Chapter 1, Akira and Alpha

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Translator: Athena13

Editor: Silavin

 

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A young boy walked through the ruins of a vast city with a stern expression.
In his surroundings, there were buildings in partial ruins.
Fragments of the buildings were scattered all around and not a single soul was in sight.
The sound of the boy’s footsteps and the rocks that were crunched under his feet echoed throughout the ruins.

 

Clothes tarnished with filth and lone gun were the only things the boy held.
For the boy, this was all he had.
However, in a place like this, he was unbelievably ill equipped.
After all this was the place known as ‘The Ruins of the Old World’.

 

In the ruins, there are autonomous weapons that mindlessly attack their target due to a malfunction.
They were machines that were once designed for security, obeying a criteria set by their creators.
Abandoned with only an order to kill their targets, these autonomous weapons continue to follow their only order. 

 

The autonomous weapons are descendants of biological weapons.
Evolved to survive the harsh conditions, they have blurred the lines between machinery and biological and, in the East, they are called Monsters.
‘The Ruins of the Old World’ was a den to these Monsters. 

 

The boy understood the danger he was in as his face was frozen with anticipation.
Despite knowing the danger he was in, the allure of the treasures tempted him.
Or at least, objects that could be considered as treasures in the eyes of someone born and raised in the slums. 

 

The boy’s name was Akira. 

 

Akira sighed and murmured to himself, “….There’s nothing useful here.
I risked my life all for this? … Do I have to venture deeper into the ruins?”

 

He tilted his head up and looked ahead.
In the distance, there were countless of high-rise buildings.
Even from afar, he could see the towering buildings still in good condition.
That was a stark contrast to the destroyed buildings that stood around Akira.
[If I managed to get there, would I be able to get my hands on an expensive relic?] 

 

The possibility of obtaining a vast amount of money appealed to Akira’s greed.
However, it was nothing but a fantasy.
He immediately shook his head and as if to placate and remind himself, “No, it’s impossible.
I’ll die before I get there.” 

 

His current surroundings were in ruins, but, in the distance, there was a magnificent view.
The difference between the two areas is due to the maintenance of the environment.
In other words, in the ruins in the distance, there the remains of advanced maintenance machines from the Old World era still in operation.
And the possibility of encountering those superior, functional security machines were incredibly high.
It was impossible for a child like Akira to even survive in an area highly guarded by those machines.
“It’s hard for me to even be here.
I should stop and not go any further…” 

 

Akira ignored his greed and continued to search around the area he was in. 

 

The area he was in was the outer area of a place called Kuzusuhara Street Ruins.
It was the closest Ruins from Kugamayama City, the place where Akira lives, and the largest ruins within the city’s finance area. 

 

The Monsters lurking around these ruins were Medium Weak and Akira was exploring in a Medium Safe Area.

 

Medium Weak is the classification that declares a person who is well-prepared could handle the Monster.
Additionally, Medium Safe Area means there is a higher chance of surviving compared to the ruins in the distance.
That being said, it does not mean Akira could let down his guard. 

 

Akira was vulnerable due to the lack of proper equipment as he was just one step away from death either from the fangs of those mutated creatures or a bullet from those machines.
On top of that, the gun he held lacked the power to defeat the Monsters.
In order to take them down, Akira would have to engage in close combat and shoot at close range.
In other words, Akira had no chances of surviving a fight.
If he were to fight, it would most certainly end with his death.

 

 However, he had no other choice but to enter the ruins.
He lacked the money to survive another day.
And so, his desperation spurred him on to entering Kuzusuhara Street Ruins. 

 

Although he continued to search further, there was nothing.
He tilted his head down and sighed.
In his line of sight, a bone from a dead body was rolling along on the ground.

 

He had found similar bones in the past.
And every time, he would search around the corpse in hopes to find something but, he had never found anything.
[What did I expect? Even the people before me hadn’t found anything.] 

 

Akira thought feeling melancholic.  Either there had been someone who already searched the area before him, or, there had been someone reckless as he was, exploring without the proper equipment, only to be greeted with the consequences of their actions.

