It was Leon's 7th day in Neo-Tokara.

He woke up with a big smile on his face. It still felt like yesterday, but it was already a week since he awakened in this world.

He was beginning to get used to this world.

Despite the fact that Cell most likely already knew their faces, they showed no signs of fear as the quadruple of Leon, Daren, Kain, and Rex swaggered back into the streets of community G, going back to the open market.

It was time to resume work at the workshop.

Swaggering into the Zmer gang's warehouse was one thing, it was normal that they were hesitant about it. But simply walking through the streets of the community was another thing.

Afterall, in the end, theirs was a force of 4 F Rank Ascended.

In a community like this in the Wastes, this could easily be the most potent Ascended force that anyone could gather in a single group. Even if Parasite led an attack against them, so long they didn't fall into a trap, they had a chance of escaping.

Despite their confidence, they were not conceited though as Talia and Brick secretly escorted them.

They flanked them from the east and west.

Just as they got close to the open market, the loud wailing sound of a woman that seemed to be in extreme pain reverberated, making them freeze.

"My baby! My daughter!" She wailed.

"They've taken her! They've taken my baby!"

"NOOOO! NOT MY BABY, NOOOO!"

"They've killed her!"

Leon was taken aback. The last sentence made his hair stand on end.

He looked over and amid the commotion that the woman caused close to the open market, he finally saw the culprit.

She was a Geneform, a thin and malnourished woman with fluffy ears like those of a dog. She was dressed in rags stained with filth and mud.

She held a small brown gown that was also stained with mud; it looked like the gown that a girl between ages 12 to 13 would wear. The gown also had visible blood stains at the corners.

She held the gown tight, crying her heart out as snot and tears flowed freely down her face. Her eyes were blood-shot and full of pain.

Leon frowned. 'What happened to her daughter? A murder case?'

Immediately after he had the thought, another thought came to his mind. 'The Zmer gang?'

'Is this how they kidnap people to sell as slaves?' His frown deepened as he thought. 'But why the blood? It's just a small girl. Her mother didn't even know when they took her, so obviously she's not strong enough to struggle and cause a commotion, so why the blood?'

The woman rolled on the ground, not caring about how she looked as she wailed while crying for help, but no one helped her.

Instead, the malnourished inhabitants of the Wastes just like her deliberately avoided her. With numb looks on their faces, they moved on with their lives as if what was happening in front of them was a staged drama.

Leon's face darkened as he saw this.

"Let's continue". Kain whispered at that moment. "If we stand for too long, we'll easily stand out. We don't know if thugs of the Zmer gang are watching".

'But they already know our faces!' Leon wanted to instinctively retort, but in the end he let out a quiet sigh and left with his companions.

As he left, he silently clenched his fists till they made cracking sounds.

A few minutes later after they set up the workshop table and erected the workshop signboard, Leon secretly peeked in the direction where he saw the woman. He could no longer hear her voice.

When he looked over, with his enhanced perception, he saw her laying on the ground like she had no life left in her.

Her eyes were numb, devoid of any emotion or pain, and her lips were dry.

Leon sighed and looked away. Once again, he understood better why Talia made it her life mission to pursue freedom and justice in this world.

He silently waited for the first customer of the day with his companions while trying to no avail to get the image of the crying woman from his head.

On the bright side, nobody ambushed them.

30 minutes after they opened the mechanic workshop in the open market, there was a sudden commotion.

Leon looked over and realized that it was coming from the same direction that the grieving woman was a few dozen minutes ago.

He frowned. "What happened?"

Kain stood up to look, then he froze.

Noticing this, Leon also stood up, and then his eyes glazed over.

At the very edge of the open market, there was a small wooden building. At this moment, a woman with fluffy dog ears was hanging from the roof of the building. A brown gown with blood stains connected her neck to the roof.

She showed no signs of life. She was already dead.

Death by hanging!

"…"

Leon was so shocked that for a long time, he couldn't move nor could he take his gaze away. He stared at the woman in silence; the sight rocked him to his very bone marrows.

'S-she's dead?' he thought in disbelief. 'Just like that?'

Despite what just happened, the world continued naturally in this community like nothing happened. The people instead avoided that building where she hanged herself.

Leon was so numbed from the shock that he couldn't even feel his surroundings anymore.

He sat stiffly as the sight replayed in his head over and over again.

For a long time, he just sat in silence, then…

Bang!

A hand slapped his wooden workshop table, jolting him from his reverie. Leon looked up numbly.

"Mr. Best Mechanic in Community G, I'm back". The man flashed a big smile.

'Why does this voice sound familiar?' Leon looked again. '…square-shaped face… a barren chin with no beard… a receding hairline… Alexander Cain!'

Suddenly, Leon felt a chill run down his spine as his brain woke up, becoming fully alert. He felt like a thousand Lions would suddenly pounce on him from nowhere as he stared at this man.

The square-faced Geneform chuckled. "What happened? Did you see a ghost? I told you I have a feeling I'll be visiting your workshop a lot, right? Well, here I am".

