The pungent smell of aviation kerosene mixed with the metallic tang of rust hung heavily in the stifling air of the repair hangar.
The enormous arched space was like the belly of a giant beast, within which the fighter jet, codenamed "Nightingale," lay dormant, its streamlined dark grey fuselage reflecting the sunlight filtering down from the ceiling.
Yuutenji Nyamu, a fourteen-and-a-half-year-old former delivery rider who had just been dragged from the core area of the water supply hub as "oversized luggage" by beast-transformed soldiers, was now being roughly pushed by two heavily armed beast-transformed soldiers towards the colossal tail fin.
"Get to work! Don't dawdle!" the wolf-headed soldier growled in broken Japanese, the cold muzzle of his gun poking Nyamu's lower back, neither too hard nor too soft.
At the other end of the hangar, two gaunt men in oil-stained blue overalls were being shoved closer by other beast-transformed soldiers.
One, around fifty years old, had a bald spot on his head, with a few sparse strands of hair plastered to his shiny scalp by sweat, like scattered weeds on a tarmac. His eyes were vacant, his lips chapped and peeling, and one side of his face bore an unhealed bruise—this was Watanabe, the old ground crew member from Narita Airport.
The other, younger, in his early twenties, had a terrifyingly pale complexion, the cuffs of his new overalls already frayed, and his eyes were filled with terror and numbness, his legs trembling slightly as he walked—Kobayashi, the newcomer from Haneda Airport.
"Newcomers, follow them! Remove the cover plates, depressurize and vent, then touch up the paint! No tricks!"
Nyamu, a complete amateur, was thrown at the foot of this war machine. She looked at Watanabe and Kobayashi's numb, resigned expressions, then at the menacing beast-transformed soldiers around her, and her purple cat ears drooped powerlessly.
She picked up a pair of thick canvas gloves, intending to put them on, but her cat paws, covered in purple fur and tipped with sharp claws, simply wouldn't fit inside.
"Tsk." Nyamu resignedly dropped the gloves and directly extended her claws, grabbing a heavy electric screwdriver gun, aiming it at a fastening screw on a skin panel beneath the tail fin.
Buzz—!
The electric gun started, its high-speed rotating drill bit fiercely gnawing at the hard screw, the immense noise making her cat ears throb.
After only a few screws were removed, black grease and viscous sealant quickly smeared her paw fur, turning it pitch black, sticky, greasy, and emitting a pungent chemical smell. Sweat seeped from her forehead and temples, sliding down her cheeks, dripping onto the cold metal skin, and instantly evaporating.
It was stiflingly hot, like being in a giant steamer. Even though it was spring, the hangar was suffocatingly warm.
"Ding! Detecting that the host is performing high-difficulty aircraft repair work. Would you like to purchase the 'Basic Aircraft Repair Knowledge Pack'? Limited-time offer, only 160,000 yen!" The familiar blue panel and electronic voice popped up at an inopportune moment.
"Get lost!" Nyamu roared in her mind, her teeth clenched.
"I will never give you another cent! You scammer!"
"Hmm? Why is that?" The electronic voice carried a hint of playful grievance, "Are you dissatisfied with our service?"
"Because you are completely untrustworthy!" She poured all her anger and fear into her hand, fiercely pressing the electric gun's trigger.
Screech—!
A harsh metallic grinding sound rang out, the screw was violently stripped, crookedly stuck in the screw hole.
"This is terrible..." Nyamu looked at the screw, feeling as if she had been slapped in public, an indescribable sense of frustration welling up.
"Ever since I got this broken system, nothing good has happened to me!"
"Ugh..." The electronic voice in her mind suddenly deepened, shedding all playfulness and becoming serious, even carrying a hint of world-weary wisdom.
"It seems the host misunderstands me deeply. I am the most authentic part of you, and of course, I sincerely wish for you to grow healthy and strong. Fundamentally, our goals are consistent, and our interests are closely intertwined."
"Is that so?" Nyamu sneered, sweat flowing into her eyes, bringing a stinging sensation.
"Of course, you can absolutely trust me."
"Then how do you explain my little electric scooter that cost 190,000 to fix? Why did it suddenly disintegrate on the spot?" Nyamu shrieked in her mind; this was the last straw that broke her.
"...That's a long story."
"Then make it simple!"
"Alright." The electronic voice seemed to sigh.
"That 'Intermediate Repair Pack' is not essentially a physical object."
"I instantly acquired professional knowledge of electric vehicle repair through the network, and temporarily transformed myself into the necessary 'parts' and 'tools', applying them to your vehicle."
"Essentially, you fixed it yourself."
Nyamu's movements paused, and she looked down at her greasy, black paws.
"To ensure your safety after entering the hub, I must remain vigilant at all times, and the part of my 'body' that was maintaining your vehicle automatically returned, which led to the disintegration."
A moment of silence, only the low hum of the electric gun and the suppressed coughs of Watanabe and Kobayashi in the distance remained.
"So it seems..." Nyamu's voice echoed in her mind, carrying a weariness and clarity born from being hammered by reality.
