As the scavengers all collapsed, an endless silence descended around the silver-haired girl.

A moment ago, the shotgun had been flying through the air, but now that there were no more enemies, it lay motionless on the ground as if its job was done.

“Ha... ha ha.”

Cheong’s dry laughter echoed through the clearing, which now felt as still as if nothing had happened.

The sound of rain, which had previously been bothersome in her ears, now felt eerily quiet.

The flames caused by the grenade fizzled out, extinguished by the freezing cold rain, so cold it could freeze ordinary water.

Except for a few dents in the hard ground, all traces of the life-threatening grenade had vanished.

Crunch, crunch.

Then, through the sound of the rain, a strange noise broke the silence.

'!'

The sound of bones twisting echoed from the man who had been coughing up blood.

“No!”

It was a sound that should never come from someone whose body had been enhanced by an object.

Cheong quickly pulled an expensive, silver-adorned syringe from the man’s bag and plunged it into his body.

The moment she pressed the switch, a hidden needle pierced through his skin with a sharp click.

It was a syringe called "Dice," which acted like a potion in a game.

The Dice syringe was incredibly expensive, but its effects were nothing short of miraculous.

It could heal minor injuries in an instant and even restore severed limbs in no time.

As long as someone wasn't dead, the syringe could bring them back.

But maybe because it was so effective...

Or maybe because it was too dreamlike for the harsh reality...

As the name suggested, the Dice syringe was an imperfect tool, despite its high price.

The chance of it working was only about 1 in 6.

In the other 5 out of 6 cases, it had no effect at all.

It was truly a gamble with life.

Furthermore, repeated use in a short period decreased the chances of it working even further.

“Please. Please. Please.”

Whether it was Cheong’s desperate plea or just another miracle like the shotgun, the man’s body, which had been twisting as if his bones were about to break through his skin, began to calm, and his wounds started to disappear.

“Thank goodness.”

Cheong, who had been tensely sitting on the ground, let her body relax.

But at that moment, the same sound started again.

Crunch, crunch.

Startled, Cheong quickly looked at the man, but fortunately, he seemed fine.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch.

The sound grew in number, echoing from all around her.

It was coming from the bodies of the scavengers, who had died so cleanly, struck by the shotgun.

A shot through the eye, piercing the brain.

A shot through a gap in their enhanced skin, hitting the heart.

Their corpses were so cleanly dispatched that they could have been the work of "Night Hawk," the best sniper in the Free City Union.

Yet, those neatly killed scavenger corpses were now starting to twitch.

Like something was moving under their skin.

Like bones were twisting at random.

Like clay being kneaded and reshaped.

The grotesque sounds of breaking bones echoed as their bodies writhed.

And the more they writhed, the more their insides seemed to be liquefying, spewing blood and bits of organs out like a dumpling with a hole in it.

Cheong covered her ears as if she couldn't stand the sound and squeezed her eyes shut, as if she couldn’t bear to look.

After what felt like an eternity, the grotesque sounds stopped, and the bodies ceased twitching.

Shhhhhh.

The sound of the rain picked up again.

Cheong’s surroundings were once more enveloped in the familiar sound of rain.

The moment she cracked her eyes open, there was a sickening pop, and blood splattered across her face.

The blood was scalding, as if it had been boiling.

"!!!!"

And just like in a famous movie, where parasites burst through a character's abdomen, grotesque creatures began crawling out of the scavengers' skin.

They had many legs, like spiders, and were a sickly pale red in color.

They looked like human vertebrae with numerous human fingers attached to them.

These were the objects that had been grafted into the scavengers' bodies.

Now, like parasites, these objects were escaping their dead hosts.

Like parasitic worms emerging from their insect hosts.

"#$%$%#$"

Cheong squeezed her eyes shut again and cursed every foul word she knew.

Crazy. They’re all crazy.

Why? Why would anyone put that inside their bodies?

Everyone here is insane.

Everyone's lost their minds.

They’re all idiots.

As Cheong continued cursing under her breath, the objects burst out of the scavengers one after another.

As the freezing rain hit the searing hot surfaces of the objects, a thick cloud of steam began to rise.

It was a nauseating mix of the smell of oil and blood.

And the parasitic objects crawled off into the shadows of the city.

As if they knew exactly where they were headed.

Mini Grim Reaper Garden, the boundary between the Snowfield and the Candy Mountains.

A secluded spot, far from where the other spirits usually came.

I gathered the Orange Spirits there and started explaining the prank we were going to pull together.

The plan was simple: we’d go to the Ice Palace that the Golden Spirits had built and smash it to pieces.

Of course, once the Orange Spirits started the destruction, I’d quietly slip away and tattle to the Golden Spirits.

Hehe.

I added that if we all caused a big enough ruckus, the Golden Spirits wouldn’t be able to get too mad.

‘What do you think?’

I asked the Orange Spirits with a confident grin.

The Orange Spirits clapped their hands in amazement.

‘Mom, you’re amazing!’

‘You’re amazing!’