"I do have to say, I didn't expect to see you here".

'Same with you'. Leon thought as his brain rapidly revolved through multiple thoughts. 'Why is he here? And why are we not being attacked yet?'

'He clearly knows that I'm part of Talia's crew! So why?'

Then, Leon calmed down as he looked closer at this Geneform. 'From the look in his eyes, he clearly knows who I am, yet he doesn't seem… hostile?' He was confused, but then a thought suddenly entered his head. 'Is he trying to use me?'

The gears in his head turned as he analyzed the current situation. 'He was clearly impressed by my work the last time'.

From everything that happened during the night, Leon was inclined to believe that the Zmer gang did not have a single Mechanist Ascended.

With this train of thought, his eyes narrowed. 'Is he trying to make me secretly work for the Zmer gang? But he knows I work for Talia!'

'Wait, he thinks I don't know his identity. So, with him having the information high-ground, it's normal if he wants to use me for my Mechanist abilities to benefit the Zmer gang, then discard me when I lose my value or when the Zmer gang finally decides to eradicate Talia and her crew'.

Leon felt that he finally understood what was going on.

He was not the only one who recognized Cain, the others also did and just like him, they tensed up. Daren was almost brandishing his dagger already when Leon suddenly stood up with a smile and blocked the Cyber Gladiator.

"Oh, I almost didn't recognize you". He flashed a big smile. "My one and only first customer, Mr. Cain. You're back?" While he spoke, he secretly used a gesture to tell his crewmates to calm down.

They were puzzled, but they trusted him and so they listened. Kain's eyes flickered like he had certain suspicions but he also listened.

Cain smiled when he saw that the mechanic finally recognized him as the customer who gave him the gun-repair job.

He looked behind Leon. "You don't have a chair in your workshop?"

Leon smiled embarrassedly as he adeptly masked his rapidly beating heart and the sweat that gathered in his forehead. "I forgot, maybe I'll get some today".

"Please do, you need them". Cain commented with a smile. "Well, I won't waste much of your time. All I want to ask is this, are you ready to take a big job?"

"A big job?" Leon's acting was perfect as he reacted in a puzzled manner. Well, it was not all acting, he was truly puzzled since he didn't know exactly what Cain's proposal was.

Cain's smile widened. "Well, I do have a big mechanic job for you. I was impressed with your work the last time so I thought of giving you the opportunity".

"Mind you, this is a job that can easily earn you hundreds of Neon Credits if you do your job properly". He grinned.

Leon reacted in an appropriate manner as his eyes widened in shock. "Really?"

"Hehe, of course". Cain laughed. He was satisfied with the mechanic's reaction.

'What a fool,' he thought. 'He doesn't even realize that I was stalking him yesterday night. Hehe, if I can use him well to arm the gang, maybe I can get enough contributions with Parasite to ask the sponsor for a Trial protection ticket on my behalf'.

'Well, by working with him, I can get to know him better and the crew behind him. That way, I'll make it even easier for Parasite to take the b*tch down'.

In his thoughts, he didn't address Parasite as Lord though he would never make the same mistake while talking.

He deliberately lowered his voice as he leaned towards Leon to whisper to him so others won't hear.

Leon's heart tightened.

"It's a job commission to craft guns, lots of guns and ammunitions. Don't worry about the pay, we pay handsomely".

He finally leaned back with an easygoing smile. "What do you say? Do you have the balls to make money, Mr. Mechanic?"

"I-I have to think about it". Leon deliberately acted timid.

'What a p*ssy!' Cain thought, but a smile was on his face as he faced Leon. "That's fine, take your time. You can give me an answer tomorrow".

"Tomorrow, I'll visit your workshop. Same time".

"Ok". Leon nodded in a flustered manner.

With a teasing smile on his face, the square-faced man finally turned around and walked into the distance. He soon disappeared into the sea of malnourished Synth and Geneforms.

Leon heaved a sigh of relief, then he looked at his companions.

He saw that the three of them were still tensed. "Act naturally," he whispered to them. "We don't know if they're secretly watching us".

As soon as Leon sat on the ground, his brain whirred as he replayed the full conversation in his head. Within a minute, he confirmed the reason for Cain's visit. 'He really wants to use me to arm the Zmer gang'.

'What a sinister bastard'.

Leon smiled darkly. 'But in a way, this works for me too. Afterall, my Ascended Counter is not yet at 1000'.

He threw a glance at Rex and Kain. 'This can also help the two of them'.

The day continued in a mostly uneventful manner, they got only one customer apart from Mr. Cain.

In the evening, Leon yawned and gave a suggestion. "Let's go to Gary and Mary's restaurant, my treat".

"Hell yeah!" Daren cheered.

Rex couldn't cheer, he was still shaken by the encounter in the morning but he didn't object. He could not wait to leave this place.

Kain also agreed, and so they left for the most famous restaurant in community G.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.