How to Live as an Immortal Chapter 015

I Am The Yang Hu You've Been Searching For All Along

*

"You can't accept reality, can you? How ugly. This time, I'll finish you off for good."

Lloyd sprinted, using the crumbled ground as his foothold.

The combination of instantaneous acceleration using boosters and firepower supplementation through hand cannons gave him an overwhelming advantage in close combat.

However, that was only true until just now.

Shin could clearly see the entire sequence of events.

The fist approaching closer and closer.

The rotating cylinder.

The hand cannon about to spew fire.

In his expanded field of perception, he approached Lloyd while gliding through the slowly flowing world. He had seen Lloyd's movements countless times. There was no reason he couldn't trace the optimal path.

Shin didn't consider himself a genius. If he truly had God-given talent, he would have been able to counter without dying.

Still, he was confident he could manage just below that level.

After all, he had found the answer to an unsolvable problem after dying only fifteen times.

Boom!

Dodging the bullet fired right in front of him, he swung his monomolecular blade.

But there was no way the weapon that had lost its luster could fulfill its purpose.

Lloyd deflected the blade as if swatting away a fly and threw another punch with his opposite hand.

A blow that seemed to be sucked deep into the opponent's abdomen.

Lloyd believed without a doubt that this would be the finishing move. However, his trump card only ended up slicing through empty air, contrary to his expectations.

"What."

At that moment, Shin, who had bent his upper body so far back it seemed he might fall, suddenly sprang up.

At the end of an explosive leap, as if stepping on a cloud, came a magnificent thrust.

There was only one target.

Lloyd blocked the sword strike that seemed about to pierce his head by crossing his arms in an X, then charged at Shin with a beast-like roar.

Thud, thud!

The successive punches, assisted by the propulsion device, were incredibly erratic. Moreover, the accelerating blows were no longer something that could be dismissed as mere child's play.

In front of this, Shin spun around.

He didn't stop while moving, while dodging, or even while standing still.

He was truly like an endlessly spinning top.

"You bastard!"

Enraged, Lloyd pummeled Shin in an attempt to suppress him.

Heat waves rose from the overheated booster, and the fired hand cannon glowed red-hot. In an instant, sparks flew as Shin's rotating blade collided with them.

Absorbing all the resulting recoil, Shin spun even more intensely.

As if he didn't care about the blade wearing down.

Screech, screech.

Long, straight lines began to appear one by one on the phalanx as the sword strikes went back and forth between the upper and lower sections.

Sensing the signs of an impossible fracture, Lloyd closed the distance to stop Shin as quickly as possible.

At that moment, an unexpected event occurred.

Shin, who had been spinning violently just a moment ago, suddenly seemed to stop.

'No.'

It was purely an illusion. Lloyd noticed the circular skid marks etched on the ground.

It was just an optical illusion caused by the afterimages overlapping, making it appear as if Shin was standing still.

The so-called strobe effect.

"Did you notice?"

Though it was a small voice, as if muttering, to Lloyd it sounded like thunder.

Shin, who had been far away, was now right under his chin.

He was spinning so fast that each of his movements appeared choppy and disconnected.

Lloyd swung his fist to fend off the approaching threat, but that was his mistake. Just as a flash of light seemed to flicker, a chilling sound of cutting was heard.

Lloyd let out a silent scream as he looked at his forearm rolling helplessly on the ground.

Although the monomolecular blade had lost its effectiveness, the cross-section was as smooth as a mirror.

It wasn't a convenience bestowed by technology, but a miracle brought about solely by the person named Shin.

As it was a realm far beyond what humans could achieve, Lloyd involuntarily shuddered.

"Where are you looking?"

"Wha... s-"

Shin, who had thrust his face right in front of Lloyd's, swung his monomolecular blade without waiting for an answer.

*

Niel, who had the suite all to himself, leisurely held up a wine glass, using the night view as his light. A few minutes ago, the entire interior of the hotel had been plunged into darkness, but he wasn't worried.

Things had gone as he wanted, and they would continue to go as he desired.

Sure enough, no sooner had he placed the half-empty wine glass on the table than the explosions ceased.

The end of the drawn-out battle meant that the moment he had been waiting for had arrived.

It was then that the door burst open.

Sensing a presence behind him, Niel opened his mouth—

"You took longer than usual. So, what about that guy? You didn't kill him, did you? After all, he's worth more alive."

Upon seeing the other person's face, he froze.

It wasn't Lloyd, his loyal henchman.

It was a young man he had never seen before.

His throat closed up at the sudden cognitive dissonance.

But the young man wasn't Shin. After all, he had been climbing the stairs all this time to see that face.

"Are you Niel?"

"And if I am?"

"Then I've found the right person."

Shin pulled out a folding knife still stained with blood, but Niel didn't even blink. He had realized that something unexpected had happened, but it wasn't enough to surprise him.

For one thing, he was young.

Which meant he couldn't be Yang Hu.

"Where's Lloyd?"

"Here."

Shin tossed the lump of meat he was holding. Among recent opponents, Lloyd had undoubtedly been the strongest, but in the end, he was just a hunting dog.

Meeting the lifeless Lloyd's gaze, Niel grabbed the cane hanging on the armrest and swung it.

Though different from Lloyd, he too had undergone genetic modification. With luck, he might even inflict a fatal wound.

But such plans fizzled out early on.

Suddenly, the length of the cane was halved.

The other half had rolled far away, cut at some point.

