Slow Business
Rain lashes out. Like it’s coming from the side instead of above. The infamous rains of Changye bring misfortune and inconvenience as usual. Eta’s not around. Marvin was back home taking care of his wife. Couldn’t leave her alone with her tummy aching.
Kei’s seething in the rain. Her figure’s bathe on it as she tries to keep herself warm while making me her shield against the raid. I can feel my side being lashed by the rain. We were trying to board a service train, but some mutants took their time to ruin everyone’s day and Changye graced us with the acid train of Changye.
Below the platform we’re standing was water rushing up. Sudden businessmen are offering safety from the rising water by throwing ladder ropes where they can climb for a fee. They have a bucket with a rope attached to it. On the bucket was also a readable link to their online accounts where you could pay money. We can just scale the building if we want to. The rain’s too hard and the wind’s too strong for Kei and me to bother right now. Limited sale of rope ladders are quite common here and for civilians who do not have the augments. They tend to rely on their original limbs.
It’s not surprising how many aren’t so eager to get their limbs cut for a new pair. Richer people tend to get artificial organs and second hearts while the citizens who are barely eating acceptable gruel have state-provided brain implants and slots where they can interface with some of the city’s functions.
We were hoping to meet a client. Get some clues on how to find any more anomalies to try and solve. Anomalies have become sparse after Sato taking over the repeat-cases. Turns out the repeat-cases are too many and even if we did do them. We’ll still be behind schedule and with a pissed off client. Sato worded it out like we were miners looking for gold among concrete hills.
The rain was bad enough Kei can’t light a cigarette. She had to, for the time we met, throw a cigarette away. Kei smelled like cigarettes, but she retained a strange scent on her which somehow suited her instead of turning men away.
“What?”
She noticed me eyeballing her. A tired look carrying a smile on her face. She was a good businesswoman. Composed and steely than anyone I know. Kei, Eta, and Elvira were one of the few women I know in Changye that have a level of fierceness.
“Nothing. Any idea when this is ending?”
“Who knows? It’s not like we have an in-city weather forecast. Odd isn’t it? For all the tech Changye has, they can’t predict the weather for shit.”
She instinctively reached out for the invisible cigarette. Clicking her tongue. Kei turned me in front of her and with her forehead on my chest. She reached out to her packet, fished out a cigarette, and then lit it up. I can feel my coat being battered by the rain. I couldn’t light mine with this weather and a smoking pipe isn’t exactly ideal. Still, with this kind of weather, she seems to have read my mind and took a piece out and placed it between my lips and then lit it. We looked strange, standing in front of another, smoking cigarettes.
“I hate rain.”
“It isn’t so bad.”
“That so?”
Kei takes a long drag. I was having a shitty day too. We remained standing on the platform until the water level rose dangerously close. With a single leap, we vaulted on the terrace of one of the apartments. One of the owners wanted us pay, but one look at the blades tied around my waist and the teleforce cane Kei’s carrying. The owners zipped their mouths and let us watch the rising water level. I wasn’t cheap so I handed them half of what they were asking so they didn’t have to scowl at our faces every for second.
The city when it rains looks like it is a sunken city. If someone from the past, time travels at this time. They’d think humanity died off.
The lights on the buildings and tenements said otherwise. Most of the second floors are full of people and despite all the vileness and sickness Changye has. I guess people can bond over the fact of the city’s flooding. Many are drinking beer and having a chat over cheap food.
It wasn’t good to stay in one tenement so we vaulted over the buildings, crossed streets by using the terraces of the tenements we came across. The heavy rain doesn’t stop people from taking advantage of it. The sight of the citizens enjoying some ‘time off’ was something you’d barely see. There are unreasonable owners who force their workers to do their jobs, but oddly they don’t last long. In a world where there are clerics wielding the holy, and people fighting demons and devil wearing the livery of their god. People tend to get superstitious and it’s already been proven how it’s bad for business when Changye rains. If you got stuck at a factory as a live-in employee or found yourself sleeping in a center. Then you’re probably going to work. Not that there is something better to do when half of the city’s flooded.
But it’s like a day off. There are times where the rain doesn’t stop and there are weeks where you start praying for the rain to go away.
If it’s one day.
It’s a surprise day off.
If it becomes a week.
Then it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
But that’s the city of Changye for you. There’s always a twist to whatever good’s happening. And most of the time the twist to it isn’t the kind you want. And in a city where most people have metal in their bodies. The water isn’t exactly where the people who have metal in their bodies wants to be in in.