 

 […At this rate, the sun will set and it would be impossible to explore the ruins at night since I don’t have any light.
And, the probability of being attacked by Monsters is high… I survived the dangerous ruins so the experience I’ve gained is what matters… right? So, I should go back.
If I stubbornly remained here, I’ll just join that pile of bones.] 

 

Akira began to think of excuses that he could use to return.
Because he had risked his life to be here, it was hard to accept his defeat.

 

[There’s no use in being depressed over this.
I’ll explore a little more and, if I don’t find anything, I’ll go back.] 

 

To Akira, returning without any accomplishments meant that his decision of risking his life was meaningless and so, Akira decided to explore for just a bit more. 

 

He suddenly stopped as he lifted up his head and saw a girl floating in mid-air.

 

He froze still.

 

That girl had such a fantasy-like, unreal beauty.
Moreover, all of her graceful figure and beautiful body were exposed without anything to hide them.

 

Her beautiful skin was so different compared to those from the slum.
It was way more lustrous than the skin of those girls living in the upper district of the city, who take care of their skins using fortunes, hard work, and technologies from the old world.
Her beautiful limbs even rivalled fine art statues and drawings.
Her flawless glossy hair flailed freely down to her waist, and her gallant expression would make anyone fall in love regardless of age and gender.

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Akira could only stand there captivated by the beauty of that girl as if his soul was being sucked out.
Compared to all the girls that he had seen in his still relatively short life, and even if he compared her to all the girls from his imaginations up until now, her beauty was simply peerless.
Only with a glance, all the criteria of a beautiful girl inside Akira were all overwritten.

 

The girl was just floating there doing nothing.
She didn’t even seem to have noticed Akira.
Then a moment later, she gracefully turned her face around to Akira.

 

Akira’s eyes met hers.
She didn’t seem to be bothered that Akira was looking at her naked body as she smiled and stared at him.
Akira, who was still dumbfounded, slightly reacted to her smile.

 

The girl realized that Akira noticed her.
When she realized it, she giggled merrily as she took a step closer to Akira.

 

Akira quickly put up his guard as he realized that someone he didn’t know was approaching him.
In an instant, Akira immediately reassessed his current situation.
His dumbfounded expression suddenly changed into such a stern look as he pointed his gun to her and shouted.

 

“Don’t move!”

 

The girl was a bundle of abnormalities.

 

The ruin of the old world was a dangerous place.
Even a well-equipped and well trained squad could easily get annihilated there.
But that girl was standing there, all alone, out in the wild, without even a single weapon in her hand.
She didn’t even seem to be watching her surroundings.
And even though she’s naked, she didn’t try to hide her naked body at all.
Moreover, although the wind from the ruin was mixed with sand and dust, her hair was still spotless.

 

As a beginner, Akira was always desperately trying to be cautious of his surroundings.
He would nervously react to even the slightest noise in order to avoid meeting any Monsters.
But evens so, he didn’t even notice that girl was there even though she wasn’t even trying to hide herself at all.

 

Even when Akira was pointing his gun at her while shaking, that girl didn’t even seem to be afraid that Akira might pull the trigger by mistake.
She kept getting closer and closer to Akira without showing neither concern nor fear.

 

His impression of the girl had completely changed from “An unbelievably beautiful girl” into “An unknown entity”.
Then, as she kept approaching Akira, he shouted at her, giving her another warning.

 

“I-I’m telling you not to move!! If you move any closer than that, I’ll shoot!! I’m being serious here!!”

 

Normally, Akira would’ve shot at her without giving her any warning.
But since she was unarmed and showing no hostility, Akira was so confused from this absurd situation, so much that his finger was frozen in place.

 

But there’s a limit to that.
The girl kept moving toward Akira despite all his warnings.
Looking at that, Akira was about to pull the trigger when suddenly, the girl just vanished from his line of sight.
Although he didn’t even wink there, he didn’t see her moved outside his line of sight either.
The girl just vanished instantly in front of his eyes.

 

Akira was shocked and trembling like crazy.
He looked around nervously but he couldn’t find her at all.

 

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you”

 

Suddenly, Akira heard a voice from beside him where no one should be at.
And when he turned his face toward the source of that voice, the girl was there, fully clothed, and close enough for Akira to reach her with his hand.
She hunched over such that their eyes meet on the same height as she was smiling and staring at him.

