was falling.

  The damn teleportation has sent me in the air with no footing at all.

  I gritted my teeth and plummeted toward the ground, bracing for impact.

  Thankfully, I crashed into something unexpectedly soft.

  The impact knocked the air from my lungs, but nothing felt broken.

  By some stroke of luck, I had avoided any major injury.

  It still hurt like hell, though.

  Every muscle in my body throbbed in protest, and my head rang from the sudden stop.

  "But at least I'm—"

  Then the smell reached me.

  It took only one sniff for me to regret it.

  "You’ve got to be kidding me."

  The filth sticking to my clothes… the suspiciously warm water I was half-sitting in…

  Of all the places I could have landed, I had fallen straight into a trash bin.

  “So, this is a [Bad Event]."

  I should feel relief for the event to end with just this for it could have teleported me to a different place without a cushion or to someone dangerous here.

  Still, I feel annoyed and disgusted at whatever is sticking on my back right now.

  "Disgusting."

  I wish to throw away these ragged clothes of mine, but these are the only clothes I have on me right now and I don’t want to die freezing here.

  I look up while covering my eyes with one hand to shield them from the blinding light.

  A sky made from countless gold bricks and a giant artifact that produced lights that shone through the darkness of this place.

  Those are the characteristics of the underground city, Belpham, where the central black market ruled this place.

  Information, contraband, forbidden substances—even slaves—anything a person desired could be found here.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  The city also served as a refuge for the empire’s most wanted criminals.

  They lived in secrecy, waiting for the right moment to either return to the Holy Empire under new identities or quietly carry out their ambitions from within this sanctuary of shadows.

  There were laws in Belpham, but their primary purpose was to protect the city’s registered residents and maintain order.

  As long as no one caused a public disturbance or harmed a citizen openly, most dealings were overlooked. Discretion was valued far more than morality.

  Because Belpham was one of the few cities that had never fallen under the control of the Holy Empire, it became a gathering place for fugitives and outcasts. Criminals continued to flock here, drawn by the promise of protection and freedom from imperial authority.

  “First, I need to figure out where I am.”

  Belpham was divided into three distinct layers.

  The outer layer was home to those who could not pay their taxes, as well as criminals who had disrupted the peace of the inner districts. It was the harshest part of the city, where poverty and violence were common.

  The middle layer housed most of the city’s residents. It was also where the black market operated most actively, its presence woven into daily life rather than hidden from it.

  At the very center stood the headquarters of the underground trade organizations, along with the residence of the mayor who governed this shadowed city.

  Right now, I find myself in a narrow, dim alley.

  From the surrounding buildings and the overall atmosphere, it appeared that I was in the middle layer, though close to the boundary of the outer district.

  That was a relief.

  The entrance I had used was located in the outer layer, and the people who lingered there were not the kind one would willingly encounter alone.

  …No, it didn’t feel right.

  I pondered about it before looking left and right.

  There's no way I'm getting lucky during a [Bad Event].

  Something out here that could threaten me.

  “Is there anyone here?"

  …

  The shout came from somewhere below me.

  Then I heard it—the sickening sound of steel piercing flesh.

  “Shit.”

  I jumped back on instinct. A sharp pain flared through my leg, and when I looked down, I saw blood soaking through the fabric.

  “Dammit…”

  I pressed my hand against the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, but warm blood kept slipping through my fingers.

  Gritting my teeth, I tore the sleeves off my robe and wrapped the cloth tightly around my leg, pulling it snug enough to slow the flow.

  I looked at the garbage bag placed next to the trash bin and from it, a knife is sticking out.

  Then it slid, ripping the bag apart.

  From there, an old man stepped out.

  He’s only wearing boxers, and his entire body is covered in all kinds of filth.

  The old man was most likely using that bag to keep warm, and I just had to fall next to it.

  “Now this is a [Bad Event]."

  Though I can’t help but feel that I somehow have jinxed it.

  “Demon, you shan’t take my white gold, old demon.”

  The old man, with his bloody eyes looking at me, was swinging his knife around while spewing all kinds of bullshit.

  “…Are you in your right mind?"

  In front of me is where all three things manifest in one: the hostility effect, the bad fortune and finally a man who is not in his right mind.

  “Haha, I’m sir knight will slay you, demon.”

  “Fucking psychopath."

  I tried to move away but each time I stepped, the injury on my leg ached.

  Meanwhile, the bastard is in a frenzy, swinging his knife left and right and slowly approaching me.

  "Die, you demon.”

  My eyes widen as the knife swings down right at me but then I see the system screen next to him.

  "Ah."

  Before I caught the bastard's wrist and punched him in the face.

  "Keurgh."

  And proceed to do so again.

  “Bastard, bastard.”

  The reason for me to be so bold all of a sudden is simple.

  The bastard has even lower stats than mine!

  In this world, power is everything—and nowhere is that rule enforced more brutally than in the underground city.

  So the junkie becomes a punching bag, a temporary stress relief for all of my trouble until he falls down unconscious.

  "Argh."

  A sharp pulse of pain shot through my leg.

  It seems that the wound is much deeper than I thought.

  When I glanced down, I could see the dark stain spreading through the cloth I had tied around it.

  At this rate, I’ll bleed out before I can even leave this alley.

  I tore at my shirt, ripping off another strip of fabric and wrapping it tightly around the wound.

  My hands shook as I pulled the knot firm, desperate to force the bleeding to stop.

  “Damn it!”

  W-What should I do now? My vision is slowly growing hazy.

  Is there anything I could use… Right, [Flesh Sacrifice] can be used to close this kind of wound but the condition for it is—

  Even though my mind is in turmoil right now, I can hear the heavy breathing scraped through the narrow alley, drawing closer to me.

  "Shit."

  I immediately backed away from the bastard and managed to avoid the bastard's stab.

  “For the glory."

  The bastard lunged at me while I was still on my knees.

  “You bastard!”

  Unable to contain my frustration anymore, I punch the bastard this time without holding back, right on his chin.

  The blow was strong enough to cause his head to jerk to the side and create a nasty cracking sound.

  He falls down to the ground limply.

  “Pheww, that was close.”

  If it were any later, then I might get stabbed again.

  Suddenly, a message popped up.

  My body shook in fright when a message flashed in front of me, thinking that a bad event is approaching but this time it was different.

  It was a notification.

  [You have killed a human.]