The client’s building was troubled. What greeted us in the entrance was the water flooding in. The tangy smell of blood was in the air and behind the receptionist desk was the receptionist, still in her uniform with a bullet on her forehead. We called a dispatch to report the scene and handed down our OB badge numbers just to be sure no one mistakes us for the killers.
We searched for the client in the building. It’s a three-story building and we have to wade through the water. There were bullet casings and sword marks left on the walls and the floor of the building. There’s also sulfur in the air which indicates a contractor’s presence. Contractors usually carry this sulfuric smell when they call out their pact. Of course, there is also a swampy smell inhabiting the air which led me to believe another contractor of a different type was involved. The corridors were littered with the dead and most of the employees were slaughtered. We wore gloves as we continued forward and found the office of the client. He was swaying in the air with his neck swinging like a pendulum. One look at his body made it clear he died after getting shot on the chest multiple times. The hanging’s clearly just a message.
Of course, the placard nailed on his pelvis area made it clear the Ming Zi had some feud with this branch. Whatever the client does, it’s for naught. Kei studied the remains. She examined the place while keeping her hands inside her jacket.
“Let’s take a picture and send it to dispatch. Better have it recorded before anyone tries to claim otherwise.”
I already started recording the moment we came in. The picture was just to keep the dispatch interested. Syndicate killing isn’t particularly new and our client seems to have stepped on their toes or did more than stepping.
“What were they hoping to get from us?”
“Who knows? It was related to an anomaly, but it looks like the clues are cut off already.”
“Guessing we won’t pursue this?”
“I’ve been weighing the pros and cons.”
She raises a finger.
“First. I hate syndicates. I can understand, gangs. But syndicates aren’t worth harassing about an anomaly. They won’t fuck with the 7S’s but it doesn’t stop them from trying to kill us.”
Nothing more annoying in this city than syndicates harassing you. One of the companies I was in had kicked a syndicate on the balls. They lasted two months before the business was crushed and I was taken out by my debt-holder to be in another company before it sunk. I wasn’t funneling money so they decided to slave me away from another company rather than lose a slave to a company idiotic enough to provoke a Syndicate. And if you have heard or dealt with syndicates. Then you know it’s typically not ideal to be on their bad side. It never is. Kei’s got an idea too seeing how bad it was for them to slaughter people.
It’s a hassle for syndicates when bodies start appearing. People start asking questions and some journalists are going to want some scoop for some clicks and views.
“Let’s get out of here before we contaminate the scene.”
I was wise enough not to interfere with the syndicate business. Thankfully, my boss has enough smarts to understand how it wasn’t our place to interfere in syndicate business.
It took the cops about two hours to get into the scene. We were waiting at the entrance of the building. The team who led the dispatch checked our badges again and had a cope record of our testimonies. Kei gave the logs to our calls with the client and our involvement to make sure we didn’t have to worry about half-assess thinking we’re involved in any way to this mess. Kei talked it up with the Sergeant and after getting our testimonies. We let them do their jobs while we idle and wait on the building.
One of the officers had a thermos flask full of hot coffee. He wasn’t a cheapskate and he had nothing to do so he gave us coffee and blabbered away about the case. It’s not exactly the first time the Ming Zi hit a building like this in the past week. This is the eight time this happened and they suspect there’s more to come.
From the looks of it the associate of this company somehow made a deal fucking over the Ming Zi. Causing them to retaliate by killing their employees.
Golden Sun Trading Company had fucked up and now they are butting heads with the Ming Zi over some deal. They’re hitting the small-time affiliates while keeping the bigger affiliates of the trading company on their toes. Circling around, predating them until they start making mistakes.
It wasn’t an unusual tale. Changye’s full of stuff like this and honestly it’s hard to think about them when you’re in a different niche.
Despite all the monsters, cryptids, and anomalies in this world. There are still monsters in human skin making it worse for the citizens trying their damn best to survive.
But that isn’t our business and we aren’t in the hobby of poking our noses. Sure, we can be righteous here, but what will being righteous benefit us? It won’t earn us a living unless we risk it for a few bucks. Not to mention we had a recent encounter with Ji Ceng and Kei would rather not piss Sato off right now by kicking a hornet’s nest. We don’t need the hassle and we have our own problems right now and honestly it’s just not our place to be involved unless the Shichinin no Ken enforces us to do so.
After the water level went down. We strolled to the service train and got in. We sat on the back of the train where it's less crowded. Kei was looking at the drizzle over Changye City. Her mind was elsewhere so I was staring down the insides of the service train on the way back to Asobe Street.