 

Akira’s brain couldn’t process everything that was happening in front of his eyes.
All his nervousness suddenly changed to fear as his mind blacked out.

 

But Akira shook his fear off and stood his ground, he was able to regain his composure.
Those who lose their composure will die.
That is one thing that he learned by living in the slum.

 

He immediately rose up his gun and pointed it to that girl again, and then he extended his arm with his gun on his hand as he tried to prod the girl with his gun’s muzzle.

 

The girl was actually close enough for his gun to reach her.
But as he extended his arms, Akira found both of his hands were inside of her chest right until his wrists.

 

Although both of his hands were already inside her, Akira couldn’t feel anything.
He could see clearly that someone was standing there in front of him, but both of his hands just couldn’t feel anything at all.

 

Akira was so shocked, so much that he just stopped working.
He was frozen still, with both of his hands still inside the girl’s chest.
All the while, the girl was trying to get a reaction from Akira by waving in front of him or calling him.
But Akira was just standing there, dumbfounded.

 

 

A long time ago, a great civilization that spanned across the world was destroyed.
What left of it are only half destroyed cities, crumbling buildings, and broken down machines.
It happened so many years ago that it is hard for people nowadays to imagine the technological greatness of the old world.

 

In that world where even raindrops were artificially made, the rain kept falling there during all those long years, sweeping all the broken building, giving nourishment for trees to grow high enough to reach the sky, and eventually supporting the life of people who live in the surface.

 

The ancient civilization that people call as the old world had produced a lot of relics with their advanced technologies.
Things like piles of unknown materials, half destroyed buildings that are floating in the sky, and of course, mountains of weapon that are unnecessarily destructive if they’re in the wrong hands.
Mankind had spent so many years gathering all of these old world relics and reconstructing human civilization.

 

In the end, even a civilization with such advanced technologies that people might even mistake them as magic, couldn’t destroy all humanity.

 

In the far eastern part of the human civilization, there are countless corporate cities managed by a group called the governing corporate.  And Kugamayama city is one of these corporate cities.

 

A part of the Kugamayama city was surrounded by a huge wall.
Although all the areas both inside and outside of the wall are collectively called as Kugamayama City.
There’s a big difference between these two areas.

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The area inside the wall was divided into 2 districts.
The upper district was filled with rich people and people with powerful influences such as the corporate executives, while the middle district is filled with moderately wealthy people.
And, there are the areas outside of the wall, known as the lower district.
People who live there are mostly people who can’t afford to live inside the wall.
And if you go further away from the city, you can find residential blocks sitting right next to the dangerous area outside the city that people call as the wasteland.
These blocks are the slums.

 

Akira is one of the many children living in the slums.
In another word, he’s just your normal everyday kid; he has no mechanical strength of a cyborg, no enhanced strength like those remodelled humans, and no augmented strength from the nanomachines.
Just like all the children in the slums, he has no special skill, no school education, no parents, no guardian, no food, no money, and no one would grieve even if he dies. 

 

As for the Monsters living in the wasteland, they would attack the city from time to time, and when that happens, the ones who suffer the most would be people who are living in the wasteland and in the slums.

 

Akira had survived 3 times through this kind of attack, in his first and second time, he just ran around and hid.
It’s thanks to those strangers who got attacked, killed, and eaten in his place, that he was able to barely survive.

 

While in his third attempt, he wasn’t able to run away from a small dog monster and ended up having a death match against it after he picked up a hand gun that he found by chance.

 

Although he had no training in using hand gun, he was able to shot its head 3 times by pure luck.
But even so, his luck wasn’t enough.
The monster was drenched in blood but still alive as it ran toward Akira and pounced at him with its big mouth open as if it’s going to deliver a killing blow.

 

But before that monster’s abnormally big mouth was able to rip off Akira’s arms, Akira instinctively thrust his arm to its mouth up to his elbow and pulled the trigger on his hand gun.
And so the bullet passed through the monster’s mouth, straight through under its skull, and pierced its brain, and thus killing the monster.

 

But then in the brief moment after that, as the monster was still alive, it clamped down hard on Akira’s arms.
Fortunately, Akira was able to survive without losing his arm or his life.

 

After surviving his third time, Akira decided to