There Must Be Something Wrong With This Game!

Lear looked at Hyena in confusion and shook his head. "No, the day we met at the casino was our first time meeting. Have you remembered something?"

Hyena glanced hesitantly at the people around them, then took several steps back and assumed a peculiar stance.

His movements were gentle yet full of power, making him look like one of the old men practicing Tai Chi in a park, but his entire being emanated a profound and mysterious aura.

The combination of muscle and cold cybernetics gave his body a soft sheen, and it trembled as if it were breathing.

After striking this pose, Hyena said to Lear, "Does this movement ring any bells for you?"

Lear’s face turned even paler.

His Mantis Blades sprang out, their cold edges radiating an icy killing intent that enveloped Hyena.

Amidst the overwhelming killing intent, Lear asked coldly, "Who exactly are you? What is your relationship to the Level 9 Citizen, Zero?"

"I don’t know him, but I’ve seen some images... images of me fighting you. Mr. Li, you participated in the war back then, didn’t you?"

Lear was about to answer, but a tremor in the ground put him on high alert.

Feeling the trembling beneath his feet, Lear faced Hyena and yelled, "Hyena, get back!"

The words had barely left his mouth when it appeared!

A massive mechanical centipede burst up from below, its heavy pincers clamped around the Lone Ranger as it crashed toward the ceiling, instantly smashing through several floors and disappearing above their heads.

Spotting the others left in the graveyard, the mechanical centipede’s body split down the middle, the enormous machine separating into two.

One centipede continued its pursuit of the Lone Ranger, while the other turned to the group in the graveyard. A searchlight on its head scanned them mercilessly as a cold voice announced, "Intruders detected. Commencing annihilation."

"Hyena, get back!" Lear roared.

"No need. I can handle this."

Hyena, who was supposedly just a Mechanician, ignored Lear’s warning.

His mechanical cybernetics began to contract. His fingers, originally designed for repair work, became far more flexible, allowing Hyena to execute even more profound and intricate postures.

Sidestepping the mechanical centipede’s claws, Hyena walked slowly toward it, placed his right hand against its body, then exhaled and pushed.

Although it looked like a gentle tap, the mecha-muscles in his body trembled. The forces they generated collided with one another, ultimately transferring into the mechanical centipede’s body.

The force spread through the mechanical centipede’s body like a ripple. Its components began to break apart, the massive steel chassis seemingly torn asunder by unseen giant hands until it exploded into a shower of fragments.

Amidst the rain of falling parts, Hyena offered a faint smile. "I told you I could handle it."

Seeing that smile, Lear was stunned.

After a long moment, he muttered, "You’re the Level 9 Citizen, Zero... Wait, why! Why are there two Level 9 Citizens! If you’re Zero, then who is that guy in Sky City?"

"I don’t know." Hyena shook his head. "But I think I need to go see him."

"You can’t!" Anna hurriedly grabbed Hyena’s hand. "Hyena, I know you desperately want to know about your past, to know who you are, but I think this is far enough! You have your mecha-muscles now. You can easily complete all sorts of mercenary jobs from now on. We don’t have to struggle like this anymore! Let’s just stop here, Hyena."

"Anna..."

"Hyena, I’ve never asked you for anything. Okay, what happened in bed the other day doesn’t count, but I’m serious about this! I can’t tell you the reason, but Hyena, just stop!"

"I’m sorry, Anna, but you know I can’t stop."

Watching the group before him, Duan Fei stood to the side with his arms crossed and said to the equally idle Bartender, "What are your thoughts on global warming?"

"I watch it on camera," the Bartender said calmly. "Can you guess what’s really going on?"

"If this were anywhere else, I’d have a hard time guessing. But since we know consciousness can be uploaded and downloaded here, I’m pretty sure Hyena is a backup of the Level 9 Citizen, Zero, who just woke up for some unknown reason."

Hearing Duan Fei’s deduction, Anna’s eyes widened as she stared at him in disbelief. "How did you figure that out?"

"Your attempts to hold him back made it pretty clear. Anna, how old are you?"

"Is this really the time to be asking that?"

"Answer me. How old are you?"

"...Sixty-seven..."

"So, you participated in the war back then, too?"

"Yes."

Lear looked at Anna in surprise. He thought for a long moment before finally placing her. "Valkyrie?"

Anna was silent for a while before finally giving a wry smile. "Yes. It’s been a long time, Lear."

Waving a hand, Duan Fei cut them off and continued, "Alright, I think I’ve got the gist of this history. Back then, Anna, Lear, the Old Man, and Zero launched a war under the leadership of the Descender, Gale. A war against the corporations, right?"

"Yes." Lear nodded. "But I was critically injured by a satellite weapon near the end of the war, so I have no idea what happened after that."

"Fine, then I’ll ask Anna. I understand there might be things you’re not comfortable saying, so I’ll just state my own conclusions. Zero was chosen by you all to become the Level 9 Citizen and control the moral code, right?"

Anna neither nodded nor shook her head, simply meeting his words with silence.

"It’s fine if you don’t answer. I’ll just state what I’ve inferred. For some reason, Zero left behind a backup. That backup is Hyena, correct?"

Anna remained silent.

"So why do that? What use is this backup to a Level 9 Citizen? Anna, you don’t have to say it, but I can guess."

Anna gazed into the distance and finally let out a long sigh. "Error correction. Hyena, your purpose is error correction."

Hyena’s mind was reeling from the flood of information, his face frozen in an expression of overload.

Patting Hyena’s shoulder, Anna continued, "After the war, Lear, you were critically injured, so you didn’t get to see the moment Gale established the moral code. The moral code can effectively manage everyone, but it has one fatal flaw: someone must oversee and control it. Zero was the one we chose to control the moral code."

"By virtue of the moral code, Zero is the Deity of this world. But he is still fundamentally human, and humans run into problems. When he encounters a problem that he can’t resolve, a backup is created at the Old Man’s place. That’s you. Your mission is to find Zero and replace him."

Hyena stared blankly at Anna. "So, the reason I don’t have memories of all those past years isn’t because I forgot them, but because I never lived them? I’m just a backup?"

"Yes," Anna said nervously.

"Then who’s that guy who’s been following me!"

"If I’m not mistaken, that would be Zero. He’s guiding you to him."

Hyena clenched his fists, wanting to lash out in anger, but his mind was a complete blank.

He clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly. His entire existence felt like a joke.

An overwhelming bitterness washed over him, causing him to collapse to the ground. He muttered to himself, "Then who am I?"