Slow Business
Rain lashes out. Like it’s coming from the side instead of above. The infamous rains of Changye bring misfortune and inconvenience as usual. Eta’s not around. Marvin was back home taking care of his wife. Couldn’t leave her alone with her tummy aching.
Kei’s seething in the rain. Her figure’s bathe on it as she tries to keep herself warm while making me her shield against the raid. I can feel my side being lashed by the rain. We were trying to board a service train, but some mutants took their time to ruin everyone’s day and Changye graced us with the acid train of Changye.
Below the platform we’re standing was water rushing up. Sudden businessmen are offering safety from the rising water by throwing ladder ropes where they can climb for a fee. They have a bucket with a rope attached to it. On the bucket was also a readable link to their online accounts where you could pay money. We can just scale the building if we want to. The rain’s too hard and the wind’s too strong for Kei and me to bother right now. Limited sale of rope ladders are quite common here and for civilians who do not have the augments. They tend to rely on their original limbs.
It’s not surprising how many aren’t so eager to get their limbs cut for a new pair. Richer people tend to get artificial organs and second hearts while the citizens who are barely eating acceptable gruel have state-provided brain implants and slots where they can interface with some of the city’s functions.
We were hoping to meet a client. Get some clues on how to find any more anomalies to try and solve. Anomalies have become sparse after Sato taking over the repeat-cases. Turns out the repeat-cases are too many and even if we did do them. We’ll still be behind schedule and with a pissed off client. Sato worded it out like we were miners looking for gold among concrete hills.
The rain was bad enough Kei can’t light a cigarette. She had to, for the time we met, throw a cigarette away. Kei smelled like cigarettes, but she retained a strange scent on her which somehow suited her instead of turning men away.
“What?”
She noticed me eyeballing her. A tired look carrying a smile on her face. She was a good businesswoman. Composed and steely than anyone I know. Kei, Eta, and Elvira were one of the few women I know in Changye that have a level of fierceness.
“Nothing. Any idea when this is ending?”
“Who knows? It’s not like we have an in-city weather forecast. Odd isn’t it? For all the tech Changye has, they can’t predict the weather for shit.”
She instinctively reached out for the invisible cigarette. Clicking her tongue. Kei turned me in front of her and with her forehead on my chest. She reached out to her packet, fished out a cigarette, and then lit it up. I can feel my coat being battered by the rain. I couldn’t light mine with this weather and a smoking pipe isn’t exactly ideal. Still, with this kind of weather, she seems to have read my mind and took a piece out and placed it between my lips and then lit it. We looked strange, standing in front of another, smoking cigarettes.
“I hate rain.”
“It isn’t so bad.”
“That so?”
Kei takes a long drag. I was having a shitty day too. We remained standing on the platform until the water level rose dangerously close. With a single leap, we vaulted on the terrace of one of the apartments. One of the owners wanted us pay, but one look at the blades tied around my waist and the teleforce cane Kei’s carrying. The owners zipped their mouths and let us watch the rising water level. I wasn’t cheap so I handed them half of what they were asking so they didn’t have to scowl at our faces every for second.
The city when it rains looks like it is a sunken city. If someone from the past, time travels at this time. They’d think humanity died off.
The lights on the buildings and tenements said otherwise. Most of the second floors are full of people and despite all the vileness and sickness Changye has. I guess people can bond over the fact of the city’s flooding. Many are drinking beer and having a chat over cheap food.
It wasn’t good to stay in one tenement so we vaulted over the buildings, crossed streets by using the terraces of the tenements we came across. The heavy rain doesn’t stop people from taking advantage of it. The sight of the citizens enjoying some ‘time off’ was something you’d barely see. There are unreasonable owners who force their workers to do their jobs, but oddly they don’t last long. In a world where there are clerics wielding the holy, and people fighting demons and devil wearing the livery of their god. People tend to get superstitious and it’s already been proven how it’s bad for business when Changye rains. If you got stuck at a factory as a live-in employee or found yourself sleeping in a center. Then you’re probably going to work. Not that there is something better to do when half of the city’s flooded.
But it’s like a day off. There are times where the rain doesn’t stop and there are weeks where you start praying for the rain to go away.
If it’s one day.
It’s a surprise day off.
If it becomes a week.
Then it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
But that’s the city of Changye for you. There’s always a twist to whatever good’s happening. And most of the time the twist to it isn’t the kind you want. And in a city where most people have metal in their bodies. The water isn’t exactly where the people who have metal in their bodies wants to be in in.
