Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 291

“Mira?” I dropped everything I was doing and turned to Mira. “How do you feel? Are you okay?”Her eyes trembled slightly when they met mine, dropping to the bed. “I-I feel fine- my spine aches- my head throbs- am I really out- where are we?”

“We’re safe.” I set aside my deck and sketches, moving closer to her side. “In Absolom Clinic.”

She flinched at the word clinic, though quickly covered it up with a fragile smile. “I’m sorry I was taken- smile so she doesn’t-“

She forced herself to go silent by clamping her jaw. I watched for a moment and then reached forward to grab her hand. She trembled at the contact, though some of the tension faded away. Her eyes still darted around without pause, though her muscles relaxed away from the fight-or-flight instinct.

I forced my voice to come out low and calm, completely at odds with how I really felt. By some miracle, I didn’t even stutter. “It’s not your fault, Mira. None of it is.”

“I should’ve fought harder- surely she hates me now- shut up- why can’t it just be quiet-“ She crawled back into the corner of the cot, wrapping her arm around her knees. Still, she refused to let go of my hand.

“I definitely don’t hate you…” I eyed the halo on top of her head. Even now the experimental chrome pulsed with a faint light. “Is it the halo?”

My mikata slowly nodded her head. Her weak smile twisted into a frown. “It’s like there’s five of me- I’m the real one-intrusive thoughts were already bad- shut up- why can’t I control my mouth?“

Her words came out in another torrent, all merging together. Each of her separate thought processes clashed independently against each other. I- I had no idea what I could do to help her in the slightest. Brain stuff was so far out of my comfort zone.

The Halo Cortex was a multi-thought processor according to the documents I’d stolen. It seemed it literally split her mind into five different chunks, each capable of independent thought. The biology part of it slipped over my head, but the processing cores throughout the halo were in my wheelhouse.

Why would anyone want something like that? Even dealing with just one of me was nearly impossible, but five separate thought processes going at once? I can’t even imagine. It’d make even the smallest of psychological issues all the more evident. 

”I’ll go get Nael-“

Her grip on my hand strengthened, keeping me hostage. Although she looked like she hadn’t been eating, she still had a surprising amount of strength left. Might be some strengthening of the exoskeleton too. “Stay with me- sorry, I shouldn’t have- she has better things she could- I don’t deserve-“

She slammed her eyes shut, and her grip loosened. I watched her for a moment and shifted onto the bed, sitting beside her. “I‘m not going anywhere…” runners getting into the channels. 

I’d have to test it out to really see if it’d be good. Not on Mira. Not yet, at least. When she was more… , I could tell her more about how much things have changed with me. For now, it was best to take things one step at a time with her. Maybe test it on Saint? 

「Bounty - Predator - Complete

Kill 100 People

Reward: 100 EF」

That… No way I killed one hundred people since the whole bounty system was unlocked, right? Unless it counted indirect kills? Like how my freeing of all the experiments in the lab resulted in dozens of scientists and guards dying. 

That- that made me sick to even think about. I mean, they deserved it. There was no doubt in my mind that they deserved it. But getting favor for just killing people? It was so much EF… and yet, so little. We’re people just worth a single EF to the eidolons? 

Regardless, that put me at 176 EF. It was just over a fifth of the way to a Skill Point if I wanted to go for that. Otherwise, I could afford most of the cheaper stuff on the list, including Crow’s Wheel of Wares.

A text from Nael popped into my HUD. ‘Back door is unlocked. Clothes out front of the room’s door. Should fit just fine. Let me know when you leave.’

Right… I shifted my leg slightly, causing Mira to pull me closer to her like I was some kind of ready bear. I looked at her sleeping face scrunched up in distress and carefully wrapped my arms back around her, pulling her into a gentle hug. 

I’d let her sleep for now. Once she woke up, we could get outta here. Until then, I tried to keep myself busy by jumping around the net on my phone, checking up on city news, new cases in the Crusade, and other happenings around Aythryn City.

One thing caught my eye. The new mayor, Mayor Cinder, was working on a new set of bills regarding mercenaries, PMCs, and other assorted ‘troubleshooters’ throughout the city. I read through a few articles from different sources, trying to understand the new bills.

If I was understanding this right, the council wanted to legalize a lot of merc jobs. Right now, most of us act in a grey area. If the new bills passed, we’d be pulled out of that grey area and tossed into the light. A lot of the larger ramifications were lost on me, but it was definitely an interesting proposal. I’d have to ask Saint about it when we got the time. He could probably break it down.

I continued to just surf the net and wait. Eventually, my own drowsiness pulled at me and my eyes slowly closed.