THUD!
A massive refuse hauler shuddered, dumping a mountain of filth as a grimy Putato leaped from its height.
He stood amidst the sprawling waste processing plant, lungs burning with every heavy breath. Fighting the bile rising in his throat, he navigated through mounds of multicolored garbage. At the factory gates, he found Kokochi, her nun's habit a stark contrast to the surrounding rot.
"Tell me you've brought good news."
Putato didn't waste time on formalities. He unzipped his filthy backpack and shoved four containers of Stasis Preservation Packaging across the dirt. Ignoring the gore staining the plastic, Kokochi tucked them into her bag with a look of predatory satisfaction.
"Where is the fifth one?"
"Not for you."
Kokochi stood up, her expression souring. With a sharp flick of her wrist, she wove a jagged, sealing mesh from the rusted wire fence hanging above. Putato had already felt those wires before: he knew they were razor-sharp.
"Stasis Preservation Packaging isn't cheap. Hand it over."
"Grey Haze thinks this place is a fine enough hole to crawl into. He's taking shelter for a while."
"My, my, as expected of the Maestros."
So whether it qualifies as art depends entirely on who's holding the brush, doesn't it?!
"I'll send a proper gift once I ascend to the Ring Maestros. Try to look forward to it."
Putato was in a rush. After a few biting remarks, he vanished from the junkyard to flag down a ride.
A hollowed-out building.
...
Room 101.
Following the injection of a Regeneration Ampule, Putato watched in grim fascination as a fresh head sprouted from the stump, the sheer power of the drug defying logic.
In any other reality, this would be a holy relic fought over by nations, but in The City, it was just another Singularity from one of the twenty-six Wings of the World.
"Aaaah."
The moment Obana regained consciousness, she clawed at her neck, haunted by the memory of death. She looked up and saw Putato, attempting to lung forward, only to be hammered back to the floor by his fist.
BANG!
"I suggest you stay quiet and cooperate!"
"Putato, you psychopath! I already told you I surrender!"
Nursing her swollen, bloodied cheek, Obana stared at the windows reinforced with heavy steel plating. Her blood ran cold: she was a prisoner of a madman. At least she was still breathing.
Putato dragged a chair across the floor and sat, cutting straight to the bone with his interrogation.
"What the hell is Green Journey?"
"It's a research alliance for Prosthetics and consciousness tech. Originally, Putato recruited me. Along with two other researchers, we built the prototype for the personality chip. We expanded through aggressive mergers."
"The ultimate goal was perfect world traversal using The Cone, Regeneration Ampule Original Fluid, and Mirror technology. That was the prize the alliance was hunting."
"Do you know the Pontiff from Myn Church?"
"Uh, he was a late hire for Green Journey, goes by the name Anchor. He ran the personality chip research facility."
"Don't ask me why he lost his mind and started a riot in the Backstreets. I can't explain a lunatic's logic: I'm just the investor!"
"You can't read him, so you think you can read me?! Let me be clear: I have a very specific way of sniffing out a lie!"
Putato produced a coin and slammed it onto the table.
CLANG!
"Relax, relax. My best trait is knowing when to fold: I would never lie to you!"
"But since the traversal experiments began, everyone has gone off the deep end. I don't have mind-reading powers!"
Hauling herself up, Obana spoke with frantic speed, terrified that Putato might snap.
"It went like this: Green Journey's theories were flawless, so I seized the chance to help them raid K Corporation to secure the classified Regeneration Ampule Original Fluid."
"At the time, Green Journey was bleeding out in the patent wars. In that desperate situation, the lead researcher, Putato, ignored every warning and initiated the world traversal experiment."
"If it worked, we were set for life. All we had to do was show a glimpse to the other Wings of the World to secure war investments. We would have had the leverage to bury K Corporation, and I would have been the founder of a new Wing. It was a golden ticket to the top!"
Putato scowled as Obana's face flushed with manic greed, and he cut her off.
"That Anchor kid from Myn Church told me Green Journey was a success, but your leader liked the other side too much and betrayed you."
"What does that brat know? Green Journey's core secrets were guarded by the original three. That is a priceless asset!"
"At first, Putato's traversal was a victory. The alliance was ecstatic. But three days later, the other two gave me the news: the man was dead."
"Don't you see? World traversal worked for three days, and then the subject just dropped dead. It meant Green Journey's tech had a hidden, lethal flaw!"
"And only one person was left who understood the math. The other one just snapped: I've never seen a human turn into a banyan tree so fast."
"Everything went to hell instantly. It was just me and that guy left to steer the ship."
"We couldn't just admit it was all a waste at that moment. We couldn't tell everyone to stop bleeding while we fixed the code. I had to make a choice!"
Putato immediately saw the logic in Obana's betrayal: Green Journey was too loud, too hungry for the spotlight.
"So I announced a plan to recall the leader from the other side. I used it as bait to gather everyone. Honestly, I have no idea how The Head caught wind of us. I only leaked the location to K Corporation."
"What about Anchor claiming I'm your leader's personality imprint?"
