It was already evening and the neon storms in the sky were already giving way for the night's encroaching domain of darkness.

Community G was as monotonous as always.

People were either walking home numbly after a day of menial labor that paid only 5 Cents or less, or they were laying down on the side of the road, one step away from death or already dead.

Mothers- skinny Geneforms protected their children, still clearly traumatized by what happened in the morning.

They were already used to things like this, people dying in the streets and committing suicide, but that did not lessen the trauma of witnessing it every subsequent time. They may be numb to death, but they were still scared of losing their loved ones.

Leon had a dark look in his eyes as he walked past them. 'How many of these people are having suicidal thoughts?'

'How many of them are thinking of selling their siblings, their friends, or even their children as slaves to escape their current predicament?'

The longer he stayed in this community, the more he understood how dark and rotten the Wastes was.

And the more he understood, the more anger he felt for the Omnicore Federation.

Despite his fragmented memories, he was grounded in reality. He was not delusional enough to believe that there was paradise somewhere. Even if there was, clearly it was not in this dystopian world, not here in the Wastes.

He didn't really feel anger for the Federation for not helping the communities in the Wastes. Afterall, they were clearly not the sole rulers of this world, they were just the most dominant faction.

He was not entitled enough to pin all the blame on them.

Their lack of help though, he could understand. But their further exploitation of a community in this state by engaging in slave trade was something he just couldn't understand.

It was not proven yet, but after everything that he learned about the Omnicore Federation, he would be a fool if he didn't believe the signs yet that they were the ones sponsoring Parasite's slave trade.

Afterall, how could a local Warlord and gangster like Parasite ever get his hands on an Artifact created from the uniqueness of a Quantum Shaper?

How could a gangster like him get military-grade armored trucks? How did he get Karaki CT-3Xs?

The more steps Leon took as he walked through the streets of this community, the darker his eyes became.

And then, something distracted him.

"Your favorite combat sports tournament is back!" A loud voice amplified by a speaker announced with vibrant energy.

"This is an opportunity of a lifetime!" The voice announced with exuberant energy, attracting gazes from people.

Leon looked over and he saw a carriage.

It was a heavily armored carriage with an outer shell that could withstand an assault of F Rank Neon Beasts. It was not connected to a horse though, rather, it was connected to a sleek-looking turbine-powered bike.

The carriage was big enough to easily carry up to ten people and above.

Seated on the front of the carriage was a hunch-backed middle-aged Geneform- a merchant. He had a clean shaven chin but a thick mustache of brown hair. His hair was curled at the corners, forming a ring at both sides.

Staring at this man reminded Leon of staring at a Tortoise. His eyes were deep and cunning, and it felt like a tortoise shell could emerge and cover this man in a cocoon at the slightest sight of danger.

There was a large speaker just in front of the turbine-powered bike that was connected to the carriage, and standing in front of the large speaker was a teenage Geneform with a microphone.

He was the one speaking exuberantly.

"I'm telling you ladies and gentlemen, this is an opportunity of a lifetime! You stand a chance of going home with 1,000 Neo Credits!"

"Yes, that's right, 1,000 Neo Credits baby!"

"That's life-changing money right there!"

At that moment, the attention of a lot more people were finally attracted; money does pull crowds.

The teenage Geneform smiled on seeing this. Unlike his master, the merchant, his face and body was hairy, and he had a short rabbit tail that stuck out from his brown trousers.

His voice rose up a crescendo as he saw that he finally attracted the attention of a crowd. With a big smile, he showed a flyer to the crowd.

It was too tiny for the whole crowd to see though, and he knew it. With a gadget he had that looked like a remote, he pointed at the flyer and clicked a button, then he pointed at the sky.

A holographic image of the flyer lit up in mid-air.

The flyer had a predominant color theme of yellow and green, but what quickly attracted Leon's attention was an emblem on the flyer.

It was an emblem of a colorful Butterfly emerging from a chrysalis- it was beautiful.

Staring at it, one thought entered Leon's head. 'Evolution'.

"That's the emblem of the Geneforge Clans". Kain whispered. "This means it's not a scam. No merchant dares to forge a Geneforge clan emblem".

Leon nodded in silence.

Apart from the emblem, the rest parts of the flyer were all about advertising the combat sports tournament that the teenager was talking about.

[Gene Combat Sports Tournament]

Seeing that multiple eyes were glued to the holographic projection of the flyer, the boy grinned. "The preliminaries will take place in Leviathan Quay, that alone should tell you how big this is going to be".

"As for the finals," the boy grinned. "It's taking place in Verdanthold! Pack your bags and get ready fighters, come and show your talent to the world!"