"This ability is not the omnipotent miracle it appears to be. Everything has a price tag; to achieve anything, one must pay a corresponding price from oneself."
"It's somehow cruel..."
"Why say that?"
"This power, for your future growth, has far more benefits than drawbacks."
"More benefits than drawbacks?"
"Yes." The electronic voice was incredibly certain.
"For you, who lack professional knowledge, specialized tools, and replacement parts, to instantly repair a vehicle on the verge of scrap at that moment, is itself a 'delusion'. Even for professional repair personnel, it is absolutely impossible."
"And to achieve such a 'delusion', you need to pay the corresponding 'price'."
"Equivalent exchange?".
"Not entirely." The electronic voice corrected, "The 'price' you pay is simplified into pure money. And it must be money obtained through your own efforts, only then does it have meaning."
"While fulfilling your 'delusion', it allows you to personally experience how heavy every unrealistic wish is, making you understand—"
"The only way to achieve your 'wishes' is to rely on yourself!"
"To strive for it, one step at a time! This is the core mechanism of 'Freely Tomorrow'!"
"You can call it..."
"'Delusion Tax'..." Nyamu murmured to herself, sweat flowing into the corners of her mouth, salty beyond measure.
She suddenly looked up, the confusion and resentment in her eyes replaced by a resolute determination. She no longer looked at that damned system panel, pouring all her energy into her black paws, tackling the next stubborn screw with brute force and the unique agility of a feline.
============
After an unknown amount of time, when Nyamu finally removed the last heavy cover plate in her assigned area, sweat had soaked her back, and her arms felt heavy as if filled with lead.
"Next is the paint touch-up..."
Nyamu gasped for breath, climbing down the makeshift work ladder. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she habitually scanned her surroundings, looking for the white full-body protective suit hanging on the rack.
At the hangar entrance, the wolf-headed and horse-headed soldiers, who had been standing like two door gods, were nowhere to be seen!
An electric current instantly shot through her body.
"An opportunity?!" Nyamu's heart pounded. She abruptly shrank into the shadow cast by the "Nightingale"'s massive fuselage, holding her breath, and quickly brought up the [FT] system's mini-map function.
The red dots representing enemies had indeed disappeared from the radar range!
"This is great... Hmm?" Just as half of her euphoria rose, Nyamu suddenly noticed something was wrong.
Next to the red arrow representing herself on the map, the two green dots representing allies were also gone!
"They've already run away." The electronic voice chimed in at the opportune moment, reminding her.
"The moment the guards left."
"What?! They didn't even call me?!" Nyamu was both anxious and angry. She didn't hesitate to spend money—expanding the map's scanning range.
Sure enough, on the straight, abandoned runway outside the hangar, two faint green dots were moving rapidly, making a grand escape towards the outside of the facility.
"Just get out of here first!"
Nyamu immediately wanted to rush towards a small door on the side of the factory building. However, just as she lifted her foot, the tip of the red arrow representing herself in her vision suddenly changed shape in a bizarre way—the originally sharp arrowhead became blunt.
"No!" Nyamu's pupils constricted, and the keen intuition of a feline made all the hairs on her body stand on end.
"This isn't a display error! It's an overlap! Someone is in almost the exact same position as me! Right above my head!"
The radar, enhanced after spending money, had increased its vertical detection height.
That glaring, bright red dot representing the enemy was now clearly superimposed on her red arrow!
The enemy was on the plane! Right above her head!
A chill shot from her tailbone to the top of her head. At the same time, she felt a hard object pressing against her lower back—that was the reward for completing the repair mission in stages.
The cold sensation permeated through her thin work uniform, yet it brought a strange, reassuring weight.
"In that case..."
Nyamu's eyes sharpened, and she instantly switched her Working Warrior title to the 'I am a Warrior!' state. A fierce aura, honed from countless battles, immediately replaced her previous exhaustion and panic.
She snatched a nearly half-meter-long flathead screwdriver from her toolbox, gripping it like a short sword. Pushing off with her feet, and using the protrusions on the fighter jet's landing gear and wing edges, she executed several incredibly agile leaps, like a true nightingale, silently climbing onto the broad back of the Nightingale.
The aircraft's back was flat, gleaming with a cold, hard metallic sheen.
It was empty.
Silence, broken only by the faint footsteps of Watanabe and Kobayashi running in the distance, and her own drumming heartbeat.
Nyamu crouched, her purple cat ears twitching, catching the slightest sounds. Sweat dripped down her jawline onto the scorching metal skin, making a soft "hiss" sound.
Click!
A crisp sound of a mechanism springing open rang out.
Just a few meters in front of Nyamu, the Nightingale's massive, teardrop-shaped canopy suddenly sprang open upwards.
An unusually striking orange figure, as if weightless, lightly leaped out of the cockpit. He gracefully flipped once in the air, his movements as fluid as a circus acrobat, then landed steadily and silently on the nose of the plane.
He stood with his back to Nyamu, facing the sun-drenched abandoned runway outside the factory door, the golden-red light outlining his tall yet slightly slender silhouette.
