"I remember you!"
Lohan heard Oliver’s remark—the little boy he’d tried to rob the other day—but he pretended not to hear a thing.
To Kai’s horror, with his right fist firmly gripped by Lohan’s left hand, Lohan’s right hand began to close in rapidly on his stomach!
Kai was lucky he was still wearing his helmet; otherwise, that punch would have gone straight to his face, but even so, when the fist hit his stomach, Kai felt as if a truck had run him over.
"Huuuffff" The impact of the fist was so strong that all the air was forced out in a second, but the impact didn’t stop—strong enough to lift his body off the ground. The next thing to come out of his mouth was bile, making a mess inside the helmet and causing some of the liquid to drip out.
Seeing that disgusting mess, Lohan pulled both hands back and let go of the man.
Kai didn’t even put up a fight, instinctively clutching his stomach and falling to the ground, coughing uncontrollably.
Lohan then looked at Jenny, who was struggling to get up from the pile of metal boxes, and walked toward her.
Seeing that, Skye was alarmed.
Accustomed to always winning fights in the Lower Zone, this was one of the first times she’d seen someone beat her crew.
Especially after they’d started playing Elysium.
Kai had only a Common Base, but Jenny had a Rare Class! And not just any random Rare Class, but the Berserker Class!
Berserker was a class focused exclusively on combat, primarily enhancing her combat instincts and allowing her to ignore the pain of battle to channel that sensation in exchange for more power.
Skye had already seen Jenny fight in Elysium and she knew just how powerful that class of hers was.
Even if in the real world she could only harness a fraction of that power, it was already enough to make Jenny the second most powerful person in the Silver Lotus, second only to herself!
And Jenny’s pain resistance was clearly kicking in, as her movements were becoming more and more fluid, while an aura of rage and savagery enveloped her.
But unlike the training sessions they had at Silver Lotus, this opponent didn’t stand still waiting for her to prepare.
Before Jenny could even fully regain her balance, the man in black was already upon her, his leg extended in a whipping motion as he landed a powerful kick to her head.
Even with the helmet, the protective gear only served to absorb the initial impact; the force that kick transferred to her skull wasn’t mitigated in the slightest, leaving her head spinning and causing the woman to finally fall to the ground, unconscious.
"You’re the man I tried to rob last week!" The high-pitched voice rang out again, even more certain of what he was seeing. "Damn, I knew you looked like a super soldier!"
But unlike Skye’s horror, the only thing he could sense in the little boy’s voice was admiration.
Lohan looked at the boy shouting excitedly, and a small smile spread across his lips, though no one could see it through his mask.
"Yeah, boy, be more careful when choosing your company in the future." Lohan said, waving at him and turning to leave again.
This time, no one dared to block his path.
The members of the Silver Lotus group wanted to advance again, to avenge Jenny and Kai lying on the ground, but Skye didn’t say a word; she simply raised a hand, and the movement was halted.
She herself also wanted to join the battle and avenge Jenny and Kai.
Given her strength, she was confident she could at least face that man on equal terms.
But after hearing Oliver’s words, she realized it was very likely that the man had actually come to help the little boy, and in the end, they were the ones being irrational and attacking an innocent person who only wanted to help.
Looking at the figure finally stepping into the light outside the alley, Skye asked.
"Oliver, where did you meet that man?"
Hearing that question, the little boy who had been excited just a few seconds ago suddenly froze and looked embarrassed.
So Skye pressed on. "I heard you say you robbed him, and he looked like a super soldier—what was that about?"
Oliver was embarrassed by the direct question, but having already admitted it out loud, he simply accepted his fate and told her everything that had happened that day.
He tried to rob the man leaving the market, the man caught up to him in the blink of an eye, running like a super soldier, and then surprisingly gave him two packs of Grade A nutritional solution.
"If it weren’t for those nutritional supplements, my brothers and I would have gone hungry that night... and with the energy I got from eating that—even just half a packet—I became much stronger and was able to rob a few more distracted people over the next few days." He said that last part a little sheepishly. "It was because of that extra energy that I managed to steal a little more, and Frank noticed me again, wanting to raise the ’protection fee’ they charge me every week."
Hearing that, Skye was furious with that group of rats, regretting letting them get away so easily, but then she felt guilty for attacking someone who was not only innocent but also kind-hearted—someone who had already given Oliver food and even come to save him from an obviously dangerous situation.
Not to mention that this man had been the first person she’d met in the real world who was also playing Elysium, and obviously he had a Base at least as rare as hers.
Since he played alone with a helmet, his strength gain rate was much higher than theirs in the Silver Lotus.
And given the character he’d shown, Skye realized the man would be a great asset to the gang!
This mix of information she received sparked her interest in that man, but unfortunately there was nothing she could do about it.