I had thought they might refuse, but their enthusiastic response exceeded my expectations.

Orange Spirits really were kind and smart.

I felt a little guilty for leading such good-natured kids into a trap, but I convinced myself it would be a good learning experience for them.

Hehe.

As I giggled, the Orange Spirits giggled along with me.

For some reason, though, their laughter made me feel a little uneasy.

When the Orange Spirits laughed with their eyes closed, it gave them a slightly sinister look.

‘Eh, it’ll be fine.’

I brushed off the feeling and laughed along with them, excited for the prank we were about to pull.

The prank with the Orange Spirits seemed to be going smoothly.

When I went to scout out the Golden Spirits to time the prank, they were all conveniently gathered in one place.

The "Golden Spirit Conference," which was held irregularly, just happened to be in session, and I got lucky.

The Golden Spirit Conference was always about something ridiculous, like "What’s the tastiest pudding?" and it usually lasted at least three hours.

'!'

The Orange Spirits, making a big fuss, urged me to hurry and start breaking the Ice Palace.

They said they’d bring some hot cocoa stuffed inside a White Maw to melt it down.

Qeeingeeing.

As if they had prepared in advance, the large White Maw was already in the clutches of the Orange Spirits, squealing away.

Rooar!

As the Orange Spirits left to get more cocoa, I started smashing the Ice Palace, feeling like a giant dinosaur.

About ten minutes passed, and I started feeling uneasy because the Orange Spirits were taking too long.

‘Could they have...’

A strange feeling of betrayal crept over me, as if the Orange Spirits had tricked me.

Just as I was about to run away from the Ice Palace, far off in the distance, I saw the Orange Spirits flying back, carrying the White Maw.

The White Maw they were holding was swollen, as if they had overstuffed it with hot cocoa.

‘There’s no way the kind Orange Spirits would betray me.’

Relieved by their return, I stretched out my arms toward them and sent a message.

‘Hurry up and pour the cocoa!’

Then, the Orange Spirits opened the White Maw’s mouth.

Qeeheehee.

With a sinister giggle, the White Maw opened its gaping jaws, and a flood of golden liquid came pouring out.

'!'

The torrent of golden liquid rushing out of the White Maw’s mouth felt like divine judgment raining down from the heavens.

It was like the wrath of the gods themselves, a tidal wave of enraged Golden Spirits.

I was swept away by the flood of golden wrath, as if I were being dragged into the depths of the ocean.

Just before I was completely swallowed by the golden tide, I caught a glimpse of the Orange Spirits through the torrent.

'!'

The gentle, smiling faces they usually wore were gone, replaced with an expression that seemed to say, "Just as planned."

In the harmful city, a shining girl.

The Orange Spirit found it strangely difficult to look away from her.

‘Could she be... my bonded human?’

And so, the Orange Spirit began to secretly observe the girl.

Sometimes it played pranks on her.

If she looked too happy, it would trip her with a rock as she walked by.

When she played roulette to pass the time, the Orange Spirit made sure she always landed on a loss.

Whenever it played these tricks, the girl would become deeply depressed.

And when she was sad, the Orange Spirit realized, it also felt sad.

So lately, whenever it came near her, it made sure she always hit the jackpot—until it got banned for doing so, which made it feel sad too.

Hng.

Humans were difficult for the Orange Spirit to understand.

And for some reason, the girl had such peculiar preferences. One time, the Orange Spirit had secretly ground up locusts and mixed them into her porridge.

“Ew!”

Of course, the prank ended when the girl began coughing up blood after eating just a bit of the locust powder.

The fact that eating such a tiny amount of ground-up locust had nearly killed her, and the rising probability of her death, had been a significant challenge for the Orange Spirit to suppress.

The Orange Spirit had even whispered a small apology in its heart.

‘Sorry.’

But today, when the girl was in life-threatening danger, the Orange Spirit decided it was time to step in.

The sticky rain felt unpleasant, but more than that, the Orange Spirit wanted to be held by the girl.

And since the city was so dangerous, it decided to stick close to her and protect her.

As it crept toward the girl, a mischievous urge started to grow within the Orange Spirit.

The girl was so cute, sitting there with her eyes squeezed shut and her hands covering her ears, afraid of the harmful objects that had burst from the bodies of the scavengers.

For some reason, her fear made the Orange Spirit think she was adorable.

The Orange Spirit grabbed a sharp wire that had fallen to the ground and used it to pierce one of the parasitic objects, then floated slowly toward the girl.

Hehe.

And then it slapped the object onto her face.

“!!!”

The girl, already tense, leaped in shock and immediately passed out.

The Orange Spirit had only expected her to be startled, but her reaction was far beyond what it had imagined.

‘Wake up.’

The Orange Spirit patted the unconscious girl’s cheek to try and wake her, but she didn’t stir at all.

At the same time, the man nearby began to rustle, as if he was waking up.

Hng.

The Orange Spirit had wanted to be petted and praised by its bonded human today, but it seemed that would have to wait for another time.