Chapter 227
by Golden DragonChapter 227: Let’s Decide By Coin Toss
“Do you play third-person shooter games? Like GTA or PUBG—where the camera’s behind your character.”
“No. I usually play pay-to-win games where I can crush hardcore grinders under the weight of my wallet.”
An unexpected answer, but fitting for a young lady of her status.
Even more surprising was that, despite the entire Lasvedo family mobilizing, it was Gloria who found the faceless man first.
Okulet had forbidden her from participating, but she’d slipped out while the old estate was in chaos, leaving the obedient Mi Xiaoliu behind with him.
Maybe Gloria thought her father had no tact—everyone else was out there, while their family just sat around.
Call it “protecting the younger generation” if you want to be nice. Put bluntly, it was more like, “This is too dangerous for us, so you handle it instead.”
Of course, none of this mockery applied to Mi Xiaoliu. Her only job was to be adorable.
The speed of light was the upper limit for matter, and while Gloria couldn’t reach it due to stamina constraints, she was still on par with most speed-based ability users.
—
The faceless man leaned against an apple tree in the field, clutching his shoulder.
Injuries, nutrient depletion, and the strain of breaking free from control had left him barely able to keep his eyes open.
An ordinary person would’ve died the moment those anomalous plants attacked.
In this state, even if he saw a streak of light charging at him, he couldn’t dodge.
Gloria held up her phone, keeping the line open to Okulet for both of them.
“The Second Fractal’s secondary ability is called ‘God’s Eye.’ It’s like a god’s perspective—he can observe an area from above, zooming in or out at will. He can also lock onto someone’s back and follow them like a third-person camera. Combined with his control ability, it’s like puppeteering a game character.”
“But his control doesn’t have to be gentle. He can snap your limbs, crush your skull, or flatten you into paste. Think telekinesis, but worse.”
“Still, his control over living things has limits. A 150-milliamp current through your body can break it temporarily.”
He seemed intimately familiar with the Second Fractal.
“Fifty milliamps is already life-threatening,” Gloria muttered.
This guy clearly had some physical enhancement.
Beyond that, she had no idea what he was talking about—Easter, the Second Fractal? None of it meant anything to her.
“His ‘mini-map’ ability has a 47.6-kilometer radius.”
Meaning, unless you could create fog as vast as his, the Second Fractal could kill anyone in that range at will.
“You didn’t go to the police because Easter has more moles in the Federation than you imagined, right?” Okulet asked.
“A cop was the one who delivered me to Easter,” the faceless man answered indirectly.
“I don’t care about that. Did you try to kill my sister?”
Gloria’s hand was already hovering near his throat.
She’d come here to eliminate anyone who threatened Mi Xiaoliu.
“There are a lot of people I want to kill.”
Surprisingly, even now, he showed no fear. His mechanical voice remained icy.
“Any bastard from Easter—I’d kill them all. Which one’s your sister?”
Gloria smirked. “You? Targeting my sister? Trash. Your little fog trick was nothing to her.”
The faceless man froze—then understood.
“Your sister’s the idiot who—?!”
That was what nearly got him killed?
“Do you know where the Second Fractal is?” Okulet cut in before Gloria could escalate.
“I just told you. 47.6 kilometers. If he wanted, he could flip Metropolis upside down. His appearance is obvious too—half his body’s mechanical, though I don’t know why. But don’t rely on that. Easter’s disguise skills are top-tier.”
47 kilometers sounded simple—a nonstop bus ride at full speed would take over an hour.
“Oh, and that’s the radius.”
Finding one person in that range was near impossible.
But first, this was Metropolis. No shortage of ability users here.
And second—
“He’s by the coast.”
Auntie reported the breakthrough. Things were going well on her end too.
Of course he’d camped at the maximum range.
As they strategized, a light flashed behind them.
Okulet’s eyelid twitched slightly as he turned his head.