"My boss will be leaving in 10 days. All we need is 10 able-bodied and powerful fighters to leave with us. Don't worry, your feeding, accommodation, and all basic necessities will be taken care of".

"When you get to Leviathan Quay, all you need to do is be in the best physical condition to fight and ditch out damage".

Leon threw a glance at Kain. Understanding the silent question that the human was passing, Kain rolled his eyes and answered.

"Leviathan Quay is the smallest of the 3 cities of the Geneforge Clans. As for Verdanthold, it's the Geneforge Clan's only Megacity- it's their headquarters".

Daren looked at the flyer with glowing eyes. "Hell yeah! The Gene Combats Sports Tournament is finally here!" He pumped a fist in excitement.

He excitedly looked at Leon because he felt that the weird Geneform would ask.

Talia couldn't hide the truth forever, Daren eventually asked and Talia told her crewmates that Leon was a Geneform wearing a synthetic human skin. Rex and Daren believed, afterall, it was the boss who said it.

Daren continued excitedly. "It's an annual combat sports tournament that's hosted every year by the Geneforge Clans!"

"You get to meet real warriors in the Ascended category man". His eyes glimmered like stars. "Apart from that, the prize money is next level! I hear that the top 100 to 50 gets 1000 Neo Credits each, while the winner every year gets a whopping 100,000 Neo Credits!"

He shoved Leon excitedly. "Do you know what 100,000 Neo Credits mean? I may not like his voice but the brat is right, that's life-changing money right there!"

"Last year I couldn't participate due to a mission. This year, I hope to participate. I hope the boss lets me join".

'100,000 Neo Credits?' Having just learned of the value of a Neo Credit, it was perfectly normal that Leon was taken aback by the prize money.

He immediately began to fantasize about just how much he could do with 100,000 Neo Credits.

Since a Mechanist's progress was mostly reliant on materials, Leon could easily see his growth skyrocketing with a capital of 100,000 Neo Credits.

He suddenly felt like joining the tournament too, but then he sighed in a self-deprecating manner. 'What exactly can a Mechanist do in a war of true fighters? I bet it's Cyber Gladiators that win the tournament every year'.

Despite his thoughts though, Leon felt better after listening to the exuberant voice of the teenage Geneform. His genuine excitement was infectious.

And just like that, the gloomy thoughts and depression that had accumulated in him throughout the whole of today after the accident that happened in the morning was finally repressed.

They soon left the area where the merchant and his teenage worker advertised the combat sports tournament.

And then, they arrived at the most famous restaurant in community G.

[Gary and Mary's Restaurant]

Kain led the way as they entered.

Inside this restaurant was completely different from the outside, it was like entering a whole different world.

Inside was decorated with colorful curtains and flowers. A multi-colored and constantly changing disco lightbulb illuminated the restaurant from the top.

Entering inside this restaurant, the ambience alone further lifted Leon's mood. 'This is like a therapy shop to hide from all the gloom and depression in this community'.

The scent of food lingering in the air instantly left him salivating.

He smiled. 'I knew coming here was not a bad decision'.

"I'll take care of the orders," Kain said. "You guys can go sit down in the corner and wait for me".

No one objected. Since Leon offered to treat, Kain had the freedom to spend the money that they earned from the little commissions today at the mechanic workshop.

Leon sat down on a wooden chair and observed the restaurant more.

Inside was bigger than he expected. There were five different wooden tables- three at the corners of the restaurant and two in the middle. Each of them was surrounded by four to five chairs for customers.

About two of the tables were occupied with other people who were either already eating or were eagerly awaiting their food to be served.

The table at the farthest end of the restaurant had a single occupant on a chair. There was no plate of food in front of him, only about 6 bottles of beer with 4 of them already empty.

'What a drunkard'. Leon thought and averted his gaze.

Kain soon came to join them. A few seconds later, Rex and Daren started a random argument about which of the couple, Gary and Mary was the better chef.

After about 5 minutes of waiting, a handsome middle-aged man in a white apron with gentle features approached. He had short curly brown hair, and his beards were brown with a few mix of gray. He came with a giant tray in hand.

With a gentle smile on his face, he dropped the tray and immediately, the aroma of the food wafted into the air.

Leon's nose twitched as he took in the aroma. He was already feeling high on dopamine and instantly after the tray touched the table, he leaned in to look.

"Thank you for eating at…"

BANG!

A loud sound of something shattering suddenly sounded.

"…!"

Alarmed, Leon looked over. 'Is that not…?' His eyes widened; the sound came from the table with the lone customer.

'The drunkard!'

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.