He slightly raised his left hand, shielding his forehead, gazing into the distance, humming a short, lively, bouncy tune with a strangely captivating melody.
Nyamu's gaze was fixed on him; the glaring red dot perfectly coincided with him.
As if he could clearly see the two figures desperately running for their lives, the orange-clad young man's lips curled into a playful arc, as if he were enjoying an interesting play.
He suddenly raised his right hand high and, towards the distant runway, casually snapped his fingers with a crisp sound.
Snap!
The sound wasn't loud, but it made Nyamu's heart tremble.
The next moment, the two green light dots on the mini-map, representing Watanabe and Kobayashi, who were moving strenuously, instantly vanished as if extinguished candles.
At the same time, Nyamu seemed to hear two extremely short, muffled groans, full of pain and horror. It was as if something, from a great distance, had been instantly torn apart from within.
In the sunset, the two figures running across the runway suddenly froze, their movements as if a pause button had been pressed.
Watanabe suddenly clutched his chest, his eyes widening in disbelief, bulging from their sockets. He made strange "ho-ho" sounds in his throat, but couldn't utter a single word. His work uniform on his chest was instantly stretched and torn by a terrifying force from the inside out.
A wolf's head, covered in wet, dark red short fur and ferocious fangs, suddenly burst from his chest! Its mouth wide open, it held a faintly pulsating heart! Blood gushed out like a fountain, staining the runway red.
On the other side, Kobayashi desperately clutched his own neck, his eyeballs bulging, his face instantly turning purplish-black. His Adam's apple strangely squirmed and swelled violently!
Rip!
Another, slightly smaller snake head, covered in fine scales and flicking a crimson tongue, suddenly emerged from his throat! Its mouth opened to an unbelievable angle, and its sharp venomous fangs instantly pierced his own chin! Kobayashi's body twitched violently a few times, then slumped softly into a pool of blood like a bag from which the bones had been removed.
Two vibrant lives were ended in the most cruel and bizarre way the moment the fingers snapped. Only the beast heads that burst from their chests gleamed with bloodlust in the sunset.
Nyamu crouched, using every tiny protrusion on the aircraft's back as cover, silently inching towards the nose of the plane.
One step, two steps, three steps... Her pink cat pupils narrowed into a slit, locking onto that orange back.
Just as the orange-clad young man seemed to have admired his "masterpiece" enough and was about to turn around—
Nyamu suddenly erupted from her hiding spot in the aircraft's back indentation, simultaneously drawing a completely black pistol from her lower back with lightning speed, gripping it with both hands, the muzzle aimed squarely at the back of the orange youth's head!
Without the slightest hesitation, she pulled the trigger!
However, the expected gunshot did not come.
Pffft!
A series of chilling, muffled sounds of flesh being pierced by sharp objects exploded in Nyamu's hands.
Excruciating pain, a searing pain, instantly engulfed her.
The black pistol in her hands—its barrel, trigger guard, and even its grip—suddenly sprouted dozens of sharp steel needles without warning, like bamboo shoots after rain! These steel needles brutally pierced through her gun-holding hands.
Blood seeped from each wound, instantly staining the gun body and her purple fur.
"Ugh ah—!" Nyamu let out a piercing cry of pain, her body shaking violently from the agony.
But she gritted her teeth, not letting go, letting the blood flow down the gun and drip onto the cold metal.
"Heh..."
A light chuckle, filled with triumph, came.
The orange-clad young man slowly turned around, allowing the young girl to see his face clearly.
It was a young face, wearing a blue mask. Most striking were his vibrant orange hair, like burning flames, and a pair of sapphire-like eyes.
Now, those blue eyes were filled with delight, enjoying the scene before him with great interest.
"They're quills. I've added porcupine quills to all the weapons in this base," the young man said, his voice clear.
He paused deliberately, watching Nyamu tremble from the intense pain, the curve of his lips widening.
"Although I only added a tiny bit, a very, very small amount..." He used his thumb and forefinger to show an almost invisible gap in front of his eyes, his expression cunning.
"But as long as that tiny 'Relic' contains the complete genetic information of that species, my 'Japari Park' can perfectly revive it."
"Even without energy supply, it's only for a short while, but that amount of time is completely sufficient for some interesting little things, isn't it?" He shrugged, casting a regretful glance at the deadly weapon in Nyamu's hands that had pierced her palms.
"Damn it..." Nyamu squeezed out two words through gritted teeth, sweat mixed with blood rolling down her forehead.
Her fingers were connected to her heart, and the excruciating pain piercing her palms continuously assaulted her nerves, but her pink cat eyes burned with unprecedented fury and determination.
"Ugh ah—!"
A suppressed roar erupted from deep within her throat. Nyamu seemed to feel no pain from the steel needles piercing her hands, and she forcefully lifted the blood-soaked pistol again.
A hint of surprise flashed in the orange youth's eyes.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Deafening gunshots, carrying the acrid smell of gunpowder and the strong scent of rust, shattered the deadly silence within the repair facility.
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