"Cough... When we triggered the recall, I knew the leader was dead and couldn't provide real coordinates. I just punched in some random noise. I swear, it was just a string of numbers. It shouldn't have been possible to succeed."
SLAP.
Putato looked at the heads-up coin and gave a slow nod.
"But during the cleanup, I realized the recall actually pulled something through. It was a miracle. So I secretly flagged the coordinates and wiped the logs."
"I figured you were a one-of-a-kind, priceless specimen. I could sell you to the highest bidder, so I sent my team to bring you in. No one else has this data. You don't need to kill me to keep me quiet."
"Is it possible he's just insane? Or maybe he was trying to hide you from the Beholders? After all, a simple consciousness imprint might not be worth a purge from The Head."
The fog was starting to lift. Putato's arrival was a freak accident of science.
"Then why do I have amnesia?"
"Amnesia? If the recall hits someone without the Cone modification, only their personality should survive the trip. But your case? I've never seen anything like it."
"Is that so? Anchor was certain that my memories before the age of 23 were erased. And he's right: I can't remember a damn thing."
Obana stared at Putato, her eyes wide with shock.
"I really don't know! A personality transfer usually just leaves things a bit fuzzy. But total amnesia? That doesn't just happen. This isn't a cake you can just slice! Besides, I'm not the one who wrote the code!"
"But, is it possible your soul was shoved into someone else's body?"
SLAP.
The coin landed face-up. She wasn't lying. Putato felt a cold suspicion take root as he weighed her words.
Was I really torn in half?
There can't be another version of me walking through The City.
[Tossing the dice to point out the location of the lost memories]
He tossed them multiple times, but every direction Putato tried led him in circles around the building. He had never faced a situation where Unfettered lost its effectiveness like this. He immediately racked his brains for a reason, then suddenly looked up and asked Obana.
"Where is the Green Journey headquarters?"
"Because the research was secret, we built a huge factory underground. Every entry and exit was strictly checked."
Right!
The chopsticks can only indicate a 2D direction. He needed to find a die, using its six sides to represent the surrounding area and the vertical axis. Putato rushed out to buy a bag of dice.
[Tossing the dice to point out the location of the lost memories; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 representing the surroundings and vertical axes]
CLACK, CLACK, CLACK!
Still 5. And it was still 5!
The direction indicated was towards the sky above The City!
This result was completely out of Putato's expectations. My other half wasn't on the ground, but in the sky?!
Putato looked up at the pitch-black night sky. A deep, abyssal dread welled up from his heart, making him shiver.
"Why the sky? Isn't there nothing up there?!"
Taking a closer look, those twinkling stars Putato saw suddenly triggered a spine-chilling hypothesis.
"My lost memories are on a star?"
Such an outrageous and bizarre thought made Putato hesitant to confirm it. He stood there, conflicted, then hurriedly issued a prompt to flip the coin.
CLINK, CLINK, CLINK!
The coin kept spinning.
The coin kept spinning.
The coin kept spinning.
Only when it finally ended its long rotation did it reveal the answer, Face up!
Damn! It's actually true!
Putato was stunned, his jaw hitting the floor. He understood everything!
Green Journey wasn't destroyed by The Head because of some shitty traversal and personality chip tech. It was destroyed because they actually wanted to surpass the entire City and become the stars in the sky!
The truth was simply beyond imagination!
Back in the room, Putato clutched his head in frustration, unsure of what to say. Obana, watching from the side, finally let out a sigh of relief when she saw Putato wasn't going off the rails, and began carefully observing the changes in his expression.
"Cough, cough. Theoretically speaking, you're a 'new' Putato, so the business with Green Journey technically has nothing to do with you. Why don't we just act like nothing happened and everyone goes their own separate ways? What do you think?"
THUD!
Putato sneered at the suggestion and swung a fist, knocking the dwarf girl back onto the floor. Did she really think those two previous ambushes could be swept under the rug so easily? In her dreams.
"Send you back so you can keep scheming against me? Might as well end everything right here."
"Don't be like that! If I don't go back, the Corporation will just keep hunting for the culprit. Even though my rank isn't high, the Wings of the World don't tolerate unknowns taking shots at the corporate upper management."
"Besides, the Green Journey people might not all be dead. For instance, I've got Shamisen secured, and that guy Anchor likely has a personality chip backup. His tech adaptability is even higher than Shamisen's, after all."
"Personality chip modification has a failure rate, and creating a backup requires an even firmer will and emotional stability. Otherwise, it's easy for mutations to occur, leading to the chip's destruction. That's why not many people in Green Journey underwent that procedure."
"But I happen to know that the other veteran researcher definitely left backups in the outer districts. If those Green Journey remnants set their sights on you, wouldn't you be flying blind? I can provide you with intel, even on K Corporation!"
Looking at the Stasis Preservation Packaging and the Regeneration Ampule on the table, Putato felt that killing Obana right now was indeed a bit of a hassle. He'd keep her in the "box" for now and take her out when he needed her. As for letting her go? That was way too delusional.