The client’s building was troubled. What greeted us in the entrance was the water flooding in. The tangy smell of blood was in the air and behind the receptionist desk was the receptionist, still in her uniform with a bullet on her forehead. We called a dispatch to report the scene and handed down our OB badge numbers just to be sure no one mistakes us for the killers.
We searched for the client in the building. It’s a three-story building and we have to wade through the water. There were bullet casings and sword marks left on the walls and the floor of the building. There’s also sulfur in the air which indicates a contractor’s presence. Contractors usually carry this sulfuric smell when they call out their pact. Of course, there is also a swampy smell inhabiting the air which led me to believe another contractor of a different type was involved. The corridors were littered with the dead and most of the employees were slaughtered. We wore gloves as we continued forward and found the office of the client. He was swaying in the air with his neck swinging like a pendulum. One look at his body made it clear he died after getting shot on the chest multiple times. The hanging’s clearly just a message.
Of course, the placard nailed on his pelvis area made it clear the Ming Zi had some feud with this branch. Whatever the client does, it’s for naught. Kei studied the remains. She examined the place while keeping her hands inside her jacket.
“Let’s take a picture and send it to dispatch. Better have it recorded before anyone tries to claim otherwise.”
I already started recording the moment we came in. The picture was just to keep the dispatch interested. Syndicate killing isn’t particularly new and our client seems to have stepped on their toes or did more than stepping.
“What were they hoping to get from us?”
“Who knows? It was related to an anomaly, but it looks like the clues are cut off already.”
“Guessing we won’t pursue this?”
“I’ve been weighing the pros and cons.”
She raises a finger.
“First. I hate syndicates. I can understand, gangs. But syndicates aren’t worth harassing about an anomaly. They won’t fuck with the 7S’s but it doesn’t stop them from trying to kill us.”
Nothing more annoying in this city than syndicates harassing you. One of the companies I was in had kicked a syndicate on the balls. They lasted two months before the business was crushed and I was taken out by my debt-holder to be in another company before it sunk. I wasn’t funneling money so they decided to slave me away from another company rather than lose a slave to a company idiotic enough to provoke a Syndicate. And if you have heard or dealt with syndicates. Then you know it’s typically not ideal to be on their bad side. It never is. Kei’s got an idea too seeing how bad it was for them to slaughter people.
It’s a hassle for syndicates when bodies start appearing. People start asking questions and some journalists are going to want some scoop for some clicks and views.
“Let’s get out of here before we contaminate the scene.”
I was wise enough not to interfere with the syndicate business. Thankfully, my boss has enough smarts to understand how it wasn’t our place to interfere in syndicate business.
It took the cops about two hours to get into the scene. We were waiting at the entrance of the building. The team who led the dispatch checked our badges again and had a cope record of our testimonies. Kei gave the logs to our calls with the client and our involvement to make sure we didn’t have to worry about half-assess thinking we’re involved in any way to this mess. Kei talked it up with the Sergeant and after getting our testimonies. We let them do their jobs while we idle and wait on the building.
One of the officers had a thermos flask full of hot coffee. He wasn’t a cheapskate and he had nothing to do so he gave us coffee and blabbered away about the case. It’s not exactly the first time the Ming Zi hit a building like this in the past week. This is the eight time this happened and they suspect there’s more to come.
From the looks of it the associate of this company somehow made a deal fucking over the Ming Zi. Causing them to retaliate by killing their employees.
Golden Sun Trading Company had fucked up and now they are butting heads with the Ming Zi over some deal. They’re hitting the small-time affiliates while keeping the bigger affiliates of the trading company on their toes. Circling around, predating them until they start making mistakes.
It wasn’t an unusual tale. Changye’s full of stuff like this and honestly it’s hard to think about them when you’re in a different niche.
Despite all the monsters, cryptids, and anomalies in this world. There are still monsters in human skin making it worse for the citizens trying their damn best to survive.
But that isn’t our business and we aren’t in the hobby of poking our noses. Sure, we can be righteous here, but what will being righteous benefit us? It won’t earn us a living unless we risk it for a few bucks. Not to mention we had a recent encounter with Ji Ceng and Kei would rather not piss Sato off right now by kicking a hornet’s nest. We don’t need the hassle and we have our own problems right now and honestly it’s just not our place to be involved unless the Shichinin no Ken enforces us to do so.
After the water level went down. We strolled to the service train and got in. We sat on the back of the train where it's less crowded. Kei was looking at the drizzle over Changye City. Her mind was elsewhere so I was staring down the insides of the service train on the way back to Asobe Street.