"I can take this as an attack, right?"

As the other took a step closer, Niel tried to lighten the mood.

"Calm down. It seems there's been a misunderstanding between us."

"A misunderstanding?"

"I suppose you were hired by Yang Hu, weren't you?"

No wonder he seemed so confident; he had apparently interpreted the situation in his own favor.

Shin's smile faded as his expression hardened, but Niel failed to notice.

"I don't know how much you were promised, but I'll give you ten times, no, ten times that amount. You don't want to be implicated as an accomplice, do you?"

"You don't even know who you've been chasing."

It was disheartening to think that Thomas had to be sacrificed because of someone like this. Soon, the feeling close to frustration turned into anger.

In an instant, Shin's face contorted like a demon's.

Only then did Niel realize that the atmosphere had turned ominous, and he carefully examined Shin's face.

"Could it be...?"

"I am the Yang Hu you've been so desperately searching for."

"No, wait..."

No matter how he looked at it, this level of youth didn't make sense. If his calculations were correct, Yang Hu should be a 60-year-old man by now. Sure, medical advancements had increased life expectancy, but that didn't mean fine wrinkles would completely disappear.

"If you've stirred up stagnant waters and turned them into a muddy mess, you should take responsibility for it."

Shin kicked Niel back into the chair and stabbed the folding knife into the back of his hand.

"Aaargh!"

Niel screamed as his hand was pinned to the armrest, but Shin emotionlessly took out another folding knife and did the same to the other side.

"Enjoy this moment to the fullest, friend. You won't see tomorrow's sun."

"Hehehe, blinded by revenge right in front of you, you're making a bad move."

"What do you mean?"

"If you kill me here, New Delvier will hunt you down. If two mega-corps join forces, well, do you think there's anywhere in this world you could go?"

"And?"

"Let's stop here, shall we? I'll specially forgive you for laying hands on me. Think carefully. I don't often show such mercy."

A few clichéd phrases came to mind, like 'Things won't go your way' or 'I can get over anything,' but Shin didn't bother to respond. He had used them too many times before.

He would just show it through action.

"I'm sorry you're so concerned, but what should I do? I'm going to humiliate you."

Shin went behind the rocking chair and whispered in Niel's ear.

"More than you could ever imagine. In abnormal, unethical, and inefficient ways that you wouldn't dare use even on livestock."

No matter how much one tries to hide their true feelings, they can't conceal their trembling shoulders.

"You might think that as long as you don't die, you can recover, but that's not true. Your mind will die before your body does."

He could guarantee that.

After all, everyone who had been through Shin's hands had chosen suicide.

"First, shall we start by making you eat that fallen cane over there?"

*

Felix Huber, the chairman who had just left the New Delvier headquarters, got into his limousine.

"Where shall I take you, sir?"

Normally, he should have returned home, but today was different. No, it had been different for a while now.

"To the usual hotel."

It all started when he met a woman at a charity event.

Her name was Merylda Gavi, a popular singer active in Dome No.3. At first, it was just a simple attraction, but soon he felt it was a fateful love.

However, it was not a relationship to be proud of. Merylda also had a family of her own.

In the end, they had no choice but to meet in secret at a place unknown to anyone else.

The hotel he was heading to now was an extension of that.

Although Felix was nearly seventy, his body was still in good shape. After all, he had undergone genetic modification to enable vigorous activities.

As he entered the suite room on his sturdy legs, he frowned. The darkness was unbearably gloomy.

Seeing that even the mood lighting wasn't on, it seemed Merylda had fallen asleep as soon as she arrived.

It wasn't unreasonable.

"I'm sorry I'm late. The meeting dragged on."

"No need to apologize. I just got here myself."

Startled by the unfamiliar male voice, Felix tried to call his driver using his device, but for some reason, it wasn't working.

"...Merylda?"

"I'm not Merylda, you know."

After a short while, as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Felix could make out a young man sitting in the corner of the room.

"I don't know who you are, but it seems you've come to the wrong room. I won't call security, so please leave quietly."

Felix was sternly admonishing him, but—

"A lot has happened tonight. I just dealt with a dog-like bastard. And then suddenly, I had this thought: whose son could he be, acting like such an uncouth brat?"

All that came out was rambling.

"Is this story related to me?"

"Of course it is. It's your son, after all."

"This joke has gone too far."

Felix picked up the intercom to call for a hotel employee, but he hesitated at the next words.

"Are you okay with that? What if the people who come here see the deceased Merylda?"

"What..."

The young man, Shin, who had instantly subdued the now stiff Felix, smiled mischievously.

"Just kidding. I sent her back. She believed me without a doubt when I said I was sent by you."

"What exactly do you want?"

"Cleanup."

"Cleanup?"

"Even if I suggest breaking the chain of revenge first, you'll lose your mind when you discover the scene and come after me. Frankly, it's ugly and quite troublesome when the wrongdoers get angry."

"You've been speaking in riddles. What do you want from me?"

"Your life."

Answering concisely, Shin didn't hesitate to snap Felix's neck. It wasn't his job to explain the details. That would be for the father and son to discuss in hell.

Creak.

Whether he had undergone cybernetic surgery or not, there was a metal frame mixed in with his skeleton, but it was useless.

For Shin, who was still under the influence of the drug cocktail, it wasn't even a warm-up exercise.

"Well then, farewell."

Crack.

At the moment of the dull sound, Felix's neck bent in a direction it shouldn't have.