"I know someone as savvy as you wouldn't have any other tricks up their sleeve; the cost is just too high. My secret lab, which I painstakingly built up, is gone, and I'm definitely not doing any more of these 'pure loss' ventures!"
"But you're an opportunist. If you realize through my situation that Green Journey truly touched a taboo, you'll undoubtedly report me."
"Taboo? What are you talking about?!"
A sincere-looking Obana frowned in confusion, a bit stumped by Putato's wording. Wasn't Green Journey targeted by The Head simply because of the world-traversal tech?
If she were The Head, she certainly wouldn't allow The City to possess technology that could be so easily manipulated!
Putato realized that Obana was just an opportunist with a bit of luck. She hadn't touched, or perhaps didn't care about, the truth behind The City. She fundamentally didn't grasp what The Head was actually concerned about.
Right now, Putato's "half-person" problem probably couldn't be solved in the short term. He'd either have to find that allegedly surviving veteran researcher, or leave the protection of The City and head to the outskirts to gaze up at the sky.
He absolutely had to solve this. No one wanted to have lost the first half of their life to some inexplicable cause. Besides, he wasn't even sure if it was just memories. It could be his soul, his existence, or other nebulous, intangible things.
What made it even more of a headache was that Putato couldn't imagine what his "other half" in the sky had turned into. How could someone's consciousness be housed in a star?!
If that unknown object one day fell from the sky into The City to find him, would Putato even be able to get away?! He might end up kneeling before a star-god, forced into the role of a scout.
"According to what you've said, of the three Green Journey veteran researchers, one died and one went mad. What was the name and appearance of the one who might have survived?"
He didn't even know if his Unfettered talent would work in the outskirts. After all, that toy only provided him with help within The City, it didn't make him a "child of the world."
"Uh, do you understand 'memory erasure'? When Green Journey was being wiped out, that person used some unknown method to purge our memories of her. Even though she was eventually killed by a Claw, her body was blasted to bits and impossible to identify."
"That's why I suspect she may have foreseen my new investment strategy and prepared in advance. She might be hiding in the suburbs right now. These three probably went behind the backs of the others in Green Journey to conduct secret experiments."
Now he was in a bind. Even using Unfettered to find someone required Putato to actually know who they were. The City wasn't going to have a prompt pop up telling him who the target was. Once Putato and the target crossed paths, the prescript would naturally lose its effect.
And if he left The City now for the outskirts, not to mention the dangers of those crazy research labs and secret bases, just the travel time alone would be huge. He still needed to promote to a Fixer and join L Corp before the Seed of Light was released!
Time was running out. He'd have to put the "star" problem on the back burner for now!
Putato took a deep breath, his gaze becoming sharp. This dwarf girl keenly picked up on the shift in Putato's demeanor and smoothly slid to the ground in a kneeling position.
THUMP!
"My lord! Please, let me follow you! I can't stay at K Corporation a second longer. You've only been in The City for a short time and you've already made such a name for yourself. I've even heard the rumors about you running a Syndicate. You even took down Shamisen, fully armed! Being your subordinate would be my honor!"
"I can see you're incredibly ambitious. You and I, working together, no! With me assisting you, we can definitely get you into K Corporation or some other Wing of the World!"
"If you're worried about me, there's no need. We can go to a notarized Office, or you can just tell me what this 'taboo' you mentioned was. The Head doesn't bother wiping the memories of those who break taboos, they just wipe out the unstable elements entirely."
"I survived before precisely because I was clueless about it. Now that I know, it's even less likely I'd snitch to The Head."
"I admit, I love seizing opportunities, but right now, you are the greatest new opportunity in The City!"
Putato looked on with a weird expression as this petite woman with wavy green hair knelt before him, her face full of admiration, her mouth running non-stop.
Still, after the Green Journey incident, Obana clearly hadn't learned her lesson. She actually wanted to pump him for info on the "taboo". This was already touching on Putato's own safety.
If that info leaked, regardless of whether his "other half" had become a star, he would definitely be executed by The Head on the spot.
"MMPH!"
Obana, her small face covered by Putato's large hand, stared up at him with dreamy eyes, shamelessly licking his palm like a pet dog.
Putato, expressionless, gripped her shoulder with his other hand, causing her attitude to flip instantly. She couldn't hold back her emotions and started cursing him out.
"Putato, you dead man! What kind of shit luck did I have to run into someone like you? Once was bad enough, but twice?!"
"AAAAH! I'll bite you to death, you bastard!"
CRACK!
Drawing the Honesuki from his waist, Putato swung down, placing that fresh severed head back into the Stasis Preservation Packaging.
The beautiful, terrified head started screaming the moment it hit the familiar box, glaring at Putato through the observation window, her expression a mix of pleading and hatred.
"Putato, you're not human!"
"I'll be your dog, okay? I'll be your dog!"
Leaning back on the sofa, Putato listened to the cursing in his ear, a rare moment of peace. Even though Obana was spewing vitriol, Putato felt nothing.
He closed his eyes, savoring this fleeting quiet, as if all the world's noise had nothing to do with him.
Now, he needed to find a place to stow Obana away, then continue his life as a Fixer.
Work never stops!