Sure enough, Mi Xiaoliu—who had been obediently standing behind him—had changed into her new combat outfit again.
Because the streets were noisy, he’d put the call on speaker, and Mi Xiaoliu had heard everything.
“No. Wait until your uncle and the others handle it.”
Okulet refused her flatly, his expression unreadable.
Mi Xiaoliu stared back at him in silence.
Okulet could practically see the words “Affection -1” floating above her head.
“Did you forget your promise not to stray too far from me?” He pressed a hand to her head.
Mi Xiaoliu processed his words through her Malphite Network for two full seconds.
Then she grabbed Okulet’s arm.
Okulet: “??”
Without another word, she hoisted him over her shoulder—just like when they’d escaped Night Demon—and began leaping between buildings with him in tow.
It was a shame she couldn’t just stash Okulet in her inventory.
————————
The southwestern coast of the metropolis wasn’t a beach but a harbor.
Fierce winds howled like war horns as waves—normally two meters below the docks—now crashed violently against the shore.
Seafood, expensive inland, was dirt-cheap here. The air reeked of fish, enough to make land-dwellers with weak stomachs vomit on the spot—a classic case of environmental intolerance.
The most common cargo loaded onto long-distance passenger ships here was fruit.
Eating fruit has been the most effective way to prevent scurvy since ancient times.
But now, crates of fruit that had just been unloaded had to be hauled back aboard. The weather forecast hadn’t predicted such violent winds, forcing all voyages to cancel last-minute.
The lightweight crates toppled if stacked two high in this gale, let alone loaded onto shelves.
The sailors cursed nonstop as they worked. For once, no one complained about their ability-user coworkers—the sooner they finished, the sooner everyone could go home.
“Chief mate, looks like someone’s still onboard. See that up there?”
The chief mate looked up. Through the fog, a faint blue glow flickered from one of the cabin windows—impossible to miss.
It even seemed to be moving.
The headcount had confirmed everyone disembarked.
In weather like this, it felt downright supernatural. Maritime horror stories loved fog and mysterious lights.
But cowards didn’t last long as chief mates. Telling the crew to keep working, he went aboard alone to investigate.
Two minutes later, he returned, his voice wooden as he ordered everyone home.
“Huh? What about the cargo?”
“Forget the cargo. A typhoon’s coming. What’s more important—goods or your lives? I’ll explain to the captain.”
The crew didn’t hesitate, scrambling onto trucks to flee the harbor.
The chief mate took a vehicle alone.
No one noticed his rigid expression or the tremors in his pupils.
Even his vocal cords were no longer under his control.
Naturally, the car he drove would only reach one destination—a fatal crash.
————————
Deep in the ship’s cabin, where the red light pulsed, a burly old man adjusted the mechanical components of his heart with tools from the onboard kit.
“Strange Grass was captured.”
“Even if he hadn’t been, the weather report alone would’ve doomed him eventually.”
“What now? No more scouts, and the Sixth Fractal’s here too. Retreat. Let the peripheral agents clean up later. At this distance, even if they interrogate Strange Grass, it’ll take two hours minimum to reach us.”
“Retreat?”
Supreme Heaven ran a hand over the steel half of his body.
“Don’t joke. I’ve waited too long for this. Isn’t the Sixth Fractal the specimen you most want recovered?”
“Actually, if she dies even once, retrieval becomes harder. This reboot shows emotional residue from past memories—something never observed before. Her abilities may be evolving—”
“Then let’s decide by coin toss. Stay or go. I call heads.”
A silver coin arced through the air.
The obverse showed heads. The reverse also showed heads. Even the edge was engraved with tiny heads.
Clearly, fate had chosen vengeance.
Supreme Heaven’s mechanical arm retracted, a blazing energy blade extending in its place.
At the same time, the Iron Man-style arc reactor in his chest ignited with blue flames.
[Translator’s Note: See the index page for this Novel if you want to see the Amazon Link for the eBooks.]
0 Comments